Scottish Parliament: Key Events
(September 1997 - September 2002)
by David McCrone
Note: an earlier version of this information is an Annex to the Paper: Marking the Card: The Scottish Parliament at 1000 Days
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.
Note: an earlier version of this information is an Annex to the Paper: Marking the Card: The Scottish Parliament at 1000 Days
(Published Online: 14 January 2003)
This page was published on 14 November 2008