Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedule 4) Order 2009

My Lords, I thank the noble and learned Lord for that very full explanation of all the ins and outs of this rather complicated area. It is useful that the House has been brought up to date with the considerable importance of this matter. Perhaps I am revealing my age a bit too well when I say that, as I understand it, the 2007 ruling on the Somerville case was to do with slopping out in Scottish prisons and similar things. In my house, we go back to the time when there was slopping out in the house, let alone in various other places that one had come across. In fact, some of the furniture that is scattered around the place is the old-fashioned commode which belonged to that era. There is a point for serious consideration. Even though the Minister informed the House that the measure was agreed by Scottish Ministers on 15 March, that is now only eight weeks ago. The measure was introduced to this Parliament with rather less notice. I wonder whether the noble and learned Lord could explain in what way the Government considered it appropriate to put aside the proper Cabinet Office guidelines, which say that legislation should be out for consultation for a 12-week period. Perhaps the noble and learned Lord could say, because when the measure was taken in another place it was still not quite the date when it was due to be approved by the Scottish Parliament. Perhaps that has already taken place, and that would be of interest. Also, for the record, can the noble and learned Lord say how many claims have occurred so far that extend beyond the one year that would be allowed if this legislation were in place? What difference will this legislation make to those numbers? Can he say whether some appeals may be disallowed? It would be of interest to know what sums the Scottish Government have already paid in the past year and what possible level is estimated that they will be likely to be paying in the future for the want of this legislation, which we hope will be a success.