Russell outlines next COVID-19 legislation

A concession regarding land and buildings transaction tax for people moving house, and removal of the requirement to serve or intimate documents on the walls court, will be among the provisions in a second bill with special measures to counter the coronavirus pandemic.

Cabinet Secretary Michael Russell told MSPs that the bill would include similar issue to the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act already passed, which contained "immediate reactions" to the situation, but also "items that are required to overcome some problems with statutory deadlines which cannot now be met as well as reflecting that the disruption caused by the pandemic will be with us for some time yet".

Outlining some of these matters, he mentioned:

• for those who have paid the LBTT additional dwelling supplement prior to a particular date, the bill will extend the time period during which a previous main residence must be sold in order for them to claim a repayment from Revenue Scotland;
• removal of the requirement to serve or intimate documents on the walls of court;
• more time for registered social landlords to lodge their accounts with the Scottish Housing Regulator;
• amending the UEFA European Championship Act 2020 to reflect the postponement of the Euro 2020 championships to 2021; and
• relaxing the timetable for holding the Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change, "although I can assure Parliament – and especially the Green Party who were responsible for this amendment to the Climate Change Act – that this will not diminish our commitment to this project".

However the Government has already said that it is still working on a policy for modified solemn criminal trial procedure, following the withdrawal of the provisions for juryless trials from the previous bill, and provisions to deal with this will have to await a further bill.

Mr Russell also invited opposition parties to detail what they might want to see in the bill. He hoped to provide more details of content later this week.

He continued: "In addition to the Scottish bills and [a further] UK bill, there are also an increasing number of SSIs being prepared by Scottish ministers which are part of the legislative response to the coronavirus outbreak. These are in train and will be subject to scrutiny by the committees as appropriate.

"All these are technical, but they are also a necessary part of our national response. We will try our very best to ensure that they are also consensual and I commit myself to continued cross party working in that regard."

The next three week review period for the regulations ends on 7 May. For the Act itself, "the first reporting period under the legislation ends on 31 May. As members will recall, I have also given a commitment to report to Parliament on actions taken under the UK Act in the same way, and it is my intention to combine both of these into a single report". Mr Russell said there were already over 40 matters on which reporting would be required, and the Government was considering the best means of presentation.

Click here to view the full statement.