 Good morning everyone and welcome to the 23rd meeting of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee. As a worthy reminder and including members that mobile phones should be switched off, I have received apologies from является Torrance. Agenda item 1 is the Declaration of Interests. The first item on our agenda is a Declaration of Interest in accordance with section 3 of the code of conduct. I invite Graham Simpson to declare any interests relevant to the remit of this committee? No relevance interests. Thank you. Our second item is to choose our convener. The Parliament has agreed that only members of the Scottish Conservative Party are eligible for nomination as convener of the committee. That being the case, I seek nominations for the position of convener. We'd like to propose Graham Simpson as convener. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? No? Okay. One nomination has been received and therefore asked the committee to agree that Graham Simpson will be chosen as convener of the committee. I will agree. Okay. I congratulate Graham Simpson on his appointment and hand over the chair for the remainder of the proceedings. Okay. Okay. Congratulations. Okay. Thank you very much. It's proposed that the committee take item 7 consideration of the committee's work programme in private. Does the committee agree to take item 7 in private? So agenda item 4 instruments subject to negative procedure. No points have been raised by our legal advisers on SSI 2017-225 and 2017-231. Is the committee content with these instruments? Agender item 5 instruments not subject to any parliamentary procedure. No points have been raised by our legal advisers on SSI 2017-234, 239, 240, 242 and 251 all 2017. Is the committee content with these instruments? Thank you. So we move on to agenda item 6, gender representation on public boards Scotland bill. The purpose of this item is the committee to consider its approach to the scrutiny of the delegated powers in the gender representation on public boards Scotland bill at stage 1. Specifically, this is an opportunity to identify matters which the committee may wish to raise with the Scottish Government in relation to the delegated powers contained in this bill. The policy objective of the bill is to increase the representation of women on public boards in Scotland. The bill contains three delegated powers. It suggests that the committee raises questions on the powers in section 8 that enable the Scottish ministers to make regulations modifying schedule 1 so as to add or remove an entry of a public authority caught by the requirements of the act or to vary the description of such an entry and section 11-2 that authorises the Scottish ministers to modify the act when making regulations under section 8. Regulations made under section 8 of the bill are subject to the negative procedure. The Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 provides for a different approach and it is a useful comparator. Section 4 of that act includes a power allowing the Scottish ministers by order to add or remove the public authorities listed in schedule 1 to which the right of access to information applies. Such an order is to be made under the negative procedure except in particular circumstances where the affirmative procedure applies by virtue of section 7 of that act. These circumstances are where regulations list the authority only in relation to information of a specified description. Does the committee agree to ask the Scottish Government the following? Firstly, to explain why it is necessary that section 11-2 provides power to modify the act as a whole rather than being limited to amending schedule 2 in relation to the application of the act to particular public authorities, in particular to provide examples of when it would be necessary for regulations made under section 8 to modify a provision of the act other than schedules 1 and 2. Secondly, bearing in mind the approach taken to the regulation making powers in sections 4-1 and 7-1 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act, whether it would be appropriate for the regulations made under section 8 of the bill to be subject to the affirmative procedure where those regulations make any provision in table 2 of schedule 1 to exclude certain positions within a public authority from the requirements of the bill. Thirdly, regardless of whether or not section 11-2 is limited to making modifications to schedule 2 rather than the act as a whole, and given that the exercise of such power in regulations made under section 8 would amend primary legislation, whether it would be more appropriate for the affirmative procedure to apply, so do we want to ask the Scottish Government those questions? Okay, I'll now move the meeting into private session.