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| Miscellaneous |
Maladministration. |
86. - (1) The Parliament shall make provision for the investigation of relevant complaints made to its members in respect of any action taken by or on behalf of- |
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(a) a member of the Scottish Executive in the exercise of functions conferred on the Scottish Ministers, or |
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(b) the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for Scotland, the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland or the Keeper of the Records of Scotland. |
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(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a complaint is a relevant complaint if it is a complaint of a kind which could be investigated under the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 if it were made to a member of the House of Commons in respect of a government department or other authority to which that Act applies. |
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(3) In making provision of the kind required by subsection (1), the Parliament shall have regard (among other things) to the Act of 1967. |
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(4) Sections 49, 105, 106 and 107 shall not apply in relation to functions conferred by or under the Act of 1967. |
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(5) In this section- |
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"action" includes failure to act (and related expressions shall be read accordingly), |
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"provision" means provision by an Act of the Scottish Parliament; |
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and the references to the Act of 1967 are to that Act as it has effect on the commencement of this section. |
Agency arrangements. |
87. - (1) Arrangements may be made between the Scottish Ministers or the Lord Advocate and any relevant authority for the provision of administrative, professional or technical services by one of them for the other. |
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(2) In this section "relevant authority" means- |
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(a) any Minister of the Crown or government department, |
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(b) any holder of a public office, or |
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Private legislation. |
88. - (1) This section applies where a pre-commencement enactment makes provision which has the effect of- |
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(a) requiring any order to be confirmed by Act of Parliament, or |
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(b) requiring any order (within the meaning of the Statutory Orders (Special Procedure) Act 1945) to be subject to special parliamentary procedure, |
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and power to make, confirm or approve the order in question is exercisable by the Scottish Ministers by virtue of section 49. |
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(2) The provision shall have effect, so far as it relates to the exercise of the power to make, confirm or approve the order by virtue of section 49, as if it required the order- |
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(a) to be confirmed by an Act of the Scottish Parliament, or |
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(b) (as the case may be) to be subject to such special procedure as may be provided by or under such an Act. |
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(3) Section 49 shall not apply in relation to the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act 1936. |
Appointment and removal of judges. |
89. - (1) It shall continue to be for the Prime Minister to recommend to Her Majesty the appointment of a person as Lord President of the Court of Session or Lord Justice Clerk. |
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(2) The Prime Minister shall not recommend to Her Majesty the appointment of any person who has not been nominated by the First Minister for such appointment. |
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(3) It is for the First Minister to recommend to Her Majesty the appointment of a person as- |
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(a) a judge of the Court of Session (other than the Lord President or the Lord Justice Clerk), or |
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(b) a sheriff principal or a sheriff. |
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(4) A judge of the Court of Session may be removed from office by Her Majesty on the recommendation of the First Minister. |
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(5) The First Minister shall make such a recommendation if (and only if) the Parliament resolves that the judge in question should be removed from office and the number of members voting in favour of the resolution is not less than two-thirds of the total number of seats for members of the Parliament. |
Provision of information to the Treasury. |
90. - (1) The Treasury may require the Scottish Ministers to provide, within such period as the Treasury may reasonably specify, such information, in such form and prepared in such manner, as the Treasury may reasonably specify. |
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(2) If the information is not in their possession or under their control, their duty under subsection (1) is to take all reasonable steps to comply with the requirement. |
| Judicial scrutiny |
Devolution issues. |
91. Schedule 6 (which makes provision in relation to devolution issues) shall have effect. |
Legislative power to remedy ultra vires acts. |
92. Subordinate legislation may make such provision as the person making the legislation considers necessary or expedient in consequence of- |
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(a) any provision which purports to be made by or under any Act of the Scottish Parliament but is not, or may not be, so made, or |
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(b) any purported exercise by a member of the Scottish Executive of his functions which is not, or may not be, an exercise or a proper exercise of those functions. |
Powers of courts or tribunals to vary retrospective decisions. |
93. - (1) This section applies where any court or tribunal decides that- |
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(a) an Act of the Scottish Parliament or any provision of such an Act is not within the legislative competence of the Parliament, or |
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(b) a member of the Scottish Executive does not have the power to make, confirm or approve a provision of subordinate legislation that he has purported to make, confirm or approve. |
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(2) The court or tribunal may make an order- |
