Meeting of the Parliament Business until 18:59

Meeting date: Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Official Report 1154KB pdf

Parliamentary Bureau Motions

The next item of business is consideration of Parliamentary Bureau motion S6M-19268, on suspension of standing orders. I invite Graeme Dey, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, to move the motion.

Motion moved,

That the Parliament agrees, for the purposes of consideration of the supplementary legislative consent memorandum on the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, Rules 9B.3.5 and 9B.3.6 of Standing Orders are suspended.—[Graeme Dey]

Parliament’s prime duty is to pass effective legislation. I know that members will agree that that can be done only if effective scrutiny is undertaken by the Parliament and its committees. The legislative consent motion that will be debated tomorrow is important, as it relates to fraud prevention.

As was intimated by the convener of the Finance and Public Administration Committee, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and David Wallace of Social Security Scotland were asked to appear before that committee on 16 September because of concerns about an article that appeared in The Scotsman in August, which implied that the Scottish Government was unwilling to chase up £36 million of fraudulent benefit claims. That is a substantial sum of public money, on which the Finance and Public Administration Committee rightly sought to challenge the Government.

Presiding Officer, I am sure that you will agree that it is right that additional scrutiny takes place, just as it is important that we do not wave through LCMs without scrutiny. We accept that, in this instance, there have been issues relating to the timescales for deliberation at Westminster and at Holyrood, and the impact of the October recess on those. However, we wish to put on record that we believe that there should be the fullest scrutiny of all aspects of legislation. For that reason, we will not support the proposed suspension of standing orders at decision time.

Amendments to the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill that the supplementary legislative consent motion covers were tabled only on 3 October. The supplementary LCM was also lodged on 3 October.

The United Kingdom Government has advised that the bill will reach the last amending stage on 15 October, while the Scottish Parliament is in recess. Therefore, the only options that I have are to seek to suspend standing orders so that the LCM can be considered by the Parliament before the October recess or to leave it until after the October recess, at which point the bill will have gone through the last amending stage.

On balance, I have taken the view that it is preferable for the Parliament to have an opportunity to consider the LCM while the Parliament’s views can still influence the final form of the bill. That means suspending standing orders so that the LCM can be debated in the chamber tomorrow, prior to the recess.

Prior to reaching that conclusion, my officials sought the views of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee. The Social Justice and Social Security Committee indicated that it would prefer to consider the matter in committee but appreciated that the timing might mean that the LCM would need to be taken directly to the chamber. The DPLR Committee has signalled that it would be content for the LCM to go straight to the chamber.

I agree that the committees of this Parliament not having a scrutiny role is less than ideal, but the alternative to considering the LCM tomorrow is having no say prior to the bill going through its last amending stage. However, I offer the Parliament the reassurance that the Scottish ministers and our officials continue to impress on the UK Government the need to account for Scottish Parliament recess periods when timetabling legislation that requires legislative consent.

The question on the motion will be put at decision time.

The next item of business is consideration of Parliamentary Bureau motion S6M-19269, on approval of a Scottish statutory instrument. I ask Graeme Dey, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, to move the motion.

Motion moved,

That the Parliament agrees that the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (Scottish Carbon Budgets) Amendment Regulations 2025 [draft] be approved.—[Graeme Dey]

The question on the motion will be put at decision time.

The next item of business is consideration of four Parliamentary Bureau motions. I invite Graeme Dey, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, to move motions S6M-19270 and S6M-19271, on approval of SSIs, and motions S6M-19272 and S6M-19273, on designation of lead committees.

Motions moved,

That the Parliament agrees that the Social Security (Cross-border Provision, Case Transfer and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 [draft] be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the Winter Heating Assistance (Pension Age) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025 [draft] be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee be designated as the lead committee in consideration of the Contract (Formation and Remedies) (Scotland) Bill at stage 1.

That the Parliament agrees that the Economy and Fair Work Committee be designated as the lead committee in consideration of the Digital Assets (Scotland) Bill at stage 1.—[Graeme Dey]

The question on the motions will be put at decision time.