What Sewel motions it will lodge in the Parliament in connection with the legislative programme of the UK Government that is announced toda…

Under the Sewel Convention, the UK Government does not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters in Scotland without the consent of the Scottish Parliament. This is an important part of the devolution settlement, signifying respect for the role of the Scottish Parliament.
Within the context of this Convention, the Executive recommends that the Scottish Parliament should consent to legislation at Westminster only when this would deliver clear benefits for Scotland. I am pleased that we have been able to identify and agree specific opportunities for several of the bills within the UK Government’s new legislative programme to make beneficial provision for Scotland, on matters that are within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament and on matters which relate to the executive competence of the Scottish ministers.
In accordance with the Sewel Convention and the procedural undertakings that have been given, we will present the Parliament with a motion and detailed explanatory memorandum in relation to each of those Bills as soon as possible after they are introduced at Westminster, in order to maximise the scope for scrutiny and debate. The bills are:
·the Animal Welfare Bill – to ensure that people who are banned from keeping animals in England and Wales, following conviction for cruelty to animals there, continue also to be banned from keeping animals in Scotland.
·the Constitutional Reform Bill – to create a UK-wide Supreme Court, establishing a clear and transparent separation between the judiciary and the legislature.
·the Disability Discrimination Bill – to put Scotland on the same footing as the rest of the UK on new public sector duty to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people.
·the European Union Bill – to ensure that the devolution settlement is taken into account in legislation to enable the ratification andimplementation in UK law of the EU Constitutional Treaty and to allow areferendum on the Treaty to take place.
·the Gambling Bill – to modernise powers for Scottish ministers to regulate gambling in Scotland.
·the Inquiries Bill – to modernise the law for the conduct of inquiries into matters of public concern.
·the International Organisations (Immunities and Privileges) Bill – to ensure that the devolution settlement is taken into account in legislation that secures the position of specified international organisations.
·the National Lottery Bill – to provide power for Scottish ministers to issue directions to the Big Lottery Fund and allow a Scottish Committee to exercise all the functions of the Fund in relation to devolved expenditure.
·the Railways Bill – to provide greater responsibility for rail within Scotland to the Scottish ministers, including an extended role with regard to infrastructure.
·the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill – to strengthen the fight against serious organised crime with the creation of a new UK-wide agency and other measures.
Legislating in this way has a number of benefits for Scotland. For bills (like the Inquiries Bill and the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill) that include provisions on matters that are within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, it enables useful provision to be made in areas of mutual interest without delay or disruption to our own legislative programme. For Bills (like the Gambling Bill and Railways Bill) that include provisions that relate to the executive competence of the Scottish ministers, it enables powers and functions to be exercised by the Scottish ministers rather than UK Ministers.
In order to maximise this potential, we will maintain our dialogue with the UK Government over the coming weeks and months to see whether further opportunities c