Recommendation 3

Within this context we recommend that our successor follows up the relevant recommendations in our recent report on intergovernmental activity. We also recommend that these recommendations inform the discussions around the establishment of committees in Session 7. These recommendations are repeated here for ease of reference –
The Committee thanks Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government officials for their work in reviewing Statutory Instrument Protocol 2. The Committees supports the outcome of the review and believes that it will support the effective and proportionate scrutiny of all UKSIs made within devolved competence, including those anticipated to arise from any requirement for dynamic regulatory alignment with the EU. The Committee recommends that the revised protocol comes into effect at the start of Session 7. i This paragraph is an updated version of paragraph 182 in our report on the transparency of intergovernmental activity following the Committee’s consideration of the following correspondence: Letter from Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans, 18 March 2026
Issues which may arise in devolved policy areas which will fall under a UK-EU agreement are also influenced by the existence of common frameworks, governed by the operation of the UK Internal Market Act 2020, and shaped by the willingness of successive UK Governments to take and exercise powers in devolved areas, often without the consent of Scottish Ministers.
The UK leaving the EU drove the establishment of legislative and non-legislative mechanisms to manage intra-UK difference, but these mechanisms are now established in the operation and shape of the devolution settlement. As the Committee has previously noted the reach of these mechanisms extends beyond the scope of former EU competence and the areas which are likely to be governed by dynamic alignment.
In the Committee's view, it is accordingly essential that the Scottish Parliament is notified by the Scottish Government of all SIs containing provision within devolved competence, irrespective of whether they arise from dynamic alignment.
The Committee recommends that a priority for the Scottish Parliament in Session 7 should be to consider the level of resource required to support meaningful and proportionate parliamentary scrutiny of the exercise by the UK Government of all delegated powers within devolved competence. This should include consideration of the establishment of a Committee with lead responsibility for oversight of such delegated powers and the UK statutory instruments made under them .
The interrelationship between the issues also informs the Committee's view that the Session 7 committee responsible for oversight of UK-EU and external relations should also be responsible for scrutiny of the operation of the devolution settlement through the scrutiny of the common frameworks programme, UKIMA and its exclusions process, the operation of the Sewel convention including the taking of delegated powers and the exercise of delegated powers in devolved areas.
The Committee notes that procedures for the transposition and implementation of EU legislation in the UK were previously set out in the Concordat on Co-ordination of European Union Policy. The Committee further notes that if a similar transposition model is introduced for dynamic regulatory alignment that similar procedures will be needed. If so, it is essential that this includes consideration of the need for transparency and Ministerial accountability.