Bills and Laws

Statutory Instruments (SIs) are a type of secondary legislation made by the UK Government which cover all parts of the UK, including Scotland. When this happens the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament have an agreement, or “protocol”, explaining how they will work together.

The Scottish Government writes to a Scottish Parliament committee explaining if it plans to agree with the SI being made in the UK Parliament, and why. The Scottish Government makes a recommendation to say if they think the UK Government should or should not make the SI in the UK Parliament for Scotland. The committee then decides if it agrees with the Scottish Government’s decision.

If the committee does not agree with the Scottish Government’s decision, the Scottish Government can either:

• agree with the committee and not give its consent to the UK Parliament
• try to get agreement from the rest of the Parliament through a debate in the Chamber
• introduce its own SSI instead