Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 29 June 2022
I am pleased to speak in the debate. I want to highlight a couple of aspects of the work of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee, which I convene. I make it clear to members that I am not speaking on behalf of the committee today.
The committee welcomed three Scottish Government amendments to the bill at stage 2. Amendments to sections 18, 24 and 35 changed the parliamentary procedure for powers under those sections from negative procedure to affirmative procedure. Although the committee was, in principle, content with the powers during its stage 1 scrutiny, it is always conscious of the need to strike a balance between use of parliamentary time and the appropriate level of scrutiny. For the powers under those sections, the committee considered that the enhanced scrutiny for which the affirmative procedure provides was most appropriate.
The committee sometimes challenges the Scottish Government’s approach to delegated powers in bills, so it is right that we also highlight times when the Government responds positively to the committee’s recommendations.
That relates to Maggie Chapman’s point about the bill: today is not the end of scrutiny of the legislation. As she said, secondary legislation will come forward in the future. Parliamentary scrutiny does not end today; there will be more, as time goes on.
On the policy behind the bill, I am pleased that at the heart of the bill is the aim of reducing the negative impact of fireworks and pyrotechnics on communities. Many people enjoy fireworks, whether we are talking about Guy Fawkes night or displays that are part of festivals or family celebrations. We must legislate in a way that does not prevent people from enjoying fireworks, but which takes account of the impact that loud noise has on pets, wildlife and people with sensory issues, including veterans.
The bill is also an important step towards reducing the burden on the emergency services of preparing for and responding to fireworks-related incidents. Data from Police Scotland indicates that around 900 such incidents were reported during the 2019-20 fireworks period. There is no evidence that the number of such incidents that are reported to the police is changing. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service identified fireworks as a contributing factor in 342 incidents annually, on average, between 2009-10 and 2019-20, with around half of those incidents occurring on or around bonfire night.