Role and Powers of the Scottish Parliament

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Role and Powers of the Scottish Parliament

Parliament is the highest governmental authority in Britain. The MSP’s, elected by the public, are responsible for checking the work of Government. They examine, debate and approve new laws.

The main function of the Scottish Parliament is that they hold the Scottish Executive to account through oral and written questions and through scrutiny of its policies within their committees.

Parliament introduces new laws on devolved matters by examining, amending and voting on Bills. They debate on important topical issues, conduct enquiries and publish reports. The Scottish Parliament also has the power to raise or lower the basic rate of income tax by up to 3 pence in the pound.

Parliament has two main authorities, Devolved and Reserved. “Devolution is the delegation of power from a central government to local bodies” Devolved power deals with matters such as health, education and prisons. These issues were previously dealt with by the parliament at Westminster and are now decided in Scotland. Reserved power deals with political decisions. These major decisions are likely to have a considerable impact both within the UK and internationally. They are reserved and dealt with at Westminster in London.

Devolution is the delegation of power from a central government to local bodies. Scotland was granted devolution by the passing of the Scotland Act in 1998, this means that Scotland has a parliament with ‘devolved’ powers within the United Kingdom. This enables Scotland as a nation to have more of a say in the running of its own country. It means the issues which are more pertinent to Scotland, rather than the UK as a whole, are dealt with more efficiently. Any powers which remain with the UK Parliament at Westminster are reserved. Reserved matters were set out in Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act.

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A devolved matter is one such as education, health and prisons. These were previously dealt with by the Parliament at Westminster and are now decided in Scotland. . All the issues on which the Scottish Parliament can pass legislation are known as " ".

Reserved powers are decisions (mostly about matters with a UK or international impact) are reserved and dealt with at Westminster. The Scotland Act also specifies certain issues on which the Scottish Parliament cannot pass legislation. These are known as "". Reserved matters include Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security.

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