Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee [Draft]

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Official Report 730KB pdf

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Subordinate Legislation

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Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 Amendment Regulations 2023 [Draft]

Our second item is the consideration of a draft statutory instrument. I welcome Fiona Hyslop, the Minister for Transport; Bridget Bryden, the bus regulatory policy team leader in Transport Scotland; and Kevin Gibson, solicitor in the Scottish Government. Thank you for joining us.

The instrument is laid under the affirmative procedure, which means that it cannot come into force unless the Parliament approves it. Under the agenda item following the evidence session, the committee will be invited to consider a motion to recommend the approval of the instrument. I remind everyone that officials can speak under the current item but not under the next.

I ask the minister to make a brief opening statement.

Good morning, convener and committee. The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 was designed to make Scotland’s transport network cleaner, smarter and more accessible than ever before. During stages 2 and 3 of the parliamentary passage of the bill that became the 2019 act, a significant number of amendments were made. For context, the convener may recall that the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee considered more than 400 amendments at stage 2 and that the consideration of amendments at stage 3 lasted for around seven hours. That included amendments to provisions that amended existing primary legislation and the introduction of new provisions to which cross-references were made.

As a consequence, the bill as passed contained a significant number of provisions that required to be renumbered and cross-references that had to be corrected before its publication. When that exercise was undertaken, a substantial number of cross-references and other numbering errors were corrected in a short timescale, prior to the publication of the act. However, in a few cases, unfortunately, cross-references were not updated.

The primary purpose of the regulations, therefore, is to correct those erroneous cross-references and the incorrect numbering in the act’s provisions on bus services and smart ticketing. The regulations also remove duplicate provision on the parliamentary procedure that attaches to regulations under the act.

We are also using the opportunity to correct one minor drafting error in section 55 of the act—on parking prohibitions—to ensure that the effect of that provision is clear.

The regulations make relatively minor technical amendments to the act, to ensure that full effect is given to the Parliament’s intention in passing it. I am happy to answer any questions that members may have.

Thank you, minister. I do indeed remember the bill as it went through stages 1 and 2 in the committee that I then convened—and probably all the amendments. I do not think that I have ever seen quite so many amendments at different stages. Thank you for coming back. Monica Lennon has a question.

Good morning to the minister and her officials. Thank you, minister, for clarifying the minor and technical nature of the regulations. When did the errors first come to the Government’s attention, and could their nature—you talked about incorrect numbering and erroneous cross-referencing—have led to anyone inadvertently not complying with the law?

That would best be answered by officials, if they have the information, because, as you will know, I was not the minister at the time at which those errors happened. I am happy to take responsibility for tidying up the legislation in a technical way. I ask Kevin Gibson to come in.

The errors have been identified over time—some quite early, some not too long after the act was published, and some fairly recently. It has been a process.

On the specific point of whether anyone may inadvertently have failed to comply with the law due to those errors, the answer is no. The provisions in question are not yet in force. They will be brought into force in the next few months and we are tidying up those errors before the law comes into effect.

It is reassuring to hear that those provisions are not yet in force. That is quite a long period of time and not everyone who is now on the committee would have been involved in the legislation, so, for the record, what was the first date on which this came to the Government’s attention?

Perhaps I can answer that, because I asked quite a similar question. There are many important provisions within the 2019 act, so we must ensure that they can come into force.

The act became legislation around the end of 2019. Not long after that, we headed into the pandemic and people working right across Government were diverted from legislative and other policy work into managing the pandemic. Understandably, the provisions, including any corrections, were delayed. A number of provisions are now in process and instruments have already been laid that will help us to implement the powers that are within the 2019 act.

I have no further questions.

Thank you. You made a good point, which has been cleared up well. It was useful to hear that. Do any other members have questions?

I see no questions, so we will move straight to the next item on our agenda, which is formal consideration of motion S6M-10469, calling on the committee to recommend the approval of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 Amendment Regulations 2023.

Minister, do you want to speak to the motion or are you happy that you have spoken enough?

If you are happy for me to do so, I am happy just to move the motion.

I am happy that you have spoken enough, minister. Thank you.

Motion moved,

That the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee recommends that the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 Amendment Regulations 2023 [draft] be approved.—[Fiona Hyslop]

No members wish to contribute. Minister, do you wish to sum up or are you happy to forgo that?

I am happy to forgo summing up.

Motion agreed to.

The committee will report on the outcome of our consideration of the instrument in due course. Are members content to delegate authority to me, as convener, to finalise a report for publication?

Members indicated agreement.

I thank the minister and her officials for coming along.

09:27 Meeting suspended.  

09:30 On resuming—