Public Health Legislation in Scotland: A Consultation

ANNEX K: AREAS FOR DISCUSSION

Public Health (Scotland) Act 1897

Areas for discussion

The Public Health (Scotland) Act 1897 has 196 Sections. A number of these have been repealed or are specifically discussed within the consultation document. However there remain several sections which have not been addressed in detail. We need to gather opinion on whether these sections should be retained in any future new Public Health (Scotland) legislation. The tables hold the following Sections:

Table 1 Sections not completely included in consultation but need discussion
Table 2 Sections currently completely included and need no further discussion
Table 3 Sections not included and which were not considered useful for public health legislation

The comments in the Tables relate to the views of the previous Public Health Legislation Review Group.

Table 1 Sections not completely included in consultation but need discussion

Section No	Section Title	Current position and opinion on whether useful Local authority general powers	Included in consultation
27	Articles removed to be sold	Matter or thing can be sold or destroyed. Considered a useful process to keep	No
30	Penalty for injuring closet &c so as to cause nuisance	Considered an offence rather than nuisance and should be kept	No
31	Water closets &c used in common	Needs a definition of dwelling house (in common relates to 2 or more separate dwelling houses) and considered useful to retain and modernise	No
35	Local authorities may make byelaws as to pigstyes	Considered useful, to be retained and extended to more than pigstyes	No
50	Infectious matter thrown into ash-pits &c to be disinfected	Could be deleted if other laws pick up disposal of infected material	No
65	Byelaws as to public conveyances for securing cleanliness and sanitary condition	Considered useful to retain and update : however the Road Traffic Act 1930 repealed this Section with respect to public service vehicles	No
66	Power of local authority to provide hospitals	Consider repealing as long as keep a duty on health and local government to work together in emergency	No
Useful Sections on dwelling places and common lodging houses
40	Houses in filthy state to be purified	Person fined if don't cleanse and gives powers to LA to do otherwise. Useful to keep with inclusion of 'deliberate fouling'	No
42	Periodical removal of manure from mews and other premises	Thought useful to keep if add all animals	No
47	Cleansing and disinfecting of premises &c	Keep and update with new definition of house and change from removal of 'residents' to removal of 'people'	No
48	Disinfection of bedding &c	Keep and update with new definition of house and change from removal of 'residents' to removal of 'people'	No
51	Penalty on letting houses in which infected person have been lodging	Keep if update with new definition of house (include ships etc) and include making an offence to keep silent re ID	No
52	Penalty on persons letting houses making false statements re ID	If have Section 51 updated might be able to repeal Section 52	No
96	LA may remove sick persons (any infectious disease) to hospitals &c	Allows removal of ill person and stopping admission to lodging house until clear of infection	No
97	As to giving notice of fever & c occurring	Requires immediate notification to DMO, removal & closing of lodging house and LA may need to make provision shelter	No
Section No	Section Title	Current position and opinion on whether useful Death, burial and mortuaries	Included in consultation
56	Penalty on exposure of infected persons and things	Includes a penalty if hold a wake of an infected person	No
59	Prohibition on conveyance &c of infected person in public conveyance	Considered useful to retain and update	No
62	Prohibition of retention of dead body in certain cases	Considered useful to retain and update together with Sections 63-64 & 68-71, and consider cremation and religious beliefs	No
63	Body of person dying of infectious disease in hospital &c to be removed only for burial	Considered useful to retain and update together with Sections 62, 64 & 68-71, and consider cremation and religious beliefs	No
64	Disinfection of public conveyances if used for carrying corpses	Considered useful to retain and update together with Sections 62-63, & 68-71 and consider cremation and religious beliefs	No
69	Power of sheriff &c in certain cases to order removal of dead body to mortuary	Keep and retain inline with Sections 62-64, 68, 70 & 71	No
70	Power of local authority to provide places for post-mortem examinations	Keep and retain inline with Sections 62-64, 68,69,71	No
71	Power to sanitary authorities to unite for providing mortuary	Keep and retain inline with Sections 62-64 & 68-70	No
141	Power of borrowing for hospitals, etc	Also allows borrowing for provision of mortuaries etc. Consider with Sections 62-64, 68 - 71	No
Penalties
153	Recovery of penalties	Will need method of penalty enactment	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11, Penalties
154	Form of applications to the sheriff &c	Will need method of penalty enactment and this updated/revised	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11
155	No written pleadings &c allowed	Will need method of penalty enactment and this updated/revised	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11
156	Appeal in certain cases	Will need method of penalty enactment and this updated/revised	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11
157	No appeal otherwise	Will need method of penalty enactment and this updated/revised	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11
158	Justices &c being members of local authority may act	Allows officers of LA to act against the LA in theory but already in other leglislation	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11
161	One or more joint owners may be proceeded against alone	Will need method of penalty enactment and this updated/revised	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11
162	Penalty on occupier obstructing owner	Will need method of penalty enactment and this updated/revised	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11
163	Penalty for violating Act or obstructing its execution	Will need method of penalty enactment and this updated/revised	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11
164	Compensation to be made	Will need method of penalty enactment and this updated/revised	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11
165	Convictions not void for want of form	Will need method of penalty enactment and this updated/revised	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11
166	Local authority or Board not liable for irregularity of officers	Will need method of penalty enactment and this updated/revised	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11
169	Police constables to aid in executing Act	Will need method of penalty enactment and this updated/revised	No & will need to be considered in Chapt 11
Port local authorities
172	Constitution of port local authorities	Useful although with some limitations in Scotland	Yes & No : In theory in Chpt 9
173	Jurisdiction of port local authority	Useful although with some limitations in Scotland	Yes & No : In theory in Chpt 9
174	Delegation of powers by port local authority	Useful although with some limitations in Scotland	Yes & No : In theory in Chpt 9
175	Expenses of port local authority	Useful although with some limitations in Scotland	Yes & No : In theory in Chpt 9
176	Proceedings for raising a sum for payment of debt within defaulting authority	Useful although with some limitations in Scotland	Yes & No : In theory in Chpt 9
177	Provisions as to ships within the jurisdiction of LA	Useful and needs updating to consider oil-rigs etc	Yes & No : In theory in Chpt 9
178	Provisions as to district of LA extending to places where ships are lying	Useful and needs updating to consider oil-rigs etc	Yes & No : In theory in Chpt 9
Section No	Section Title	Current position and opinion on whether useful Need legal opinion - process Sections	Included in consultation
5	Local Government Board to be central authority	Changed to Scottish Ministers	No
6	Powers of Board to inquire into sanitary conditions of district	May be useful - means a local authority ( LA) can request Scottish Ministers to inquire	No
8	Power to Board to appoint commissioners for conducting special inquires	May be useful for Scottish Ministers - must not be an officer of the dept and therefore could be part of the solution to enforcement against own organisation	No
12	Local authorities for the purposes of the Act	Updated	No
146	Procedure if local authority neglect its duty under Act. Procedure under 18 & 19 Vict c68	Could be useful in terms of enforcement against an organisation but needs streamlining	No
148	Procurator Fiscal may sue by directions of Board	Could be useful in terms of enforcement against an organisation but needs streamlining	No
149	Procedure where nuisance beyond district	Could be useful in cross-boundary disputes	No
168	Exemption from stamp duties	Not discussed but already repealed May need reinstatement	No
170	Act not to impair right of action on nuisances &c	Will need to keep this Section to support common law on nuisances	No & consider with respect to Chapt 7
171	Powers of Act cumulative	Need legal advice on necessity for this Section	No
190	Saving of certain Acts	Will need legal opinion on the impact of this Act on others	No
193	Reference to Public Health Acts	Will need legal opinion	No
194	Exemption of Government property from building regulations	Will need legal opinion	No
196	Repeal of Acts	Will need legal opinion	No

