Further measure promised as Coronavirus Bill passes
A further emergency bill to deal with the COVID-19 crisis will be brought to the Scottish Parliament in about three weeks' time, Cabinet Secretary Mike Russell confirmed as the Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill passed through all its parliamentary stages yesterday.
The main purpose of the bill will be to bring forward provisions concerning solemn criminal trials, after the Scottish Government agreed to withdraw its proposed power to suspend the use of juries in the face of massive opposition from the legal profession, along with opposition MSPs. No indication has yet been given of the shape of the revised provisions.
During the debates it was suggested that other provisions may be added as the need arises. One possible subject is the position of students whose courses for the year have ended prematurely but who have already paid for their university accommodation.
Several opposition amendments against the proposed extension of the time limits under the freedom of information legislation produced a tied voted in the chamber, and were only defeated by Presiding Officer Ken McIntosh casting his vote in accordance with convention.
However the Government accepted an amendment put forward by Liberal Democrat Alex Cole-Hamilton tightening the criteria for the proposed extension of the admissibility of hearsay evidence in criminal cases, intended to ensure that that "judges will decide whether there is a particular risk to the wellbeing of the witness from coronavirus transmission, and whether that risk outweighs the undoubted benefit to the interests of justice and of a fair trial of having the witness examined under oath in the usual manner", in Mr Cole-Hamilton's words.
Labour MSP Daniel Johnson paid tribute to the "extraordinary amount of work in a very short space of time" done by the Law Society of Scotland in its briefing paper for members on the bill.
An amendment sought by the Law Society of Scotland, changing from 10 days to 10 working days the notice to be given by the Keeper of the Registers for the application record to reopen, in order to give solicitors time to prepare and submit applications for registration, was withdrawn on request despite having the sympathy of Mr Russell, who explained that the way Registers operate their computer systems does not permit such a method of calculation.
He added: "There will probably be a need for emergency legislation to reopen the registers. That is being discussed. If we can resolve that, we will, of course, use the proposal in [the amendment], because we are entirely sympathetic to there being as much time as possible."
The bill was ultimately passed unanimously by the 80 members present.