Chamber and committees

Thank you, minister. I will start with a couple of questions about the process. I welcome your recognition of the delay in lodging the LCM. That seems to be a feature of Parliament at the moment, and it is quite frustrating for committees not to get proper scrutiny. I accept your apology for the late lodging of the LCM.

You have indicated that, if you had realised that it would take so long, there might have been an option to lodge the LCM sooner. Have lessons been learned from the process and is that something that you might do in the future? There has been a discussion at the Conveners Group about the possibility of having interim LCMs or pre-LCMs as a way to enable committees to be involved earlier.

Good morning, and welcome to the 19th meeting in 2023 of the Economy and Fair Work Committee. We have received apologies from Colin Beattie and Fiona Hyslop.

Our first item of business is a decision on taking business in private. Are members content to take items 4 and 5 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you, Jennifer Henderson and Chris Kerr, for coming in this morning. We appreciate your evidence.

Graham Simpson has a brief supplementary question before I bring in Maggie Chapman.

Now that the Government has recommended acceptance of the LCM, some questions remain around the Scottish Parliament’s role in scrutinising future work or legislation that is attached to the LCM. Where are the opportunities for the Scottish Parliament to look at the proposals that are being made? I understand that the Scottish ministers will be able to introduce measures and that you would be consulted by the UK Government on measures that would affect Scotland, but where do the Scottish Parliament’s committees fit into that scrutiny process?

I understand the difference between the reserved and devolved aspects, but I was asking whether it is the Scottish Government’s intention to move towards electronic documents once the bill is passed.

Okay. You support the policy intention of the bill, which means that you would encourage traders in Scotland to move towards electronic documents.

The final question is about consent. The committee has dealt with a number of LCMs, and the Government previously recommended not to give approval to some LCMs because of consent issues. Although there has been compromise on this legislation, it has not gone as far as introducing consent as a mechanism. What would you say is the reason for that, in this case? You explained that this LCM is technical, so has there been a consensus or a compromise reached on this LCM that will form a model for any future LCMs, or is this one too particular?

The committee frequently supports the Government in that approach, but in this instance we have been asked to compromise and not give consent the level of importance that it has been given when we have considered other LCMs.

Our next item of business is an evidence session on Registers of Scotland’s activities and performance. Registers of Scotland is a non-ministerial office and part of the Scottish Administration, with direct accountability to the Scottish Parliament. Responsibility for scrutiny falls mainly to this committee.

I once again welcome Jennifer Henderson, who is the keeper of the registers of Scotland. Jennifer is joined by Christopher Kerr, who is interim accountable officer and registration and policy director at the Registers of Scotland. I invite the keeper to make a short opening statement.

We move to questions from members.

We previously discussed with the keeper the issue of the loss of the initial registration date, which can cause difficulties. However, you are suggesting that only a small number of people would be affected and that special measures are in place. Have you had to use those measures, or have you taken a different approach?