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(a) removing or limiting any retrospective effect of the decision, or |
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(b) suspending the effect of the decision for any period and on any conditions to allow the defect to be corrected. |
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(3) In deciding whether to make an order under this section, the court or tribunal shall (among other things) have regard to the extent to which persons who are not parties to the proceedings would otherwise be adversely affected. |
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(4) Where a court or tribunal is considering whether to make an order under this section, it shall order intimation of that fact to be given to the Lord Advocate unless he is a party to the proceedings or has been given intimation under Schedule 6 of any devolution issue which has arisen in the proceedings. |
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(5) Where the Lord Advocate is given intimation under subsection (4), he may take part as a party in the proceedings so far as they relate to the making of the order. |
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(6) Paragraphs 36 and 37 of Schedule 6 apply with necessary modifications for the purposes of subsections (4) and (5) as they apply for the purposes of that Schedule. |
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(7) In this section "intimation" includes notice. |
The Judicial Committee. |
94. - (1) Any decision of the Judicial Committee in proceedings under this Act shall be stated in open court and shall be binding in all legal proceedings (other than proceedings before the Committee). |
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(2) No member of the Judicial Committee shall sit and act as a member of the Committee in proceedings under this Act unless he holds or has held- |
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(a) the office of a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, or |
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(b) high judicial office as defined in section 25 of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 (ignoring for this purpose section 5 of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1887). |
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(3) Her Majesty may by Order in Council- |
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(a) confer on the Judicial Committee in relation to proceedings under this Act such powers as Her Majesty considers necessary or expedient, |
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(b) apply the Judicial Committee Act 1833 in relation to proceedings under this Act with exceptions or modifications, |
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(c) make rules for regulating the procedure in relation to proceedings under this Act before the Judicial Committee. |
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(4) In this section "proceedings under this Act" means proceedings on a question referred to the Judicial Committee under section 32 or proceedings under Schedule 6. |
| Supplementary powers |
Power to make provision consequential on Acts of the Scottish Parliament. |
95. Subordinate legislation may make such provision as the person making the legislation considers necessary or expedient in consequence of any provision made by or under any Act of the Scottish Parliament. |
Power to make provision consequential on this Act. |
96. Subordinate legislation may make such modifications in any pre-commencement enactment as appear to the person making the legislation necessary or expedient in consequence of this Act. |
Power to adapt certain Ministerial and other functions. |
97. - (1) Subordinate legislation may make such provision as the person making the legislation considers appropriate for the purpose of enabling or otherwise facilitating the transfer to the Scottish Ministers by virtue of section 49 or 59 of a function exercisable by a Minister of the Crown. |
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(2) Subordinate legislation under subsection (1) may, in particular, provide for any function of a Minister of the Crown which is not exercisable separately in or as regards Scotland to be so exercisable. |
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(3) Subordinate legislation may, for the purposes of this Act, provide for any function of a government department- |
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(a) which is not exercisable separately in or as regards Scotland so far as it relates to devolved matters to be so exercisable, or |
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(b) which is so exercisable but is subject to a requirement which relates (wholly or partly) to reserved matters or to matters which do not concern Scotland to be exercisable free from that requirement so far as it so relates. |
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(4) The reference in subsection (1) to the transfer of a function to the Scottish Ministers shall be read as including the sharing of a function with the Scottish Ministers. |
Scottish taxpayers for social security etc. purposes. |
98. - (1) The Secretary of State may by order provide for individuals to be treated for the purposes of any of the matters that are reserved matters by virtue of Head 6 of Part II of Schedule 5 as if they were, or were not, Scottish taxpayers. |
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(2) The Secretary of State may by order provide in relation to any year of assessment that, for those purposes, the basic rate in relation to the income of Scottish taxpayers shall be treated as being such rate as is specified in the order (instead of the rate increased or reduced for that year by virtue of any resolution of the Parliament in pursuance of section 69 passed after the beginning of the year). |
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(3) An order under this section may apply in respect of any individuals whether Scotland is the part of the United Kingdom with which they have the closest connection or not. |
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(4) In this section "Scottish taxpayer" has the same meaning as in Part IV. |
Regulation of Tweed and Esk fisheries. |
99. - (1) Her Majesty may by Order in Council make provision for regulating fishing for salmon, trout, eels and freshwater fish in the River Tweed and the River Esk. |
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(2) In this section- |
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"eels", "freshwater fish", "salmon" and "trout" have the same meanings as in the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975, |
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"the River Tweed" has the same meaning as in section 39 of that Act, |
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"the River Esk" means the river of that name which, for part of its length, constitutes the border between England and Scotland and includes its banks and tributary streams. |