User Guide
Tracking Scottish Parliament Bills
A quick guide
This guide provides a basic list of the electronic sources available for tracking
Scottish Parliament Bills. Access to all the sources is free. The sources listed include
guides to the parliamentary processes for Bills, links to the list of Bills currently in
progress and to the documents which publish the discussions and debates on all
stages of a Bill.
Contents
1. Parliamentary Procedures.....................................................................................1
2. Potential Future Bills .............................................................................................2
3. Bills........................................................................................................................3
4. Forward Business..................................................................................................4
5. Official Reports......................................................................................................4
6. Further help...........................................................................................................4
1. Parliamentary Procedures
This section provides links to explanations of the Bill process within the Scottish
Parliament. It includes guides for the public and for the more specialist audiences
within the Scottish Parliament.
• Scottish Parliament: Visit, Learn, Interact: Public Information Service: How the
Scottish Parliament Works p15
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/publicInfo/hspw/LeafletIndex.htm
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Bills Understanding the Legislative
Process
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/understanding.htm
• Scottish Parliament: Visit, Learn, Interact: Public Information Service: The Work
of the Committees in the Scottish Parliament p4-5
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/committees/LeafletIndex.htm
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Last updated 31 January 2008
• Scottish Parliament: Visit, Learn, Interact: Public Information: Publications:
Frequently Asked Questions: Legislation: Your Legislation questions
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/publicInfo/faq/category12.htm
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Parliamentary Procedure Guidance
on Public Bills
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/billguidance/gpb-c.htm
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Parliamentary Procedure Guidance
on Private Bills
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/billguidance/gprb-c.htm
• Scottish Parliament: About the Parliament: Powers of the Parliament:
Amendments to Executive Bills: Guidance
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/corporate/powers/execBillGuidance/index.htm
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Parliamentary Procedure
Information for Objectors to Private Bills
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/billguidance/ifotpb.htm
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Parliamentary Procedure Standing
Orders of the Scottish Parliament 3 ed (1st Revision, September 2007) Chapter
9: Public Bill Procedures
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/so/sto-4.htm#9
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Parliamentary Procedure Standing
Orders of the Scottish Parliament 3 ed (1st Revision, September 2007) Chapter
9A: Private Bill Procedures
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/so/sto-4.htm#9a
2. Potential Future Bills
(i.e. consultations on draft Bills or parts of Bills)
Prior to the introduction of Bills in the Scottish Parliament it is usual for the
Government to undertake consultations on all, or parts, of these potential Bills. This
form of public participation is also open to those backbench Members of the Scottish
Parliament (MSPs) who are proposing Members’ Bills. The links below enable you to
identify and comment on draft bills before their introduction.
• Scottish Government: Consultations: Current Consultations
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/Current
• TheGovernmentSays.com produced by the democracy.org.uk collective has an
email alert service. It includes press releases from numerous Government
Departments, north and south of the border:
http://www.thegovernmentsays.com
• Wired-GOV Plus is the “foremost point of reference for official UK government
news and announcements, broadcasting for and on behalf of 120+ government
departments and agencies” You can sign up to receive a regular newsletter:
http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-content-1.nsf/wfWGPlusLanding?ReadForm
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Bills: Members' Bills Proposed
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/membersBills.htm
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• Scottish Parliament: News, Media & Events: News: News Releases by
Committee:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/nmCentre/news/index.htm
• Scottish Government: News: News Releases: 2007: September: programme:
Programme for Government
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2007/09/05141912
3. Bills
The links in this section will help you track the progress of Bills in the Scottish
Parliament. They will help you find Bills from all the Parliamentary Sessions and are
especially useful for identifying those Bills which do not make it to Royal Assent, i.e.
did not become Acts.
Each Bill introduced has its own individual page which gives you the history of a Bill,
with links to all the versions of the Bills, all the accompanying documents and any
SPICe (Scottish Parliament Information Centre) briefings on the Bill. The Progress of
Bill documents for Sessions 1 and 2 provide similar information for Bills in those
sessions.
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Bills. The home page for Bills:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/index.htm
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Bills: Current Bills. This is an
alphabetical list of all the Bills presently in progress with link to the individual
pages. The pages include future meeting date:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/billsInProgress/index.htm
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Bills: Previous Bills: Session 3. This
is an alphabetical list of Bills no longer in progress in the current session,
because they have been enacted, withdrawn or they fell.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/bills/PreviousBills-s3/index.htm
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Research Briefings and Fact
Sheets: Fact Sheets: Parliamentary Business: Current Series Scottish Parliament
Legislation: Session 3. This is an alphabetical list of all the Bills considered by the
Scottish Parliament in Session 3. It is divided into bills currently in progress; bills
which have been passed; bills which have received Royal Assent and become
Acts of the Scottish Parliament; and bills which have been withdraw.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/factsheets/fact-pb.htm
There are companion Fact Sheets in the Parliamentary Business: Historical
Series which lists Session 1 Bills:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/factsheets/documents/Minist
erialStatements-Session1.pdf
and Session 2 Bills:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/factsheets/documents/Minist
erialStatementsSession2.pdf
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Bills: Bill Summaries. This page
provides links to summaries of bills from the Parliament's first and second
Sessions. The bill summaries are prepared by SPICe research staff and provide
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brief information on each bill.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/billSummaries.htm
4. Forward Business
As stated above the individual Bill pages provide details of the next meetings to
discuss or debate the Bill.
This link to the Business Bulletin also helps you to identify the next time a Bill will be
discussed or debated in the Parliament’s Committee or Plenary meetings.
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Business Bulletin
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/businessBulletin/index.htm
5. Official Reports
The individual Bill pages for Session 3 include links to the Plenary Official Reports
and Minutes and the Committee Meeting Papers & Official Reports pages.
For Sessions 1 and 2, in conjunction with the Progress of Bill documents mentioned
above you can search the Official Reports of the Plenary and Committee Meetings to
read all the discussions and debates on all the Bills.
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Official Reports
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/index.htm
• Scottish Parliament: Parliamentary Business: Committees. Each Committee has
it own page which has links to their Official Reports:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/index.htm
6. Further help
If you have any further questions about tracking Scottish Parliament Bills or would
like some training, then contact SPICe (SPICe@scottish.parliament.uk or on #85300)
who will be happy to help.
For all public enquiries about tracking Scottish Parliament Bills please contact Public
Information Service
Address Public Information Service
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP
Telephone 0131 348 5000 or 0845 278 1999 (local rate)
Fòn 0131 348 5395 (Gàidhlig)
Textphone users can contact us on 0845 270 0152.
We also welcome calls using the RNID Typetalk service.
Fax 0131 348 5601
Email sp.info@scottish.parliament.uk
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