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The Scottish Parliament and law making
The Scottish Parliament and law making

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3.1 Bills in the Scottish Parliament

Bills in the Scottish Parliament are very similar, in terms of layout, structure and the conventions of legislative drafting, to Bills of the UK Parliament. This is primarily because the Acts of the Scottish Parliament, to which they are intended to give rise, form part of the UK ‘statute book’ alongside existing statute law.

All current Bills can be accessed on the Scottish Parliament website [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . Alongside the original Bill other information such as the stages a Bill is going through, amendments, research briefings, lead committee (the committee designated to gather feedback and undertake scrutiny) and dates of consideration (both in public or private) can be found. Acts of the Scottish Parliament, as they form part of UK legislation, can be found at Legislation.gov.uk.

Example of the layout of a Bill
Figure 9 Example of the layout of a Bill
Example of overview information available on Scottish Parliament website in relation to a Bill
Figure 10 Example of overview information available on Scottish Parliament website in relation to a Bill