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Scotland

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Scotland

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For the national legislative body up to 1707, see Parliament of Scotland.

The Scottish Parliament (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h-Alba; Scots: Scots Pairlament) is the national unicameral legislature of Scotland, in the capital Edinburgh. The original Parliament of Scotland (or 'Estates of Scotland') merged in 1707 with the Parliament of England, through the Act of Union, to form the Parliament of Great Britain. The current parliament was established by the Scotland Act 1998. The first meeting of the new parliament as a devolved legislature was on 12 May 1999.

[edit] History

Scottish Parliament, window detail

Prior to the Act of Union 1707, Scotland was an independent state with a legislature known as the Three Estates. Initial Scottish proposals in the negotiation over the Union suggested a devolved Parliament be retained in Scotland but this was not accepted by the English negotiators.

For the next three hundred years the Scottish Parliament remained an important element in Scottish national identity, and suggestions for a 'devolved' parliament were made before 1911. The discovery of oil in the North Sea in the late 1960s caused an increase in support for Scottish independence. The Scottish National Party argued that the funds from this oil were not benefiting Scotland as much as they should.

The 1979 Scotland referendum to establish a devolved Scottish Assembly failed. Although the vote was 52% in favour of a Scottish Assembly, this figure did not equal the 40% of the total electorate threshold deemed necessary to pass the measure, as 32.9% of the eligible voting population had abstained from voting.^[1] Throughout the 1980s and 1990s demands for a Scottish Parliament grew, in part because the government of the United Kingdom was controlled by the Conservative Party while Scotland itself elected very few Tory MPs. Devolution became part of the platform of the Labour Party which, in May 1997, took power under Tony Blair.

In September 1997 a referendum of the Scottish electorate secured a large majority in favour of the establishment of a new devolved Scottish Parliament with tax-varying powers in Edinburgh. An election was held in May 1999, and on 1 July 1999 power was transferred from Westminster to the new Parliament in its temporary home in the Church of Scotland's General Assembly Hall on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

[edit] Building

Main article: Scottish Parliament Building

Since September 2004 the official home of the Scottish Parliament has been a new Scottish Parliament Building, in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh, designed by Catalan architect Enric Miralles with leaf-shaped buildings and a grass-roofed branch merging into adjacent parkland, Gabion walls formed from the stones of previous buildings, and many repeated motifs such as shapes based on Raeburn's Skating Minister, stepped gables, and the upturned boat skylights of the Garden Lobby. The Queen opened the new building on 9 October 2004.

Whilst the building was being constructed the Parliament's temporary home was the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh. Official photographs and TV interviews were often held in the courtyard adjoining the Parliament, which is part of the School of Divinity of the University of Edinburgh. This building was vacated twice to allow for the meeting of the Church's General Assembly. The Parliament was temporarily relocated to the former Strathclyde Regional Council debating chamber in Glasgow in May 2000 and to the University of Aberdeen in May 2002.

In March 2006, one of the Holyrood building's roof beams slipped out of its support and was left dangling above the Conservative and Unionist back benches during a debate. The debating chamber was subsequently closed, and MSPs moved to The Hub for one week, while inspections were carried out.^[2] During repairs, all chamber business was conducted in the Parliament's committee room two.

[edit] Officials

The Rt Hon. George Reid MSP is the second Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament

After each election to the Scottish Parliament, at the beginning of each parliamentary term, parliament elects one MSP to serve as Presiding Officer, or speaker (currently the Rt Hon George Reid MSP, and two MSP's to serve as deputies (currently Trish Godman MSP and Murray Tosh MSP), whose main role is to chair chamber proceedings. When chairing meetings of the parliament the Presiding Officers and his deputies must be politically impartial.

During debates the Presiding Officer (or his deputy) is assisted by one of the parliamentary clerks who give advice on how to interpret the Standing orders which govern proceedings. The vote clerk who sits in front of the Presiding Officer operates the electronic voting equipment and chamber clocks.^[3]

The Presiding Officer also fulfils other roles such as comprising one member of the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body, which is responsible for ensuring that the parliament functions effectively and has the staff, property and resources it requires in order to operate^[4]. The Presiding Officer also convenes the parliamentary bureau which allocates time in the chamber. The bureau consists of representatives of each of the parties and agrees the timetable of business in the chamber. The Presiding Officer also represents the Scottish Parliament at home and abroad in an official capacity.

