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The notification was sent to the Scottish Parliament on 7 December, so we have been given less than the 28 days. Absolutely, we have not had enough time, and we are not sure why there is such urgency. We are asking for clarification about why we cannot have an extension for a few days to allow us to have the full 28 days. We want to know what the impact of doing that would be.

Jim, could you put an R in the chat box to request to speak?

Absolutely. I am not aware of that and it does not really affect the committee. The point is that we have not been given 28 days, as is required by the SI protocol, to scrutinise this. The letter will ask why that is the case and when the Scottish Government was notified of the SI. It might come back to us and say, “We got it late from the UK Government,” or there might be another reason why the Scottish Government did not lay it. I am not making a judgment, as I do not know the answer, but we will certainly ask why this situation has arisen. This is not the first time that it has happened, and we do not want it to become habit forming, if you like.

I ask Emma Johnston, our clerk, whether the questions that have been asked and my responses are in line with the papers. We do not know when the Scottish Government received the UK statutory instrument.

There was concern about the instrument being withdrawn at a very late stage. We have had a letter outlining some of the reasons for the withdrawal, and the instrument will be laid before us, but again we are not going to get a chance to look at it, as it needs to come into force on 1 January.

I will ask the clerk, Emma Johnston, to come in. My understanding is that we need to write to the Scottish Government to clarify the reason for the urgency, and it will be able to tell us, given that the notification was sent to the Scottish Parliament.

Absolutely not, but it was the Scottish Government that laid the tool in front of us to ask us whether we are content for it to give consent to the UK instrument. That is the point. We will write to the Scottish Government to ask why there is urgency, because the Scottish Government could not give consent.

That is what we are seeking clarity on. The notification was sent to the Scottish Parliament on 7 December.

That might be the case, but the Scottish Government has to ask the Scottish Parliament for approval. We will write to the Scottish Government to ask why there was the delay and why we were given less than 28 days.

It is not the role of this committee to scrutinise the UK Government’s position; it is for us to ask the Scottish Government why that is the case. The Scottish Government might say that it is because it did not get the instrument in time, and that is fine. Our role is to approve the Scottish Government’s giving of consent.

Yes.