§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what legislation from his Department passed in the last five years contains provision for statutory repeal or review. [2038]
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton[holding answer 27 November 1995]: The Department regularly reviews and, where appropriate, amends or consolidates relevant legislation. For example, in the 1994–95 parliamentary session there was a major consolidation of criminal justice legislation.
In addition, the Scottish Law Commission, together with the Law Commission for England and Wales, has responsibility for statute law revision. The Law Commissions prepare programmes of statute law revision with a view to recommending in reports presented to Parliament the repeal of enactments identified as being no longer of practical utility, usually because they are spent, obsolete or unnecessary.
In the last five years the Law Commissions have submitted two statute law revision reports. The 14th report on statute law revision was published on 22 April 1993 and was implemented by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1993, c. 50. The 15th report was published on 22 March 1995 and was implemented by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1995, c. 44.