The Presiding Officer controls debates by calling on members to speak. If a member believes that a rule (or Standing Order) has been breached, he or she may raise a "point of order", on which the Presiding Officer makes a ruling that is not subject to any debate or appeal. The Presiding Officer may also discipline members who fail to observe the rules of the Parliament.

The member of the Scottish Executive whose duty it is to steer government business through parliament is the Minister for Parliamentary Business (currently Margaret Curran MSP). The minister is appointed by the First Minister and sits in the Scottish Cabinet.

[edit] Procedure

Seating in the Debating Chamber is arranged in a semicircle with Ministers sitting in the front row in the middle

Unlike Westminster, the debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament has seating arranged in a semicircle, which reflects the desire to encourage consensus amongst elected members.^[3] There are 131 seats in the debating chamber - 129 of which are occupied by the parliament's elected MSP's and 2 seats for the Scottish Law Officers - the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for Scotland, who are members of the Scottish Executive. Members are able to sit anywhere in the debating chamber, but typically sit in their party groupings.^[3] The First Minister, Scottish Cabinet Ministers and Law Officers sit in the front row, in the middle section of the Chamber. The largest party in the parliament sits in the middle of the semicircle, with opposing parties on either side.^[3]. The Presiding Officer, parliamentary clerks and officials sit opposite members at the front of the debating chamber. In front of the Presiding Officers' desk is the parliamentary mace, which is made from silver and inlaid with gold panned from Scottish rivers and inscribed with the words: Wisdom, Compassion, Justice and Integrity.^[3] The mace symbolises that a meeting of the parliament is taking place and has a formal ceremonial role in the meetings of parliament.^[5] The mace was presented to the Scottish Parliament by Queen Elizabeth II upon parliaments' official opening on July 1 1999 and is normally displayed under a glass screen, but at the beginning of each meeting in the chamber, the case is removed.^[3]

Parliament sits from Monday through to Thursday from early January through to late June and from Early September through to mid December, with additional mid-sessional 3 week recesses in April and in October. Full plenary meetings in the Debating Chamber only take place on Wednesday afternoons from 2pm to 5pm and on Thursday from 9.15am to 5pm. Sittings of the parliament are open to the public - both chamber debates and committee meetings, although to attend these, members of the public must purchase tickets in advance. Meetings are broadcast on the parliament's own channel - Holyrood.tv^[6] and also on the BBC's own parliamentary channel BBC Parliament. They are also recorded in text form in print and online in Official Report which is the substantially verbatim^[7] transcript of parliamentary debates.

The Presiding Officer (or Deputy Presiding Officer) decides who speaks in chamber debates and the amount of time for which they are allowed to speak. Normally the Presiding Officer tries to achieve a balance between different viewpoints and political parties when selecting members to speak.^[3] Typically Ministers or party leaders open debates, with opening speakers given between 5 and 20 minutes; and succeeding speakers allocated less^[3]. The Presiding Officer can reduce speaking times if a high volume of members wish to participate in the debate.

Debate is much more informal than in some parliamentary systems. Members are able to call each other directly by name, rather than by constituency or cabinet position, and hand clapping is allowed in the chamber. Speeches to the Chamber are normally in English, but members are able to use Scots, Gaelic, or any other language for which an interpreter would be provided.^[8] The Scottish Parliament has conducted several Gaelic-only debates.^[9]

At the end of each sitting day in the chamber, normally 5pm, MSP's decide on all the motions and amendments that have been tabled that day, this is known as 'Decision Time', and is heralded by the sounding of the division bell which is heard throughout the Parliamentary campus alerting MSP's not sitting in the chamber, to return and vote.^[3] At Decision Time the Presiding Officer goes through all motions and amendments, reading out the name of the motion or amendment as well as the proposer and asks "Are we agreed?", to which the Chamber first votes by voice. If there is audible dissent, the Presiding Officer announces - "There will be a division" - and members proceed to a vote. Voting is done electronically in the Scottish Parliament by means of electronic consoles on MSP's desks. Each MSP has a unique access card with microchip, which when inserted into the console identifies them and allows them to vote.^[3] As a result, the outcome of each division is known within the space of minutes.

