Subordinate Legislation Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Official Report 281KB pdf

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Instruments subject to Negative Procedure

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Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Amendment Rules 2011 (SSI 2011/356)

The amendment rules amend the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011 (SSI 2011/331) to correct defects identified in the rules by the committee at its meeting on 4 October 2011. In particular, the amendment rules will substitute a new rule 60 so that prison governors may exercise discretion in relation to requests to prevent communication from a prisoner to another person.

Given the seriousness of the concerns about the original rules, the Scottish Government has committed to bring the amendment rules into force at the same time as the principal rules come into force on 1 November 2011. As officials acknowledged before the committee on 4 October, that necessitates breaching the 28-day rule. The legal brief therefore notes that the amendment rules have not been laid at least 28 days before they come into force as required by section 28(2) of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. On that basis, does the committee agree to draw the amendment rules to the Parliament’s attention on reporting ground (j)?

Members indicated agreement.

In so doing, does the committee wish to welcome the prompt action taken by the Scottish Government to lay the amendment rules to correct defects in the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011 (SSI 2011/331) that were identified by the committee at its meeting on 4 October 2011, so that the amendment rules will come into force at the same time as the rules?

Members indicated agreement.

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Local Government Pension Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (SSI 2011/349)

The legal brief notes that there has been a failure to follow the proper drafting practice in regulation 39(b), where gender-neutral drafting should have been used instead of referring to “he”. With that in mind, does the committee agree to draw the regulations to the attention of the Parliament on the general reporting ground?

Members indicated agreement.

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Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 (Saving and Transitional Provisions) Amendment Order 2011 (SSI 2011/348)

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Home Energy Assistance Scheme (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2011 (SSI 2011/350)

The committee agreed that no points arose on the instruments.