Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 (Access to Documents and Information) (Relevant Persons)<br />Order 2003 (SSI 2003/530)
Agenda item 6 is consideration of subordinate legislation under the negative procedure. We have had time to consider whether any further action is required—whether a motion to annul the instrument needs to be lodged—but no member has suggested that or lodged a motion to annul. Do members have any comments to make on the instrument?
No.
It may be of use to members if I say that we have had some correspondence explaining what procedures have been followed and the reasons for the delay. There seems to be some dispute between the legal advisers for the Scottish Executive and the Subordinate Legislation Committee. We know that that is not unusual, and it has not driven any member of the committee to lodge an objection to the instrument.
I took the issue up with the Minister for Finance and Public Services and he wrote to me on 3 December. I can provide the clerk with a copy of that letter. The minister has indicated that the problem was due to an administrative error and that the commencement date was already included in the body of the order. The order had to go through the Executive's processes to ensure that no other interested party in the Executive had a comment to make, which is why it was late in being laid. I will pass that letter to the clerk.
We will circulate it to members. Thank you.
That is fine. We will now move into private session for items 7, 8 and 9.
Meeting continued in private until 12:53.