Commission on Scottish Devolution
Encyclopedia
The Commission on Scottish Devolution, also referred to as the Calman Commission, Scottish Parliament Commission or Review was established by an opposition Labour Party
motion passed by the Scottish Parliament
on 6 December 2007, with the support of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats
. The governing Scottish National Party
opposed the creation of the commission.
Its terms of reference were: "To review the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998
in the light of experience and to recommend any changes to the present constitutional arrangements that would enable the Scottish Parliament to serve the people of Scotland
better, improve the financial accountability of the Scottish Parliament and continue to secure the position of Scotland within the United Kingdom
."
The Commission held its first full meeting at the Scottish Parliament
on 28 April 2008 and met at roughly monthly intervals during its period of work.
It issued a first report on 2 December 2008, and a final report on 15 June 2009. It was accountable to both the Scottish Parliament and the UK Government.
The Commission on Scottish Devolution should not be confused with the Scottish Constitutional Commission
, which is an independent think-tank.
Calman Plus (also called devolution plus) has been advocated by senior Scottish Liberal Democrat politicians, as the next step in deepening devolution. Calman Plus should not be confused with full fiscal autonomy, although neither concept has been definitively defined.
, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Heriot Watt University, and includes academics from Scotland, the rest of the UK and overseas. It produced a detailed report for the Commission in November 2008, examining different models for funding sub-national parliaments, and suggesting that a mixture of grant funding, tax devolution and tax assignment was likely to be necessary in a Scottish context. In June 2009, the IEG published further reports on borrowing and on natural resource taxation, plus a response to some of the Commission's consultation questions.
The main conclusions and recommendations are:
setting out a new Scotland Bill, to become law before the 2015 Holyrood elections. The proposal was criticised by the UK parliament opposition parties for not proposing to implement any changes before the next general election. Scottish Constitution Minister Michael Russell criticised the white paper, calling it "flimsy" and stating that their proposed Referendum (Scotland) Bill, 2010
, whose own white paper was to be published five days later, would be "more substantial". According to The Independent
, the Calman Review white paper proposals fall short of what would normally be seen as requiring a referendum.
-Liberal Democrat
coalition
, the government has pledged to implement the findings of the Calman Commission.
Scottish Labour Party
The Scottish Labour Party is the section of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland....
motion passed by the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
on 6 December 2007, with the support of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats
Scottish Liberal Democrats
The Scottish Liberal Democrats are one of the three state parties within the federal Liberal Democrats; the others being the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Democrats in England...
. The governing Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
opposed the creation of the commission.
Its terms of reference were: "To review the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998
Scotland Act 1998
The Scotland Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is the Act which established the devolved Scottish Parliament.The Act will be amended by the Scotland Bill 2011, if and when it receives royal assent.-History:...
in the light of experience and to recommend any changes to the present constitutional arrangements that would enable the Scottish Parliament to serve the people of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
better, improve the financial accountability of the Scottish Parliament and continue to secure the position of Scotland within the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
."
The Commission held its first full meeting at the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
on 28 April 2008 and met at roughly monthly intervals during its period of work.
It issued a first report on 2 December 2008, and a final report on 15 June 2009. It was accountable to both the Scottish Parliament and the UK Government.
The Commission on Scottish Devolution should not be confused with the Scottish Constitutional Commission
Scottish Constitutional Commission
The Scottish Constitutional Commission is an independent and non-partisan think-tank founded in 2005 by John Drummond, Chris Thomson and Canon Kenyon Wright, formerly of the Scottish Constitutional Convention...
, which is an independent think-tank.
Calman Plus (also called devolution plus) has been advocated by senior Scottish Liberal Democrat politicians, as the next step in deepening devolution. Calman Plus should not be confused with full fiscal autonomy, although neither concept has been definitively defined.
Membership
The Commission has 15 members, including nominees of the three Unionist parties, representatives of business, trade unions, academia and community organisations.- Professor Sir Kenneth CalmanKenneth CalmanSir Kenneth Charles Calman, KCB, DL, FRSE is a Scottish cancer researcher and former Chief Medical Officer of Scotland, and then England. He was Warden and Vice-Chancellor of Durham University from 1998 to 2006, before becoming Chancellor of the University of Glasgow. He has held the position of...
