The Scottish Parliament and law making

This free course, The Scottish Parliament and law making, explores the law making powers of the Scottish Parliament and examines its place in the UK’s constitution. It considers how, and why, laws are made by both the Scottish and UK Parliaments before exploring devolved matters, reserved matters, legislative competence, secondary legislation, and the work of MSPs and MPs. It discusses the characteristics of the constitution, the importance of the concept of the rule of law, how an Act of Parliament is structured and considers how and why members of the public are encouraged to become involved with the work of the Scottish Parliament. TranscriptEnrolling on the course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. Badges are not accredited by The Open University but they're a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject and commitment to your career, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development.Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from My OpenLearn. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn statement of participation – which also displays your Open University badge.This course is accredited by the CPD Standards Office. It can be used to provide evidence of continuing professional development and on successful completion of the course you will be awarded 24 CPD points. Evidence of your CPD achievement is provided on the free Statement of Participation awarded on completion.Anyone wishing to provide evidence of their enrolment on this course is able to do so by sharing their Activity Record on their OpenLearn Profile, which is available before completion of the course and earning of the Statement of Participation.

• Introduction and guidance
• Introduction and guidance
• What is a badged course?
• How to get a badge
• Acknowledgements
• Week1Week 1: Law making powers of the Scottish Parliament
• Introduction
• 1 The Scotland Act 1998
• 2 The Scotland Act 2012
• 2.1 New and amended powers
• 3 The Scotland Act 2016
• 3.1 Further additional powers
• 4 Legislative consent – or ‘Sewel’ motions
• 5 Working relationship between the Parliaments and Governments
• 5.1 Devolution Guidance Note 10
• 5.2 What next?
• 5.3 Referencing
• 6 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Week2Week 2: Constitutional characteristics, the rule of law and Scotland
• Introduction
• 1 Constitutions
• 1.1 What is a constitution?
• 1.2 Features of a constitution
• 2 Evolution of the United Kingdom
• 3 Characteristics and functions of the UK’s constitution
• 4 The UK’s constitutional arrangements
• 4.1 The rule of law and UK's constitution
• 4.2 Thinking about the UK’s constitution
• 5 Constitutional characteristics and Scotland
• 6 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Week3Week 3: Law making processes in the Scottish Parliament
• Introduction
• 1 A new Scottish Parliament
• 1.1 Law making processes in the Scottish Parliament
• 2 Legislative competence
• 2.1 The criteria to determine legislative competence
• 3 How law is made in the Scottish Parliament
• 3.1 Bills in the Scottish Parliament
• 3.2 Types of Bills
• 3.3 Finding Bills
• 3.4 Stages of legislation
• 3.5 A Government Bill
• 3.6 Royal Assent
• 3.7 Acts of Scottish Parliament
• 4 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Week4Week 4: Law making and the UK Parliament
• Introduction
• 1 Bills in the UK Parliament
• 1.1 Preparation for Bills
• 2 Stages of a Bill in the UK Parliament
• 2.1 Debating Bills
• 2.2 Royal Assent
• 2.2 Commencement of Acts of the UK Parliament
• 2.3 The UK Parliament and Scotland
• 2.4 The work of the UK Parliament and getting involved
• 3 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Week5Week 5: Reading an Act of the Scottish Parliament
• Introduction
• 1 Acts: An overview
• 2 Acts of the Scottish Parliament
• 2.1 Accompanying documentation to Bills
• 2.2 Structure of an Act of the Scottish Parliament
• 2.3 Citing an Act
• 3 Who drafts the Bills?
• 4 Acts of the UK Parliament
• 5 Bills and Acts and the UK Parliament
• 6 Making law accessible
• 7 This week's quiz
• Summary
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Week6Week 6: Exploring legislation
• Introduction
• 1 Secondary legislation
• 2 The Scottish Parliament
• 2.1 Subordinate legislation
• 2.2 Affirmative or negative procedure
• 3 The UK Parliament
• 3.1 Scrutiny in the UK Parliament
• 3.2 Reflection on subordinate legislation in the Scottish and UK Parliaments
• 3.3 The expansion of regulation
• 3.4 Advantages and disadvantages of using delegated legislation
• 3.5 Delegated powers and the Scotland Act 1998
• 4 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Week7Week 7: MSPs, MPs and law making
• Introduction
• 1 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs)
• 1.1 Voting in Scottish parliamentary elections
• 2 The work of MSPs
• 2.1 The many roles of an MSP
• 3 The Committee System
• 4 The UK Parliamentary elections
• 4.1 The UK Government
• 4.2 The voting system for the UK Parliament
• 4.3 Who can vote in a UK general election?
• 4.4 The House of Lords
• 5 Parliamentary election constituencies
• 6 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Week8Week 8: Getting involved in law making
• Introduction
• 1 Why law changes
• 2 Where do ideas for change come from?
• 3 How is law reformed?
• 3.1 The Scottish and UK Parliaments
• 3.2 The judiciary
• 3.3 The European Court of Human Rights
• 4 How can you become involved?
• 5 This week’s quiz
• Summary
• End of course conclusion
• Tell us what you think
• Acknowledgements