Hansard

I thank Ms Di Rollo for stepping in today.

One of the responsibilities of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee is to scrutinise Scottish Law Commission bills. They are often seen as being quite technical, and members may think that our scrutiny is therefore quite turgid. As convener of the committee, perhaps I have just gone a little native, but I think that the Prescription (Scotland) Bill has proved to be a thoroughly interesting, important and thought-provoking piece of legislation.

I appreciate that many members might not have given much thought to the bill before today. They might have noted that it is a Scottish Law Commission Bill and thought that there is generally wide consensus among stakeholders on the need to reform the law and that any changes are fairly procedural and uncontroversial. Indeed, if they were asked to take part in this debate, they might have thought that they just needed to take their prescription and move on. They might even have thought that the bill is about the prescriptions that they get from their doctor. We have all had such prescriptions, but, thankfully, very few of us have had anything to do with the prescriptions that are covered in the bill.

There are some bills that we can really get stuck into—the Planning (Scotland) Bill, for instance. At first glance, the Prescription (Scotland) Bill did not appear to be one of those, but the DPLR Committee has had to wrestle with some important policy areas, such as council tax and social security benefits—policy issues with potential implications for our constituents, issues that affect some of the most vulnerable people in our society, and issues of justice for people who have suffered injustice.

I will give two examples that demonstrate why the bill is so important and why our committee was required to give it such robust scrutiny. Before I do, and for those members who are new to the legal term “prescription”, I can tell the chamber that I have found a handy way of thinking about it: it is the available time in which one is able to make a claim against loss. If someone has missed the deadline—the prescription period—their right is extinguished and, sadly, they are too late.

I turn first to the case of Morrison v ICL Plastics. As many members will remember with great sadness, the case stemmed from the tragic explosion at the Stockline Plastics factory in Glasgow in May 2004, in which nine employees were killed and which left many seriously injured. The case centred on a nearby business, David T Morrison and Co, which suffered significant damage from the explosion. However, when it sued ICL Plastics, which owned Stockline, for its loss, ICL defended the claim on the basis that it had already prescribed. In essence, Mr Morrison was told that he was too late to receive justice.

The case revolved around the interpretation of the existing legislation, the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, and what the start date was—the date on which the loss, injury or damage occurred. Morrison believed that the start date was in 2013, when he found out that the explosion was ICL’s fault, but ICL argued that the start date was in 2004, when Morrison’s had initially suffered the loss. The Supreme Court, by a majority of three to two, found in favour of ICL.

The committee recognises the impact that the Supreme Court’s decision had on the law of prescription. We therefore agree with the proposal in section 5, which allows the pursuer to know who caused the loss before the prescription period begins. That will mean that, in future, people who, like David Morrison, are trying to seek recompense for damage suffered due to negligence will not be told that it is too late to pursue the ICLs of this world. That is a welcome change to the law.

Another example might help to explain section 8, which covers the start date for the longer 20-year prescription period. Under the bill, that period will now start from the date when the act or omission that led to the loss occurred.

Fenella Mason, head of construction and projects at the law firm Burness Paull, gave the helpful illustration of a problem with a large infrastructure project such as—and I do not want to cause any undue worry to the current transport minister—the Queensferry crossing. Ms Mason asked the committee to assume that, back in 2008, one of the bridge’s engineers produced a defective design. As the structure did not open until 2017, and as it is not unusual for it to take 10 or 12 years for a problem to manifest itself, in that example the right of the Scottish Government to sue for damages could be lost.

The committee recognises that the start date for the 20-year prescription that is proposed in the bill might therefore result in some harsh cases. However, it was persuaded by the argument that evidence can deteriorate considerably over time, which in turn can lead to difficulties when compiling a case. As a number of witnesses said in evidence, we have to draw a line somewhere.

In the time available, I have not been able to mention the important welfare aspects that the committee wrestled with. We felt that they were of such significance that we wrote to the Social Security Committee, the Justice Committee, the Equalities and Human Rights Committee and the Local Government and Communities Committee to ask for their views on our work and whether they had anything to add. I am grateful to those committees for their helpful responses, particularly given the very tight deadline that we gave them. I am sure that some of my colleagues will pick up on those welfare issues in their own contributions.

I thank all those who contributed to the committee’s scrutiny of the bill, whether in writing or by appearing before the committee during one of our evidence sessions. As members know, a committee’s scrutiny is only as good as the evidence that it receives, so we are very grateful for the time and energy given to help us in our work.

I thank the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs and her officials for the constructive way in which they engaged with the committee, and I thank the Scottish Law Commission for proposing the bill. The committee was a little concerned that the commission did not perhaps consult as widely as it could have done, and we have called on it to review its processes for future consultations.

I also thank my fellow committee members for their enthusiasm in grappling with the issues that the bill raises. Although there were a couple of areas on which we could not reach agreement, that work was a great example of parliamentary scrutiny, with the committee wanting to get the best legislation possible on the statute books.

I close with the words of William Gladstone, who said:

“Justice delayed is justice denied.”

I hope that the provisions of the bill will ensure that justice might not be completely denied due to the passage of time. My committee and, indeed, all members, will welcome that. The bill will ensure greater fairness and equity in the civil justice system. I commend the committee’s report to members.