All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
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Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Oliver Mundell
I am going to move on to touch briefly on the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill, on which the committee has just reported to the lead committee. I do not want to get into the politics of or a spat on the bill itself. I am more interested in hearing the Government’s thinking on the concept of bringing to the Parliament framework bills that contain a large number of delegated powers. In this specific example, and as a former member of the committee, you can understand the challenge that the committee is faced with when a delegated powers memorandum cannot specifically say how the delegated powers would be used. Do you recognise that challenge?
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Oliver Mundell
Do you, as the Minister for Parliamentary Business, feel that framework bills that rely heavily on secondary legislation give the Parliament as a whole enough opportunity to be part of a co-design process? Why should that process prevent the inclusion of more detail in primary legislation? We did not really get to the bottom of that.
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Oliver Mundell
I am not asking you to do it today, but are you willing to share with the committee not necessarily specific proposals but, from the reports that are sitting there, a group that you think might be achievable in this session of the Parliament or that you consider to be the top of the priority list?
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Oliver Mundell
To push you a wee bit harder, do you have a target for this session to get through the backlog? The bills are usually highly technical. They come to the committee because, although they are not necessarily easy pieces of legislation, they are not politically contentious.
We have picked up a little bit of frustration from the SLC that there are a number of well-thought-out suggestions for how to improve law. We also heard from stakeholders how the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill would make a big difference to how they go about their daily business. It is easy for SLC bills to fall down the Government’s and Parliament’s priority lists, because there are other things that are politically more exciting. I am trying to get a commitment from you that the SLC’s proposals are being considered seriously and that the committee will be kept busy in future.
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Oliver Mundell
That is a point of consensus, and I share that sentiment, but I have one final question on the technical aspect. Some members of the committee were concerned that there is a lower threshold for parliamentary scrutiny of secondary legislation. Do you accept that there is a danger in a busy Parliament that secondary legislation gets less scrutiny than primary legislation?
Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee
Meeting date: 24 January 2023
Oliver Mundell
In relation to the second instrument, on short-term lets, I want to put it on record that, although I will support it and I recognise that the six-month extension will make a big difference to a number of individuals, it will not solve all the problems. The need for the instrument could have been avoided if concerns that were raised by the Short Term Accommodation Association and other industry stakeholders had been taken into account when the licensing scheme was first proposed. I therefore think that the delays and challenges that we are now seeing were entirely predictable, and that the Scottish Government needs to refocus its efforts on rebuilding relationships with stakeholders.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 12 January 2023
Oliver Mundell
Thank you. That will be appreciated.
The other thing I want to ask about is the appeals process. You said before that there have been 277 applications and that 255 offers have been accepted. The information that has been provided by the Scottish Parliament information centre suggests that 15 people had requested an appeal. Are those appeals included in the 22 who have not made a decision about whether to accept their offer?
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 12 January 2023
Oliver Mundell
Obviously, in the process of verifying and looking again at the information that is there—
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 12 January 2023
Oliver Mundell
But things can be pieced together differently.
Education, Children and Young People Committee
Meeting date: 12 January 2023
Oliver Mundell
It is about 8 per cent of people.