The Scotsman

Emergency powers allowing legal changes pre-debate to be examined

- By JANE BRADLEY jane.bradley@scotsman.com

Emergency powers which allow legal changes to come into force before they are debated by MSPS are to be examined by a parliament­ary committee – as it emerged that they have been used more than 100 times since the start of the pandemic.

The Scottish Parliament’s Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee has launched an inquiry looking at the Scottish Government’s use of emergency regulation making powers.

While the legal mechanism known as the “made affirmativ­e procedure", existed before, it was only used a handful of times in a year.

However, since the pandemic began, the Scottish Government has used the powers more than 100 times to implement lockdowns or other public health measures to stem the spread of coronaviru­s.

It means that legal changes come into force before MSPS have a chance to look at or vote on them, allowing the Government to act quickly.

The Parliament does however need to approve the changes within 28 days for the law to stay in force.

The committee hopes to help the Parliament ensure an "appropriat­e balance” between flexibilit­y for the Government in responding to an emergency situation while still ensuring proper parliament­ary scrutiny and oversight.

The Parliament gave the Scottish Government more ability to use these powers in the Coronaviru­s Acts, origirus

nally passed in April and May 2020. The UK Coronaviru­s Act also allows for the procedure to be used in the UK Parliament and devolved legislatur­es.

Committee convener Stuart Mcmillan MSP, said: “There are good public health reasons to ensure the Scottish Government can act quickly to keep people safe.

he Committee recognises that use of the made affirmativ­e procedure has allowed

the Scottish Government to respond quickly to the many challenges presented by the pandemic.

“But our Committee wants to ensure the power to do so is used appropriat­ely and necessaril­y.”

The Scottish Government’s use of the made affirmativ­e procedure for Covid instrument­s is based on powers in four Acts: Scottish Parliament legislatio­n of the Coronaviru­s (Scotland) Act 2020; Coronavi

(Scotland) (No. 2) Act 2020; Public Health (Scotland) Act 2008 and the Coronaviru­s Act 2020 under UK Parliament legislatio­n.

In June, Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie tabled an amendment to the Coronaviru­s (Extension and Expiry) (Scotland) Bill to remove powers from the legislatio­n allowing the Scottish Government to extend the powers of two emergency coronaviru­s acts passed last year until

September 2022.

However, her amendment was voted down in parliament by 55 votes to 65 and 54 votes to 66 respective­ly.

Covid recovery secretary John Swinney said he would like to keep flexibilit­y within the legislatio­n to allow for an extension, meaning there would not be a need to pass yet another emergency Bill.

 ?? ?? The SNP government has used emergency powers more than 100 times
The SNP government has used emergency powers more than 100 times

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