Chamber and committees

I will ask the clerk, Emma Johnston, to come in. My understanding is that we need to write to the Scottish Government to clarify the reason for the urgency, and it will be able to tell us, given that the notification was sent to the Scottish Parliament.

Absolutely not, but it was the Scottish Government that laid the tool in front of us to ask us whether we are content for it to give consent to the UK instrument. That is the point. We will write to the Scottish Government to ask why there is urgency, because the Scottish Government could not give consent.

That is what we are seeking clarity on. The notification was sent to the Scottish Parliament on 7 December.

That might be the case, but the Scottish Government has to ask the Scottish Parliament for approval. We will write to the Scottish Government to ask why there was the delay and why we were given less than 28 days.

It is not the role of this committee to scrutinise the UK Government’s position; it is for us to ask the Scottish Government why that is the case. The Scottish Government might say that it is because it did not get the instrument in time, and that is fine. Our role is to approve the Scottish Government’s giving of consent.

Yes.

Does any other member wish to comment? Karen Adam wants to come in.

I absolutely appreciate that. That is not a problem, but what is unclear at the moment is when the Scottish Government got the notification. The Scottish Parliament and the committee got the notification only on 7 December. We can ask for clarification on when the Scottish Government got the notification. Does that make things clearer?

It is unclear whether the UK Government was late in sending the notification. I do not have that date.

My understanding is that we do not know why the instrument is urgent. We have not been given the full 28 days, so I intend to write to the Scottish Government to ask why the SI is urgent and why an extra few days, which would have allowed us to scrutinise it properly, have not been given. As I have said, it is unclear when the Scottish Government received the policy proposal in the instrument, and the Scottish Government notified the Scottish Parliament late. That is what we need to clarify. In the letter, I will ask why the SI is urgent and what impact on trade relations an extra few days would make.