Meeting of the Parliament 20 December 2023
First, I will touch on the McClure situation. I raised it in the committee because constituents, some of whom have been seriously affected, came to me with their concerns. My point of caution to colleagues is that, when having dialogue with constituents, they should please give them factually accurate information. The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission is the organisation to deal with the complaints, not the Law Society of Scotland. On 15 January, I am hosting an event in my constituency for constituents to come along to, because of the situation that they have faced with McClure’s. I urge other colleagues to do likewise if they have a large number of people in their patches who have raised the issue with them.
At the outset, I echo the comments from others about the SLC, its work on the bill and its support for the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee’s scrutiny of the bill. The extension of the remit of the DPLRC has been an important advance in helping the Parliament to deal with SLC reports that have been completed but for which time had not been found in Parliament to implement the legislative changes that were suggested—a point that Oliver Mundell touched on earlier.
The DPLRC is supportive of the role that it has in scrutinising certain SLC bills. In the past year, the committee has led on two SLC bills, the one that is now the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Act 2023 and this one. In 2024, the committee will embark on another SLC bill, which has just been introduced—the Judicial Factors (Scotland) Bill. That bill is long overdue, with some aspects of the present law dating back to 1690.
Today, I am not speaking as the convener of the committee, but I know that colleagues past and present who have had the pleasure of serving on the committee encourage the Scottish Government to continue to keep the pipeline of SLC bills coming. The committee is always ready to scrutinise those that meet its criteria for consideration.
I also say, gently, to the whips of all parties that having members serve some time on the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee would provide a greater understanding of some of the vital and sometimes unnoticed work that takes place in this Parliament. In my opinion, the DPLRC and the Public Audit Committee provide two invaluable experiences.