draft Scotland Act 1998 (Specification of Devolved Tax) (Wild fisheries) Order 2017

Lesley Laird Excerpts

Tuesday 12th December 2017 General Committees

[Lesley Laird (Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath) (Lab)]

The order before us today is required to help enable the Scottish Government to implement their plans to modernise the management framework of Scotland’s salmon and freshwater fisheries. Recently, the Scottish Government commissioned an independent review of wild fisheries in Scotland, which concluded in 2014. One of the review’s recommendations was that the Scottish Government should be afforded the power to adopt appropriate management tools. Any such power would include the flexibility to change the way in which income is raised for fisheries management; it is currently raised through a fisheries assessment levy.

The draft order will give the Scottish Parliament legislative competence to allow Scottish Ministers the power to make regulations imposing a tax on the owners or occupiers of wild, freshwater fisheries of any species, or owners or occupiers of the right to fish for Atlantic salmon in Atlantic salmon fisheries. The Scottish Government have indicated that it is their intention to use that power by introducing provisions to their wild fisheries Bill that will allow Scottish Ministers to set, collect and retain fishery assessment levies in circumstances in which Scottish Ministers do not approve a district salmon fishery board fishery management plan.

The levies proposed by the wild fisheries review on both businesses and individual anglers are considered by HM Treasury to be taxes and so outside the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament. In order to introduce a wild fisheries Bill with tax provisions into the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government require an amendment to be made to part 4A of the 1998 Act. The amendment will deliver funding flexibility in Scotland and enable the Scottish Government to address changing and potentially unforeseen pressures in the future. For that reason, the Labour party will support the order.

Draft Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 (Consequential Provisions) Order 2017

Lesley Laird Excerpts

Tuesday 5th December 2017 General Committees

[Lesley Laird (Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Main.

The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 introduced reforms that will help to modernise, improve and enhance the efficiency of the Scottish criminal justice system. It does so by aiming to promote best practice and places an emphasis on streamlining the system. The draft order is a necessary step to make provisions as a result of the 2016 Act and makes a few alterations that I would like to touch upon today.

The draft order will enable the Lord Advocate, when acting under section 57 of the 2016 Act, to specify bodies and deal with matters that would otherwise be outwith the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, in terms of section 29(2)(b) or (c) of the Scotland Act 1998. It will also require constables, officials and officers to have regard to the code of practice when searching a person who is not in police custody. Modifications are being made as a result of the 2016 Act; in particular, article 24(3) expands the procedural requirements made in relation to the 2016 Act to reflect the application to constables in non-territorial police forces.

Essentially, the main aims of the draft order are to lay down provisions to facilitate the streamlining of the statute book, and I am sure we can all see the benefit of that. It is a necessary piece of legislation to ensure that the UK statute book is not duplicated or contradicted in any way. For that reason, the Labour party supports the order.

Question put and agreed to.

Draft Scotland Act 1998 (Insolvency Functions) Order 2017

Lesley Laird Excerpts

Monday 4th December 2017 General Committees

[Lesley Laird (Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Chope. As the Minister set out, the order is part of a package of measures aimed at updating and modernising corporate insolvency in Scotland, particularly insolvency rules for companies. The law on winding up in Scotland is complex because it is a mixed area of competence. Section C2 of schedule 5 to the 1998 Act provides:

“In relation to business associations…the general legal effect of winding up”

is reserved, but

“the process of winding up, including the person having responsibility for the conduct of a winding up or any part of it, and his conduct of it or of that part”

is excepted.

It is not always clear whether a winding-up matter relates to the general legal effect of winding up, or whether it falls within the exception provided for the process of winding up. Accordingly, rather than attempt the complicated exercise of trying to assess, as part of the modernisation process, which rules relate to a reserved matter and which do not, the draft order provides for the mutual conferral of functions on a Minister of the Crown and Scottish Ministers under sections 63 and 108 of the 1998 Act, so that each can make winding-up rules for company insolvency in Scotland irrespective of whether they relate to reserved matters. This approach makes it clear that each Administration has the power to make, in the exercise of those powers, all subordinate legislative provision on winding-up matters without any doubt being cast on the scope of the relevant enabling powers. The Labour party therefore supports the draft order.

Question put and agreed to.