No – since the UK general election in May 2005, the constituency boundaries in Scotland for the UK Parliament have differed from those for the Scottish Parliament.

The Scotland Act 1998 set out that the constituencies of the Scottish Parliament were to be the same as those for the United Kingdom Parliament, except that Orkney and Shetland were to be separate constituencies.

Following a review, the Boundary Commission for Scotland proposed that the boundaries of Scottish constituencies for the UK Parliament should be changed and their number reduced from 72 to 59. These changes were agreed by the UK Parliament, and the details are set out in the Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 2005.

In order to avoid reducing the number of MSPs, the UK Parliament passed the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004. This piece of legislation modified the Scotland Act 1998 by removing the necessary link between the Scottish Parliament constituencies and those for the UK Parliament. This means that the Scottish Parliament continues to have 73 constituencies and their boundaries remain unchanged.

Constituency boundary maps for Scotland are produced by the Boundary Commission for Scotland. Maps of Scottish constituencies and regions are also available on the Ordnance Survey Election Maps website.

Scotland remains part of the United Kingdom, and immigration and nationality are reserved matters. You should therefore apply for British citizenship, as there is no separate category of Scottish citizenship.

Information on how to obtain British citizenship is available from the UK Border Agency. The UK Border Agency is part of the Home Office, which is a department of the UK Government.

Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers can be contacted through the Scottish Government, not the Scottish Parliament. Details of how to contact them can be found on the Scottish Government website.

The Scottish budget process is made up of three stages. These are outlined on the Scottish Government website. Information about the budget process, including a time line of key events, can be found in the Finance Committee section of the Scottish Parliament website. A glossary of the main terms used in public finance (SB 07-30) is available in the Finance briefings on our website.

The UK Government’s white paper on Scottish devolution, Scotland’s Parliament, was published in July 1997. It set out proposals for a new Scottish Parliament and drew heavily on the Scottish Constitutional Convention’s 1995 report, Scotland's Parliament, Scotland's Right.

A referendum was held on 11 September 1997 to ask the Scottish people whether they wanted a Scottish Parliament and whether it should have tax-varying powers. A clear majority of voters voted Yes to both questions. This result gave the UK government a mandate to introduce a bill that would allow for the creation of a Scottish Parliament.

The white paper, Scotland’s Parliament, was the basis for the Scotland Bill that was introduced at Westminster in December 1997 and became the Scotland Act 1998 on 19 November 1998. This Act is the formal constitutional document providing for the establishment of the Scottish Parliament.

In November 1997, the Secretary of State for Scotland set up the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament (CSG), which met for the first time in January 1998. The CSG was chaired by Henry McLeish, the Scottish Office Minister for Devolution, and was composed of representatives from the main political parties in Scotland and from other civic groups and interests. The remit of the CSG was to report on the “operational needs and working methods” of the Parliament and to make proposals for its Standing Orders and rules of procedure. Its main report, Shaping Scotland’s Parliament, was published in January 1999.

The Scotland Act 1998 uses the terms Scottish Ministers and junior Scottish Ministers, but the current government refers to these as Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers respectively.

Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers are members of the Scottish Government, which is the government in Scotland for devolved matters. It is the Scottish Government, rather than the Scottish Parliament, which is responsible for the policies promoted by Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers. For information about ministerial remits and policies, you should consult the Scottish Government website or contact the Scottish Government Central Enquiry Unit (ceu@scotland.gsi.gov.uk).

All taxes raised in the United Kingdom are paid into the UK Consolidated Fund and, in line with the UK Treasury’s Statement of Funding Policy, the UK Parliament votes how much should be paid into the Scottish Consolidated Fund (SCF). The mechanism by which this is determined by Westminster is known as the ‘Block and Formula’. The size of the block is calculated with reference to the previous year's figure, adjusted by an increase or decrease in accordance with the Barnett Formula. (A research briefing on the Barnett Formula is available in the Finance briefings on our website.)

Decisions on the allocation of money from the SCF are made by Scottish Ministers, who are accountable to the Scottish Parliament for all payments made from the fund.

Statements made by MSPs in the Chamber can be found in the Official Report of the relevant meeting of Parliament. Statements made to a committee can be found in the Official Report of the relevant committee meeting.

A list of ministerial statements made in the Scottish Parliament in the current session and in the previous session can be found in the “Parliamentary Business” series of fact sheets on our website.

Statements made by MSPs representing the Parliament (for example, as Presiding Officer) or a committee (for example, as committee convener) may be found in the news releases.

If an MSP has made a statement outside Parliament and has not been speaking on behalf of the Parliament, it will not be covered anywhere on our website. You could try checking the websites of relevant news organisations or the MSP’s personal website, if he or she has one. 
Any statement made by a Cabinet Secretary or Minister, other than at a meeting of Parliament, should be obtained through the Scottish Government.

Her Majesty The Queen attended the official opening of the Scottish Parliament on 1 July 1999 and the opening of the new Scottish Parliament building on 9 October 2004. She also attended a ceremony to mark the opening of the third session of the Parliament on 30 June 2007. However, there is no equivalent in the Scottish Parliament to the State Opening of the UK Parliament at Westminster, which normally takes place each year at the start of the parliamentary session.

