Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee
Meeting date: Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Official Report 813KB pdf
Contents
- Attendance
- Decision on Taking Business in Private
- Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
- European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
- Subordinate Legislation
- European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
Health and Safety (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018
Agenda item 3 is consideration of a number of requests from the Scottish Government for the committee to consent to the United Kingdom legislating, under the powers in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, through a number of UK statutory instruments.
Members will note that the deadline for consent from the Scottish Parliament for the first set of regulations is 28 November, which is tomorrow. Members have no comments on the SI, so is the committee content for the Scottish Government to give its consent to UK ministers to lay the Health and Safety (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 in the UK Parliament?
Members indicated agreement.
We will write to the Government, letting it know our decision. Is the committee content to delegate authority to me to sign off that letter?
Members indicated agreement.
Environment (Miscellaneous Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018
Members will note that the deadline for consent from the Scottish Parliament on the regulations is 2 December. Do members have any comments?
I have a brief comment that is more about how the Scottish Government will keep pace with European legislation in the event of Brexit. The notification mentions the provisions of the European environment action plan, which covers a number of areas including biodiversity, air quality, climate change and the circular economy. The question in relation to the SI is about how the Government will use the provisions in either the withdrawal act or the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill—whichever we will be operating under—to keep pace with that plan. I realise that my point is slightly separate from the detail of the regulations, but it is related, so can we get clarity from the Scottish Government on how it intends to work with the European environment action plan post-Brexit, and what its workstreams are in that respect?
That is a more general question about SIs.
Issues arise from the regulations in respect of how we will keep pace with things as we go forward, and what the Scottish Government’s action plan will be for ensuring regulatory alignment, which the Government has committed to.
Given that the deadline is 2 December, we will not have time to get a response, but if you will be content, we will include your point in our letter.
If putting the point in a letter to the Scottish Government is the most appropriate way, convener, I would appreciate your doing that.
As I said, we will not, however, get a response before the deadline.
There are no other comments, so is the committee content for the Scottish Government to give its consent to UK ministers to lay the regulations in the UK Parliament?
Members indicated agreement.
We will write to the Scottish Government and will include Mark Ruskell’s points. Is the committee content to delegate authority to me to sign off the letter?
Members indicated agreement.
Floods and Water (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018
Members will note that the deadline for consent from the Scottish Parliament on the regulations is, again, 2 December. Members have no comments, so is the committee content for the Scottish Government to give its consent to UK ministers to lay the regulations in the UK Parliament?
Members indicated agreement.
We will also write to the Scottish Government. Is the committee content to delegate authority to me to sign off the letter?
Members indicated agreement.
Justification of Practices for Ionising Radiation, Radioactive Contaminated Land (England) (Northern Ireland) and Nuclear Reactors (Environmental Impact Assessment for Decommissioning) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018
Members will note that the deadline for consent from the Scottish Parliament on the regulations is 6 December. Do members have any comments?
In relation to post-withdrawal environmental governance in this area, obviously we have testing, standards and so on, but there is a question about who polices the Government. The briefing material that we have received suggests that there is still uncertainty about the post-Brexit environmental governance arrangements. I know that the issue has been raised before in the committee. Is there an opportunity to seek clarification on whether there is more certainty as a result of discussions between the Scottish Government and the UK Government on what overall governance will look like after 29 March 2019?
The clerks have advised me that the relevant cabinet secretaries will be coming before the committee, so we can ask them that question in public. However, we will also include Mark Ruskell’s question in our letter. We have raised the issue before. I think that we will get an update on how the two Governments are working together and co-ordinating things. We can add that to the questions that we will ask the cabinet secretaries next week.
The briefing material on the regulations mentions the nuclear co-operation agreements between states; it would be useful to get clarity on the agreements that we have at the moment—in particular, agreements with Australia on disposal and treatment of civil nuclear waste.
Is everyone happy for that to go into our letter?
Members indicated agreement.
Is the committee content for the Scottish Government to give its consent for UK ministers to lay the Justification of Practices for Ionising Radiation, Radioactive Contaminated Land (England) (Northern Ireland) and Nuclear Reactors (Environmental Impact Assessment for Decommissioning) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 in the UK Parliament?
Members indicated agreement.
11:45
We will write to the Scottish Government. Is the committee happy to delegate authority to me to sign off that letter?
Members indicated agreement.
Leghold Trap (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018
The final instrument is the Leghold Trap (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018. Members will note that the deadline for consent from the Scottish Parliament is 10 December. As there are no comments from members, is the committee content for the Scottish Government to give its consent to UK ministers to lay the regulations in the UK Parliament?
Members indicated agreement.
We will write to the Scottish Government. Is the committee content to delegate authority to me to sign off that letter?
Members indicated agreement.