One might, in that case, ask why the issue that we are dealing with now was not tidied up at the same time, thereby sparing Parliament further procedure.Could there possibly have been an oversight on the part of the cabinet secretary's officials? Apparently not, because at the Local Government and Communities Committee, the cabinet secretary solemnly told us that in his judgment, the legislative point in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 would be dealt with more "efficiently" through the making of the order that is before Parliament today, which I remind members has, by the Government's own admission, no substantive effect in law.At a time when Scotland's economy is falling deeper into recession, when thousands of our fellow Scots are losing their jobs and when the cabinet secretary has to cope with the budgetary consequences of an apparent £500 million of cuts, while ensuring that the First Minister gets free prescriptions for gout, selective amnesia or any other affliction that may beset him in the future, and free meals for his weans, one must seriously question whether this is a good use of ministerial time.The cabinet secretary assured us in committee that he has not set officials to the task of scouring the statute book for "superfluous" legislative references that we can then solemnly repeal.