On 9 June 1999, the Scottish Parliament endorsed the Report of the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament, Shaping Scotland’s Parliament. This report set out four key principles:

• the Scottish Parliament should embody and reflect the sharing of power between the people of Scotland, the legislators and the Scottish Executive;
• the Scottish Executive should be accountable to the Scottish Parliament and the Parliament and Executive should be accountable to the people of Scotland;
• the Scottish Parliament should be accessible, open, responsive and develop procedures which make possible a participative approach to the development, consideration and scrutiny of policy and legislation; and
• the Scottish Parliament in its operation and its appointments should recognise the need to promote equal opportunities for all.

The main functions of the Parliament are:

• to hold the Scottish Government to account through oral and written questions, and through scrutiny of its policies in the committees;
• to make laws on devolved matters by examining, amending and voting on bills;
• to debate important topical issues; and
• to conduct inquiries and publish reports.

The Scottish Parliament also has the power to raise or lower the basic rate of income tax by up to three pence in the pound.

The Scottish Government (the government in Scotland for devolved matters, which was formerly known as the Scottish Executive) continues in office until a new First Minister and new Scottish Ministers are agreed by the Parliament and appointed by Her Majesty The Queen after the election.

Devolution is the transfer of powers from a central body to subordinate regional bodies. The UK Parliament at Westminster has devolved different powers to three bodies: the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Scotland Act 1998 provided for the establishment of a Scottish Parliament. Under the terms of the Act, the Scottish Parliament is able to pass laws affecting Scotland on a range of issues, which are known as devolved matters. The Act also gives the Scottish Parliament the power to raise or lower the basic rate of income tax by up to three pence in the pound.

Devolved matters are those on which the Scottish Parliament can pass laws. Devolved matters include:

• agriculture, forestry and fishing
• education and training
• environment
• Gaelic
• health
• housing
• law and home affairs
• local government
• natural and built heritage
• planning
• police and fire services
• social work
• some aspects of transport, including the Scottish road network and bus policy
• sport and the arts
• statistics and public records
• tourism and economic development

The Scotland Act 1998, which provided for the establishment of a Scottish Parliament, specifies certain issues on which the Scottish Parliament cannot pass legislation. These areas, for which only the UK Parliament at Westminster can pass laws, are known as reserved matters. Reserved matters include:

• abortion, human fertilisation and embryology, genetics and vivisection
• common markets
• constitutional matters
• data protection
• employment legislation
• energy: electricity, coal, gas and nuclear energy
• equal opportunities
• fiscal, economic and monetary system
• gambling and the National Lottery
• immigration and nationality
• social security
• some aspects of transport, including marine and air transport, transport safety and regulation, and driver and vehicle licensing and testing
• trade and industry, including competition and customer protection
• UK defence and national security
• UK foreign policy

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The Scottish Government's budget is currently around £35 billion. The Scottish Government's spending plans for the next three years were outlined to MSPs on 14 November 2007. Information about proposals and related documentation are available on the Scottish Government website.

There are 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). MSPs represent their constituents on devolved matters in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. For more information, see MSPs and their Work.

There are 59 MPs (Members of Parliament) representing Scotland in the House of Commons at Westminster in London. Their role is to represent their constituents on reserved matters.

You should contact your MSP(s) if you wish to raise an issue about a devolved matter and your MP if you wish to raise an issue about a reserved matter. If you are unsure whether a matter is devolved or reserved, contact the Scottish Parliament Public Information Service.

The relationship between the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government is similar to that between the UK Parliament at Westminster and the UK Government.

The Scottish Parliament comprises all 129 elected Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and is the law-making body for devolved matters. It considers proposed legislation and scrutinises the activities and policies of the Scottish Government through debates, parliamentary questions and the work of committees. The Scottish Government is the government in Scotland for devolved matters and, as such, it is responsible for defining and implementing policy in these areas. It is headed by the First Minister and is made up of those MSPs who have been appointed by the First Minister as Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers.

More information about the composition and roles of these institutions can be found in Who Represents Me?

The Scotland Office is the UK Government office that promotes the devolution settlement and represents Scottish interests in matters that are reserved to the UK Parliament under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998. It is headed by the Secretary of State for Scotland and is part of the Ministry of Justice.

More information about the work of the Scotland Office and the role of the Secretary of State for Scotland can be found on the Scotland Office website.

In the election on 3 May 2007, more MSPs were elected for the Scottish National Party (SNP) than for any other party. No party gained an absolute majority, however, and the Scottish National Party currently forms a minority government. More information about the government can be found on the Scottish Government website.

The leaders of the five parties currently represented in the Scottish Parliament are:

• Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP (Scottish National Party)
• Iain Gray MSP (Scottish Labour Party)
• Annabel Goldie MSP (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
• Tavish Scott MSP (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
• Patrick Harvie MSP (Scottish Green Party)*

* Patrick Harvie is co-convener of the Scottish Green Party. The other co-convener, Eleanor Scott, is not an MSP.