What the Scottish Parliament can do

The Scottish Parliament will have law-making powers over a wide range of matters which affect Scotland. There will be a Scottish Executive headed by a First Minister which will operate in a way similar to the UK Government and will be held to account by the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Parliament and Executive will be responsible for:

• Health including the National Health Service in Scotland and public and mental health;

• Education and training including pre-5, primary, secondary, further and higher education; and training policy and programmes;

• Local government, social work and housing including local government structure and finance; social work; the voluntary sector; housing policy; area regeneration; building control; and the statutory planning framework;

• Economic development and transport including responsibility for the economic development of Scotland; financial and other assistance and support for Scottish business and industry; promotion of trade and exports; inward investment; tourism; functions in relation to the energy sector; the administration of the European Structural Funds; and a range of road, rail, air, sea transport and inland waterways matters;

• The law and home affairs including most civil and criminal law and the criminal justice and prosecution system including police and prisons; fire services; legal aid; parole, the release of life-sentence prisoners and alleged miscarriages of justice; certain Crown, church, ceremonial and local government electoral matters; and civil defence and emergency planning;

• The environment including environmental protection policy and matters relating to air, land and water pollution; the natural and built heritage; and water supplies, sewerage, flood prevention and coastal protection;

• Agriculture, fisheries and forestry including The Scottish Office’s existing responsibilities for promoting agriculture and fisheries in Scotland and those of the Forestry Commission in Scotland;

• Sport and the arts including the Scottish Sports Council, the Scottish Arts Council and the national institutions;

• Research and statistics in relation to devolved matters.

Scotland in the United Kingdom

The legislation setting up the Scottish Parliament will specify those powers which are reserved to the UK Parliament. These matters include the constitution of the United Kingdom; UK foreign policy including relations with Europe; UK defence and national security; the stability of the UK’s fiscal, economic and monetary system; common markets for UK goods and services; employment legislation; social security; and most aspects of transport safety and regulation.

The new constitutional arrangements

Scotland will remain an integral part of the United Kingdom, and The Queen will continue to be Head of State of the United Kingdom. The UK Parliament is and will remain sovereign.

Scotland’s MPs will continue to play a full and constructive part at Westminster. The number of Scottish seats will be reviewed.

The Secretary of State for Scotland will work with the new Scottish Parliament and represent Scottish interests within the UK Government.

The Scottish Executive and the UK Government will work closely together at both Ministerial and official level.

There will be arrangements for resolving disagreements about whether legislation is within the powers of the Scottish Parliament.

Relations with the European Union

Relations with the EU will remain the responsibility of the UK Government, but the Scottish Executive will be involved as closely as possible in UK decision-making on Europe.

Ministers of the Scottish Executive will participate in relevant meetings of the Council of Ministers and in appropriate cases could speak for the United Kingdom.

The Scottish Parliament will be able to scrutinise EU legislative proposals.

There will be a Scottish representative office in Brussels to further Scotland’s interests and complement the role of UKREP.

The Scottish Executive will have an obligation to implement EU legislation on devolved matters. The UK Parliament will continue to have the ability to legislate to give effect to EU obligations in Scotland.

Relations with local government and other bodies

The Scottish Parliament will set the framework within which other Scottish public bodies - local government, non-departmental public bodies and health bodies - operate. The detailed arrangements will be for the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive to develop.

Financial arrangements

The financial framework for the Scottish Parliament will be closely based on existing arrangements for financing The Scottish Office, and will allow the Scottish Parliament to approve spending decisions in accordance with Scottish needs and priorities.

The control of local authority expenditure, non-domestic rates and other local taxation will be devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

Subject to the outcome of the referendum, the Scottish Parliament will be given power to increase or decrease the basic rate of income tax set by the UK Parliament by up to 3p. Liability will be determined by residence in Scotland. Income from savings and dividends will not be affected.

The Inland Revenue will administer any tax variation, with the Scottish Parliament meeting the administrative costs.

Electorial arrangements

The Scottish Parliament will consist of 129 members, 73 directly elected on a constituency basis, plus 56 additional members (7 from each of the 8 current European Parliament constituencies) allocated to ensure the overall result more directly reflects the share of votes cast for each party.

Eligibility to vote will be based on residency.

Parliamentary arrangements

Each Scottish Parliament will have a 4-year fixed term.

The Scottish Parliament is expected to adopt modern methods of working; and to be accessible and responsive to the needs of the public. Detailed arrangements will be left to the Scottish Parliament itself.

Making it happen

The Government are looking at options available in Edinburgh for the Scottish Parliament building.

The staff of the Scottish Executive will continue to be part of a unified Home Civil Service.

The annual running costs are estimated to be between £20 and £30 million a year i.e. about £5 per year per head of Scottish population.

Next steps

Scotland will be asked to vote on 11 September in a referendum on the proposals set out in this White Paper.

Following a positive referendum result, legislation to establish a Scottish Parliament will be brought forward as soon as possible.

Once the legislation has been enacted, elections to the Scottish Parliament will be held in the first half of 1999, and the Parliament will become fully operational in the year 2000.