Scottish Parliament Bill to be published

The people of Scotland move a step closer on Thursday to having their first parliament in nearly three hundred years. The Government will publish its Scotland Bill, which gives effect to the devolution proposals approved by Scottish voters at referendums held in September.

If all goes according to plan, the Scottish parliament will take on its law-making powers in the year 2000. It will meet in Edinburgh, but the precise location has not yet been decided. The BBC's Constitutional Affairs Correspondent Joshua Rozenberg looks ahead to the Government's bill.

Three out of four voters agreed there should be a Scottish parliament when they were asked in the autumn; nearly two thirds agreed it should have tax-varying powers.

The Scotland Bill will put those aspirations into law. It will create a parliament of 129 members - 73 elected on a constituency basis plus 56 additional members elected by proportional representation.

They will elect a Presiding Officer, effectively the Speaker. There will be a Scottish Executive headed by a First Minister - Scotland's Prime Minister in all but name.

The Scottish parliament will have wide powers to make or amend laws for Scotland, without the need for approval from MPs at Westminster. However, there are some areas where the Scottish parliament will not be able to legislate.

These 'reserved powers', as they are called, will be listed in the Scotland Bill. They include:

The constitution of the United Kingdom

UK foreign policy

Defence and national security

Border controls

Monetary and fiscal affairs (except that the Scottish parliament will be able to raise or lower the basic rate of income tax in Scotland by up to three pence).

Common markets for goods and services

Employment law

Social security

Regulation of the professions

Transport safety

Other matters regulated on a GB or UK basis including nuclear safety, cinema licensing and abortion.

Everything not on the list of reserved powers will be devolved to the Scottish parliament. That means Scotland's parliament will be able to make laws on:

health

education

local government

housing

economic development

trade

transport

criminal and civil law

courts

prisons

police and fire services

animals

the environment

agriculture

food standards

forestry

fisheries

sport

the arts

There are now four sites in Edinburgh under consideration for the home of the Scottish parliament. The newest is a site at Holyrood opposite the Royal Palace. The others are Calton Hill (the old Royal High School site), Victoria Quay in Leith and Haymarket in the west of the City.

Ministers hope to announce where the parliament will sit by the time the Scotland Bill has its second reading in parliament in January.