Chamber and committees

Our officials are in constant communication with their counterparts in the UK Government. They are trying to find that out, which is very difficult. I was three years old in 1972. I know I do not look that age, Ms Mochan, but that is not yesterday. We are in a difficult and time-consuming situation. Officials on both sides are aware of the task and are trying to find solutions to ensure that we can retain EU law up here, although the UK Government has other ideas.

Thank you.

The proposals are being seriously considered and we are reviewing which ones we will implement. You mention the Parliament’s idea and people of Scotland’s idea of what we should do. We are living in a cost of living crisis, and there are only so many bills that I can get in the timetable between now and the end of the session. It is not that we do not see the Scottish Law Commission bills as important; we need to prioritise what we will do, and we are still working towards ensuring that the Government’s programme is delivered.

I will try to put your mind at rest, Mr Mundell. We continually look at what we could introduce, and we engage to ensure that we see what could be relevant to various aspects of life in Scotland and how we can implement SLC bills. They are not being forgotten about. They are not going down a big, dark hole somewhere in the Scottish Government.

We are constantly looking at the matter, but, again, it comes down to the Government’s prioritisation and how we move forward. We have only so many bill spots between now and the end of the session. I know that, in year 2, that almost sounds as though we are wishing away our lives, but, as the Minister for Parliamentary Business, I have to consider that, as well. They are not being forgotten about.

We are continuing with the work that we have done up until now, which has made sure that a limited number of errors are made in the first place. As I said, however, we are always willing to engage with anyone else. If the committee has anything to offer us or to talk to us about, we can look at that.

On the whole, most of the drafting has been good and has ensured that we have been able to bring legislation forward in the right way. We would be happy to look at anything else that could be added but, on the whole, it is simply a case of ensuring that we continue to provide the committee and the Parliament with the most accurate SSIs and instruments that we can.

Just to compare and contrast, there have been 96 SSIs since September, if you think that 61 SSIs is a lot and we are giving you quite a bit of work.

We are indeed.

We try to give you as much information—and to make sure that you get detail as far in advance—as possible. Sometimes that can be difficult, and there can be all kinds of challenges.

On whether there are instruments in the pipeline, nothing comes to mind at the moment, but if there is something, I will make sure that the committee gets detail of what they will get, when they will get it and how large a package it will turn out to be.

One of my officials will give you a full update. A great amount of work has been done by us, including my predecessor and the officials who have been involved, to get to the stage where we are now. You will remember that we were not in a good place in 2018 with regards to these kinds of issues. Things are a lot better now, and we are sitting here with just this one outstanding commitment.

Susan Herbert will give us an update.

No problem. We will do that, convener.

As a member of the committee, you will be aware that the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill has been introduced. At one point, I was calling it the unmoveable traction bill because it took us so long. I think that, the first time that I came to the committee, I said that we would be working towards it, but there was then a delay of about six months. However, it is a highly technical bill, and we had to get it into a good place to ensure that it was sorted. The Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Bill is also coming to the committee, so, on the whole, we have managed to keep the committee reasonably busy with Scottish Law Commission stuff.

With regard to how we go about taking on the work, there is a list of stuff—I do not think that “stuff” is a technical term; there is a list of potential bills—on which the Law Commission has produced work. As and when, we will look at what the priority is and what the Government needs to do to take that forward.

Susan, do you have anything to add to that?