Justice 1 Committee,

Meeting date: Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Official Report 322KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Advice and Assistance (Assistance by Way of Representation) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2006 (Draft)<br />Advice and Assistance (Scotland) Amendment (No 2) Regulations 2006 <br />(SSI 2006/233)

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Criminal Legal Aid (Summary Justice Pilot Courts and Bail Conditions) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (SSI 2006/234)

Items 2 and 3 on the agenda comprise consideration of three related items of subordinate legislation. The first Scottish statutory instrument is subject to the affirmative procedure, whereas the other two are subject to the negative procedure. Because of the connection between the three sets of regulations, we will use a format that is slightly different from the one that we usually use. The Deputy Minister for Justice will make introductory remarks on all three SSIs, after which members will be able to ask questions. When we come to the formal proceedings, the minister will move the motion on the affirmative instrument and members will comment on the negative instruments.

Hugh Henry will remain with us—

Forever.

—for the remainder of the afternoon. Poor you—you must have done something bad in a former life.

I welcome Gillian Mawdsley and Phil Burns, who are from the Scottish Executive Justice Department. Thank you for joining us. I invite the minister to make his opening remarks.

The three sets of regulations are designed to support the two summary justice pilot courts that have been set up in Grampian and West Lothian, which have been designed to encourage criminal justice organisations to co-operate to achieve speedier resolution of summary criminal cases. The regulations include changes that make provision for probation progress reviews and payments in respect of bail hearings for remote monitoring.

The Advice and Assistance (Assistance by Way of Representation) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2006 will allow assistance by way of representation to be provided to any accused person who appears from custody without application of the means and merits tests

"until the conclusion of the first diet at which he is called upon to plead and in connection with any application for liberation following upon that diet"

or until the case is disposed of, if the accused has tendered a plea of guilty and no grant of criminal legal aid will be made until then. The regulations will also allow such assistance to be provided to an offender for a court hearing at which their probation order is reviewed; when they are sentenced, provided that the means and merits tests have been satisfied and criminal legal aid has not been granted; and when they make a change of plea once the Scottish Legal Aid Board has refused a legal aid application.

The summary justice pilot courts adopt a number of the key recommendations that Sheriff Principal McInnes made as part of his review of summary justice cases. The changes, which are designed to underpin such reforms, will be monitored to obtain necessary information on how the provision of legal aid should be developed to support the other reforms that are being advanced as part of the process of summary justice reform.

Parole review hearings represent a new procedure whereby a fee has been introduced for solicitors' remuneration.

Do any members wish to comment on, or to ask questions about, the three SSIs?

I have a question about SSI 2006/234, which deals with bail conditions, but it is not germane to the payment of the fee. Is there any indication of how many remote monitoring orders have been breached?

We do not have that information at the moment.

As there are no more comments or questions, I invite the minister to move motion S2M-4448.

Motion moved,

That the Justice 1 Committee recommends that the draft Advice and Assistance (Assistance By Way of Representation) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2006 be approved.—[Hugh Henry.]

Motion agreed to.

Do members wish us to report anything on the two negative instruments or should we simply note their contents?

We note their contents.

Minister, will you be remaining for the next item on the agenda? You would be welcome to do so.

I would love to—but what is the next item?

You should have asked that first.

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Divorce (Religious Bodies) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (SSI 2006/253)<br />Divorce and Dissolution etc (Pension Protection Fund) (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (SSI 2006/254)

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Parental Responsibilities and Parental Rights Agreement (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2006 (SSI 2006/255)

Item 4 is consideration of regulations relating to divorce and the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006.

I am sure that the minister would be delighted to stay with us.

If it will help the committee, I will remain.

The Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 inserted into the Divorce (Scotland) Act 1976 new section 3A, which allows the court to postpone the granting of a divorce decree in circumstances in which a barrier exists that would prevent one of the applicants from entering into a future religious marriage. New section 3A defines a religious marriage as one that is solemnised by a marriage celebrant of a prescribed religious body and allows ministers to define a religious body in an order.

For our consideration of the three sets of regulations, on which the clerks have prepared notes, we are joined by Anne Cairns and Christina Phillips. Thank you for joining us. I have a question about SSI 2006/253. My reading is that it simply changes the terminology that was used in the 1976 act. Is that correct?

SSI 2006/253 simply prescribes any Hebrew congregation as a religious body for the purposes of new section 3A of the 1976 act, which is on the postponement of decree.

Does that represent a change in terminology?

It is a slight change. The order under the 1976 act prescribed the Hebrew congregation, whereas SSI 2006/253 refers to any Hebrew congregation. The change was made in consultation with the Jewish community, which was satisfied with the proposal.

Are we satisfied with the regulations?

Members indicated agreement.

As there are no further comments, I ask members simply to note the three sets of regulations. I thank Anne Cairns and Christina Phillips for joining us briefly and Hugh Henry for volunteering to stay with us until the bitter end.

At a previous meeting, the committee agreed, in keeping with our usual practice, to take in private item 5, which is discussion of the issues that have arisen during our evidence taking on the Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Bill.

Meeting continued in private until 13:10.