NICOLA Sturgeon has unveiled her administration's legislative agenda for the coming months in a statement to Holyrood.
The Programme for Government is published every year at the beginning of September and sets out the Scottish Government's plans for the coming year and beyond.
Addressing MSPs, Ms Sturgeon revealed she has ordered civil servants to restart work on a new prospectus for independence.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon orders her officials to restart work on independence plans
However she did not announce a Referendum Bill this year.
Here are the 12 bills the First Minister plans to introduce during the parliamentary year 2021 to 2022:
Annual Budget (No.1) Bill
The annual Budget Bill seeks parliamentary approval for the Scottish Government’s tax and spending plans.
Bail and Release from Custody Bill
This will seek to reform how decisions are made in relation to the use of bail and remand and "adjust certain release arrangements for individuals in custody".
Coronavirus (Compensation for Self-isolation) Bill
Ms Sturgeon said this would "ensure that health boards can focus on key services, while local and national government provide support for those asked to self-isolate".
Covid Recovery Bill
This seeks to "embed reforms in our public services and justice system that, though necessitated by the pandemic, have delivered improvements", the First Minister said.
Fireworks and Pyrotechnics Bill
This would introduce changes to how fireworks can be used and sold in Scotland, in a bid to address their misuse. Ms Sturgeon said it will "tighten the law on the sale and use of fireworks and reduce the misery they cause in communities".
Fox Control Bill
This will seek to strengthen the law relating to the use of dogs to hunt and flush foxes and other wild mammals.
Gender Recognition Bill
This would reform the Gender Recognition Act to "provide a more streamlined process for trans men and women applying for legal gender recognition", allowing them to self-declare their gender. The plans have been the focus of ongoing controversy.
Good Food Nation Bill
This would introduce a statutory requirement for ministers and specified public authorities to "publish statements setting out the main outcomes they want to achieve in relation to food‐related issues, the policies needed to do this and the indicators or other measures required to assess progress".
Miners’ Strike Pardon Bill
This will provide a collective pardon to miners convicted of certain offences during the strike of 1984/85.
Moveable Transactions Bill
This aims to make certain commercial transactions less expensive and more efficient and enable easier access to finance.
National Care Service Bill
This will provide for the creation of a new National Care Service. Ms Sturgeon said it would be "arguably the most significant public service reform since the creation of the NHS".
Non-Domestic Rates Covid-19 Appeals Bill
This aims to prevent "inappropriate use of the material change of circumstances provisions in non-domestic rates legislation", Ms Sturgeon said.
Elsewhere, the Scottish Government said two bills will continue their parliamentary scrutiny: the Carer’s Allowance Supplement Bill and the Transvaginal Mesh Removal (Cost Reimbursement) (Scotland) Bill.
The former provides for a doubling of the scheduled Carers’ Allowance Supplement in December 2021, and allows for future increases of the supplement to be made through regulations.
The latter seeks to provide a scheme to reimburse women who have entered into arrangements privately and have paid to have transvaginal mesh removed from their body.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel