Official Report of Its EC Instrument Without Further Subordinate Discussion, Which Has Been Included in Members‟ Papers
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EUROPEAN AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE Tuesday 14 March 2006 Session 2 £5.00 Parliamentary copyright. Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body 2006. Applications for reproduction should be made in writing to the Licensing Division, Her Majesty‟s Stationery Office, St Clements House, 2-16 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BQ Fax 01603 723000, which is administering the copyright on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. Produced and published in Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body by Astron. CONTENTS Tuesday 14 March 2006 Col. LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY REFORM BILL ........................................................................................ 1685 BUILDING A BRIDGE BETWEEN EUROPE AND ITS CITIZENS.......................................................................... 1701 CO-OPERATION WITH IRELAND INQUIRY AND TRANSPOSITION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF EUROPEAN DIRECTIVES INQUIRY ......................................................................................................................... 1715 WORK PROGRAMME ............................................................................................................................ 1720 EUROPEAN COMMISSION WORK PROGRAMME 2006 ................................................................................. 1721 PETITION ............................................................................................................................................ 1722 Fishing Industry (PE804) ................................................................................................................. 1722 PRE AND POST-COUNCIL SCRUTINY........................................................................................................ 1727 SIFT .................................................................................................................................................. 1728 CONVENER’S REPORT .......................................................................................................................... 1729 EUROPEAN AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE 4th Meeting 2006, Session 2 CONVENER *Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP) DEPU TY CONVENER *Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab) COMMI TTEE MEMBERS *Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind) Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP) *Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con) *Mr Charlie Gordon (Glasgow Cathcart) (Lab) *Mr John Home Robertson (East Lothian) (Lab) *Gordon Jac kson (Glasgow Govan) (Lab) *Mr Jim Wallace (Orkney) (LD) COMMI TTEE SUBSTITU TES Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab) Derek Brow nlee (South of Scotland) (Con) *Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP) Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD) *attended THE FOLLOWING GAVE EVIDENCE: Nikki Brow n (Scottish Executive Finance and Central Services Department) Daniel Kleinberg (Scottish Executive Finance and Central Services Department) George Lyon (Deputy Minister for Finance, Public Service Reform and Parliamentary Business) Laurence Sullivan (Scottish Executive Legal and Parliamentary Services) CLERK TO THE COMMITTE E Alasdair Rankin ASSISTANT CLERKS Emma Berry Nick Haw thorne LOC ATION Committee Room 2 1685 14 MARCH 2006 1686 Scottish Parliament The Deputy Minister for Finance, Public Service Reform and Parliamentary Business (George Lyon): The Legislative and Regulatory European and External Relations Reform Bill was introduced in the House of Committee Commons on 11 January 2006. It runs to 33 clauses and is predominantly concerned with matters outwith the legislative competence of the Tuesday 14 March 2006 Scottish Parliament. Parts 1 and 2 of the bill deal with the operation of regulatory reform orders and [THE CONVENER opened the meeting at 14:08] with inspection and enforcement regimes that do not operate in devolved areas in Scotland. Legislative and Regulatory However, there are four provisions in the bill that Reform Bill are subject to the consent of the Scottish Parliament by virtue of the Sewel convention, The Convener (Linda Fabiani): Good because they apply to Scotland and are for afternoon and welcome to the fourth meeting in devolved purposes. Those clauses are found in 2006 of the European and External Relations part 3 of the bill and are aimed at streamlining the Committee. I have received apologies from way in which European Community law is Margaret Ewing. implemented in domestic legislation. Those Item 1 on the agenda is the legislative consent matters are technical in nature and, I would memorandum to the Legislative and Regulatory expect, uncontroversial in themselves. The committee will have seen the report in which the Reform Bill, which is currently passing through the Westminster Parliament. I welcome George Lyon, Subordinate Legislation Committee states that it the Deputy Minister for Finance, Public Service was content with the proposals. Reform and Parliamentary Business, who is The effect of the clauses is to confer a new accompanied by Daniel Kleinberg from the power on Scottish ministers to make a wider range Executive‟s Europe division and Laurence Sullivan of secondary legislation under section 2(2) of the from the office of the solicitor to the Scottish European Communities Act 1972. It is currently Executive. possible to make orders in council or regulations Members will be aware from our briefing note under section 2(2), but not any other form of secondary legislation. That has meant that that the committee has to report to the Parliament multiple Scottish statutory instruments have on the memorandum, and the timetable for the bill indicates that today‟s meeting will be our only previously been required where policies required the use of powers extended by other acts. Clause opportunity to consider it—perhaps we can probe 26 allows ministers to make orders, schemes or that point. The memorandum is necessary because the bill affects the powers of Scottish rules under section 2(2) of the 1972 act in addition to orders in council and regulations, so it will be ministers to make subordinate legislation possible to implement an EU obligation by the use implementing European Union obligations. The details are in paragraph 5 of the memorandum of a single Scottish statutory instrument. An amendment—the subject of the supplementary and paragraph 2 of the supplementary memorandum—allows for the combination of memorandum. In the view of the Scottish Executive, the effect will be to widen ministers‟ instruments requiring different parliamentary procedures, on the condition that the more powers to implement EU obligations and to give onerous course of parliamentary scrutiny is taken. greater flexibility. Members will have seen that the Subordinate Legislation Committee reports to us The clauses will also confer a new power on that it is content with those provisions. Scottish ministers to allow for references in domestic legislation to EC instruments to be However, the Subordinate Legislation Committee discussed an issue that is not covered ambulatory. Ambulatory references would allow references to EC instruments in SSIs to be taken by the Executive memorandum, relating to clauses as a reference to an amended version of the EC 2(4) and 8 of the bill. That committee considered that the issue was outside its remit, but it agreed instrument, so domestic implementing legislation will be able to pick up future amendments to the to send us a copy of the Official Report of its EC instrument without further subordinate discussion, which has been included in members‟ papers. The committee might therefore want to legislation being required. That provision is aimed at situations in which an EC instrument is the consider whether consent for clause 2(4) should subject of subsequent technical amendments. The be included in the motion that goes before the Parliament. clauses provide that references in domestic legislation to “Community instruments” will be I invite the minister to address the committee, taken as referring to the EC instrument as so and then we shall ask questions. amended, extended or applied. That applies only 1687 14 MARCH 2006 1688 in relation to legislation made after the coming into will be reassured that the provisions only restate force of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform the current arrangements under the Sewel Bill. The current situation is that, when domestic convention. legislation refers to a Community instrument that Gordon Jackson (Gla sgow Govan) (Lab): I has been amended or applied by other Community am struck by the phrase in clause 2(4) instruments, it is necessary to specify all the instruments that have amended or applied it, “as the Minister making it cons iders appropriate.” which can produce very long references. The new That sounds like something that, if it is not actually provision is designed to make the drafting of SSIs a blank cheque, is not too far away from being simpler and therefore more transparent and one. Where, under the existing arrangements, do accessible. we have phrases such as “as the Minister I am, of course, aware of the views that have considers appropriate”? You are saying that that is been expressed about parts 1 and 2 of the bill, as just what we have now. I agree that the words recorded in the committee‟s briefing paper for “incidental” and “supplementary” suggest no more today‟s meeting. Although the Executive does not than tweaking at the margins, but the decision generally comment on reserved matters, it is worth whether a provision is just supplementary is based clarifying that it is a matter for the United Kingdom