 Fy援 wrth ymweld i'r Fyffordd y Cymru ym 2019 a'r cymdeithasol i'r Gweithgaredd Liam MacArthur. Argymeth enthraedol ym Ynchafelio ofynu ar gyffredinol ym Mhysgelliaid. Fyffordd ym 1 ym 50, mae'r gymhysgell hefyd i'r gyffredinol hwnnw i Gweithrethol a'r gweithrethau i gyfer angen y ym 2019 oes i ddifuig. I welcome Ash Denham, Minister for Community Safety and our officials, Gainor Davenport, Housing Services, Policy Unit and Christine Simone Lefevre, who is the director of legal services with the Scottish Government. I refer members to paper 1, which is a note by the clerk. I invite members to the minister to make a short opening statement. Thank you, convener, and good morning to the committee. I am pleased to be here this morning to discuss two fairly technical regulations that will make the housing and property chamber of the first-tier tribunal operate more efficiently in line with the original policy intentions to deliver the benefits of specialism, consistency and accessibility and also improved access to justice for both tenants and landlords in the private rented sector. I will give a little bit of background on the development of the housing and property chamber of the first-tier tribunal, followed by a summary of the two related instruments that are before you this morning. The housing and property chamber was established in December 2016 when two existing housing panels transferred into the first-tier tribunal as part of the first phase of tribunal reform. The creation of the chamber saw the transfer of the civil jurisdiction in relation to most private tenancy-related cases from the sheriff court to the first-tier tribunal in December 2017. The first-tier tribunal can now make orders equivalent to decrees previously made by sheriff courts. For example, sheriffs can make orders to evict tenants and the tribunal can now do the same. The basis for raising a case and the matters to be taken into account also remain the same. Rules of procedure covering all types of civil cases in the new tribunal were made by virtue of the first-tier tribunal housing and property chamber procedure regulations 2017, also known as the 2017 rules. The court transfer was a large-scale transfer under the Housing Scotland Act 2014. As the first-tier tribunal gained operational experience of handling its new case load from the sheriff court, it did identify some areas where the legislation could be clarified. My officials listened carefully to the views of the first-tier tribunal and agreed that there were some areas where the legislation could be amended to provide that clarification. The instruments before the committee today respond directly to the issues raised by the tribunal. Turning to the instruments themselves, we have the negative instruments—SSI 2018-378. This is the first-tier tribunal for Scotland housing and property chamber procedure amendment regulations 2018, and this amends the 2017 rules that set out the procedures of the housing and property chamber. The affirmative instrument is the first-tier tribunal for Scotland housing and property chamber incidental provisions regulations 2019, and this affirmative instrument is needed to amend the primary legislation. Subject to the approval of the committee, it resolves some minor drafting matters and amends the debtors Scotland Act of 1987 and the bankruptcy and diligence etc. Scotland Act of 2007. This makes clear the procedures to be followed and to make certain orders previously made in the sheriff court in consequence of the transfer of civil jurisdiction. That is just a brief overview of the regulations that are before you today, and I would be happy to answer any questions that the committee might have. Good morning, minister. Are policy objectives here, note 2, says on 1 December 2017, most private sector rented sector civil cases transferred from the sheriff court? Does that remain the case, or are there any still considered that, the sheriff court? There are some cases still in the sheriff court, for example, houses in multiple occupation. That would require consultation with local authorities. That is the main one that I can think of. We had a big consultation at the time. We decided that it was best to leave it at the sheriff court and not involve HMOs in the large-scale transfer, but it is not to say that in the longer term HMOs will not transfer. I know that sometimes there can be a lot of controversy around HMOs. Why was it decided to leave it? From memory, speaking to different councils, the City Council, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, it was considered very expensive when you broke it apart and seen what was necessary procedurally, given the fact that the councils and the local authority already do an intensive scrutiny at the local authority committee stage. It is quite technical and complicated, and it was out of sync with the rest of the case law that we were transferring. Local authorities were not in any rush to do that, but it is not something that we said that we would not do. We said that we would look at it in the longer term. Are there any other questions from members? Do you have any other further comments, minister? No. In that case, agenda item 2 is formal consideration of the motion in relation to the affirmative instrument. The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee has considered and reported on the instrument and has no comments on it. The motion will be moved with an opportunity for formal debate, if that is necessary. The motion is motion 15300. The Justice Committee recommends that the first-year tribunal for Scotland housing and property chamber incidental provisions regulations 2019 draft be approved. Minister, can you move the motion? Thank you. Do members have anything other to add? That being the case, I put the question that motion 15300, in the name of Ash Denham, be approved. Are we all agreed? We are all agreed. That concludes consideration of the instrument. The committee's report will note and confirm the outcome of the debate. Is the committee agreed to delegate authority to me as convener to clear the final draft report? In that case, we suspend to allow the minister and officials to leave before consideration of the next item. Agenda item 3 is consideration of a negative instrument. First-year tribunal for Scotland housing and property chamber procedure amendment regulations 2018 SSI 2018 oblique 378. I refer members to paper 2, which is a note by the clerk. Do members have any comments? No comments, then is the committee agreed? It does not wish to make any recommendations in relation to this instrument. We are agreed. Agenda item 4 is consideration of whether a statutory instrument made under the powers conferred on the devolved authorities in the European Union withdrawal Act 2018 has been laid under the appropriate procedure. The instrument is licensing amendment EU exit Scotland regulations 2019 SSI 2019 oblique 6. I refer members to paper 3, which is a note by the clerk, and paper 4, which is a private paper. The instrument has been laid under the negative procedure. The committee will consider the policy content of the instrument at a future meeting. Do members have any comments? Is the committee therefore agreed that the negative procedure is the appropriate procedure for this instrument? The only thing I would say is that we do not prejudice our ability to make the same decision for any future similar legislation by right. Every instrument will be judged in its own merits. If that is the case, is the committee agreed that the negative procedure is appropriate for this instrument? We are agreed, thank you. That concludes the public packer today's meeting. Our next meeting will be on 5 February when we will discuss the public petitions currently under consideration by the committee. We will also consider our forward work programme. We now move into private session.