Meeting of the Parliament 04 February 2026
We are now getting quite far ahead of ourselves, but I hope that I will cover that point as I go on. To be absolutely clear, the time limit applies only to the legislative competence of the Parliament, but that will not affect the future exercise of any regulation-making functions contained in the bill beyond 7 May 2026. The time limit is for passing the bill, not for making the regulations thereafter.
The order enables the Scottish Parliament to confer a power on the Scottish ministers to identify substances or devices by way of subordinate legislation. Members will note that that must be with the agreement of the secretary of state. Similarly, the order enables the Scottish Parliament to confer a power on the secretary of state to regulate such substances or devices by way of subordinate legislation.
It is recognised that those provisions are slightly unusual. However, the UK Government was keen that UK ministers retain a role in the overarching regulation of medicines and devices, given that this is a reserved matter, as it felt that that would be the best way of ensuring continued regulatory consistency across the UK.
I see that Edward Mountain wants to ask a question.