|
11 Sept 1997
|
Referendum on Scottish Parliament.
|
|
Nov 1998
|
Scotland Act 1998.
|
|
May 1999
|
First Elections of Scottish Parliament.
|
|
June 1999
|
The Parliament endorses decision to provide its permanent home
on the Holyrood site.
|
|
June 1999
|
Parliament recognises the widespread opposition to tuition fees
and calls for the Scottish Executive to appoint urgently a committee
of inquiry on the issue of tuition fees and financial support in
higher education.
|
|
July 1999
|
State Opening of the Scottish Parliament.
|
|
January 2000
|
Parliament endorses the principles of Sexual Offences (Amendment)
Bill equalising the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual
activity.
|
|
April 2000
|
Repeal of Section 28 (which states that a local authority shall
not (a) intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material
with the intention of promoting homosexuality; (b) promote the
teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality
as a pretended family relationship.
|
|
October 2000
|
Death of Donald Dewar.
|
|
October 2000
|
Scottish Qualification Authority difficulties
|
|
October 2000
|
Henry McLeish voted First Minister and Cabinet Reshuffle
|
|
November 2000
|
policy changes announced on:
-
long term care for the elderly.
-
reduction in number of Scotland's quangos
-
proportional representation for local government elections
|
|
November 2000
|
Henry McLeish's first parliamentary debate concerned the
access to official information stating that the Executive should
always seek to make as much information as possible publicly available.
|
|
December 2000
|
The Education Committee published a report on the Scottish Qualifications
Authority after a three-month inquiry stating that there were serious
failures at both Board and Management level of the SQA.
|
|
December 2000
|
Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Bill passed in Parliament.
|
|
January 2001
|
Henry McLeish used the phrase “Scottish Government” several
times during Question Time instead of “Scottish Executive' provoking
criticism from Westminster MPs.
|
|
January 2001
|
Following pressure from their Liberal Democrat coalition partners
Labour acceded to free personal long term care for the elderly
as set out in the Sutherland report.
|
|
January 2001
|
Helen Liddell appointed Secretary of State for Scotland to replace
John Reid (who had been appointed Secretary of State for Northern
Ireland to fill post left by resignation of Peter Mandelson).
|
|
March 2001
|
Scottish Executive suffered first Parliamentary defeat after
a vote on a motion backed by SNP and Tory leaders calling for a
tie-up compensation scheme for fishermen. (The defeat was partly
because four LibDems voted against the Executive and partly due
to absence of 13 Labour MSPs who had left early for the Labour
Party Conference in Inverness.) The vote was subsequently overturned
|
|
June 2001
|
The General Election and Parliamentary business at Holyrood continued
throughout the election period. Peter Duncan gained the Conservative
Party its only Westminster seat in Scotland, Galloway and Upper
Nithsdale.
MSPs who also held seats as MPs did not stand for re-election to their
Westminster seats (apart from Alex Salmond who resigned as MSP).
|
|
September 2001
|
Robin Cook visited the Scottish Parliament with a view to adopting
some of the Parliament's procedures for modernisation of the
House of Commons.
|
|
November 2001
|
Helen Liddell, the Secretary of State for Scotland announced
a formal consultation on the future number of MSPs in response
to the constituency boundary changes which will reduce the number
of Scottish seats at Westminster and the implied reduction in the
number of MSPs.
|
|
November 2001
|
Henry McLeish resigned his post as First Minister acknowledging
that he'd made mistakes regarding the constituency office
sub lets.
|
|
November 2001
|
Jack McConnell voted First Minister and Cabinet Reshuffle
|
|
December 2001
|
The Scottish Executive announced plans for changing way local
councils are elected. Reform to be based on the Kerley Committee
Report which recommended that Scottish Councillors are elected
by a system of proportional representation.
|
|
December 2001
|
The Scottish Local Government (Elections) Bill passed in Parliament.
This Bill extends local authority terms from three to four years
and brings the timing of local government elections in line with
those for the Scottish Parliament.
|
|
December 2001
|
Cost of the new Parliament building at Holyrood now at £260
million, earliest expected occupation date May 2003.
|
|
January 2002
|
Executive backing a joint bid by Scotland and Ireland to host
the 2008 European football championships.
|
|
February 2002
|
The Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Bill was passed in
Parliament. The aims of the Bill are to ban mounted fox hunting,
hare coursing and fox baiting.
|
|
March 2002
|
The Executive says number of MSPs should remain at 129 to give
the Scottish Parliament stability The Minister for Parliament,
Patricia Ferguson, has rejected proposals to reduce number to 106,
claiming it would have a serious impact on the work of the Parliament
and the Committees.
|
April 2002
|
Launch of the Executive's Annual Expenditure Report (£22bn
budget for 2003-4)
Glasgow council tenants voted in favour of the transfer of the
council's housing stock to the Glasgow Housing Association.
Jim Wallace, Justice Minister, told Parliament that the prison
population was forecast to rise significantly over the next decade
and the Executive proposed to modernise existing facilities while
using the private sector to build three new prisons.
