Six month extension for Coronavirus (Scotland) Acts
A proposal to extend the Coronavirus (Scotland) Acts by six months, to 31 March 2021, is to be put to the Scottish Parliament.
Reporting to the Parliament following a Scottish Government review of the emergency legislation, Constitution Secretary Michael Russell said that despite "significant progress", the measures in the UK Coronavirus Act 2020 and the two Scottish Acts "remain necessary because of the continuing severe public health and economic challenges posed by the pandemic".
Very careful consideration would be given to the details of the extension. While regulations would be laid before the end of August that would, with Parliament’s agreement, seek to extend the Scottish Acts from 30 September 2020 to 31 March 2021, ministers would at the same time lay regulations "that will expire certain provisions within the legislation that we deem are no longer needed".
Mr Russell said the timing would ensure MSPs had the opportunity to scrutinise the regulations, but also that they would be drafted sufficiently close to when the Acts expire that they can reflect the latest position. Responding to a question he added: "There should be as much consultation as possible. It is because people are being asked to observe the regulations that we want them to be engaged in setting the regulations or renewal of regulations."
However he pointed out that the Parliament can only choose what to renew or not renew – changing the terms of the continuation "would require new legislation, and we are not planning new legislation at the moment".
As regards the UK Act, the House of Commons would debate after 30 September whether it continued to be necessary in respect of the non-devolved provisions, and on the devolved provisions the Scottish Government would report around the same time as to whether the powers continued to be necessary and proportionate.