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A Beginner's
Guide to the Parliament |
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CONTENTS:
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WHAT
IS A PARLIAMENT? |
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A Parliament is made up of elected
representatives, in other words people who have been chosen by
members of the public to act on their behalf. |
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The main job of a Parliament is
debating and deciding upon new laws. The representatives can
also ask questions of Ministers, and may sometimes be able to
propose new laws themselves. They will be expected to look after
the interests of all their constituents whether or not they voted
for them at election time. |
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A Parliament will normally have
a role in approving the Budget. It may have the power to remove
the Government from office in exceptional circumstances. |
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The relative power of a Parliament
will vary from country to country, depending on tradition and
constitutional arrangements. |
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Parliaments can have many different
forms. Some well-known examples are the House of Commons &
House of Lords (UK), the Senate & House of Representatives
(USA), the European Parliament. |
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The Scottish Parliament shares some
common characteristics with the Parliaments mentioned above,
but in other ways it is a unique and novel institution. The elected
representatives are known as Members of the Scottish Parliament,
or more commonly as MSPs. |
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THE
HISTORICAL CONTEXT |
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1603 |
Crowns of Scotland and England united. |
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1707 |
Act of Union. Separate Parliaments
abolished. |
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1885 |
Scottish Office formed. Beginnings
of administrative devolution |
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1886 |
Post of Secretary for Scotland established |
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1979 |
First referendum held on devolution
for Scotland. Despite a slight majority in favour, the legislation
was 'lost' because less than 40% of those eligible to vote (the
electorate) voted in favour. |
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1979-1997 |
Pressure groups and opposition political
parties maintained a campaign for constitutional change. |
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RECENT
DEVELOPMENTS |
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May 1997 |
Labour Government elected in the
UK, promising a referendum on devolution. |
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July 1997 |
White Paper on Devolution published,
setting out the key proposals |
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September 1997 |
Referendum. Large majorities in
favour of establishing a Parliament, and the right of the new
Parliament to vary tax rates within Scotland. |
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19 November 1998 |
Scotland Bill receives Royal Assent. |
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January 1999 |
Consultative Steering Group report
published. This set out detailed recommendations for the day
to day running of the Parliament. |
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May 6 1999 |
Election Day. Labour becomes the
largest single Party, but with no overall majority. |
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May 12 1999 |
First day of Business in the Parliament,
combining the ceremonial and the practical. |
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13 June 1999 |
Donald Dewar nominated as the First
Minister |
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July 1st 1999 |
Official Opening of Parliament,
in its temporary home in the Church of Scotland Assembly buildings
in Edinburgh. |
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Autumn 2001 |
Opening of purpose-built Parliament
at Holyrood. |
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2003 |
Second Scottish Parliament election
expected. |
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THE
POWERS OF THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT |
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The main consequence of devolution
is that the Scottish Parliament will become responsible for most
"domestic" policy matters, while international matters
will remain at U.K. level. Key examples are given below, although
the full list of devolved and reserved matters is lengthier. |
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Key areas of
devolved responsibility |
Examples of issues |
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Health |
nurses' pay and conditions |
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Education |
school standards |
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Transport |
road safety |
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Housing |
public sector housing strategy |
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Training |
lifelong learning, youth training |
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Economic development |
regeneration of industrial areas |
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Agriculture |
animal welfare, crofting |
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Environment |
protecting Scotland's environment |
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Main Areas still
covered by Westminster (reserved): |
Examples
of issues |
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Constitutional matters |
electoral systems, devolution and
the Union |
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Foreign and Defence policy |
European integration, Armed Forces |
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Most economic policy |
inflation, unemployment |
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Social Security |
levels of benefit |
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Medical ethics |
embryology research, abortion, genetics |
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HOW
THE PARLIAMENT WILL WORK |
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The exact detail of how the Parliament
will function has to be decided by the MSPs themselves, in the
period after the election. However it is likely that many of
the rules of procedure (known as Standing Orders), the structure
and role of committees etc. will follow the suggestions submitted
by the Consultative Steering Group. The CSG was made up of politicians
from the different parties, as well as figures from the media,
universities, business, trade unions and other organisations. |
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The CSG
has suggested four main operating principles of the Parliament:
- There should be a sharing
of power between the people of Scotland, the MSPs and
the Executive (Ministers). No one group should be too powerful.
- Accountability: politicians will be accountable
to the general public and senior politicians (Ministers) will
be accountable to MSPs
- The Parliament should be accessible,
open, responsive, and should
encourage people to take part in decision-making.
