Scottish Government

Introduction

1. The creation of the Scottish Parliament and Executive in 1999 was intended to give Scotland greater influence and control over policy-making. Policy on many key domestic issues is no longer formally made by the UK government, but is now settled by ministers and MSPs based in Edinburgh and elected solely by the people of Scotland (Bromley et al, 2006). The Scottish Parliament and Executive now have greater freedom to diverge from the policy priorities of the rest of the UK (as they have done over personal care for the elderly and tuition fees, to name two examples), and to set a policy agenda based on the specific needs and aspirations of Scotland. The first section of this report explores the policy priorities of people in Scotland, in order to inform this devolved policy agenda. It examines what people think should be the Scottish Executive's highest priority, and how policy priorities vary across different social groups.

2. The advocates of devolution hoped that allowing Scotland to tailor its own policies in key areas would lead to improvements in public services in Scotland. This report explores evaluations of public services in Scotland in the key devolved policy areas of health, education and public transport - do people think standards in these areas have increased, stayed the same or fallen in the last 12 months? It also examines perceptions of whether the general standard of living and the economy (which do not fall solely within the remit of the Scottish Parliament and Executive) have improved or got worse in the last year. In both cases, we draw on Scottish Social Attitudes survey data from 2001 to 2005 to assess whether evaluations of public services have changed over time.

3. The Scotland Act (1998), which established the Scottish Parliament, set out in detail the areas of public policy to be reserved to the House of Commons and UK government at Westminster. All other policy areas were devolved to the Scottish Parliament and Executive. However, the precise details of this settlement are unlikely to be familiar to all but the most dedicated student of devolution. Further, there remain many areas of public policy in which both Scotland and Westminster have a role to play (for example, actions to encourage economic growth). Although the Scottish Executive and Parliament now have greater freedom to set policy in Scotland, it is not necessarily clear who the Scottish public will hold responsible for improvements or reductions in standards in public services. Do they hold the Scottish bodies responsible for all policy in Scotland, including reserved matters? Do they continue to lay credit and blame at Westminster's door, even in areas where policies are set in Edinburgh? Or are they able to distinguish who is responsible for different areas and attribute responsibility accordingly?

4. The box below summarises the key questions this report addresses.

5. Our data come from the Scottish Social Attitudes ( SSA) survey conducted by the Scottish Centre for Social Research. SSA is an independent survey that aims to provide high quality survey data on a wide range of social and political attitudes in order both to inform public policy and to facilitate the academic study of public opinion. As part of this endeavour, SSA has tracked attitudes to devolved government in Scotland annually since 1999, the year of the first election to the Scottish Parliament. This report covers the survey's most recent findings based on interviews conducted in 2005. Between July and December of that year a random sample of 1,549 adults aged 18 plus resident in Scotland was interviewed, representing a response rate of 56%. Further technical details about the survey are included in a separate technical report. ¹