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11 Sept 1997
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Referendum on Scottish Parliament.
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Nov 1998
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Scotland Act 1998.
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May 1999
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First Elections of Scottish Parliament.
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June 1999
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The Parliament endorses decision to provide its permanent home
on the Holyrood site.
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June 1999
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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.
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July 1999
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State Opening of the Scottish Parliament.
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January 2000
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Parliament endorses the principles of Sexual Offences (Amendment)
Bill equalising the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual
activity.
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April 2000
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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.
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October 2000
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Death of Donald Dewar.
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October 2000
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Scottish Qualification Authority difficulties
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October 2000
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Henry McLeish voted First Minister and Cabinet Reshuffle
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November 2000
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policy changes announced on:
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long term care for the elderly.
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reduction in number of Scotland's quangos
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proportional representation for local government elections
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November 2000
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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.
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December 2000
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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.
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December 2000
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Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Bill passed in Parliament.
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January 2001
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Henry McLeish used the phrase “Scottish Government” several
times during Question Time instead of “Scottish Executive' provoking
criticism from Westminster MPs.
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January 2001
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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.
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January 2001
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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).
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March 2001
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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
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June 2001
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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).
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September 2001
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Robin Cook visited the Scottish Parliament with a view to adopting
some of the Parliament's procedures for modernisation of the
House of Commons.
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November 2001
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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.
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November 2001
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Henry McLeish resigned his post as First Minister acknowledging
that he'd made mistakes regarding the constituency office
sub lets.
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November 2001
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Jack McConnell voted First Minister and Cabinet Reshuffle
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December 2001
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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.
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December 2001
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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.
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December 2001
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Cost of the new Parliament building at Holyrood now at £260
million, earliest expected occupation date May 2003.
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January 2002
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Executive backing a joint bid by Scotland and Ireland to host
the 2008 European football championships.
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February 2002
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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.
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March 2002
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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.
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