Seòmar agus comataidhean

Under agenda item 3, we are considering five instruments, on which no points have been raised.

Is the committee content with the instruments?

Members indicated agreement.

Moving on, minister, can you provide the committee with the latest position on upcoming LCMs, particularly any that are likely to engage the committee’s remit?

In the last evidence session with the previous minister in March, the committee highlighted that four instruments had been reported on reporting grounds that it considers to be more serious. Since that evidence session, the committee has also reported another two instruments on one of the more serious reporting grounds, ground (i), which is that

“drafting appears to be defective”.

The minister indicated the various processes that are in place for instruments during the process that they go through, including a review of the instruments by someone who is external to the process. Could the Government take any other steps to try to ensure that the quality of SSIs remains high and that the number of more serious issues reduces?

Under agenda item 2, we are considering five instruments, on which no points have been raised.

Is the committee content with the instruments?

Members indicated agreement.

Is the committee content with the instrument?

Members indicated agreement.

Under agenda item 5, we are taking evidence from Jamie Hepburn MSP, who is the Minister for Parliamentary Business. This is one of our regular sessions with the minister on Scottish Government work that is relevant to the committee.

The minister is accompanied by three Scottish Government officials—Nicola Wisdahl, who is the legislative consent memorandum and subordinate legislation programme team leader; Steven MacGregor, who is the head of the Parliament and legislation unit; and Douglas Kerr, who is the deputy legislation co-ordinator in the Scottish Government legal directorate. I welcome you all to the meeting.

First, I remind you all not to worry about turning on the microphones during the session, as they are controlled by broadcasting.

I invite the minister to make some opening remarks.

That was helpful.

Does the committee also wish to highlight to the lead committee the level of the fee uplift in relation to sheriff court fees of around 10 or 20 per cent?

Members indicated agreement.