Posted By Sean Fraser The article below is lifted direct from Croner Select newsletter regarding the draft Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Notice the England and Wales part. Health and Safety was a reserved matter during devolution but control of the Fire and Rescue Services was devolved to the Scottish executive. Until recently, Scotland has remained under the two main legislative pieces noted in the article, despite the E&W bias in the report. So my questions are - if this draft order is adopted as is recommended, what effect will this have on us here in the cold Caledonian north if at all? Am I the only who is getting confused by this? Article from http://www.croner.co.uk: "The House of Commons Select Committee on Regulatory Reform has published a new report on the Government’s draft Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The draft Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 was laid on 17 March 2005. The Order will reform and consolidate provisions in a large number of existing Acts and secondary legislation into a single regulatory regime for fire safety at non-domestic premises in England and Wales. Present fire safety regulation in England and Wales is governed by two major pieces of legislation, the Fire Precautions Act 1971 and the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997. The proposed new regime is based on the principle of risk assessment by designated persons with responsibility for the safety of others in the event of fire at non-domestic premises. The new regime would also establish a single authority in each area with enforcement duties under the Order. The report by the Regulatory Reform Committee recommends unanimously that the Draft Regulatory Reform Order be approved." PS If Croner really want to get more Scottish firms to subscribe to their services then they would need to improve on their England and Wales only approach. Same goes for the Environmental newsletter. If anyone knows of any good online reference and newsletter services relating to Environmental management in Scotland please pass on the links!

Posted By Sean Fraser I received a personal email yesterday responding to this, which I'll post here for the benefit of everyone else . . . "The issue is that as a devolved matter to the Scottish parliament the new legislation can not and thus does not apply to Scotland. The appropriate minister in Scotland is currently drafting a bill that will bring Scotland into line with the new UK (England and Wales) legislation. Hope this helps clarify the issue."