The outcome of most votes is largely known beforehand, since political parties normally instruct members on how to vote. A party normally entrusts some MSP's, known as whips, with the task of ensuring that all party members vote as desired. MSP's do not tend to vote against such instructions, since those who do so are unlikely to reach higher political ranks in their parties. Errant members may be deselected as official party candidates during future elections, and, in serious cases, may be expelled from their parties outright. Thus, the independence of Members of Parliament tends to be extremely low, and "backbench rebellions" by members discontent with their party's policies are rare. In some circumstances, however, parties announce "free votes", allowing Members to vote as they please. This may be done on moral issues.

Immediately after Decision Time a 'Members Debate' is held, which lasts for 45 minutes.^[3] Members Business is a debate on a motion proposed by an MSP who is not a Scottish Minister. Such motions are on issues which may be of interest to a particular area (such as the members' own constituency), an upcoming or past event or any other item which would otherwise not be accorded official parliamentary time. As well as the proposer, other members normally contribute to the debate. The relevant Minister whose department, the debate and motion relate, to usually replies at the end of time.

[edit] Committees

Much of the work of the parliament is done in committee. The principal role of committees in the Scottish Parliament is to scrutinise legislation. Additionally committees may conduct inquiries into areas under their remit. Committee meetings take place on Tuesdays or Wednesday mornings when parliament is sitting in one of the Committee rooms in the parliament building. Committees can also meet at other locations throughout Scotland.

Committees are comprised of a small number of MSP's, with membership reflecting the balance of parties across parliament. There are different committees with their functions set out in different ways. Mandatory Committees are committees which are set down under the Scottish Parliament'standing orders, which govern their remits and proceedings. The current Mandatory Committees of the Scottish Parliament are, Audit; Equal Opportunities; European and External Relations; Finance; Procedures; Public Petitions; Subordinate Legislation and Standards and Public Appointments.

Subject Committees are established at the beginning of each parliamentary sessions, and again the balance of members on each committee reflects the balance of parties across parliament. Typically each committee corresponds with one (or more) of the departments (or ministries) of the Scottish Executive. The Current Subject Committees are: Communities; Education, Enterprise and Culture; Environment and Rural Development; Health; Justice 1; Justice 2 and Local Government and Transport.

A further type of committee is normally set up to scrutinise private bills submitted to the Scottish Parliament by an outside party or promoter who is not a member of the Scottish Parliament or Scottish Executive. Private bills normally relate to large scale development projects such as infrastructure projects that require the use of land or property.^[10]

[edit] Legislative functions

[edit] Constitution and powers

The Scotland Act 1998 which was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom and given royal assent by the Queen on November 19, 1998 governs the functions and role of the Scottish Parliament as well as delineating its legislative competence. For the purposes of parliamentary sovereignty, the Parliament of the United Kingdom, at Westminster continues to constitute the supreme legislature of Scotland, but under the terms of the Scotland Act, Westminster agreed to devolve some of its responsibilities over the domestic policy of Scotland to a new elected body that was to be set up - the Scottish Parliament. Such matters are devolved matters and include education, health, agriculture and justice. The Scotland Act enabled the Scottish Parliament to pass primary legislation on these issues. A degree of domestic authority, and all foreign policy, remains at present with the UK Parliament in Westminster. The Scottish Parliament has the power to pass laws and has limited tax-varying capability. Another of its roles is to hold the Scottish Executive to account.

The specific devolved matters are all subjects which are not explicitly stated in Section 5 of the Scotland Act as reserved matters. All matters that are not specifically reserved are automatically devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Most importantly, this includes agriculture, fisheries and forestry, economic development, education, environment, food standards, health, home affairs, Scots law - courts, police and fire services, local government, sport and the arts, transport, training, tourism, research and statistics and social work. The Scottish Parliament has the ability to alter income tax in Scotland by up to 3 pence in the pound.

Reserved matters^[11] are subjects that are outside the legislative competence of the Scotland Parliament. The Scottish Parliament is unable to legislate on such issues that are reserved to, and dealt with at Westminster (and where Ministerial functions usually lie with UK Government ministers). These include abortion, broadcasting policy, civil service, common markets for UK goods and services, constitution, electricity, coal, oil, gas, nuclear energy, defence and national security, drug policy, employment, foreign policy and relations with Europe, most aspects of transport safety and regulation, National Lottery, protection of borders, social security and stability of UK's fiscal, economic and monetary system.

The public take part in Parliament in two ways that are not the case at Westminster: a public petitioning system, and cross-party groups on policy topics which the interested public join and attend meetings of, alongside MSPs.The Parliament is able to debate any issue (including those reserved to Westminster) but is unable to legislate on issues that are outside its legislative competence.

