Scotland Act 2016
Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
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Provisions
The act gives extra powers to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government, most notably:
- The ability to amend sections of the Scotland Act 1998 which relate to the operation of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government 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, speed limits, onshore oil and gas extraction, abortion, 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 and British Transport Police in Scotland
- Control over Air Passenger Duty and new legislative powers for raising an Aggregates Levy in Scotland.
- Enhanced control over aspects of several welfare and housing related benefits and Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance 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
- 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.
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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 given to the Scottish government by HM Treasury 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.