Scottish Government

The Scottish Government (Scottish Gaelic: Riaghaltas na h-Alba; Scots: Scots Govrenment) is the executive of the devolved Scottish Parliament. The government was established in 1999 as the Scottish Executive under section 44(1) of the Scotland Act 1998, which created a devolved administration for Scotland in line with a the result of the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution. The government consists of cabinet secretaries, who attend cabinet meetings, and ministers, who do not. It is led by the first minister, who selects the cabinet secretaries and ministers with approval of parliament.

Responsibilities

The Scottish Government is responsible in Scotland for all issues that are not explicitly reserved to the British parliament at Westminster by Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998; such devolved matters include health, education, justice and policing, rural affairs, economic development and transport. The Scottish Government also has administrative responsibility for some matters where it does not have legislative power. An example is Sections 36 & 37 of the Electricity Act 1989 which allow the Scottish Government to authorise power transmission lines and grant power generation consents.

Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h-Alba; Scots: The Scots Pairlament) is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to informally as "Holyrood".

The Parliament is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), elected for four-year terms under the additional member system: 73 MSPs represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the plurality ("first past the post") system, while a further 56 are returned from eight additional member regions, each electing seven MSPs. The most recent general election to the Parliament was held on 5 May 2011.

The original Parliament of Scotland (or "Estates of Scotland") was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of Scotland, and existed from the early 13th century until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. As a consequence, both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England ceased to exist, and the Parliament of Great Britain, which sat at Westminster in London was formed.

Scottish

Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:

See also

Alison McInnes

Alison McInnes OBE (born 17 July 1957) is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the North East Scotland Region. She is the Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Health and Justice in the Scottish Parliament.

Background

Originally from Irvine, Ayrshire, McInnes attended Irvine Royal Academy and McLaren High School, Callendar before studying at the University of Glasgow.

McInnes has lived in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, with her husband for over 25 years. They have two grown-up children.

McInnes says that she takes a keen interest in the arts, "from literature through to the performing arts", and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In her spare time she also enjoys cooking and gardening.

Career

A councillor for 15 years prior to entering parliament, Alison McInnes was first elected to Gordon District Council in 1992. She went on to represent Ellon and District on Aberdeenshire Council between 1995 and 2007, becoming one of the most senior councillors in the region. During this time McInnes chaired the council's infrastructure services committee and Nestrans (North East Regional Transport Partnership).

Government

A government is the system by which a state or community is controlled. In the Commonwealth of Nations, the word government is also used more narrowly to refer to the collective group of people that exercises executive authority in a state. This usage is analogous to what is called an "administration" in American English. Furthermore, especially in American English, the concepts of the state and the government may be used synonymously to refer to the person or group of people exercising authority over a politically organized territory. Finally, government is also sometimes used in English as a synonym for governance.

In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislators, administrators, and arbitrators. Government is the means by which state policy is enforced, as well as the mechanism for determining the policy of the state. A form of government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political systems and institutions that make up the organisation of a specific government.