Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Official Report 459KB pdf

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Instruments not subject to Parliamentary Procedure

Under agenda item 5, we are considering instruments not subject to parliamentary procedure. No points have been raised on the following instruments.

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Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 (Commencement No 6 and Transitional Provision) Amendment Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/291 (C16))

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Act of Sederunt (Simple Procedure Amendment) (Civil Online) 2021 (SSI 2021/295)

Notwithstanding the points about SSI 2021/291 that we have just discussed, is the committee content with the instruments?

Members indicated agreement.

With that, I will move the meeting into private—

Convener—

Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Mr Simpson.

We are not quite in private yet. I apologise, but I want to raise an issue.

We know that we are to have a debate in the Parliament on vaccine passports. I do not actually know what we will debate yet, because we have not seen any details. Frankly, all that I have to go on is what the First Minister announced last week and what I have read in the press. We will have a debate and vote and I imagine that, for such a significant measure, regulations will be laid at some point.

There is a process issue. A lot of the coronavirus legislation has gone through under the made affirmative procedure, under which the law comes into force and then the Parliament has a look at it. A lot of planning has clearly gone into vaccine passports. The First Minister said last week that, if MSPs approve the proposals, she would like them to come in at the end of this month. Therefore, there is time to do what I would describe as proper scrutiny. I argue that the regulations should be laid before they come into force and that we should use a process other than the made affirmative procedure.

Given the lack of clarity, the committee could write to the Government to ask what its plans are. We do not want to know about the detail of the plans—that is for a policy committee to scrutinise—but we want to know how the Government plans to proceed and what process it plans to use. We could also flag that up to the COVID-19 Recovery Committee, which I think will be the main policy committee.

We would all agree that we live in different times compared to the normal political times that we had pre Covid. In the debate on Thursday, policy matters will certainly be highlighted. Your suggestion that we write to the Government to ask about the process is worth while. With the committee’s approval, I am content for that to happen and for us to get that explanation. Mr Simpson’s point about writing to the relevant committee is also worth while. Do members agree to those suggestions?

Members indicated agreement.

If there are no other points, I now move the meeting into private.

10:10 Meeting continued in private until 10:32.