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Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 (Access to Documents and Information) (Relevant Persons) Order 2003 (SSI 2003/530)
I welcome colleagues to the 14th meeting this session of the Subordinate Legislation Committee. I have received apologies from Gordon Jackson, who has a medical appointment this morning.
Not much.
You are not happy with it.
I was not convinced by the Executive's explanation, which was laboured and tortuous. To be frank, I do not think, reading between the lines, that even the person who wrote it was convinced by it.
In the first line of its answer, the Executive accepts that
Yes. We have agreed that the enabling power clearly states that the order should specify the relevant persons. We should make that point clear to the lead committee and to the Parliament.
The Executive was asked to explain why it did not submit a letter to the Presiding Officer to explain the breach of the 21-day rule. The Executive accepts that there was a breach, however it still has not written to the Presiding Officer. Again, we should bring that to the attention of the lead committee.
We asked a specific question about the letter to the Presiding Officer, but the Executive's response ignores that point. Do we have any background information that might explain why that happened?
Not as far as I know, and the legal adviser indicates that she has no such information, either.
In that case we should definitely bring the matter to the attention of the lead committee.
Do members agree that we should do so?
Yes.
The committee's third question related to the delay between the making of the order and the laying of it before the Parliament. The Executive's answer was, again, not very satisfactory.
The Executive says that there was not a huge delay, but the laying of the order was late. That means that those who will be affected by the order will have less time in which to acquaint themselves with its provisions and make whatever changes are necessary. Again, the matter should be drawn to the lead committee's attention.
Do members agree that the attention of the lead committee and the Parliament should be drawn to the three points that we have raised, on which we have received unsatisfactory answers?
Control of Pollution (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 (SSI 2003/531)
Members will remember that our first question on the regulations was about the reference to the year 1999—we thought that that was an error and that the reference should have been to 1991. The Executive agrees about that. Our second question concerned the meaning of the words, "the present Regulation", and the Executive states that there was a clerical error. Our third question was about the need to clear the statute book. The Executive accepts that point and it will take the next opportunity to do so. That set of responses is in big contrast to the previous set.
Do you think that they were both written by the same person?
I doubt it.
I do not think so.
We are happy with the responses, but we should report the questions and responses to the lead committee and the Parliament. Do members agree?
I have not received any papers, other than the legal briefing paper, so I have not seen the Executive's response. I note from the briefing paper that the Executive has noted our view that it is good practice to clear the statute book. Did it say whether it agrees that that is good practice and whether it does that across the board?
Yes, it did.
So that is in its letter?
Yes. May I ask why you did not receive the papers?
Presumably they have been sent to my home and would have arrived this morning.
We will check that and ensure that that does not happen again.
I got mine on Friday.
So did I.
So did I.
I also received e-mails from Alasdair Rankin at the weekend about the legal brief and other matters.
If you check at your end, Murray, we will check too.
Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003 (Commencement No 3, Transitional and Savings Provisions) Order 2003 <br />(SSI 2003/548)
Members will remember that we wanted to know when the act is expected to be completely in force, given the quantity of commencement orders. Our query related to the provisions on the tenant's right to buy land. We have been told that the provisions will be implemented around summer 2004, when the necessary infrastructure is in place. Do members agree that we cannot do much more on this one? We will bring the matter to the attention of the Parliament, but there is no lead committee.
We asked an interesting question about commencement. As the matter has been raised in relation to the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 2003, I wonder whether we monitor the implementation of commencement orders in relation to all acts of the Scottish Parliament. Do we keep an eye on that?
I do not think that we have done so up to now.
In the legal adviser's view, is there any point in doing that? We thought that there was a point in relation to the 2003 act.
The legal adviser keeps an eye on the matter; if there are several commencement orders, we would ask the Executive about them.
That is what I was asking.
So many of us were involved with the 2003 act and knew it intimately that we wondered when it would be completely in force.
There is a general point that applies to the inquiry that we will discuss later. Is there a website that tells the public whether parts of an act are in force or not? People can log on to the Parliament website, link to Her Majesty's Stationery Office and see the texts of acts that we have passed, but do they have a way of knowing whether an act is in force?
There are commercial databases and citators.
That is precisely my point.
There are published statute citators, which can probably be obtained in the Parliament library.
Alasdair Morgan's point is that there is nowhere that people can easily get such information.
Yes. Surely people should be able to find out from somewhere—and for nothing—the dates from which legislation applies, if ignorance of the law is meant not to be an excuse.
We could discuss that later, in the context of our proposed regulatory framework inquiry. The clerk will take a note of that point.