Scotland Bill (Scottish Parliament Committee Report)

Friday 4th March 2011 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Scotland (Michael Moore)]

On behalf of the Government I welcome the publication on Thursday 3 March 2011 of the report of the Scotland Bill Committee in the Scottish Parliament.

The Committee was established by the Scottish Parliament in December 2010 to review the Scotland Bill, introduced in this Parliament on 30 November 2010.

The Scotland Bill delivers the Government’s coalition commitment to implement the recommendations of the Commission on Scottish Devolution. The commission was originally established by the Scottish Parliament and supported by the then UK Government with its remit as:

“To review the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998 in the light of experience and to recommend any changes to the present constitutional arrangements that would enable the Scottish Parliament to serve the people of Scotland better, improve the financial accountability of the Scottish Parliament, and continue to secure the position of Scotland within the United Kingdom.”

The Commission, under the chairmanship of Professor Sir Kenneth Calman, produced a detailed and well-evidenced report, which was welcomed by the main UK-wide parties and those who contributed, cross-party groups, unions, businesses and civil society. This Government made an early commitment to deliver the commission’s recommendations in the Queen’s Speech after the 2010 general election.

The Scotland Bill and the Command Paper “Strengthening Scotland’s Future” (Cm 7973) published alongside the Bill, provided the Government’s response to the commission’s recommendations. The package of measures included in the Bill build on the success of Scottish devolution since 1999, strengthen the settlement, empower the members of the Scottish Parliament and in particular increase the financial accountability of this institution.

Under the terms of the Sewel convention—the convention established since devolution that the UK Parliament will not normally legislate on devolved matters without the consent of the Scottish Parliament—the Scottish Parliament established a committee to review the measures within the Bill. This committee, under its convenor Wendy Alexander, has thoroughly assessed the Bill, drawing upon expertise from witnesses covering the whole range of topics included within the Bill.

I am delighted that today the committee in the Scottish Parliament has published their report on the Bill. The Government warmly welcome this report, copies of which have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses, the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office. The first and main conclusion of the committee is that the Scottish Parliament should support the Scotland Bill. We welcome this clear endorsement of the Bill and will now take the opportunity to consider carefully the recommendations included in the report.

We will respond to the views expressed by the Scottish Parliament, as well as the views of both Houses of Parliament, as we take the Scotland Bill through its remaining stages. I look forward to the plenary vote in the Scottish Parliament on the Scotland Bill next week.