Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 27 April 2022
Presiding Officer, Labour will support the amendment to the business motion. I would like it to be noted, however, that that is no reflection whatsoever on the hard work of the committee members.
As Jamie Greene set out, the Criminal Justice Committee was asked to scrutinise the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Bill using a fast-tracked timetable so that we could bring in the new much-needed offence of supplying fireworks to a person who is under the age of 18 in enough time for the November bonfire season. I agreed, while not fully realising that other aspects of the bill would require much deeper scrutiny than was first thought, including aspects in the stage 1 report that was signed off today around the complexities in the creation of a new licensing scheme, which will require close consideration.
Had I known that the Government would not allow for the usual five days prior to the stage 1 debate, as is required under standing orders, I would have made more objections in the first place against a shortened timetable for completion of the stage 1 report. It does not set a good precedent not to comply with standing order rule 9.6.3A.
As Jamie Greene has done for his party, I place on the record that we support the intentions of the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Bill, and commend the work of the Government and stakeholders. However, we must be prepared to uphold the integrity of the scrutiny process, and it should not be squeezed into a stage 1 debate on Tuesday when stakeholders will not have had time to respond, and we only have the Government’s promise that we will see what it has to say before we have that debate. It is quite unprecedented that the committee report will be published tomorrow afternoon, as the May day holiday is a potential barrier to many who will want to brief members of Parliament who might want to take part in the debate. It is completely unsatisfactory.
The debate could be held on Wednesday; I am not clear why it cannot be. This is one of the first pieces of legislation that has been made in session 6 of the Parliament, and we should be seen to be treating it with respect.
The committee struggled to get data on the crime of fireworks misuse—on which I think the Parliament is unanimous—so that it can understand the picture across Scotland. The data came so late that we cannot influence the stage 1 reports.
Members can see that many factors are making it difficult for the committee to properly scrutinise this important bill. It is therefore unhelpful that, at the end of the process, the Government has chosen to give us no time to consider our response to the report. I hope that there is a way of saying how we intend to go forward in this parliamentary session, which is still in its early stages, and that we will do the right thing and oppose the business motion. Let us let stakeholders give a proper response to the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Bill. Let us scrutinise it properly. I ask all members, please, not to make an assumption that, just because there is a stage 1 report, the Government has got everything right. I assure members that they will want to discuss quite a number of things when they see the report.