The Scotland Act 2016 (c. 11) is an act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

. It sets out amendments to the

Scotland Act 1998 The Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers and the Scottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was o ...

and devolves further powers to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The legislation is based on recommendations given by the report of the Smith Commission, which was established on 19 September 2014 in the wake of the Scottish independence referendum.

The Act

The act gives extra powers to the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

and the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

, This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright. most notably: * The ability to amend sections of the

which relate to the operation of the

and the

within the United Kingdom including control of its electoral system (subject to a two-thirds majority within the parliament for any proposed change) * Legislative control over areas such as

road signs Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduc ...

speed limits Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed, express ...

, onshore oil and gas extraction,

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

, welfare foods, gaming machines, rail franchising, consumer advocacy and advice amongst others by devolution of powers in relation to these fields to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Ministers. * Management of the

Crown Estate The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...

and

British Transport Police British Transport Police (BTP; ) is a national special police force that polices the railway network of England, Wales and Scotland, which consists of over 10,000 miles of track and 3,000 stations and depots. BTP also polices the London Under ...

in Scotland * Control over

Air Passenger Duty Air Passenger Duty (APD) is an excise duty which is charged on the carriage of passengers flying from a United Kingdom or Isle of Man airport on an aircraft that has an authorised take-off weight of more than 5.7 tonnes or more than twenty seat ...

and new legislative powers for raising a
Aggregates Levy
in Scotland. * Enhanced control over aspects of several welfare and housing related benefits and

Disability Living Allowance Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a social security benefit in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off ...

Personal Independence Payment Personal Independence Payment (abbreviated to PIP and usually pronounced as one word) is a welfare benefit in the United Kingdom that is intended to help working-aged people 16 and over with the extra costs of living with a health condition or a ...

Attendance Allowance Attendance Allowance is a non-contributory Social Security benefit paid to elderly disabled people in the United Kingdom. It was introduced in the National Insurance (Old Persons' and Widows' Pension and Attendance Allowance) Act 1970. The benef ...

and Carer's Allowance as well as the ability to create new welfare benefits. * Substantial powers over Income Tax rates and bands on non-savings and non-dividend income * Extended powers over Employment Support and the housing aspect of

Universal Credit Universal Credit is a United Kingdom based Welfare state in the United Kingdom, social security payment. It is Means test, means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits, for working-age households with a low income: income-related Emp ...

* The right to receive half of the VAT raised in Scotland.

Permanence of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government

This Act recognises the Scottish Parliament and a Scottish Government as permanent among UK's constitutional arrangements, with a referendum required before either can be abolished. However, according to some commentators, the act institutes a weak statutory mechanism, which does not stipulate provisions or guarantees for such a referendum, or makes duties of Crown ministers in this respect publicly answerable to the Scottish electorate. # The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government are a permanent part of the United Kingdom's constitutional arrangements. # The purpose of this section is, with due regard to the other provisions of this Act, to signify the commitment of the Parliament and Government of the United Kingdom to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government. # In view of that commitment it is declared that the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government are not to be abolished except on the basis of a decision of the people of Scotland voting in a referendum.

Amendments

About 120 amendments and new clauses were lodged on the bill by opposition parties but these were rejected by the Commons.

Fiscal framework

During the passage of the bill, almost a full year of negotiations took place between the Scottish and UK Governments concerning the fiscal framework that accompanied it. This was necessary because of the intention to reduce the

block grant A block grant is a grant-in-aid of a specified amount from a larger government to a smaller regional government body. Block grants have less oversight from the larger government and provide flexibility to each subsidiary government body in terms ...

given to the Scottish government by

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury or HMT), and informally referred to as the Treasury, is the Government of the United Kingdom’s economic and finance ministry. The Treasury is responsible for public spending, financial services policy, Tax ...

to take account of the additional income the Scottish government will receive through retaining a portion of the revenues from income tax that is generated in Scotland. The Smith Commission said that there should be “no detriment” to either government in this context, something which is technically difficult to achieve. A Scottish government proposal was that future adjustment to the block grant should be based on the “per capita index”, which takes into account the growth in tax receipts across the UK, not just Scotland. This is significant because Scotland's economy and population were not growing as fast as the UK's. However, the Treasury position was that this would be unfair to the rest of the UK.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scotland Act 2016 Taxation in Scotland Public finance of Scotland Road transport in Scotland Scottish devolution Constitution of the United Kingdom United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2016 March 2016 in the United Kingdom Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Scotland 2016 in Scotland Constitutional laws of Scotland

The Act

Permanence of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government

Amendments

Fiscal framework

See also

References