Meeting of the Parliament 04 February 2026
I touched on that. I am sorry if I have misled the Parliament. The details of what such an order might contain are still being worked through. Of course, the situation might arise at stage 3—although I hope it will not—in which other amendments would be lodged that would raise issues that would have to be covered by the section 104 order.
If we proceed by way of a section 104 order, that will require the bill to be amended to remove provisions that would then be dealt with through the order after royal assent, should the bill pass. The removal of provisions would be necessary in order to bring the bill within competence before the stage 3 vote as, if the bill is passed outside of competence, there is a strong likelihood of it being referred to the Supreme Court. With that in mind, as I said earlier, members may want to be mindful of the risks of new provisions being included through amendments at stage 3 that would take the bill further outside legislative competence.
The Scottish Government recognises the challenges that this poses for MSPs, particularly given the importance of the areas that are being discussed for removal: namely provisions related to training, qualifications and experience of health professionals; and employment duties, rights and protections. However, the Parliament has a duty to ensure that any bill that it passes is within competence, which is what we have set out to do.