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Wikipedia / Devolved, reserved and excepted matters

In the United Kingdom, devolved matters are the areas of public policy where the Parliament of the United Kingdom has devolved its legislative power to the national legislatures of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, while reserved matters and excepted matters are the areas where the UK Parliament retains exclusive power to legislate.

Devolution in the United Kingdom is regarded as the decentralisation of power from the UK Government, with powers devolved to the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government, the Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive and the Welsh Parliament and Welsh Government, in all areas except those which are reserved or excepted. Amongst the four countries of the United Kingdom, Scotland has the most extensive devolved powers controlled by the Scottish Parliament, with the Scottish Government being described as "one of the world’s most powerful devolved administrations".

In theory, reserved matters could be devolved at a later date, whereas excepted matters (defined only in relation to Northern Ireland) are not supposed to be considered for further devolution. In practice, the difference is minor as Westminster is responsible for all the powers on both lists and its consent is both necessary and sufficient to devolve them. Because Westminster acts with sovereign supremacy, it is still able to pass legislation for all parts of the United Kingdom, including in relation to devolved matters.

Devolution of powers

The current devolution of powers are set out in four main acts legislated by the UK Parliament for each of the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland with the devolution of powers for the Government of Northern Ireland being set out in a fourth act, which has now been repealed and the subdivisions in England. The acts also include subsequent amendments, which devolved further powers to the administrations:

As a result of the historical and administrative differences between Scotland, Wales Northern Ireland and subdivisions in England, matters which are devolved and which are reserved, varies between each country and subdivision in the case of England.

In Northern Ireland, the Parliament of Northern Ireland was given a general grant of powers with a list of specific reserved matters that were excluded.

In Northern Ireland, the powers of the Northern Ireland Assembly do not cover reserved matters or excepted matters.

In Scotland, a list of reserved matters is explicitly listed in the Scotland Act 1998 (and amended by the Scotland Acts of 2012 and 2016). Any matter not explicitly listed in the Act is implicitly devolved to the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Parliament controls around 60% of spending in Scotland. Any form of revenue raised within the Scottish economy will remain in Scotland, whilst the Scottish Government is permitted to retain the first ten percentage points of VAT collected in Scotland (50% of revenue). Additionally, the Scottish Government has control over Air Passenger Duty (the tax to be paid by air travellers leaving Scotland), Aggregates Levy (the power to tax companies involved in extracting aggregates within Scotland) and has additional borrowing powers which permits the Scottish Government to borrow up to 10% of its budget annually. The Scottish Government can borrow up to £3.05 billion in additional funding to invest in capital projects, such as schools, transportation networks and hospitals, amongst other areas.

In Wales, a list of reserved matters is explicitly listed under the provisions of the Wales Act 2017. Any matter not explicitly listed in the Act is implicitly devolved to the Senedd. Before 2017, a list of matters was explicitly devolved to the then known National Assembly for Wales and any matter not listed in the Act was implicitly reserved to Westminster. In Wales, the Welsh Government became responsible for income tax only in 2019, meaning individuals with their permanent residence located in Wales and, as a result, pay Income Tax in Wales, will now pay Welsh rates of Income Tax which is set by the Welsh Government. Additionally, the Welsh Government has been granted powers over Land Transaction Tax and Landfill Disposals Tax.

England

Devolution in England is sui generis within the United Kingdom with the focus on executive powers while legislative powers remain with the UK Parliament.

In England powers for Combined authorities and the Greater London Authority are devolved under multiple pieces of legislation, the most recent is the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act and are collectively referred to as strategic authority.

The list of powers devolved to the Combined Authorities and Greater London Authority vary but the overall list is below:

Established Strategic Authorities have the power to request more powers from the UK Government under section 53 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026.

Scotland and Wales

The devolution schemes in Scotland and Wales are set up in a similar manner. The Parliament of the United Kingdom has granted legislative power to the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd through the Scotland Act 1998 and the Government of Wales Act 2006 respectively. These Acts set out the matters still dealt with by the UK Government, referred to as reserved matters.

Anything not listed as a specific reserved matter in the Scotland Act or the Wales Act is devolved to that nation.

The legal ability of the Scottish Parliament or Senedd to legislate (its "legislative competence") on a matter is largely determined by whether it is reserved or not. Both parliaments can overturn any piece of existing UK legislation and introduce legislation in areas not retained by Westminster. Whereas prior to 2017, the former Welsh Assembly was only permitted to amend existing UK legislation passed by the UK Parliament in the areas devolved to Wales.

The Scottish Parliament has substantially more powers than both the Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly, with the Scottish Government being described as "one of the most powerful devolved governments in the world". The Scottish Parliament has the power to set different rates and bands of income tax, whilst the Senedd may only vary rates within the current UK bands. Additionally, Scotland has been granted substantially more powers on international affairs and foreign engagement. Despite foreign affairs remaining a reserved matter to the UK parliament, the Scottish Government has been granted authority to be more directly involved in government decision making on European Union matters and relations. In Wales, this is not the case, with the Welsh Government having no additional power on international relations, with this right being retained by the Secretary of State for Wales in the UK Government.