(convener); Chancellor of the University of GlasgowChancellor of the University of GlasgowThe Chancellor is the titular head of the University of Glasgow and President of the General Council, by whom he is elected. The office is intended to be held for life. His principal duty is to confer degrees upon those presented to him by the Senate, although this role is usually carried out by...
(Chairman) - Colin Boyd; former Lord AdvocateLord AdvocateHer Majesty's Advocate , known as the Lord Advocate , is the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved powers of the Scottish Parliament...
and Labour peer - Rani Dhir; Director, Drumchapel Housing Co-operative
- Professor Sir David Edward; retired Judge of the European Court of JusticeEuropean Court of JusticeThe Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...
- Lord Selkirk of DouglasJames Douglas-Hamilton, Baron Selkirk of DouglasJames Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, Baron Selkirk of Douglas, PC, QC , briefly The 11th Earl of Selkirk and styled Lord James Douglas-Hamilton until 1997, is a Scottish Conservative politician who served as Member of Parliament for Edinburgh West then Member of the Scottish Parliament for the...
; former Scottish OfficeScottish OfficeThe Scottish Office was a department of the United Kingdom Government from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland...
Minister, now Conservative peer - Lord ElderThomas Elder, Baron ElderThomas Murray Elder, Baron Elder, known as Murray Elder, is a British politician for Labour.Elder was educated at the Kirkcaldy High School and graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a Master of Arts in economic history. He was a childhood friend of Gordon Brown.From 1972 to 1980, Elder...
(Murray Elder); member of the House of Lords (Labour) - Audrey Findlay; former Leader of Aberdeenshire Council, now Convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
- James Lindesay-Bethune, 16th Earl of LindsayJames Lindesay-Bethune, 16th Earl of LindsayJames Randolph Lindesay-Bethune, 16th Earl of Lindsay, DL, is a Scottish nobleman, businessman and Conservative politician....
; former Scottish Office Minister, now Conservative peer and Chairman of the Scottish Agricultural College - John LoughtonJohn LoughtonJohn Loughton is a youth worker, community activist, charity supporter and a former chairperson of the Scottish Youth Parliament who became prominent when he appeared on and won the British reality show Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack in 2008.- Biography :Loughton comes from North Edinburgh...
; youth activist, former Chairman, Scottish Youth Parliament - Murdoch MacLennanMurdoch MacLennanMurdoch MacLennan, 62, is chief executive of Telegraph Media Group in the UK, having previously been managing director of Associated Newspapers for ten years until 2004....
; Chief Executive, Telegraph Media Group - Shonaig Macpherson; Chair of the National Trust for Scotland and of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry
- Iain McMillan; Director, CBI Scotland
- Mona SiddiquiMona SiddiquiMona Siddiqui OBE is a British Muslim academic. She is Professor of Islamic Studies and Public Understanding at the University of Glasgow, as well as the Director of its Centre for the Study of Islam, and is a member of the Commission on Scottish Devolution.She is also a regular contributor to...
; Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Glasgow - Matt Smith; Scottish Secretary, UNISON
- Jim WallaceJim WallaceThe Rt. Hon. James Robert Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness, PC, QC , is a British politician, currently a life peer in the House of Lords and the Advocate General for Scotland...
; former Deputy First MinisterDeputy First Minister of ScotlandThe Deputy First Minister of Scotland is the deputy to the First Minister of Scotland.The post is not recognised in statute , and its holder is simply an ordinary member of the Scottish Government...
and former leader of the Scottish Liberal DemocratsScottish Liberal DemocratsThe Scottish Liberal Democrats are one of the three state parties within the federal Liberal Democrats; the others being the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Democrats in England...
