Scottish Government

Purpose of the consultation

1. In this consultation paper the Scottish Government seeks views on the proposed provisions of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Bill. The draft Bill deals with three main topics: the interpretation and operation of Acts of the Scottish Parliament and instruments made under those Acts; the scrutiny of subordinate legislation by the Scottish Parliament; and the publication of Acts of the Scottish Parliament and instruments made under those Acts. Those topics account for Parts 1 to 3 of the Bill. Part 4 contains a new power to make amendments of enactments in advance of a consolidation of the law; Part 5 makes provision about special parliamentary procedure; and Part 6 makes provision about the laying of documents other than certain statutory instruments before the Scottish Parliament.

2. The Scottish Government would welcome comments generally on what should be included, and what is proposed be included, in the Bill; and in particular on the questions raised. The questions are mainly concerned with cases where modifications are proposed to existing provisions.

3. The paper is introduced by a summary of the main features of the proposals. The consultation list is at Annex A. We have tried to cover all relevant interests but if you feel another party would benefit from seeing this consultation, please pass on a copy.

4. The consultation paper provides a commentary on the draft Bill and a discussion of the proposals. It is structured as follows:-

Summary of consultation paper
Part 1 and schedule 1 Interpretation
Part 2 and schedules 2, 3 and 4 Scottish Statutory Instruments
Part 3 Publication of Acts and Instruments
Part 4 Pre-consolidation modification of enactments
Part 5 Orders subject to Special Parliamentary Procedure
Part 6 Laying documents before the Scottish Parliament
Part 7 General
Annex A Consultation list
Annex B Respondent information form
Annex C Draft Bill
Annex D List of Consultation questions

Responding to this consultation document

5. The Scottish Government is inviting written responses to this consultation document by 12 ^th April 2009. Please use either the on-line response form or send written responses to:

ILRBConsultation@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or

Ian Nicol

6. This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out the location of your nearest public internet access point.

7. The Scottish Government now has an e-mail alert system for consultations (SEconsult: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/seconsult.aspx). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly e-mail containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements but in no way replaces Scottish Government distribution lists and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all Scottish Government consultation activity and to be alerted at the earliest opportunity to consultations of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Handling your response

8. We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form (attached at Annex B) as this will ensure that we will treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential and we will handle it accordingly.

9. All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made under the Act for information relating to responses to this consultation exercise.

10. Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, copies will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government library by 12 ^th May 2009 and on the Scottish Government web pages by 17 ^th May 2009. Where agreement to publish has been given, we will check all responses for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the Scottish Government library on 0131 244 4565. Responses can be copied and sent to you but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next?

11. Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other evidence to help Scottish Ministers reach a decision on the way ahead. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process by 12 ^th May 2009.

Comments and complaints

12. If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to me at the address above.