Law reform roundup

Small Charitable Donations Bill

The Society gave evidence to the Public Bill Committee on 16 October. The bill seeks to enable charities and community amateur sports clubs to claim a Gift Aid-style payment on small cash donations up to £20 where it is often difficult to obtain a Gift Aid declaration. John Hodge of the Charity Law Committee reiterated the Society’s support of the policy intent, but voiced concerns that the bill is likely to have limited impact and will not catch all charities that could usefully benefit from it.

As the legislation stands, in order to qualify for the scheme the charity already has to be operating a Gift Aid scheme, and very small charities and those set up for one-off short term collections are likely to be excluded. The Society would like to see flexibility, or provision for review, built into the legislation. It has also submitted amendments to extend the charities eligible.

Self-directed support

The Mental Health and Disability Law Committee submitted a number of amendments at stage 2 on the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Bill. Mainly relating to ss 5 and 15, these seek to address the Society’s concerns with the scope of the bill.

Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill

The Society submitted a second reading briefing on this bill in October. The Society believes that the Adjudicator and Deputy Adjudicator must be independent and impartial appointments, and that the Adjudicator must take the different arbitration regimes in the UK into account when appointing an arbitrator. The arbitrator should be under a statutory duty to take these issues into account.

Financial Services Bill

The Society submitted a proposed new clause for the bill, which seeks to clarify the law on continuous payment authorities (CPAs). CPAs, often used in the short term or payday loan market, involve the debtor giving the lender their card details and authorising it to take regular payments from their account. Various reports suggest that customers are generally not aware of their right to withdraw from CPA schemes. This amendment ensures that debtors are informed about their rights, and that only the debtor may cancel or vary a CPA. Furthermore, the debtor’s bank is obliged to comply with the debtor’s instructions.

Reform of criminal verdicts

The Criminal Law Committee responded to Michael McMahon MSP’s consultation on the three verdicts. Against the background of Lord Carloway’s review, the committee stated that issues around simple majority verdicts, weighted majority verdicts, unanimous verdicts and the three verdict system should be taken into account in a full scale review of Scottish criminal procedure.

Crime and Courts Bill

The Criminal Law Committee submitted proposed amendments in advance of committee stage in the House of Lords. The committee has raised concerns that the proposed remit of the new National Crime Agency is too wide, in that its criminal intelligence function will relate to holding information relevant to activities to combat any crime and not just organised or serious crime.

The committee is also concerned that Scottish ministers may direct the new Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland to provide the NCA with assistance, as this brings the Chief Constable’s independence into question.

Environmental consultation

The Environmental Law Subcommittee responded to the Scottish Government’s consultation, Safeguarding Scotland’s Resources: A Programme for the Efficient Use of Our Materials. The subcommittee welcomed the programme for the efficient use of material building on the Zero Waste Plan and on the concept of materials as a resource and not waste. However, it identified the intention to impose an obligation on retailers to charge for plastic bags as controversial, stating that this would be difficult to enforce in primary legislation, particularly if detailed exemptions are afforded to bags with a specific size or purpose.