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Procedures Committee, 24 Jan 2006

24 Jan 2006 · S2 · Procedures Committee

Item of business

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Harvie, Patrick Green Glasgow Watch on SPTV

Well, I may limit myself to a few general points. I am sure that you have already considered some issues, which other members will have raised, to do with the pressure of time and the speed with which legislation is pushed through, in terms of both the speaking time that is available at stage 3—an issue that Donald Gorrie has raised on several occasions—and the delay between the different stages.As a new MSP, in the first few months after the 2003 election, I found myself thrown in at the deep end with the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Bill. Cathie Craigie will remember that, as she was on the same committee as me. I understood the bill process to a degree only by the time I came out of the other end of it. I am hopeful that I will be returned in the next parliamentary session, and that I will not have to go through that learning curve again. For newly elected members, however, it is important that their contributions to committees' scrutiny take place at a reasonable speed that allows them to come to terms with the process, as well as the content of the legislation.Regarding human rights scrutiny of legislation, the Scottish Parliament can pass legislation only if it is compliant with human rights law. If it is not human rights compliant, it can be struck down by the courts. That places on us a responsibility to ensure that we get it right first time, rather than allow situations to develop where a court may need to take action.Mistakes can be made, as nearly happened with the Family Law (Scotland) Bill recently. Regardless of what members feel are the rights and wrongs of the argument on the waiting period for divorce, amendments were agreed to that affected the separation time only for marital divorce. The same did not apply to the separation time for civil partnership. If the bill had been passed in that form, it would not have been compliant with human rights legislation. At stage 3, the Executive moved amendments to return the separation periods to their original levels. It also had to lodge amendments to increase the civil partnership dissolution time, so that if the first argument was lost there was a second chance to ensure that the bill was compliant with human rights legislation. That is the type of detail that could be missed. I am glad that the Executive picked up on it on that occasion, but rattling through legislation at such a fast rate means that there is a risk that such issues might be missed.Members receive next to no independent advice on human rights law compliance. The Presiding Officer's office ticks a box to tell us that he regards a piece of legislation as compliant with human rights law. MSPs are not, however, given the grey areas surrounding the issues, let alone the arguments for one side or the other. Although the Executive's policy memorandum brings human rights issues to our attention, the detailed arguments as to why one issue outweighs another are not available.MSPs are ultimately responsible for the standing of the Parliament. We will take significant blame if legislation is passed and then struck down by the courts. It is not unreasonable to argue that that could happen if we receive no independent advice on human rights issues surrounding legislation. The timescales matter in their own right when dotting the i's and crossing the t's. Human rights compliance has two aspects—timescales and independent advice.

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Procedures Committee, 24 Jan 2006

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