This search includes all content on the Scottish Parliament website, except for Votes and Motions. All Official Reports (what has been said in Parliament) and Questions and Answers are available from 1999. You can refine your search by adding and removing filters.
It is pointed out to me that members may wish to note the link to the recommendation in the draft report on our regulatory framework inquiry that local instruments should no longer be made as statutory instruments.
Issues have also arisen in relation to the potential conflicts in the dual role that local councillors may have, for example when a council owns land and makes planning decisions about it.
The delegated powers memorandum gives no indication of the sorts of restrictions that ministers may wish to impose on the use of information in what is a potentially sensitive area.
An ability to lodge late amendments is probably desirable, although we might not necessarily want to encourage it. There may be a procedural fix, to use Karen Gillon's words.
I suggest that we still take the quarterly update from the minister in May but that we also have a discussion with him in early September, as the UK kicks off its presidency.
I will certainly write to the minister—so that the letter is on the desk of whoever is the minister on 2 May—to ask that the matter be taken forward as a matter of urgency because it has an impact on both rural and urban schools in Scotland.
Regulations made under sections 59 and 86 concern compensation, so we must be clear about this. There may be some ambiguity in the drafting because it does not appear that the powers are sufficient to support the regulations made under them—unless it is for the calculation of compensation.