Executive Branch of Government
The Scottish Government is responsible in Scotland for all issues that are not explicitly reserved to the United Kingdom Parliament at Westminster by Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998; such devolved matters include NHS Scotland, education, justice and policing, rural affairs, economic development and transport.
The Scottish Government has had the responsibility for an annual budget of more than £30 billion in the financial year 2005-2006, rising to more than £30 billion in 2007-2008.
The Government is led by the First Minister. The Scottish Parliament nominates one of its Members to be appointed as First Minister by the Queen. He is assisted by various Cabinet Secretaries (Ministers) with individual portfolios, who are appointed by him with the approval of Parliament. Junior Scottish Ministers are similarly appointed to assist Cabinet Secretaries in their work. The Scottish Law Officers, the Lord Advocate and Solicitor General can be appointed from outside the Parliament's membership, but are subject to its approval. The First Minister, the Cabinet Secretaries and the Scottish Law Officers are the Members of the Scottish Government. They are collectively known as the "Scottish Ministers".
The members of the Government have substantial influence over legislation in Scotland, putting forward the majority of Bills that are successful in becoming Acts of the Scottish Parliament.
Since 2007, the Scottish Government has been formed by the Scottish National Party, which is the largest party in the Scottish Parliament, although prior to 2011 it did not possess an overall majority. In the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the Scottish National Party won the first overall majority in the history of the Scottish Parliament. The current First Minister is Alex Salmond.
Read more about this topic: Scottish Government
Famous quotes containing the words executive, branch and/or government:
“Testimony of all ages forces us to admit that war is among the most dangerous enemies to liberty, and that the executive is the branch most favored by it of all the branches of Power.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“[T]he people seem to have deposited the monarchical and taken up the republican government with as much ease as would have attended their throwing off an old and putting on a new suit of clothes.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)