Getting it right: Scotland's democratic process

I spent yesterday morning listening to the first day of Stage 2 proceedings of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill. I know, lucky me. What I learnt was that lots of MSPs agree broadly on lots of the same things: employment rights, equality, climate change… But it seems that no non-Government Stage 2 amendments will get through because, according to the Deputy First Minister:

1. EU law won’t allow it (existing EU procurement legislation also affects Scotland); and
2. the proposals behind any amendments will be covered in (yet to be decided) statutory guidance that will be published alongside the bill.

This perhaps less-than-thrilling-sounding inquiry gives everyone the opportunity to have their say on how well parliament considers bills

So far, so predictable.  But since all new ideas presented by non-Government politicians were blocked, perhaps there is room for improvement in how the Scottish Parliament works. Thankfully the Scottish Parliament is looking into how the creation of Bills, that go on to form the basis of new legislation, can be improved. At the end of last year, the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee launched an inquiry into the procedures for considering legislation. This perhaps less-than-thrilling-sounding inquiry gives everyone the opportunity to have their say on how well parliament considers bills as they make their way to becoming legislation. Is there enough time given to scrutinise bills? Is scrutiny – in a majority government as is currently the case, or a minority government or a coalition – successful? Thinking a bit more widely, what about what happens after legislation has passed – how do we know if it achieves the desired effect (and do we even seek to find this out?)? SCVO will be submitting its own response to the Inquiry – due on March 21^st. So please take a look at the full call for evidence and get in touch with thoughts and concerns. And, if you’re able, submit your own response: it would be great to hear a variety of views across the sector on this. Perhaps a few changes to the system now would make those Stage 2 debates just a little more bearable, and the resulting Acts a little bit closer to what we’d all hoped…