[edit] Bills

As the Scottish Parliament is able to make laws on the areas constitutionally devolved to it, the legislative process begins with bills (draft laws) which are presented to parliament. Bills can be introduced to parliament in a number of ways; the Scottish Executive can introduce new laws or amendments to existing laws as a bill; one of the parliament's committees can present a bill on one of the areas under its remit; a member of the Scottish Parliament can introduce a bill as a private member or a private bill can be submitted to parliament by an outside proposer. Most draft laws are Executive bills introduced by ministers in the governing party of the parliament. Bills pass through parliament in a number of stages:

Stage 1 is the first, or introductory stage of the bill, where the minister or member in charge of the bill will formally introduce it to parliament. Stage 1 usually takes place, initially, in the relevant committee or committees and is then submitted to the whole parliament for a full debate in the chamber on the general principles of the bill. If the whole parliament agrees in a vote to the general principles of the bill, it then proceeds to Stage 2.

Stage 2 is normally conducted entirely in the relevant committee, where amendments to the bill are proposed by committee members. At this stage, the bill is considered in substantial detail. Some bills and all emergency bills, at this stage, are considered in detail by a committee of the whole parliament, in the debating chamber. The Presiding Officer acts as the convener of the committee in such circumstances.

Stage 3 is the final stage of the bill and is considered at a meeting of the whole parliament. This stage is comprised of two parts - consideration of amendments to the bill as a general debate and a final vote on the bill. At this stage, opposition members can table 'wrecking amendments' to the bill, designed to thwart further progress and take up parliamentary time, in order to cause the bill to fall without a final vote being taken. After a general debate on the final form of the bill, members proceed to vote at Decision Time on whether they agree with the bill in its final form. If the bill is passed, it is submitted to the Queen for royal assent and becomes an Act of the Scottish Parliament.

[edit] Scrutiny of government

The party or parties which hold the majority of seats in the parliament form the Scottish Government, known as the Scottish Executive. In contrast to many other parliamentary systems, Parliament elects a First Minister from a number of candidates- at the beginning of each parliamentary term (after a general election). Any member can put their name forward to be First Minister and a vote is taken by all members of parliament. Normally the leader of the largest party is returned as First Minister, and head of the Scottish Executive. Theoretically parliament also elects the Scottish Ministers who form the government of Scotland, but such ministers are usually appointed to their roles by the First Minister. The First Minister also appoints Junior Ministers to assist Scottish Ministers in their roles. Most ministers and their juniors are drawn from amongst the elected MSP's, with the exception of Scotland's Chief Law Officers - the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General, who are not elected members. Whilst the First Minister chooses the Ministers, and may decide to remove them at any time; the formal appointment or dismissal, however, is made by the Sovereign.

Under the Scotland Act 1998, ordinary general elections for the Scottish Parliament are held on the first Thursday in May every four years (1999, 2003, 2007 etc.) The date of the poll may be varied by up to one month either way by the Queen on the proposal of the Presiding Officer. If the Parliament itself resolves that it should be dissolved (with at least two-thirds of the Members voting in favour), or if the Parliament fails to nominate one of its members to be First Minister within certain time limits, the Presiding Officer proposes a date for an extraordinary general election and the Parliament is dissolved by the Queen by royal proclamation.

The Scottish Parliament scrutinises the work of the Executive in a number of ways. The First Minister or members of his cabinet can deliver statements to parliament upon which MSP's are invited to question them. For example, at the beginning of each parliamentary session, the First Minister delivers a statement to the parliament chamber setting out the Executive's legislative programme for the forthcoming year. After the statement has been delivered, the leaders of the opposition parties and other MSP's are able to question the First Minister on issues related to the substance of the statement.

Parliamentary time is also set aside for Question periods in the parliament debating chamber. A General Question Time takes place on a Thursday between 11.30am and 12pm where members can direct questions to any member of the Scottish Executive. At 2.30pm a 40 minute long themed Question Time takes place, where members can ask questions of ministers in departments that are selected for questioning that sitting day, such as health and justice or education and transport. Between 12pm and 12.30pm on Thursdays, when parliament is sitting, First Minister's Question Time takes place. This give members an opportunity to question the First Minister directly on issues under his jurisdiction. Opposition leaders are able to ask a general question of the First Minister and then supplementary questions. Such a practice enables a 'lead-in' to the questioner, who then uses their supplementary question to ask the First Minister any issue. The three general questions available to opposition leaders are:

• To ask the First Minister when he next plans to meet the Prime Minister and what issues they intend to discuss?;
• To ask the First Minister when he next plans to meet the Secretary of State for Scotland and what issues they intend to discuss? and
• To ask the First Minister what issues he intends to discuss at the next meeting of the Scottish Executive's cabinet?.

