2.1 New and amended powers

The UK Coalition Government (conservative and liberal democrats) had committed to implementing the recommendations of the Calman Commission. This commitment resulted in The Scotland Act 2012 (passed by the UK Parliament) which made a number of changes to the devolution settlement for Scotland. It gave effect to many of the recommendations as set out in the Calman Commission’s final report. The Scottish Executive was formally renamed as the Scottish Government, Revenue Scotland was established to replace HMRC for devolved taxes and further powers were transferred (see Box 3 for more detail).

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Figure 3 Scotland Act 2012 Chapter 11

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Figure 3 contains a screen shot of part of the Scotland Act 2012. It shows the short title, the citation, the long title (which explains what the act is about), date of royal assent and the enacting formula ‘Be it enacted’ which introduce the provisions of the act having legal effect and declares that the law derives from proper authority. The short title is the Scotland Act 2012. The citation is 2012 CHAPTER 11. The long title is An Act to amend the Scotland Act 1998 and make provision about the functions of the Scottish Ministers; and for connected purposes. The date of royal assent was 1st May 2012. The enacting formula is ‘BE IT ENACTED by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows’.

Figure 3 Scotland Act 2012 Chapter 11

Disagreement over the draft Bill which subsequently became the 2012 Scotland Act (the 2012 Act) had to be resolved before it was passed by the UK Parliament. The UK Government also required a legislative consent motion be passed by the Scottish Parliament before the 2012 Act was passed by the UK Parliament. Paragraph 8 of the explanatory notes to the 2012 Act state that the 2012 Act ‘contains provisions that trigger the Sewel Convention. As the Act changes the devolution settlement for Scotland, the Act contains provisions which alter the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament (for example, relating to air weapons) and provisions which alter the executive competence of the Scottish Ministers (for example, relating to the power to prescribe drink-driving limits). The Scottish Parliament gave its consent to the provisions in the Act that trigger the Sewel Convention on 18 April 2012.’

You will learn more about the Sewel convention and legislative consent motions in Section 4.