, now Liberal Democrat peer
Task groups
The Commission established five task groups to assist it in its work. These met in between meetings of the full Commission. The task groups and their chairs are as follows:- Principles - Sir Kenneth Calman
- Functions - Professor Sir David Edward
- Engagement - Murdoch MacLennan
- Financial Accountability - Shonaig Macpherson
- Inter-Governmental Relations - Jim Wallace
Independent expert group
There is also an independent expert group established to advise the Commission on financial accountability. This is chaired by Professor Anton MuscatelliAnton Muscatelli
Professor Vito Antonio "Anton" Muscatelli FRSA FRSE AcSS is the Principal of the University of Glasgow and one of the United Kingdom's leading economists.-Early life:...
, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Heriot Watt University, and includes academics from Scotland, the rest of the UK and overseas. It produced a detailed report for the Commission in November 2008, examining different models for funding sub-national parliaments, and suggesting that a mixture of grant funding, tax devolution and tax assignment was likely to be necessary in a Scottish context. In June 2009, the IEG published further reports on borrowing and on natural resource taxation, plus a response to some of the Commission's consultation questions.
First report
The Commission's first report, released in December 2008 declared that devolution had been a success, while making the case for Scotland's continued place within the United Kingdom. On funding, it endorsed the view of the independent expert group that full fiscal autonomy is incompatible with the continuation of the United Kingdom. The Report launched a second phase of consultation, inviting further evidence on a wide range of questions (encapsulated in an accompanying consultation document) by the end of February 2009.Final report
The Commission's final report was published on 15 June 2009.The main conclusions and recommendations are:
- that devolution has been a success, and is here to stay
- that the Scottish Parliament should have substantially greater control over the raising of the revenues that make up the Scottish budget, primarily through sharing with the UK Parliament responsibililty for setting income tax rates (although the number of rates, the differences between them, eligibility and so on should remain wholly UK responsibilities) and through devolution of some smaller taxes (Air Passenger DutyAir Passenger DutyAir Passenger Duty is an excise duty which is charged on the carriage of passengers flying from a United Kingdom airport on an aircraft that has an authorised take off weight of more than ten tonnes or more than twenty seats for passengers...
, Landfill TaxLandfill taxA landfill tax or levy is a form of tax that is applied in some countries to increase the cost of landfill. The tax is typically levied in units of currency per unit of weight or volume...
, the Aggregates Levy and Stamp Duty Land Tax) - that the UK should reduce income tax rates in Scotland by 10p (on the basic and higher rates), and reduce the block grant by a corresponding amount, thus requiring the Scottish Parliament to make a tax decision (i.e. whether to restore the 10p or to set a Scottish rate that is higher or lower than the rate in the rest of the UK)
- that the reduced block grant should continue to be calculated through the Barnett formula in the short term, but that a UK-wide needs assessment should replace it in the longer term
- that the Scottish Government should have new borrowing powers to cover capital projects, as well as possibly enhanced access to short-term borrowing
- that responsibility for the regulation of airguns, the administration of elections, drink-driving limits and the national speed limit should be devolved
- that the regulation of health professions and corporate insolvency, currently largely reserved, should be fully reserved; and that there should be single UK definitions of "charity" and "charitable purposes"
- greater involvement of Scottish Ministers in key decisions and appointments relating to UK bodies such as the BBC, the Crown EstateCrown EstateIn the United Kingdom, the Crown Estate is a property portfolio owned by the Crown. Although still belonging to the monarch and inherent with the accession of the throne, it is no longer the private property of the reigning monarch and cannot be sold by him/her, nor do the revenues from it belong...
and the Health and Safety ExecutiveHealth and Safety ExecutiveThe Health and Safety Executive is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom. It is the body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in England and Wales and Scotland... - that there should be better inter-parliamentary dialogue and communication, including through removing barriers to joint working of committees, having Scottish Ministers attending UK Parliament committees and UK Ministers attending the Scottish Parliament (including to outline the implications of the annual Queen's Speech), and establishing a joint liaison committee
- enhancement of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) structure, including by creation of new sub-committees, and the production of an annual report
- development of the existing Sewel Convention, including through entrenchment in Westminster standing orders, Scottish MPs being represented on committees scrutinising Bills that engage the Convention, and better communication between the Parliaments, including on "legislative consent motions" under the Convention
- the creation of a new mechanism to enable the Scottish Parliament to legislate on reserved matters with the UK Parliament's consent (by order)
- enhanced procedures for Scottish Parliamentary scrutiny of Bills, including splitting the existing Stage 3 into two stages, and creating a presumption that amendments at Stage 3 to introduce substantial new provisions will be referred back to committee
- a requirement that anyone introducing a Bill (not just a Minister) needs to state that the Bill is within the Parliament's legislative competence, and give reasons for that view.
