Police Pensions (Contributions) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (SSI 2012/71)
Item 3 is further consideration of the Police Pensions (Contributions) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (SSI 2012/71). We first considered this negative instrument at last week’s meeting and agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, asking him for examples of the amount of contribution increases that serving police officers might face from 1 April 2012 and how those compare to contribution increases for firefighters and those who work in other areas of the public sector. I refer the committee to the cabinet secretary’s response, which is in annex C of paper J/S4/12/11/3. Do members have any comments on the response?
I raised the matter and I am grateful for the additional information. The cabinet secretary was vehement when he talked about attacks on the terms and conditions of police officers. I presume that this statutory instrument, which is being put forward by the Scottish Government and which increases police officers’ pension contributions, does not constitute an attack on their terms and conditions.
Does the committee agree that we do not wish to make any recommendation in relation to the instrument?
Civil Legal Aid (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2012 (SSI 2012/64)
Item 4 is consideration of the Civil Legal Aid (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2012 (SSI 2012/64). It feels like groundhog day. The Subordinate Legislation Committee has drawn the Parliament’s attention to the instrument on the ground that its drafting appears to be defective.
Oh, crumbs—not again.
Two conflicting provisions with regard to transferring certain moneys held by the Scottish Legal Aid Board appear to apply at the same time. The Subordinate Legislation Committee considers that the instrument does not deliver the intended policy of transferring certain moneys from a general account held by the Scottish Legal Aid Board to the Scottish legal aid fund. As members will see from paper J/S4/12/11/4, the Subordinate Legislation Committee has expressed doubt over whether Scottish ministers can rectify the conflict by using a ministerial determination.
It has written to officials.
Does the committee want to write to the Government or to ask the cabinet secretary to give us evidence on the instrument, or should we leave it be and let the Subordinate Legislation Committee deal with the matter?
Is the Subordinate Legislation Committee dealing with the matter or has it referred it to us?
It has referred it to us, so we must deal with it—you are quite right.
The previous set of drafting errors, which cropped up last week, were, by and large, ignored on the basis that—if I remember correctly—they would just be ignored by anybody interpreting the instrument. However, in this instance the effect of the flaw seems to be a bit more fundamental and substantial than just ending up with some words in the legislation that would be ignored. Therefore, I do not think that we can ignore it. Why can the Government not withdraw the instrument, lodge another one and get it right from the start?
Can we invite the Government to do that?
Yes, we can write to the Government, asking whether it would consider doing that. If it would not, we can ask why not; if it would, we can ask when we will see the new instrument. What do members think?
Would the issue of the possibility of successors challenging to recover the moneys be covered? That seems to be an additional concern.
We do not know the answer to that. David McLetchie has rightly stated that the error is a substantive matter and it seems to me that we should not let it pass, but I am not a minister. I think that we should write to the Government, asking whether it would be appropriate for the instrument to be withdrawn and corrected. Perhaps somebody could be rapped over the knuckles in the process for an “Oh, crumbs—not again” moment.
We will get a snotty letter back, like the last time.
We like snotty letters, Graeme. We feel that we are doing our job when we get snotty letters. Good grief—they will put “snotty” in the Official Report now.