Chamber and committees

I do not think that there is a process tension; I think it is a political tension.

There is a balance and a tension; I believe that it is a political tension. However, we have to be careful, because once something is included in a bill it becomes law. If we find at a later date that something does not work as well as we thought it would work, perhaps not because of drafting issues or something similar but because it is a clumsy piece of law, we do not have the flexibility to change that.

That is your opinion. My opinion is that it gives us the flexibility to be able to deliver to the public and engage with the public through the process.

Good morning, convener and committee members. It is good to see you all again. I note that Foysol Choudhury has joined the committee since my last visit. As a former member of the committee, I am only too well aware of the important work on legislation that all committee members do. I am pleased to be back with you to discuss matters within the committee’s remit.

From the Scottish Government’s perspective, the past six months have been broadly positive. We continue to strive to introduce the best-quality legislation that we can, and we have maintained high standards in the past quarter.

We continue to require to carefully consider the impact of the United Kingdom Government’s Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 on the devolved statute book, but the volume of legislation arising continues to be manageable. We have introduced the long-awaited Judicial Factors (Scotland) Bill—which I know the convener is particularly keen to see progressed—and I welcome the steady progress that we continue to make in implementing recommendations from Scottish Law Commission reports.

I know that our respective officials continue to work closely together, and I remain committed to listening carefully to the views of the committee and doing my best to resolve any issues that arise. I look forward to hearing from committee members today, and I am happy to answer any of your questions.

How many did you say it was, convener?

I am not seeing any major packages coming along in the not-too-distant future, but perhaps Steven MacGregor can give you some detail on that.

One of the good things about the relationship between my officials and the committees is that, when your clerks or the committee members point out something, we go out of our way to make sure that we try to fix the problem. We need to continue to do that. Our job—mine, as the Minister for Parliamentary Business and yours as members of the DPLR Committee—is to make this place function, and it is important that we get it right.

I get that.

I am quite happy to be helpful, Mr Mundell. I will ask Nicola Wisdahl if she wants to give you any detail about that.

I look forward to that, Mr Mundell, and I will keep the note that my policy officials got saying, “Do not pick a fight with Mr Mundell.”