Communities Committee, 15 Dec 2004

Meeting date: Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Official Report 329KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Building Standards Advisory Committee (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (SSI 2004/506)

Good morning. I welcome members to the 31st meeting of the Communities Committee in 2004.

Agenda item 1 is consideration of two items of subordinate legislation, the first of which is the Building Standards Advisory Committee (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (SSI 2004/506). Members have been provided with copies of the regulations and the accompanying documentation. The regulations make provision for the constitution and procedures of the building standards advisory committee that Scottish ministers are required to appoint under section 31 of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003. The regulations replace and revoke the Building Standards Advisory Committee (Scotland) Regulations 1959.

The Subordinate Legislation Committee considered the regulations at its meeting on 7 December and was concerned about the apparent lack of time limits for appointments to the building standards advisory committee. The Subordinate Legislation Committee agreed to determine who has responsibility for deciding the period of office of BSAC members. At its meeting on 14 December, the Subordinate Legislation Committee considered the response from the Executive on the issue and will report formally on the instrument later this week. I understand that the Subordinate Legislation Committee is now broadly content with the regulations and has no substantive points to make on them.

Do members have any comments?

No.

Is the committee content with the regulations?

Yes.

In that case, I ask the committee to agree that we report to the Parliament that the committee has no recommendations to make on the instrument, subject to the Subordinate Legislation Committee's report. I also propose that the Subordinate Legislation Committee's comments are noted in our report and that that report be circulated to committee members for approval before its publication. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

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Building (Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (SSI 2004/508)

Members have been provided with copies of the Building (Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (SSI 2004/508) and the accompanying documentation. The policy intention of the instrument is to set the fees structure for applications for building warrants and submissions for completion certificates for the new building standards system in Scotland under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003. The Executive consulted on the instrument in May and June and there was a positive response to the new system. The Executive made some changes to the regulations to take on board the comments of local authorities. The Subordinate Legislation Committee considered the regulations at its meeting on 7 December and agreed that no points arose in relation to the instrument.

Do members have any comments?

Annex A of the clerk's paper tells us that there were very few respondents to the 317 consultation documents that were sent out to local authorities and other agencies. I hope that that reflects the fact that people were broadly in agreement with the proposals and that people who did not respond are not going to come back and say that they do not like what has been proposed.

Other members of the committee, including the deputy convener, Donald Gorrie, raised that matter with the clerks yesterday. Our clerks contacted the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, which got back to the committee to say that it was broadly content with the new regulations.

Is the committee content with the regulations?

Members indicated agreement.

Therefore, the committee will not comment on the regulations in its report to the Parliament. Do members agree to report to the Parliament our decision on the regulations that we have considered today?

Members indicated agreement.