Decision to hold a hearing and date of hearing
9.—(1) Where the Scottish Ministers consider that one or more matters relating to the request would be more satisfactorily resolved by holding a hearing attended by the parties, they shall give the parties written notice accordingly.
(2) The date fixed by the Scottish Ministers for the holding of a hearing shall be not later than 6 weeks after the date of the notice referred to in paragraph (1).
(3) Unless the Scottish Ministers agree a lesser period of notice with the parties, they shall give to the parties not less than 2 weeks written notice of the date, time and place fixed by them for the holding of the hearing.
(4) The Scottish Ministers may vary the date fixed for the holding of the hearing, whether or not the date as varied is within the period of 6 weeks mentioned in paragraph (2); and paragraph (3) applies to a variation of a date as it applied to the date originally fixed.
(5) The Scottish Ministers may vary the time or place for the holding of a hearing and shall give the parties such notice of any variation as appears to them to be reasonable.