Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Official Report 478KB pdf
Contents
- Attendance
- Interests
- Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
- European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
Insolvency (Amendment) (EU Exit) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 (SSI 2020/337)
Agenda item 3 is on regulations that have been made under the powers that the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 confers on devolved authorities. Under the protocol between the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government, the committee is required to consider whether the procedure that is attached to the Scottish statutory instrument is appropriate or should be changed. The regulations are subject to the negative procedure, and the Scottish ministers have suggested that they should be in the low category of the protocol, as they make technical amendments. Further information is contained in committee paper 2. Is the committee content for the SSI to be subject to the negative procedure? It appears that we are content.
Members indicated agreement.
Item 4 is also on the regulations, which are SSI 2020/337. The regulations amend the Insolvency (EU Exit) (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2019, which address failures of the law to operate effectively and other deficiencies in devolved legislation on cross-border insolvencies that arise from the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU. Does any member wish to raise substantive issues? Are we content for the instrument to come into force? As no member has raised any issues, I take it that we are content.
Members indicated agreement.
09:53 Meeting suspended.10:00 On resuming—
Scottish National Investment Bank plc and South of Scotland Enterprise (Miscellaneous Listings) Regulations 2020 [Draft]
Companies Act 2006 (Scottish public sector companies to be audited by the Auditor General for Scotland) Order 2020 [Draft]
Scottish National Investment Bank plc (Miscellaneous Listings) Order 2020 [Draft]
Under agenda item 5, the committee will take evidence on three pieces of subordinate legislation that relate to the Scottish National Investment Bank. I welcome the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture, Fiona Hyslop, and her officials, Graham Watson and Ninian Christie, who are joining us remotely.
As the instruments are inextricably linked or bound up together, we intend to consider them together in the first instance. After that, we will make a formal decision on each instrument separately.
I invite the cabinet secretary to make an opening statement on the instruments.
Good morning, committee.
The three SSIs that the committee is considering are routine pieces of secondary legislation that concern the audit arrangements for the Scottish National Investment Bank and the application of public bodies duties to the Scottish National Investment Bank and South of Scotland Enterprise. They all fulfil commitments that were made during the passage of the Scottish National Investment Bank Act 2020 and the South of Scotland Enterprise Act 2019.
The Companies Act 2006 (Scottish public sector companies to be audited by the Auditor General for Scotland) Order 2020 allows the Scottish National Investment Bank’s accounts to be subject to audit by the Auditor General for Scotland. It also disapplies a provision in the Companies Act 2006 that would require the bank to appoint external auditors in addition to its accounts being subject to audit by the Auditor General for Scotland.
The Scottish National Investment Bank plc (Miscellaneous Listings) Order 2020 applies the public sector equality duty and the public body climate change reporting duties to the bank.
The Scottish National Investment Bank plc and South of Scotland Enterprise (Miscellaneous Listings) Regulations 2020 apply the fairer Scotland duty to the bank and to South of Scotland Enterprise. They also apply the Scotland-specific equalities duties to the bank.
For the committee’s information, we included South of Scotland Enterprise in the application of the fairer Scotland duty, as the interim guidance to public bodies on the application of the duty is due to be updated in 2021. We therefore wanted to ensure consistency in the legal position by applying the duty to both new bodies before that updated guidance is issued.
I would be happy to answer any questions that the committee may have.
Thank you, cabinet secretary. Do committee members have any questions?
My understanding, from the information that we have, is that the Scottish National Investment Bank plc (Miscellaneous Listings) Order 2020 will come into force on 26 November. Has Parliament been given the usual 28 days in which to consider it?
I will refer to my officials—I think that Graham Watson is online—to check the dates of laying. I assume that the same timetabling that applies to other SSIs should be met.
Graham Watson has just come online now.
Good morning. We lodged all the SSIs together, and the full timetable should be available to the Parliament. I know that the committee moved the schedule forward to ensure that that was the case, and we are grateful for that. Perhaps I can clarify that point and come back to the committee separately on it.
Perhaps you could clarify why the SSI comes into force on the day after the day on which it is made, rather than a month or two after that.
I will go first, then Graham Watson might want to supplement what I say.
Clearly, we want to get the Scottish National Investment Bank established as quickly as we can, according to what we have set out. We are in the final stages of establishing the bank, so it makes sense to ensure that the required provisions are set up.
I echo the cabinet secretary’s words. We will be happy to come back on that point.
Do any committee members, either here in the committee room or online, have any other questions? I do not see anyone indicating that, so we will move on to the next item of business, which is the formal debate on the motions.
Motions moved,
That the Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee recommends that the Scottish National Investment Bank p.l.c. and South of Scotland Enterprise (Miscellaneous Listings) Regulations 2020 [draft] be approved.
That the Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee recommends that the Companies Act 2006 (Scottish public sector companies to be audited by the Auditor General for Scotland) Order 2020 [draft] be approved.
That the Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee recommends that the Scottish National Investment Bank p.l.c. (Miscellaneous Listings) Order 2020 [draft] be approved.—[Fiona Hyslop]
Motions agreed to.
Does the committee agree that I and the clerks should produce a short factual report of the committee’s decisions on the three instruments and arrange to have it published?
Members indicated agreement.
Very well. I thank the cabinet secretary for her attendance. We move into private session.
10:08 Meeting continued in private until 10:56.