Table 2 Sections currently completely included and need no further discussion

Section No	Section Title	Current position and opinion on whether useful	Included in consultation (Yes/No)
44	Notification of infectious disease	Useful and keep	Yes Completely included
54	Removal to hospital of infected persons without proper lodging	To be kept	Yes
55	Detention of infected persons without proper lodging in hospital	To be kept	Yes
57	Penalty on sending child to school, so as to spread infection	To be kept and expanded	Yes
58	Prohibitions on infected person carrying on business	To be kept for example with tattooists and food handlers	Yes in terms of exclusions
68	Power of local authority to provide mortuaries	Consider changing liability for provision from LA to the NHS and review inline with Sections 62-64, 69-71	Yes

Table 3 Sections not included and which were not considered useful for public health legislation

Section No	Section Title	Current position and opinion on whether useful	Included in consultation (Yes/No)
32	Prohibition or regulation of certain offensive businesses, and byelaws as to offensive businesses	Covered now by the Environmental Protection Act ( EPA) 1990 and to be repealed	No
41	Provision for obtaining order for cleansing offensive ditches lying near to or forming boundaries of districts	Could be deleted as nuisance provisions cover this area	No
46	Provision of means for disinfecting bedding &c	Should be deleted	No
49	Persons engaged in washing or mangling clothes to furnish list of owners of clothes in certain cases	Should be deleted	No
53	Penalty on ceasing to occupy house without disinfection or notice to owner, or on making false answer	Considered unenforceable and therefore to be deleted	No
72	Power of local authority to make byelaws as to lodging houses	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
73	Tents and vans used for human habitation	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
74	Rules as to underground dwellings	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
75	Penalty on letting underground dwellings	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
76	Cases in which two convictions (of overcrowding or occupation of cellar) have occurred within three months	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
89	Common lodging houses to be registered	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
90	No lodger to be received in common lodging house till it has been inspected and registered	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
91	Evidence of register	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
92	Power to local authority to make byelaws to separate sexes in lodging houses etc	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
93	Copy of byelaws to be furnished gratis to keepers	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
94	Power to local authority to require additional supply of water to be required by keeper	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
95	Power to local authority to order reports from keepers	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
98	Inspection	Considered more useful in other legislation	Only covered with respect to ID - 1897 Act wider
99	Cleansing	Considered more useful in other legislation	Only covered with respect to infectious disease - 1897 Act wider
100	Conviction for third offence &c to disqualify persons from keeping common lodging houses	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
116	Distilleries &c to deposit refuse	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
123	Works of distribution of sewage to be deemed a land improvement	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
144	Power to acquire lands	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
145	Regulations as to compulsory purchase of land &c	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
150	Local authority may require payment of costs &c from owner or occupier, and occupier paying to deduct from rent	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
151	Penalty for wilful damage of works	Considered more useful in other legislation	No
189	Act not to affect navigation of rivers or canals, or irrigation of lands	Considered more useful in other legislation	No

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Public Health Legislation in Scotland: A Consultation

ANNEX K: AREAS FOR DISCUSSION