Subordinate Legislation Committee, 25 Apr 2000

Meeting date: Tuesday, April 25, 2000

Official Report 107KB pdf

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Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) (Butchers' Shops) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2000 (SSI 2000/93)

The next item is the Executive's response to our comments on SSI 2000/93. We raised various matters with the Executive, including some policy matters. Bristow, do you wish to comment on the response, as there are some issues that we will wish to draw to the attention of Parliament?

Some of the comments that we raised strayed into policy areas, but perhaps we should draw the attention of the lead committee, or Parliament, to the inconsistent use of the word "proprietor" and the potential confusion with the term "holder of licence" in the regulations. The Executive's response is not clear about why that wording was used.

We should also draw to the attention of the lead committee whether the regulations are as clear as they could have been. That probably strays into policy issues, but we should certainly ask the lead committee to consider whether the regulations are clear enough to be understood by the businesses that are intended to apply them. Beyond that, we should note the fact that there is a twin-track process in the rest of the UK, but that those regulations have not yet been implemented.

We shall draw that to the attention of the Parliament.