Recommendation 33

As outlined in prior conclusions and recommendations, there are a large number of question marks over definitional issues to do with the offence set out in the Bill and whether the alternative approach of amending section 40 of the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 would work better. There is also the issue of enforcement of environmental law and the Committee’s concerns that some existing legal sanctions, such as the section 40 offence, are barely being used. We all need to understand better why that is. A majority of the Committee i Sarah Boyack and Mark Ruskell dissent from this recommendation do not see a realistic prospect of these questions about definitions and enforcement being addressed comprehensively in the few remaining weeks before this session of the Parliament ends and, given this, do not consider that it would be responsible to recommend to the Parliament that the Bill should proceed any further. In that context, a majority i Sarah Boyack and Mark Ruskell dissent from this recommendation of the Committee do not support the general principles of the Bill.