Subordinate Legislation Committee, 27 Oct 1999

Meeting date: Wednesday, October 27, 1999

Official Report 79KB pdf

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Presiding Officer (Letters)

We discussed this matter in the pre-meeting briefing, during which we had flagged up difficulties. In the spirit of constructively criticising the Executive, we can leave it to Alasdair Rankin, as clerk of this committee, to see whether sufficient recognition can be given to us. We should also make clear that we wish to receive matters to be brought to our attention electronically, if that is the quickest way to do it. As we said earlier, letters to the Presiding Officer are significant and can be vital.

We will see whether informal channels can be used to deal with those matters rather than having to deal with them formally by instructing, advising and requesting people to come before the committee. Is that agreed?

Yes.

I want to raise a question on the letter from the Executive. In paragraph 3, it is stated that in relation to the provision of letters under article 10 of SI 1999/1096, there is not a timetable defined within that article. If that is the case, we may wish to seek to amend that. If it is the case that you must send a letter, but it does not matter whether you send it this year or next year, that seems to be a bit of an open goal.

Yes, it certainly does. Should we seek clarification by asking Alasdair to discuss matters with the Executive? If we are not clear on that, that may be an issue that we have to raise. The Procedures Committee may have to examine that as well, as it is not satisfactory.

Thank you for attending at this time of day. Sorry for the inconvenience of having to rejig our schedule.

Meeting closed at 18:31.