Section 8: Minor and consequential provisions
38.Section 8(1) and (4) of the Act makes amendments to section 4 and schedule 4 of the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 as at the end of 30 September 2021. Section 8(8) makes an amendment to schedule 1 of the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020. These amendments are made in consequence of the provisions in section 2 of the Act.
39.Section 8 also revokes—
the Coronavirus (Scotland) Acts (Amendment of Expiry Dates) Regulations 2020 (S.S.I. 2020/299) (which provided for the extension of the main provisions of the Scottish Acts until 31 March 2021),
the Coronavirus (Scotland) Acts (Amendment of Expiry Dates) Regulations 2021 (S.S.I. 2021/152) (which provides for the current extension of the main provisions of the Scottish Acts until 30 September 2021),
the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 (Suspension: Adults with Incapacity) Regulations 2020 (S.S.I. 2020/267) (these regulations suspended the operation of paragraph 11(2) and (3) of schedule 3 of the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020, which is expired by section 2(3) of the Act), and
regulation 4 of the Coronavirus (Scotland) Acts (Early Expiry and Suspension of Provisions) Regulations 2021 (S.S.I. 2021/93) (regulation 4 suspended the operation of paragraph 24 (marriage and civil partnership) of schedule 1 of the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020, which is expired by section 28)(c) of the Act).
40.Section 8(2) and (6) of the Act amends the requirement for the Scottish Ministers to lay a statement of reasons as to why the expiry of the main provisions of the Scottish Acts should be extended (set out in section 12(6) of the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 and section 9(6) of the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020) so that the statement must be laid at the same time as laying a draft Scottish statutory instrument containing draft regulations.
41.Section 8(3) and (7) of the Act repeal provisions of the Scottish Acts which are no longer required due to the operation of section 2(7)(b) of the Act.
42.Section 8(9) of the Act repeals two spent provisions in the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020, which contained amendments to the freedom of information provisions in the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020. Schedule 4, Part 8, Paragraph 10 amended paragraph 6 of Part 2 of schedule 6 of the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020, which confers discretion on the Scottish Information Commissioner to take into account the coronavirus outbreak when deciding if authorities have failed to comply with freedom of informationtimescales, and Schedule 4, Part 8, Paragraph 11 repealed paragraphs 3 to 5 of Part 2 of schedule 6 of the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020, which extended the timescales for response, and gave the Scottish Ministers powers to further extend by direction. These amendments came into effect when the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020 received Royal Assent, so the provisions have accomplished their purposes.
