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Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2005

I thank the Minister for that very full and helpful explanation of the regulations before us. I also thank him very much for his letter of 20 June, which was extremely helpful. It went into great detail on the powers that exist in Section 104. It was very good of him to put a copy in the Library, which will be of help to Peers who wish to consult on these matters. This is an interesting occasion today. It was noised abroad that these orders might draw the attention of the Advocate General in our House. It seems, very sadly, that it is not possible for her to appear with us in a Grand Committee, so the House will be deprived of her presence until after the Recess. That is a great shame. We are all looking forward to welcoming her in her post. We certainly offer general support for this measure, but, first, there are a number of significant questions. The Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) order is obviously a good precaution to allow for the Scottish fire services to act in emergencies in, as the Minister said, waters not adjacent to Scotland, international waters, premises occupied by Armed Forces and those mentioned in the Nuclear Installations Act 1965. We have quite a few of those types of sites in and around Scotland. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Services will be well placed to give assistance if required. Do the Government see a need for any increase in equipment for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Services as it takes on those additional tasks? Will those changes have any practical effect on the fire and safety regime in Scotland? One question that applies to all of the statutory instruments that we will deal with today, but to none more so perhaps than this one, is why have we been pressed to deal with this business today when, apparently, there is no plan to deal with these in another place before the Recess? Are the Government sure that there will be no call on the Scottish fire services until the autumn? How will such an event that crops up be dealt with? Does this cause there to be a gap in the cover that will be available between one Act and the next?