Chamber and committees

Welcome to the 30th meeting in 2023 of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee. We have received apologies from Mercedes Villalba. I remind everyone to switch their mobile phones and other electronic devices to silent.

The first item of business is to decide whether to take items 5 and 6 in private. Is the committee content to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

That concludes the public part of today’s meeting.

Thank you, minister. Section 5 of the bill gives the Scottish ministers the power to modify the regulatory objectives and professional principles for legal services that are set out in sections 2 to 4 of the bill. The committee heard evidence from the Law Society of Scotland and from the Faculty of Advocates that that provision should be removed from the bill. Their reasons included that it is, in their opinion, unforeseeable why or when those objectives and principles would require to be modified and that, if that were necessary, such objectives and principles are too important to be modified by secondary legislation.

What are your thoughts about those observations? Can you give the committee any examples of when it might be necessary to modify those objectives and principles?

Also under this agenda item, no points have been raised on the following instruments.

Is the committee content with the instruments?

Members indicated agreement.

There are 21 delegated powers in the bill. We have focused our questions on nine of them, which were those that have focused the minds and attention of stakeholders in the legal sector. However, the committee will report on all the delegated powers in the bill to the lead committee to help to inform its stage 1 considerations. You will be aware of an additional written submission from the Law Society giving additional views on some of the other delegated powers. Do you wish to make any final comments on any of the other delegated powers that are contained in the bill?

Under agenda item 3, we are considering three instruments subject to the affirmative procedure. An issue has been raised on the following instrument.

Thank you for that. Have you or your officials had any further dialogue with the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland in preparation for lodging those potential amendments?

Section 8(5), on regulatory categories, gives the Scottish ministers the power to reassign legal regulators between category 1 and category 2, which would change the requirements that a legal services regulator is currently subject to. The Law Society suggests that that power should be subject to a statutory duty to report on the outcome of the consultation, and that the Lord President’s consent should be required. The Faculty of Advocates does not agree that there should be a power to reassign regulators from one category to another through regulations.

How do you respond to those different considerations? Is the Scottish Government planning to make any amendments in that regard, or is it considering removing that particular power?

As colleagues have no further questions, I will ask a final one. It is not really a committee question. You will be aware of the McClure Solicitors situation. I am quite sure that colleagues from all parties will have received emails from constituents about the issue. It is clear that there are a lot of unhappy individuals across the country and elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Some of the issues that have been raised involve trusts and succession and legal services. Obviously, the committee is scrutinising two bills on those topics.

Would you be content to meet me to discuss concerns that constituents have raised, with a view to potentially making amendments to the Trusts and Succession (Scotland) Bill and the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill?