Programme for Government 2023 to 2024

The Legislative Programme 2023-24

The Scottish Government intends to introduce 14 Bills over the course of the parliamentary year, as set out below. In addition, we will support Gillian Mackay MSP to introduce her proposed Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill. We intend to bring back the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill (“the UNCRC Bill”) for Reconsideration Stage, and support Mark Ruskell MSP in doing the same for the European Charter of Local Self-Government (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill. We will also continue to develop other proposals for legislative change, including in relation to Heat in Buildings and Ending Conversion Practices.

Bills for introduction 2023-24

• Agriculture
• Budget (No. 3)
• Cladding Remediation
• Education
• Electoral Reform
• Gender Representation on Public Boards Remedial Action
• Housing
• Human Rights
• Judicial Factors
• Land Reform
• Misogyny
• Scottish Aggregates Tax
• Scottish Languages
• Social Security (Amendment)

Scottish Government Bills in Parliament

• Bankruptcy and Diligence
• Children (Care and Justice)
• Circular Economy
• National Care Service
• Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland
• Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny)
• Regulation of Legal Services
• Trusts and Succession
• Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform
• Visitor Levy
• Wildlife Management and Muirburn

Bills passed this Session

• Bail and Release from Custody
• Budget
• Budget (No. 2)
• Carer’s Allowance Supplement
• Charities (Regulation and Administration)
• Coronavirus (Discretionary Compensation for Self-isolation)
• Coronavirus (Extension and Expiry)
• Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform)
• Cost of Living (Tenant Protection)
• Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles
• Gender Recognition Reform
• Good Food Nation
• Hunting with Dogs
• Moveable Transactions
• Miners’ Strike (Pardons)
• Non-Domestic Rates (Coronavirus)
• Scottish Local Government Elections (Candidacy Rights of Foreign Nationals)
• Transvaginal Mesh Removal (Cost Reimbursement)

Summary of Scottish Government Bills for introduction

Agriculture

The Bill will provide powers to deliver the Scottish Government’s Vision for Agriculture that will replace current common agricultural policy schemes through an adaptive support framework that focuses on high quality food production, climate mitigation and adaptation, nature protection and restoration, and wider rural development.

Budget (No. 3)

The annual Budget Bill provides parliamentary approval for the Scottish Government’s spending plans, allocates resources to strategic objectives and supports progress towards the vision of a more successful country.

Cladding Remediation

The Bill will enable the Scottish Government to undertake urgent measures to remediate a building with unsafe cladding materials that present a risk to life.

Education

The Bill will provide for the establishment of a new public body responsible for qualifications in Scotland and the creation of an independent education inspectorate.

Electoral Reform

The Bill will make improvements to the law in relation to Scottish Parliament and Local Government elections, informed by our recent consultation exercise which sought views on the expansion of candidacy rights, protecting candidates and campaigners from intimidation, and improving administrative arrangements for elections.

Gender Representation on Public Boards Remedial Action

The Bill will remove the definition of “woman” from section 2 of the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018. This will update the statute book following a reclaiming motion of a judicial review decision on the 2018 Act, which meant that a wider definition of “woman” in that Act no longer has legal effect.

Housing

The Bill will help to deliver our New Deal for Tenants and some other aspects of Housing to 2040 by creating powers for the introduction of longer-term rent controls. The Bill will also create new tenants’ rights and introduce new duties aimed at the prevention of homelessness.

Human Rights

The Bill will incorporate into Scots law international economic, social and cultural rights, and rights relating to women, disabled people and people who experience racism, as well as recognise the right to a healthy environment, within the limits of devolved competence.

Judicial Factors

The third Scottish Law Commission Bill this session will implement the Commission’s recommendations to update the law around the appointment and supervision of judicial factors and put in place a modern and comprehensive regime.

Land Reform

The Bill will improve transparency of land ownership, further empower communities, and help ensure that large-scale landholdings are delivering in the public interest. It will also modernise tenant farming and small landholding legislation.

Misogyny

The Bill will implement the recommendations of the Working Group chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy to create new offences related to misogynistic conduct, providing Police Scotland with new powers to hold to account perpetrators of misogynistic behaviours which can denigrate women and reinforce barriers to an equal society.

Scottish Aggregates Tax

The Bill will deliver on powers devolved in the Scotland Act 2016, by setting out the key arrangements for a devolved tax on the commercial exploitation of aggregates in Scotland.

Scottish Languages

The Bill will provide legal recognition for Gaelic and Scots, strengthen requirements for provision of Gaelic Medium Education, introduce measures to provide further protection for Gaelic within communities, and introduce provision to strengthen support for Scots.

Social Security (Amendment)

The Bill will enhance the Scottish system of social security in line with the Scottish Social Security Principles, including enabling the Scottish Government to make recoveries of devolved social security from compensation awards where a third party’s fault is the reason for the social security payments.