Hansard

As members will remember, the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee’s report on the LCM stopped short of making any recommendation. Members will also recall that, in June, I gave a statement on behalf of the committee in which I set out its reasons for that.

The committee recognised that legislation was required to enable ministers to make regulatory provision in those policy areas that were previously within EU competence. However, it felt that it was not clear why that had to be done through UK rather than Scottish legislation. We argued that

“provision via Scottish primary legislation would enable full Scottish parliamentary scrutiny and accountability of the legislative proposals and, thus, respect the devolution settlement”.

However, in a detailed response to us, the cabinet secretary set out the circumstances under which the Scottish ministers would consent to UK ministers exercising powers in those policy areas. Ministers have pointed to the reduction of regulatory burdens where there are shared objectives, where there is a complex mix of devolved and reserved issues and where there are cross-border issues.

The committee recognised that, where the Scottish ministers’ consent is sought, the protocol that was agreed between the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government would apply.? The protocol provides that Parliament is notified and is given 28 days to consider the Scottish ministers’ decision to consent to UK ministers exercising those powers.?

At the time of publishing our report, the committee felt strongly that there were limited opportunities for Scottish Parliament scrutiny of UK legislation and its implementation.?In particular, we repeated the concerns that we had raised previously about the limitations of the 28-day period and the fact that the Scottish Parliament is not given sight of the draft SIs in order to inform its scrutiny.

Again, we received a welcome response from the Scottish Government, which agreed with us that Parliament should have opportunities for scrutiny and that we should have a “significant role” in scrutinising the—limited, we hope—occasions on which UK ministers make legislative provision in Scotland.?

As a consequence, the Government revised the draft protocol so that Parliament will be consulted during the development of regulatory schemes that are delivered under powers provided in the bill. The committee has agreed to feed into the proposed six-month review of the protocol. We think that that is the right approach, and we are content that we have been heard on this most fundamental of issues.

The committee also recommended

“that measures need to be put in place—as a matter of priority—to ensure the devolution settlement keeps pace with the constitutional reality of a post-EU UK.”?

In relation to common frameworks, the committee highlighted the point—which it also made in relation to the UK Agriculture Bill and Fisheries Bill—that it is “a fundamental requirement” that the Parliament considers the legislative proposals relating to frameworks at the same time as the draft framework.?We have not been given a satisfactory update on the development of common frameworks since 26 June 2019, and we continue to ask the UK environment minister to accept our invitation to provide an update on their development.? The Scottish Government could provide no further information on those frameworks, but it has said that it continues to liaise with the UK Government in trying to ensure that they work for all four nations.

However, I must stress that it is exactly seven weeks until the end of the transition period, and the committee has still not been given the detail on any of the frameworks. The sectors that are affected need clarity now. Indeed, it is difficult to scrutinise many of the statutory instruments before us when we have no detail on the common frameworks that underpin them.

With regard to this bill and its policy provisions, the committee felt unable to make detailed comments as there was no policy to scrutinise. For example, we are very concerned at the lack of information on the replacement for the EU’s registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals—REACH—mechanism, UK REACH. Many questions remain about its operation and a lack of alignment between the UK and EU REACH systems. We believe the lack of withdrawal terms between the EU and the UK Government are at the root of that. Again, I stress that we are seven weeks away from the end of the transition period.

We thank the cabinet secretary for providing us with the detail that we require in this case, but we hope that the provision of the detail on common frameworks is a priority for both Governments as we reach the end of the transition period.