Scottish Parliament
Pre-devolution, the Scottish Office, under the Secretary of State for Scotland, was responsible for the administration of much of domestic public policy in Scotland. Following the elections in May 1999, the Scottish Parliament took up full legislative powers over the vast majority of domestic public policy. The Scottish Parliament also has a general entitlement to issue a view on any matter, domestic or foreign, that it chooses to address.

Devolved Powers
Powers which are the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament are called Devolved Powers and those which remain with Westminster are called Reserved Powers.

One important way in which the Scotland Act 1998 differs from the legislation if the 1970s is that it defines the reserved, rather than the devolved, powers, i.e. the Scottish Parliament can do anything except that which is expressly forbidden it, rather than being able only to do what is prescribed for it. 

The principal responsibilities of the Scottish Parliament are:

Health: including overall responsibility for the NHS in Scotland, and the training, pay and conditions of health professionals and workers, but excluding policy on abortion;

Education: including primary, secondary, further and higher education, science and research funding, careers guidance, vocational qualifications, and training policy;

Local government: including finance and local taxation, social work, housing, planning and land use, licensing policy, civil defence, emergency planning and voluntary sector issues;

Economic development: including the Enterprise networks, assistance to industry (subject to a UK concordat), area regeneration, enterprise zones, inward investment, and trade promotion; 

Tourism: promotion and development;

Transport: including passenger and road transport, air and sea transport, and inland waterways, but excluding safety;

Criminal law: excluding laws relating to drugs and firearms, but including the criminal justice and prosecutions systems, legal aid, parole, prisons, the police and fire services, the courts administration, and judicial appointments;

Civil law: excluding matters related to reserved powers, but including tribunals and matters arising from reciprocal international legal agreements.

Environment and heritage: including environmental protections, pollution control, water and sewerage, and Scotland's natural and built heritage;

Income Tax: through a limited right to vary the basic rate by up to 3p in the pound;

Agriculture, fisheries and forestry: including food standards;

Sport, the arts, and public records and statistics

Reserved Powers
The principal powers reserved to the UK Parliament are:

• UK constitutional matters
• Defence
• Foreign policy
• Economic, fiscal and monetary policy
• Corporate law and regulation
• Employement and equality legislation
• Social security
• Transport safety and regulation
• Nuclear safety
• Film, video and broadcasting
• Assisted area designation
• The National Lottery
• The Ordnance Survey
• Abortion, human fertilisation and embryology
• Control and safety of medicines
• Vivisection
  
  

Relations with Westminster
Though the Scotland Act specifies the devolved and reserved powers in some detail, there will inevitably be areas of overlap, ambiguity or potential tension, e.g. inward investment. To deal with such issues, a number of Concordats have been issued. These are non-statutory and purely administrative, and are not intended to be legally binding.

In addition to the concordats, the continuation of the post of Secretary of State for Scotland is aimed at assisting relations between the two Parliaments.

The main functions of the Secretary of State for Scotland, who heads up the Scotland Office, are to represent Scottish interests within the UK Parliament in matters reserved to the UK Government, to ensure that the reserved policies of the UK Government are presented effectively in Scotland and to promote the devolution settlement for Scotland provided by the Scotland Act 1998. 

Scottish Parliament Role Vis-à-vis Europe
Under the Scotland Act, responsibility for representing the interests of all regions and nations of the UK in EU fora remains firmly with the British Government, working through UKRep in Brussels.

However, Scottish Ministers will continue to join and on occasion lead the British Ministerial negotiating team where appropriate. The Act also makes clear that the role of Scottish Ministers and officials will be to support and advance the single UK negotiating line to which they have contributed.

One of the concordats mentioned above will set out the arrangements for co-operation in this area.

Once EU Directives etc have been passed, it is the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament to implement the provisions of those which cover devolved powers, e.g. the Scottish Parliament may implement the provisions of a Directive on environmental policy in a slightly different manner than the Westminster Parliament.

To receive details on any of the above please contact Sarah Speirs sspeirs@rics.org

For more information on the Scottish policital parties and other organisations involved in Scottish policy, please view attached links.