Questioners who wish to ask general or themed questions, or questions of the First Minister must lodge their questions with parliamentary clerks beforehand and questioners are then selected by the Presiding Officer. Members can also ask questions of ministers by submitting written questions to them, for answer . Written Questions and answers are published in the Official Report.

[edit] Voting system

Elections for the Scottish Parliament were the first in the United Kingdom to use the additional member system (AMS), which is a method of proportional representation (PR). (Various other forms of PR had been used already, however, in European Parliament elections, and in Northern Ireland for local council elections and Northern Ireland Assembly elections.)

Of the 129 MSPs, 73 are elected to represent first past the post constituencies, whilst the remaining 56 are elected by the additional member system. These 56 are elected in eight different electoral regions, of which constituencies are sub-divisions.^[12]

Each region returns seven additional member MSPs. The eight regions are: Highlands and Islands; North East Scotland; Mid Scotland and Fife; West of Scotland; Glasgow; Central Scotland; South of Scotland; and Lothians.

One MSP is elected by the other MSPs to be Presiding Officer, the speaker. The current Presiding Officer is the Rt Hon George Reid.

The Parliament also elects a First Minister, who heads the Scottish Executive. In theory the Parliament also elects the members of the Executive, but in practice it is the First Minister who chooses them. The current First Minister is Jack McConnell of the Labour Party.

[edit] Latest Election

Main article: Scottish parliamentary election, 2003

[edit] Constituency (First-Past-the-Post) results

Total votes cast - 1,891,335

[edit] Top up (Additional Member System) results

Total votes cast - 1,915,856

Overall turnout - 49.4%

[edit] Composition

The Scottish Parliament's logo in English and Gaelic.

There are currently 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). The current (2006) state of the parties is as follows^[13] (1999 seat totals are given in italics):

• ¹ 6 Scottish Socialist Party members were elected in 2003, but 2 (including the original 1 elected in 1999) defected in September 2006 to form the new Solidarity (Scotland) Party.
• ² Was formed from the split of the Scottish Socialist Party in 2006.

The Independent MSPs are Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West), Margo MacDonald (Lothians), Dr. Jean Turner (Strathkelvin and Bearsden), Campbell Martin (West of Scotland), and Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife). These Independent MSPs, plus the sole representative of the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party, form a party group in the Parliament and so are entitled to propose items of debate for their few debating slots and to sit on the Parliamentary Bureau, which selects business and is made up of the party whips plus the Presiding Officer.

Although the Presiding Officer, George Reid, was elected as a member of the SNP and is included in the 26 SNP MSPs above, he accepted voluntary suspension from the party as the Presiding Officer must be independent of party affiliation.^[13]

[edit] Criticism

Enric Miralles' Scottish Parliament complex in Holyrood Park during construction. The building was completed in 2004. Above and behind the new parliament is the neoclassical Royal High School, which was prepared for a previous devolved Scottish parliament, but never used.

The Parliament has been criticised for various reasons, both pragmatic and ideological. Since 1999, the death in office of Donald Dewar, Scotland's first First Minister, and the resignation, brought on by an office expenses scandal, of his successor Henry McLeish, have meant that the first years of the parliament have not been easy.

The escalating costs of the construction of the new parliament building led to widespread criticism. Popular arguments against the parliament before the UK general election of 1997, levelled mainly by the Conservative and Unionist Party, were that the Parliament would create a "slippery slope" to Scottish independence, and provide the pro-independence Scottish National Party with a route to power. John Major, the Tory prime minister before May 1997, famously claimed the parliament would end "1000 years of British history", although the political entity of the Kingdom of Great Britain was still less than 300 years old at the time. The equally pro-Union Labour Party met these criticisms by claiming that devolution would fatally undermine the SNP, and remedy the long-felt desire of Scots for a measure of self-government.

