Chamber and committees

We certainly can do that. If it would help, we can also write to the UK Government with the same question. Ultimately, however, the Scottish Government notified us for us to consent to it giving consent to the UK instrument. That is my understanding. However, we can certainly write to the UK Government if that would help.

If you look at page 7 of our papers, that gives you the details. It is the SI that has been laid—it is the final draft, if you like.

Yes. This agenda item is about approving the notification that is referred to in paper 2.

Are there any further comments?

I will ask Emma Johnston whether she has the date of when they come into force.

We can check that out. The notification was sent to the Scottish Parliament on 7 December, with the intended laying date at Westminster of 16 December, which is tomorrow. The Scottish Parliament has therefore been given fewer than 28 days for scrutiny. We can clarify that for you, Rachael.

I will go to Alasdair Allan. Alasdair, are you with us?

The notification was sent to the Scottish Parliament on 7 December, so we have been given less than the 28 days. Absolutely, we have not had enough time, and we are not sure why there is such urgency. We are asking for clarification about why we cannot have an extension for a few days to allow us to have the full 28 days. We want to know what the impact of doing that would be.

Jim, could you put an R in the chat box to request to speak?

Absolutely. I am not aware of that and it does not really affect the committee. The point is that we have not been given 28 days, as is required by the SI protocol, to scrutinise this. The letter will ask why that is the case and when the Scottish Government was notified of the SI. It might come back to us and say, “We got it late from the UK Government,” or there might be another reason why the Scottish Government did not lay it. I am not making a judgment, as I do not know the answer, but we will certainly ask why this situation has arisen. This is not the first time that it has happened, and we do not want it to become habit forming, if you like.

I ask Emma Johnston, our clerk, whether the questions that have been asked and my responses are in line with the papers. We do not know when the Scottish Government received the UK statutory instrument.

There was concern about the instrument being withdrawn at a very late stage. We have had a letter outlining some of the reasons for the withdrawal, and the instrument will be laid before us, but again we are not going to get a chance to look at it, as it needs to come into force on 1 January.