Health, Social Care and Sport Committee (Virtual)

Meeting date: Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Official Report 701KB pdf

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European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018

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European Qualifications (Health and Social Care Professions) (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2022 [Draft]

Item 4 on our agenda is consideration of a notification from the Scottish ministers for consent to a piece of subordinate legislation. The purpose of the instrument is to correct errors in the European Qualifications (Health and Social Care Professions) (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 and to correct an error that was created by those regulations in the National Health Service (Performers List) (England) Regulations 2013.

Under the protocol between the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government, the consent notification has been categorised as type 1, meaning that the Scottish Parliament’s agreement is sought before the Scottish Government gives consent to the UK Government making secondary legislation in areas of devolved competence.

Does any member have any comments on the?consent notification??

I accept that the instrument merely makes corrections. However, I want to place on record the fact that I am against the idea of having a performers list. I think that it is outdated and something that we should be able to get rid of across the UK and in Scotland.

You have put that on the record. As the matter sits at the UK level, it is something that you might want to flag up to our colleagues in the UK Parliament.

Having read our papers, I think that, when there are changes to legislation in England that could impact our healthcare system in Scotland, we need to ensure that the cabinet secretary keeps us informed and that we have an opportunity to pay attention to what is being taken forward. Especially when we are in a remote-working environment, it can be difficult to pick up non-verbal information, look at what we need to do and ask the right questions, so we need to ensure that the committee is kept fully informed about this kind of issue.

I take on board the comments that have been made by Sandesh Gulhane and Emma Harper. As there are no further comments from members, are we content that the provisions that are set out in the notification should be included in the proposed UK instrument?

Members indicated agreement.

I am looking carefully at certain members to ensure that I have their consent. I see that we are all nodding.

Finally, is the committee content to delegate authority to me to sign off a letter to the Scottish Government, informing it of our decision today??

Members indicated agreement.

I would not ordinarily ask for a robust shake of the head, but, as Emma Harper just mentioned, there can be issues with non-verbal cues on this kind of platform.