Scotland Act 1998 (Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc.) Order 2006

rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 6 December 2005 be approved. [13th Report from the Joint Committee]. The noble Lord said: My Lords, the first order before us this evening is the draft Scotland Act 1998 (Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc.) Order 2006. The order is being made under section 63 of the Scotland Act 1998, which gives the power to Her Majesty, by Order in Council, to,"““provide for any functions, so far as they are exercisable””," by,"““a Minister of the Crown in or as regards Scotland, to be exercisable . . . by the Scottish Ministers instead of””," or,"““concurrently with the Minister of the Crown, or . . . by the Minister of the Crown . . . after consultation with . . . the Scottish Ministers””." That is commonly known as executive devolution. The order is considered by both Houses of this Parliament and by the Scottish Parliament. The order executively devolves functions to the Scottish Ministers in two areas. First, in relation to firefighters’ pensions, it transfers to the Scottish Ministers functions which are exercisable in or as regards Scotland under Section 26 of the Fire Services Act 1947, as amended by the Civil Partnership Act 2004. Prior to amendment by the 2004 Act, functions under section 26 had been transferred to the Scottish Ministers by the Scotland Act 1998 (Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc.) Order 1999. Section 26 covered the provision of benefits for widows, children and dependants of firefighters. It was amended, by the 2004 Act, to include reference to civil partners in the list of potential beneficiaries. The changes are needed now to ensure that changes to pension arrangements which come into force in April can be made for all firefighters in Scotland. Secondly, this order seeks to ensure that the Scottish Ministers have power to legislate for all non-medicinal animal feeding stuffs and feed additives in Scotland, which are generally devolved. I shall refer to all these substances this evening as animal feed, to save us some time. The order supplements the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2005, which, when they come into force, will mean that some substances—such as gut flora stabilisers and other substances advantageous to the environment—will no longer be defined as animal feed. Noble Lords will be intrigued to note that an example of these substances is a feed additive that reduces methane production in cows. These substances will not be dealt with by the 2005 regulations, because they have no medicinal effect. The additives are however defined as ““medicinal products”” in the Medicines Act 1968, meaning that the regulation of them is reserved. The order transfers to the Scottish Ministers the regulatory functions under the Agriculture Act 1970 in respect of those feedstuffs and additives. It also provides that the Scottish Ministers, concurrently with the Minister of the Crown, can exercise functions in relation to those feedstuffs and additives under Section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972. I beg to move. Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 6 December 2005 be approved [13th Report from the Joint Committee].—(Lord Evans of Temple Guiting.)