Thank you, convener. The Scottish Government is seeking to extend part 2 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 for a further five years. That part of the 2010 act came into effect on 1 August 2010, but due to the addition of a sunset clause during the passage of the bill, its powers will expire on 1 August 2015.
Part 2 allows ministers to make orders to
“improve the exercise of public functions, having regard to ... efficiency ... effectiveness, and ... economy”,
and to make orders to “remove or reduce” burdens. Eight orders have to date been made under part 2: three have been made under section 14 on efficiency, effectiveness and economy, and five under section 17 on removing or reducing burdens.
In summary, the orders have declassified the General Teaching Council for Scotland as a public body and turned it into an independent profession-led organisation; transferred the functions of the Public Standards Commissioner for Scotland and the Public Appointments Commissioner for Scotland to the new Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland, at the request of the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body; created the roles of prison monitoring co-ordinator and independent prison monitor, and transferred the functions of prison visiting committees to those roles; provided the basis for measures to provide greater confidence in the working relationships between landlords and tenant farmers; enabled ministers to recover the costs of Education Scotland’s inspection of independent further education colleges and English language schools; helped to streamline and simplify the planning system in two specific areas; and allowed NHS National Services Scotland to provide shared services across the public sector with a view to improving efficiency and productivity.
Although, during the passage of the bill, committee members expressed concerns that the powers in part 2 might be misused, the fact that a relatively small number of orders have been made, to make important but small-scale changes, should provide reassurance that the powers have been used appropriately. In each case, the orders were subject to full public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny and, where necessary, to amendment.
Where significant changes to the public bodies landscape have been proposed, those have—quite appropriately—been delivered through primary legislation. A recent example is the merger of Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, which was done through the Historic Environment Scotland Act 2014.
It is vital that we retain the order-making powers for another five years because they provide the Government and Parliament with flexibility to make changes quickly, as and when opportunities arise, without introducing primary legislation. Streamlining and simplifying the public bodies landscape is a continuing process, and wider developments such as the further devolution of powers to Scotland and the on-going challenging financial context mean that the powers continue to be relevant and necessary.
I reassure members that the additional safeguards that were introduced by Parliament during its consideration of the eventual Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010—including in relation to consultation and scrutiny—will remain in place, in response to points that were raised by the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee that the Scottish Government has not revised its approach to consultation. We continue to believe that consultation is an important aspect of Scottish Government working methods that should be carried out on proposals for legislation, except on rare occasions like this.
As the order seeks only to extend the duration of part 2 of the 2010 act, and as the provisions themselves contain no detail, the only views that a consultation could have elicited would have been for or against continuation, and would not have led to any changes to the order. It is therefore unlike the vast majority of legislation, on which full and substantive consultation on provisions can take place.
We consider that the best evidence on the impact of part 2 is the way in which it has been used in practice since it came into force. On each occasion, the orders have been subject to full consultation. There have been no communications to the Scottish Government since the enactment of the 2010 act suggesting that the powers have caused problems or have been used in an inappropriate manner.
The Scottish Government continues to believe that the powers provide an essential mechanism for making small-scale changes to public functions. Ultimately, it is for Parliament to decide whether or not the powers should be continued on the basis of their past use and potential future use in relation to improving efficiency, effectiveness and economy, and removing and reducing burdens.
I am happy to answer questions.