Scotland has the most extensive tax powers of any of the devolved governments, followed by Wales and Northern Ireland. The three devolved governments have full legislative power over council tax, business tax, whilst Scotland and Wales has additional tax powers in areas such as property tax, landfill tax, stamp tax and some aspects of income tax, whilst the Northern Ireland Executive does not. Furthermore, Scotland has legislative control over areas such as air passenger duty, value added tax (VAT) and aggregates levy. The Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive do not have control over those areas in their respective countries.

Devolved powers in Scotland

Of the three countries within the United Kingdom with devolved parliaments, the Scottish Parliament has the most extensive devolved powers in which it is responsible for.

The responsibilities of the Scottish Ministers broadly follow those of the Scottish Parliament provided for in the Scotland Act 1998 and subsequent UK legislation. Where pre-devolution legislation of the UK Parliament provided that certain functions could be performed by UK Government ministers, these functions were transferred to the Scottish Ministers if they were within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.

Functions which were devolved under the Scotland Act 1998 included:

Subsequently, the Scotland Acts of 2012 and 2016 transferred powers over:

The 1998 Act also provided for orders to be made allowing Scottish Ministers to exercise powers of UK Government ministers in areas that remain reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Equally the Act allows for the Scottish Ministers to transfer functions to the UK Government ministers, or for particular "agency arrangements". This executive devolution means that the powers of the Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Parliament are not identical.

The members of the Scottish government have substantial influence over legislation in Scotland, putting forward the majority of bills that are successful in becoming Acts of the Scottish Parliament.

Devolved powers in Wales

Following the "yes" vote in the referendum on further law-making powers for the assembly on 3 March 2011, the Welsh Government is now entitled to propose bills to the National Assembly for Wales on subjects within 20 fields of policy. Subject to limitations prescribed by the Government of Wales Act 2006, Acts of the National Assembly may make any provision that could be made by Act of Parliament. The 20 areas of responsibility devolved to the National Assembly for Wales (and within which Welsh ministers exercise executive functions) are:

The Government of Wales Act 2006 updated the list of fields, as follows:

Schedule 5 to the 2006 Act could be amended to add specific matters to the broad subject fields, thereby extending the legislative competence of the Assembly.

Comparison between Scottish and Welsh powers

Specific reservations cover policy areas which can only be regulated by Westminster, listed under 'heads':

The reserved matters continue to be controversial in some quarters and there are certain conflicts or anomalies. For example, in Scotland, the funding of Scottish Gaelic television is controlled by the Scottish Government, but broadcasting is a reserved matter, and while energy is a reserved matter, planning permission for power stations is devolved.

Northern Ireland

Devolved powers in Northern Ireland

  • Health and social services

  • Education

  • Employment and skills

  • Agriculture

  • Social security

  • Pensions and child support

  • Housing

  • Economic development

  • Local government

  • Environmental issues, including planning

  • Transport

  • Culture and sport

  • The Northern Ireland Civil Service

  • Equal opportunities

  • Justice and policing

The Hillsborough Castle Agreement on 5 February 2010 resulted in the following reserved powers being transferred to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 12 April 2010:

Reserved (excepted) matters

Devolution in Northern Ireland was originally provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which stated that the Parliament of Northern Ireland could not make laws in the following main areas:

This was the first practical example of devolution in the United Kingdom and followed three unsuccessful attempts to provide home rule for the whole island of Ireland:

Excepted matters are outlined in Schedule 2 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998:

Reserved matters are outlined in Schedule 3 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998:

Following the suspension of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, policing and justice powers transferred to the UK Parliament and were subsequently administered by the Northern Ireland Office within the UK Government. These powers were not devolved following the Belfast Agreement.

Some policing and justice powers remain reserved to Westminster:

A number of policing and justice powers remain excepted matters and were not devolved. These include:

Irish unionists initially opposed home rule, but later accepted it for Northern Ireland, where they formed a majority. (The rest of the island became independent as what is now the Republic of Ireland.)

History of Northern Irish devolution

The Parliament of Northern Ireland was suspended on 30 March 1972 by the Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972, with Stormont's legislative powers being transferred to the Queen in Council.

The Parliament of Northern Ireland was abolished outright by the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973; legislative competence was conferred instead on the Northern Ireland Assembly. The 1973 Act set out a list of excepted matters (sch. 2) and "minimum" reserved matters (sch. 3).

The new constitutional arrangements quickly failed, and the Assembly was suspended on 29 May 1974, having only passed two Measures.

The Assembly was dissolved under the Northern Ireland Act 1974, which transferred its law-making power to the Queen in Council once again. The 1974 framework of powers continued in place until legislative powers were transferred to the present Northern Ireland Assembly on 2 December 1999, under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, following the Belfast Agreement of 10 April 1998.

Parity

Northern Ireland has parity with Great Britain in three areas:

Policy in these areas is technically devolved but, in practice, follows policy set by the UK Parliament to provide consistency across the United Kingdom.

Common devolved and reserved powers

Devolved

Reserved

Reserved matters are subdivided into two categories: general reservations and specific reservations.

General reservations cover major issues which are always handled centrally by the Parliament in Westminster:

Additionally, in Wales, all matters concerning the single legal jurisdiction of England and Wales are reserved, including courts, tribunals, judges, civil and criminal legal proceedings, pardons for criminal offences, private international law, and judicial review of administrative action. An exception in Wales allows the Senedd to create Wales-specific tribunals that are not concerned with reserved matters.

Notes

References

Legislation

Official guidance (published by the Cabinet Office)

Analysis