Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2006

My Lords, I am grateful for the Minister’s explanation. I merely have two questions to ask him. The Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2006 appears to contain a provision for consents given under the Electricity Act 1989 to be treated as if modified as necessary in order to be consistent with the 2005 regulations. It appears that this process could have an impact on those who have already received consents, so will the Minister say how those interests will be protected? First, will those who have already received consents which have to be realigned with the new provisions be given notification of that fact? What happens if consequential cost is involved in adjusting to the new arrangements, and will there be an appeals procedure to enable such construed changes of condition to be reviewed? Can the Minister say whether the arrangements under the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005 (Consequential Modifications) (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) Order 2006, which, again, seems entirely sensible, are reciprocal if the provision to enable services to be provided to reorganised Scottish health authorities will be mirrored by Scottish provision to English health authorities? Does that await Scottish legislation? It is clearly desirable that it should be a reciprocal provision. Finally, in respect of the management of offenders order, once again, it seems that the intention is that, on both sides of the border, provision for certain offenders management should be broadly comparable. My understanding is that, although the arrangements covering the power to release prisoners on licence before required to do so and to release prisoners on home detention curfew arrangements are operative in England and, by the effect of this order, will be operative in comparable arrangements in Scotland, I am not entirely clear that it works the other way. If I am right, the memorandum indicates that there has been no such legislation in Scotland yet to provide for the similar treatment south of the border. That may be a matter that still has to be decided by the Scottish Executive, but I assume that there have been exchanges between the Government and the Executive on that point.