Committee
Subordinate Legislation Committee, 27 Mar 2007
27 Mar 2007 · S2 · Subordinate Legislation Committee
Item of business
Executive Responses
National Health Service (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007 (SSI 2007/225)
It is an interesting comment, and the conclusion is clearly that the Executive should amend primary legislation rather than tinker with secondary legislation, draw inferences and go beyond its powers.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
We asked the Executive to explain the vires for regulation 2, which gives another provision retrospective effect. We have dealt with the issue before. As I u...
Mr Macintosh:
Lab
I do not think that any member will disagree that we want to be fair to students throughout Scotland, particularly to those from more deprived backgrounds. T...
The Convener:
Lab
It was in months rather than years.
Mr Macintosh:
Lab
In months—sorry. That trend is what is particularly worrying about the idea of justifying retrospective legislation in this manner, which is effectively what...
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
I agree with Ken. There are a couple of issues.First, despite the fact that I agree with the fairness argument—in this case, in the effect on students—we can...
The Convener:
Lab
What do members think about paragraph 29 of the legal brief, which mentions the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments at Westminster?
Murray Tosh (West of Scotland) (Con):
Con
It is an interesting comment, and the conclusion is clearly that the Executive should amend primary legislation rather than tinker with secondary legislation...
Mr Macintosh:
Lab
The Parliament has the power to apply retrospective legislation. However, in this case, although I suppose that we are being consulted, the Parliament is not...
Murray Tosh:
Con
We have not really been consulted—we have just noticed that it is happening on the way past. If we had been consulted and somebody could have said whether it...
The Convener:
Lab
Okay. We will bring two points to the attention of the lead committee. First, regulation 2 appears to give regulation 3(2)(c) retrospective effect, but the p...
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
Will the Local Government and Transport Committee consider the regulations this afternoon?
The Convener:
Lab
Yes.
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
Will we be able to get our arguments to the committee before it meets this afternoon?
The Convener:
Lab
Yes, thanks to the speed of our clerical staff.
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
I know that they are fantastic. I just wanted to check.