Perhaps the main criticism of the parliament is that it has not changed Scotland enough. For many the entire point of devolution was that things could be done differently. Expectations that Scottish government would dramatically change as a new, non-confrontational, politics took hold in Holyrood have been disappointed, but were arguably based on naïve perceptions of the nature of politics. Adversarial politics are still commonplace after devolution, and frequently overshadow events at Holyrood. Moreover, the electorate has twice chosen a moderate centre-left (some would claim centre-right) Scottish Executive, in voting predominantly for the Labour Party. The acid test in judging the success or failure of the parliament may not be to measure whether it is well-loved by Scots, but whether, given the opportunity, they would vote to abolish it. Polling continues to show that they would overwhelmingly vote to keep it. Regardless, the Scottish Parliament has proved able to act quickly to deal with longstanding issues that repeatedly escaped action at Westminster. Hunting with dogs was banned (2002) with hardly any of the controversy seen in England and Wales, feudal land tenure was abolished (2000) and a far more generous subsidy for old age care was implemented (2002) than that seen south of the border. In addition, a ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces came into force in March 2006.

Miralles' new Scottish Parliament building opened for business on the 7 September 2004, three years late. The estimated final cost was £431 million. The White Paper in 1997 estimated that a new building would have a net construction cost of £40 million, although this based on the presumption that the old Royal High School would be used, as had long been assumed. After the devolution referendum it was quickly announced that the high school, which is smaller than many council chambers, was entirely inadequate for the parliament, and negotiations began for a new building on a new site. This led critical media and politicians to claim the final building was "ten times over budget". Miralles' building was in fact costed at £109 million, prior to major increases in space. £431 million for a national parliament might still be argued to be within reason when compared to Portcullis House - a new parliamentary office block in Westminster - built for use by 200 MPs, which cost £250 million, including £100 million spent on bronze cladding.

Lord Fraser's Inquiry reported on the 15 September 2004 and identified the choice of the construction management procurement route as the main factor in the fourfold increase in estimated costs establishing that a £270 million value building ended up costing £431 million, an identifiable waste of £181 million. This was portrayed as clearing Donald Dewar of any blame.^[14] The cost of the building remains more controversial than any of the legislation so far passed by the parliament.

[edit] References

1. ^ The 1979 Referendums, BBC Online, retrieved 21 Aug 2006
2. ^ MSPs face further beam disruption, BBC News, retrieved 21 Aug 2006
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Information for Visitors. The Scottish Parliament - Debating Chamber. Scottish Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-10-11.
4. ^ Scottish Parliament. About the Parliament - The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. Scottish Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-10-11.
5. ^ Parliament Mace to go on display at the Museum of Scotland. Scottish Parliament Information Centre - News Release. Scottish Parliament (15 July 1999). Retrieved on 2006-10-12.
6. ^ Holyrood.tv. BBC News. Scottish Parliament. Retrieved on 2006-10-11.
7. ^ Official Report terms of Reference. Parliamentary Business - Official Report. Scottish Parliament (19 May 1999). Retrieved on 2006-10-11.
8. ^ Scottish Parliament Corporate Body. SPCB - Language policy. Scottish Parliament (November 2004). Retrieved on 2006-10-11.
9. ^ Scottish Parliament Corporate Body. Scottish Parliament - Parliamentary Business. Scottish Parliament (29 February 2000). Retrieved on 2006-10-11.
10. ^ Scottish Parliament Corporate Body. SPCB - Language policy. Scottish Parliament (November 2004). Retrieved on 2006-10-12.
11. ^ "The Scotland Act 1998, Schedule 5: Reserved Matters", HMSO, 1998. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1998/80046--u.htm
12. ^ Scottish Parliament Website: MSPs
13. ^ ^a b Scottish Parliament Factsheet, 11 May 2006 External PDF
14. ^ Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, Holyrood Project Inquiry Final Report. Scottish Parliament, 2004

[edit] See also

• Politics of Scotland
• List of Acts of the Scottish Parliament from 1999
• Scotland referendum, 1997
• Scottish parliamentary election, 1999
• Scottish parliamentary election, 2003
• Scottish parliamentary election, 2007
• Members of the Scottish Parliament, 1999-2003
• Members of the Scottish Parliament, 2003-2007
• Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office
• Secretary of State for Scotland
• Sewel motion
• West Lothian question

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Official website (Gàidhlig version)
• Official website (Scots version)
• Our Scotland - Discuss Scottish Parliamentary Issues. Scottish Politics Forum
• Scotland Act 1998
• The Scottish Parliament Project, University of St Andrews
• Holyrood Inquiry homepage
• BBC News explanation of the powers of the Scottish Parliament

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