Jack McConnell, first Minister was given responsibility for
drafting and presenting the final Opinion to the Committee of
the Regions on delivering more accountability, transparency and
effectiveness in the EU.
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Bill was passed in Parliament.
The main aim of the Bill is to establish a legal right of access
to information held by a broad range of Scottish public authorities.
The Enterprise Committee organised a conference attended by
150 representatives across the lifelong learning sector to test
the Committee's proposal for introducing a lifelong entitlement
to learning for every Scottish citizen.
The European Committee hosted a three-way videoconference with
the European committees from the Flemish and Catalan Parliaments.
|
May 2002
|
Jack McConnell, First Minister, and Senor Artur Mas, the Prime
Minister of Catalonia signed a Protocol of Co-operation to strengthen
relations between the two nations.
Wendy Alexander, Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong
Learning, tendered her resignation from the Scottish Cabinet.
Following the visit to the Parliament, the Speakers of the Serbian
and Montenegirn Parliaments announced plans to adopt some of
the procedures they saw working at Holyrood.
Jack McConnell, First Minister, gave a Europe Day message stating
that Scotland has a full role to play in the future of Europe
both as a participant in the debate on European Structures and
as a participant in trade with the new enlarged Europe.
Launch of a declaration on the future governance of the EU prepared
by 10 European regions: Aquitaine (France), Emilia-Romagna (Italy),
Hessen (Germany), Marche (Italy), Skane (Sweden), Tuscany (Italy),
Flanders, Wallonia, Wales and Scotland.
The Queen became the First Head of State to address the Scottish
Parliament in session.
Jack McConnell, First Minister, made a statement in Parliament
on the legislative programme, stating that so far a total of
36 Executive Bills have been passed by Parliament, others are
in progress and proposed to bring forward another six Bills by
April next year.
The Local Government in Scotland Bill was introduced to Parliament.
The overall aim of the Bill is to provide a framework to enable
the delivery of better, more responsive public services.
|
June 2002
|
At a meeting of the Convention on the Future of Europe in Brussels,
Jack McConnell, First Minister, proposed that a new Subsidiary
Council be set up within the EU to ensure that European policy
and legislation focuses on strategic issues of relevance to all
Europeans.
Jack McConnell, First Minister, met the Prime Minister, Tony
Blair and the Irish Taisoeach, Bertie Ahern, to discuss the Knowledge
Economy and the Digital Divide at the third British-Irish Council
in Jersey.
The First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland,
David Trimble and Mark Durkan, met with Jack McConnell, First
Minister, and Jim Wallace, Deputy First Minister, in Edinburgh
to discuss the practical experience of devolution in Scotland
and Northern Ireland.
Jim Wallace, Justice Minister and Deputy First Minister, met
with his Bavarian counterpart, Justice Minister Dr Manfred Weiss,
during a two-day visit to Munich. They discussed further co-operation
and policy areas of mutual interest and explored how devolved
administrations can play a full part in European matters.
Chris Patten, EU Commissioner, addressed a meeting of MSPs in
the Parliament with the question 'Should there be a European
Foreign Policy?'.
Prof Alice Brown, Vice-principal and Co-director of the Institute
of Governance at the University of Edinburgh, was nominated as
the first ever Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.
The Danish Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Tom Risdahl
Jensen, addressed MSPs at a public meeting in the Parliament.
The Ambassador made a presentation on the programme and priorities
for the six-month Presidency of the European Union, held by Denmark
from 1 July 2002.
|
September 2002
|
Jack McConnell, First Minister, made a speech at the World Summit
on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. Mr McConnell conceded
that Scotland had to do more to improve its performance towards
sustainable development and condemned the injustice of the gap
between developed and developing worlds.
At a meeting of the Commission for Constitutional Affairs and
European Governance of the Committee of Regions in Brussels Jack
McConnell, First Minister, outlined a proposed series of measures
to open up EU decision-making.
Jack McConnell, First Minister, announced the Spending Review
in Parliament, detailing how all Executive resources will be
allocated over the next three years.
The Executive confirmed it will publish a Local Governance Bill
before the end of the Parliamentary Session that will include
the Single Transferable Vote (STV) as the alternative choice
to First Past the Post electoral system.
The Parliament's Justice 1 Committee published its report on
the Prison Estates Review. The report made several recommendations,
including that the sex offenders' prison at Peterhead be retained,
that slopping out be eradicated as soon as possible and that
the Executive should have considered the Prison Estates Review
in the context of wider penal reform, and in particular should
provide adequate resources and support for schemes aimed at reducing
offending and re-offending.
The European Committee published a report calling for protection
of the regional development fund structure and warned that any
major reduction in the scheme could hit Scotland's most deprived
areas. The report highlights the possible impacts on Scotland
with the planned entry to the EU of a number of underdeveloped
countries from central and eastern Europe.
The Education Committee published the results of its consultation
on the purposes of education in Scotland. There was strong support
for comprehensive schooling, and a great deal of respect for
teachers, but also a belief that reform was needed to stop education
being dominated by exams, league tables, and bureaucracy.
|
back to top