Business Motion - Sexual Offences (Procedure and Evidence) (Scotland) Bill – Stage 3

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): I bring to the attention of Parliament a matter that has arisen since the Parliamentary Bureau considered the business motion. It has arisen in relation to the plan for the stage 3 debate on the Sexual Offences (Procedure and Evidence) (Scotland) Bill on Wednesday next week. I think that the majority of members are strong supporters of that bill. I and my SNP colleagues certainly are.

At yesterday's meeting of the Justice 2 Committee, we took evidence on the Executive's stage 2 amendment 16. That amendment was substantial in size, complexity and possible implications for Scots law. The principles of the amendment will receive broad support from many members, as they do from me. However, the committee took evidence from the Law Society of Scotland and from Professor Gane of the University of Aberdeen on the amendment. The upshot of that was that they sounded a substantial note of caution about whether one part of the amendment would be operable.

I will not cover the substantive issue just now—the stage 3 debate is the proper forum for that. I will make a point about processes and the risks that may be associated with rushing legislation. We have not rushed the bill—we first voted on it at stage 1 many months ago—but the committee has found itself in a position in which there are only 48 hours to consider whether we wish to amend section 8B, which was introduced by the Executive's stage 2 amendment 16. Furthermore, we do not have the Official Report of the evidence taken yesterday. That creates difficulties.

I would have preferred that the debate be postponed for a week, but I do not think that that will be possible. I therefore take the opportunity to urge the Executive to look carefully at section 8B, to consider the evidence that was given to the committee yesterday and to determine whether, with the resources that are available to it, the Executive will be able to fine-tune the amendment to address the points that were raised in yesterday's evidence, preserve the integrity of the bill and support women throughout Scotland in their fight against the heinous crime of rape.

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