Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 and the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020 - proposed extension: statement of reasons

4. Consultation

4.1 A formal public consultation exercise on the proposal for the extension regulations has not been undertaken. However, as part of the ongoing review of the continued necessity of the provisions and the formal process required under the Acts to report to Parliament every two months on the operation and status of provisions, there has been ongoing stakeholder engagement and consultation on whether the provisions continue to be necessary. The reporting regime will continue should the extension regulations be approved.

4.2 Furthermore, as highlighted above, many of the provisions have corresponding provision, though in some cases with amendments, in the Recovery and Reform Bill. The Scottish Government held a full 12-week public consultation on the Bill between 17 August and 9 November 2021. The consultation paper, entitled "Covid Recovery: a consultation on public health, public services and justice system reforms"^[7], was publicised widely and a dedicated webpage was established with supporting information^[8]. The questions in the consultation paper invited respondents to provide their views on whether the provisions for each topic should be extended beyond March 2022. A total of 2,905 valid consultation responses^[9] were received, of which 2,775 were from individuals and 130 were from organisations^[10]. The Scottish Government has published a full consultation analysis report^[11].

4.3 There are also provisions in respect of which detailed stakeholder engagement has been undertaken to arrive at the proposals for extension and this is set out later in the Statement of Reasons.