The Scotland Bill Committee is seeking views on a number of issues to help inform its scrutiny of the proposed legislation. Wendy Alexander MSP, Convener of the Scotland Bill Committee, said: -“We are calling for written evidence on a number of key questions to assist us with our work in scrutinising this Bill which is designed to implement the Calman recommendations.
“There are a number of issues we would like to focus on as we gather evidence. These include whether the Bill’s proposals will improve working conditions between Westminster and Holyrood Parliaments and Governments, whether it’s a good idea to substitute revenue from taxes levied by the Scottish Parliament for some of the grant from the UK Government which supports the Scottish Government and what interested parties think of the proposed new borrowing powers.”
The Committee is also looking for written evidence on a number of other issues in the Bill, including:
• The proposed Scottish rate of income tax
• How proposals will affect Scotland’s economic growth prospects
• The creation of devolved taxes – Stamp Duty Land Tax and Landfill Tax
• Proposed changes in non-financial areas, such as speed limits and air weapons.
The legislation is a piece of UK law but a committee has been set up at Holyrood to comment on the bill. When the Committee meets on 21 december they will take evidence from John Swinney MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, Fiona Hyslop MSP, Minister for Culture and External Affairs, Gary Gillespie, Deputy Director, Office of the Chief Economic Adviser, Graeme Roy, Team Leader, Office of the Chief Economic Adviser, David Rogers, Deputy Director, Constitution Directorate, and Gerald Byrne, Team Leader, Constitution Directorate, Scottish Government.
The Committee explain how to submit written evidence:-
As indicated, we would be grateful if you could use the specific questions above as the basis for your submission. You may wish to respond to any or all of the specific questions. Evidence should be reasonably brief and typewritten (normally no more than 6 sides of A4 in total). It is highly preferable if your evidence is submitted using MS Word, with the main text in Arial, 12 point.
The deadline for receipt of written submissions is Friday, 14 January 2011. Owing to the timescale required for the processing and analysis of evidence, late submissions will only be accepted with the advance agreement of the clerk.
The Committee prefers to receive written submissions electronically. These should be sent to:
scotlandbillcommittee@scottish.parliament.uk You may also send a hard copy of written submissions to:
Scotland Bill Committee Scottish Parliament Room TG.01 Edinburgh
EH99 1SP
