About the Bill
The Bill and its accompanying documents were laid on 11 May 2020 and can be accessed via the following link: https://beta.parliament.scot/bills/coronavirus-scotland-no2-bill
The Policy Memorandum states that the purpose of the Bill "is to respond to the emergency situation caused by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.” The Bill “complements and supplements”—
- the Coronavirus Act 2020 (“the UK Act”), passed by the UK Parliament on 25 March 2020, to which the Scottish Parliament gave its consent on 24 March 2020;
- the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 (“the 2020 Act”), passed by the Scottish Parliament on 1 April 2020.
SPICe Briefings
Stage 1
At its meeting on 12 May 2020, the Committee took evidence on the Bill at Stage 1 from—
Michael Clancy, Director, Law Reform, and Gillian Mawdsley, Policy Executive, The Law Society of Scotland;
and then from—
Michael Russell, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, Europe and External Affairs, and Luke McBratney, Bill Team Leader, Coronavirus (Scotland) Bills, Scottish Government.