- The Parliament should encourage
and promote equal opportunities for all.
The Parliament is intended to
be family friendly, with more regular working hours than Westminster
and the provision of crèche facilities. It should provide
access to all sections of society. The Public Information Service,
Visitor Centre and the Education Service are designed to promote
knowledge and understanding of the Parliament, and encourage
greater participation among young people in particular. |
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THE
STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT |
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The structure of the Parliament,
and Government in Scotland as a whole is similar to that of other
countries around the democratic world. There is a Government
(the Scottish Executive made up of the First Minister, Scottish
Ministers, Scottish Law Officers and supported by Junior Scottish
Ministers) which proposes laws and deals with certain areas of
responsibility, and a Legislature (the MSPs themselves) which
debates, amends, and votes on new legislation. |
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However unlike many other systems
of Government around the world there will be only one chamber
for legislation (a unicameral system); many countries have a
bicameral system, e.g. House of Commons and the House of Lords,
U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, etc. |
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Much of the work that would have
been done by a second chamber will instead take place in a number
of specialist Committees made up of MSPs. There are opportunities
for members of the public to contribute to the work of these
committees. There is also a Presiding Officer, with a similar
role to the Speaker of the House of Commons, ie in ensuring the
daily business of the Parliament is conducted in an orderly and
efficient manner. |
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ELECTIONS
TO THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT |
- The first elections to the new
Scottish Parliament took place on the 6th May 1999.
- It’s the first time people
have chosen a Scottish Parliament in nearly 300 years. In elections
to the old Scottish Parliaments the vote was limited to a very
small group of people, mainly the nobility and affluent landowners.
- There are 129 Members of the
Scottish Parliament (MSPs), Labour (56), Scottish National Party
(35), Conservative (18), Liberal Democrats (17), Scottish Socialist
Party (1), Green Party (1), and one other, Dennis Canavan.
- 73 MSPs were elected to represent
local constituencies by a First Past the Post system, as in previous
General Elections. The other 56 MSPs were elected from regional
lists, and in a different way, which more closely links the number
of votes each party gets to the number of MSPs they end up with.
- All voters had two votes to
use; one for a person (candidate) and one for the party they
preferred. Some people might have voted for a candidate from
one party, but chosen a different party with their second vote,
perhaps for tactical reasons. There were some slight differences
between the votes cast for certain parties over the two ballots.
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Party |
Constituency |
List |
Total |
% of votes* |
% of seats |
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Conservative |
0 |
18 |
18 |
14.5 |
14 |
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Labour |
53 |
3 |
56 |
36 |
43 |
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Liberal Democrats |
12 |
5 |
17 |
14.5 |
13 |
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SNP |
7 |
28 |
35 |
28.5 |
27 |
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Others |
1 |
2 |
3 |
3.5 |
2 |
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* Average over both
constituency and list ballots |
SUGGESTED
BLUFFING TECHNIQUES! **
There may be occasions when you
do not have the relevant facts to hand, either with teaching
colleagues, School Management or pupils. Pupils can be especially
difficult with demanding questions. The following hints might
help you out of potentially awkward situations. |
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With friends
and colleagues:
Appear to be well informed, convincing
and plausible, and use as many polysyllabic words as possible,
e.g. don’t say, ‘How come there’s only one chamber?’
Do say ‘Of course you’ll be aware that the new legislature
will be unicameral, although the powerful committee structure
should more than compensate for the absence of a second chamber
for the purpose of pre-legislative analysis and scrutiny'.
Be obscure with your references.
This always throws people. Don’t say ‘I don’t
get this second vote business.’ Do look wistful, and say,‘
If only Victor D’Hondt had lived to see his electoral system
being used for Scotland.’ |
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With pupils:
This is more problematic. Pupils
are far too perceptive to fall for such blatant techniques as
those described above. Until such time as you can organise a
visit to the Parliament, we suggest you stall your pupils with
the following:
"That's a very good question,
Sam. Did anyone see the Simpsons last night?"
"Holyrood/Whitehall concordats
on legislative competence and inter-institutional co-operation?
That's only for big boys and girls."
"Never mind all that stuff,
it'll be the holidays soon."
"I'll tell you once you've
finished your grammar work." |
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With Senior
Management colleagues:
This is of course the easiest
group to bluff: "It's in the Development Plan" should
suffice. |
** Please note
that the above 'Suggested Bluffing Techniques' are not intended
as serious classroom suggestions - they have been included purely
for light relief in an otherwise serious document.
The Education Service, of course, recognises the inherent professionalism
of Scottish Teachers. |
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