Calman Review white paper
Responding to the findings of the review, the UK government announced on 25 November 2009, that new powers would be devolved to the Scottish Government, notably on how it can raise tax and carry out capital borrowing, and the running of Scottish Parliament elections. These proposals were detailed in a white paperWhite paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
setting out a new Scotland Bill, to become law before the 2015 Holyrood elections. The proposal was criticised by the UK parliament opposition parties for not proposing to implement any changes before the next general election. Scottish Constitution Minister Michael Russell criticised the white paper, calling it "flimsy" and stating that their proposed Referendum (Scotland) Bill, 2010
Referendum (Scotland) Bill, 2010
A referendum of the Scottish electorate on the issue of independence from the United Kingdom shall be held in either 2014 or 2015. The Referendum Bills are proposed Scottish Government bills to set out the arrangements for this referendum....
, whose own white paper was to be published five days later, would be "more substantial". According to The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, the Calman Review white paper proposals fall short of what would normally be seen as requiring a referendum.
2010 coalition government
Following the election of the ConservativeConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
-Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
coalition
Cameron Ministry
David Cameron is Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new government after the resignation as Prime Minister of Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010. Leading a coalition government formed by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, the coalition...
, the government has pledged to implement the findings of the Calman Commission.
See also
- Scotland Bill 2010-11
- Constitutional CommissionConstitutional CommissionMany entities have been called a Constitutional Commission with the general purpose of reviewing a constitution, or planning to create one.-Afghanistan:*Afghan Constitution Commission**Timeline of the War in Afghanistan...
- National ConversationNational ConversationThe National Conversation was the name given to the Scottish Government's public consultation exercise regarding possible future changes in the power of the devolved Scottish Parliament and the possibility of Scottish independence, a policy objective of the Scottish National Party, who at the time...
- Scottish Consolidated FundScottish Consolidated FundThe Scottish Consolidated Fund is the main fund operated by the Scottish Parliament. It receives a block grant from the UK Parliament's Consolidated Fund plus the operational receipts of the Scottish Government...
- Scottish Constitutional ConventionScottish Constitutional ConventionThe Scottish Constitutional Convention was an association of Scottish political parties, churches and other civic groups, that developed a framework for a Scottish devolution. It is credited as having paved the way for the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.The Convention was...
- Constitution for ScotlandConstitution for ScotlandIn September 2002, the Scottish National Party published a document, entitled "A Constitution for a Free Scotland", which details their policy for the Constitution of a future independent Scotland...
- Constitution of the United KingdomConstitution of the United KingdomThe constitution of the United Kingdom is the set of laws and principles under which the United Kingdom is governed.Unlike many other nations, the UK has no single core constitutional document. In this sense, it is said not to have a written constitution but an uncodified one...
- Royal Commission on the Constitution (United Kingdom)Royal Commission on the Constitution (United Kingdom)The Royal Commission on the Constitution, also referred to as the Kilbrandon Commission or Kilbrandon Report, was a long-running royal commission set up by Harold Wilson's Labour government to examine the structures of the constitution of the United Kingdom and the British Islands and the...
, also referred to as the Kilbrandon Commission - Independent Commission on Funding and Finance for WalesIndependent Commission on Funding and Finance for WalesThe Independent Commission on Funding and Finance for Wales, also known as The Holtham Commission, was established by Rhodri Morgan , Ieuan Wyn Jones and Andrew Davies , of the Welsh Assembly Government...
- Welsh devolution referendum, 2011