Hansard

Amendments to the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill that the supplementary legislative consent motion covers were tabled only on 3 October. The supplementary LCM was also lodged on 3 October.

The United Kingdom Government has advised that the bill will reach the last amending stage on 15 October, while the Scottish Parliament is in recess. Therefore, the only options that I have are to seek to suspend standing orders so that the LCM can be considered by the Parliament before the October recess or to leave it until after the October recess, at which point the bill will have gone through the last amending stage.

On balance, I have taken the view that it is preferable for the Parliament to have an opportunity to consider the LCM while the Parliament’s views can still influence the final form of the bill. That means suspending standing orders so that the LCM can be debated in the chamber tomorrow, prior to the recess.

Prior to reaching that conclusion, my officials sought the views of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee and the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee. The Social Justice and Social Security Committee indicated that it would prefer to consider the matter in committee but appreciated that the timing might mean that the LCM would need to be taken directly to the chamber. The DPLR Committee has signalled that it would be content for the LCM to go straight to the chamber.

I agree that the committees of this Parliament not having a scrutiny role is less than ideal, but the alternative to considering the LCM tomorrow is having no say prior to the bill going through its last amending stage. However, I offer the Parliament the reassurance that the Scottish ministers and our officials continue to impress on the UK Government the need to account for Scottish Parliament recess periods when timetabling legislation that requires legislative consent.