Scottish Government

Answer:
Scotland already has most of the public finance administration structure in place.  A central bank needs t be established to handle the national finances. It will need to be expanded to take on the roles currently reserved to Westminster. 

Full answer here: Public finance in an independent Scotland



Answer:
Preparation is needed even before a referendum. Recruitment, project management, establishment of currency, creation of regulatory institutions, etc, all need to begin as soon as possible. It is projected the work and negotiations on independence will take about three years to complete independence.

Full answer here: Managing the work needed to become independent



Answer:
People need to know what they are voting for in a referendum. The machinery of governing can be worked out during the independence negotiations.

Full answer here: Establishing the outlines of independence before a referendum



Answer:
The estimated costs of setting up an independent government are estimated at £25 billion, of which about £15 billion will be from assets transferred.

Full answer here: The costs of independence and the work required to set up new governing systems



Swinney’s Government starts as damaged goods

Author / Creator: Dean M Thomson

Media type: Article

Date published:

THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT is a reputationally challenged disaster-zone, struggling beneath myriad policy-outcome failures. There is a good reason John Swinney has emerged as SNP leader and new First Minister, unopposed. The leadership crown has become something of a poisoned chalice.


Preparing for the end

Author / Creator: Peter A Bell

Media type: Article

Date published:

That the people of Scotland are sovereign is both a constitional fact and an inviolable principle


The SNP’s slow route to building independence

Author / Creator: Richard Parry

Media type: Article

Date published:

The Scottish Government under Humza Yousaf’s brief and unsuccessful leadership maintained some momentum on independence by issuing nine further instalments of their series ‘Building a New Scotland’ between June 2023 and March 2024.


Territorial inequalities under devolution: do Scottish and Welsh residents perceive a gap between capital cities and their local communities?

Author / Creator: Davide Vampa

Media type: Report

Date published: 2024

Devolved institutions risk (re-)creating new (real or perceived) gaps at lower territorial levels.


First Ministers and political leadership: Part 2

Author / Creator: Gerry Hassan

Media type: Article

Date published: 2023

Scottish politics, the parliament, the nature of government and the role of First Minister changed when the SNP inched past the Labour Party in May 2007 and formed its first ever administration.


First Ministers and political leadership: Part 1

Author / Creator: Gerry Hassan

Media type: Article

Date published: 2023

A review of the first 25 years of Scottish Government first ministers.


Improving emissions assessment of Scottish Government spending decisions and the Scottish Budget

Author / Creator: James Black

Media type: Report

Date published: 2022

Changes are required to enable the Scottish Government to deliver its climate change objectives.


Scottish Social Attitudes survey 2021/22: attitudes data

Author / Creator: Alex Scholes

Media type: Report

Date published:

This survey report focuses on attitudes to government, the economy and public services.


Building a New Scotland –an Outline

Author / Creator: Jim Osborne

Media type: Discussion Paper

Date published: 2020

Jim Osborne's view of what an independent Scotland might look like in government and the economic policies.


We have devolution from Westminster but not from Holyrood: Scotland as a centralised state

Author / Creator: James Mitchell

Media type: Article

Date published:

James Mitchell decries the lack of local power in local government and advocates radical reform.


Scotland the Bold

Author / Creator: Gerry Hassan

Media type: Book

Date published: November 2016

For self-government to have any meaning it...requires that we begin to talk honestly and maturely about Scotland's future and some of the difficult choices we will have to make; reflecting on where we have come from, what we are proud of, mistakes, and how we do things better in the future.


Intergovernmental Relations: Two Decades of Co-operation, Competition, and Constitutional Change

Author / Creator: Jim Gallagher

Media type: Book

Date published: 2020

Constitutional change has been a defining feature of Scottish and UK relations over the last ten years


The ‘Scottish Approach’ to Policymaking

Author / Creator: Paul Cairney

Media type: Book

Date published: 2020

The Scottish government approach to policymaking is distinctive in the way it uses evidence to inform policy and policymaking.


Devolution

Author / Creator: Malcolm Harvey

Media type: Book

Date published: 2020

Devolution has caused a de facto decentralisation of the UK, although such arrangements as the Sewel Convention can be over turned by the Westminster government.


A Holyrood you trust or Westminster you do not? Open Minds on Independence #23

Author / Creator: Believe in Scotland

Media type: News Media

Date published:

How does the Scottish Government score in the Worldwide Governance Indicators?

1: Voice and Accountability - good

2: Political Stability - good. Better than England

3:Government Effectiveness - good and more trusted than England

4: Regulatory Quality - good although an independent Scotland would need some new regulatory bodies

5: Rule of Law - good. It has a well-regarded legal sysem


Building Scotland’s future now: A new approach to financing public investment

Author / Creator: Iain Cairns

Media type: Policy Paper

Date published: 2017?

Reclaiming investment is a necessary task. The value in the concept of investment is that it is exactly the opposite of the sort of speculative, short-termism in economic thinking that dominates the minds of ‘investment’ bankers.