Subordinate Legislation Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Official Report 267KB pdf

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Instruments subject to Negative Procedure

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Marketing of Horticultural Produce (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2011 (SSI 2011/324)

It is suggested in the legal brief that the regulations be drawn to the Parliament’s attention on reporting ground (h) in respect of the erroneous reference to “operator” in regulation 6, where it inserts new regulation 10(3) into the Marketing of Horticultural Produce (Scotland) Regulations 2009 (SSI 2009/225) in the context of a right of review, it being considered that the form or meaning of the provision concerned could be clearer. Does the committee agree to draw the instrument to the Parliament’s attention on reporting ground (h)?

Members indicated agreement.

In so doing, the committee may wish to welcome the Scottish Government’s intention to amend the regulations at the earliest opportunity. I suspect that we want to welcome that.

Members indicated agreement.

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Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 (Development Planning) (Saving, Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Amendment Order 2011 (SSI 2011/336)

As members will note from the legal brief, the order was not laid before the Scottish Parliament at least 28 days before it came into force, as required by section 28(2) of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. Given the breach of section 28(2), does the committee agree to draw the instrument to the Parliament’s attention on reporting ground (j)?

Members indicated agreement.

We may note that, in its response to questions on the breach, the Scottish Government states that the need for the amendment order came to its attention only recently, after a query raised by a planning authority on 2 September. Further investigation established that three local plans were likely to be adopted in the near future and that one of those was expected to be adopted in the week starting 19 September.

Against that background, the Government was required to bring the order into force on 17 September. From 3 September to the making of the order on 14 September, it appears that there was an informal consultation process with some planning authorities that are affected by the order.

It appears that the breach of the 28-day rule arose from a simple oversight, rather than from a failure to plan the process so that the order would comply with the rule, and that the technical amendment was appropriate until 2 September or shortly after.

Although we all know that it is not entirely satisfactory that such an oversight has led to a breach of the 28-day rule, it appears that urgent steps were taken to consult on, draft and complete the order once the need had been identified. The committee might therefore, in this instance, wish to intimate its satisfaction with the Scottish Government’s reasons for the breach. Are we agreed?

It stinks. I find this difficult. The Government’s position is that, after further investigation, it discovered that three local plans were likely to be adopted in the near future and that one of those was to be adopted in the week starting 19 September, so it rushed through the legislation.

And?

And I have difficulty with the fact that we comply and say, “Well, that’s okay then.” We should go back to the Government and ask why the 28-day rule is not being applied, particularly in circumstances that are somewhat questionable.

Once we have reported or not reported issues, we do not have to express an opinion about whether the situation is satisfactory, so we need not divide.

I take Chic Brodie’s point. I do not entirely know the detail of the provision. I take it from the advice that the order makes a technical amendment that covers an issue that was not previously thought to be relevant—our legal adviser is nodding furiously to show that that is the case. In that situation, I am inclined to say, “Well done for spotting it and getting it right in time.” However, we have noted Chic Brodie’s thoughts.

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Poultrymeat (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (SSI 2011/318)

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Criminal Legal Assistance (Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 (SSI 2011/333)

The committee agreed that no points arose on the instruments.