• Context A: Functions of Political Parties,
• Context B: Functions of Elections, and
• Context D: Central and Devolved/State Government.

The Scottish Parliament website contains a large amount of information that describes and explains the history of the Parliament, the devolution process, the powers of the Parliament and how it works: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/corporate/index.htm

Other useful pages include:

Information about MSPs: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/index.htm

Legislation – information can be found about all Bills that have been introduced: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/index.htm

Committees – the committees play a central role in all decisions made in Parliament. To find out what committees meet, their remits, inquiries and Bills they have worked on, go to: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/index.htm

Research – the Parliament produces a large amount of research materials on all subjects likely to be debated or considered for legislation. This is available online: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/index.htm

The following links may be useful for researching devolution in the UK and the relationship between Westminster and devolved government.

http://www.parliament.uk/

http://www.parliament.uk/devolved/devolved.cfm

How Westminster deals with Scottish & Welsh business http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/p08.pdf

www.london.gov.uk

http://www.wales.gov.uk/index.htm

http://www.ni-assembly.gov.uk

The Electoral System

The electoral system, Additional Member System, explained in the context of the Scottish parliament elections.

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/education/resources/learningResources/higherElections.htm

The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) Research Briefings on Elections:

The Scottish Parliament 2007 Election Results

Analysis of 2007 Election Results (pdf 2.3MB)

The Scottish Parliament 2003 Election Results

Analysis of 2003 Election Results (pdf 2.5MB)

The Scottish Parliament 1999 Election results

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S1/msps/results_constit.html

Scottish Parliament Election Results 6 May 1999   -  Research Paper

This paper presents some analysis of the 1999 results for the Scottish Parliament.

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S1/whats_happening/research/pdf_res_papers/rp99-01.pdf

The Electoral Commission is an independent body that was set up by the UK Parliament in November 2000. It aims to increase public confidence in the democratic process within the United Kingdom - and encourage people to take part - by modernising the electoral process, promoting public awareness of electoral matters, and regulating political parties.

http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/

Scotland votes? - Public attitudes towards SP elections

Findings of a research study funded by the Electoral Commission

This report presents the findings of a research project undertaken by MORI Scotland and the Institute of Public Governance at The University of Edinburgh.

This report reviews attitudes in Scotland towards the Parliament, public understanding of its role and responsibilities, and current levels of registration and turnout among electoral sub-groups. It also explores the factors which might motivate people to vote at the 2003 elections

http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/templates/search/document.cfm/6694

The Hansard Society is an independent educational charity (Registered Charity no. 208172) which brings together MPs, Peers, academics, journalists, parliamentary staff, corporate affairs managers and others with an interest in the political process from across the political spectrum to promote effective parliamentary democracy.

www.hansardsociety.org.uk

The Electoral Reform Society

Founded in 1884, (as the Proportional Representation Society) the Electoral Reform Society is probably the oldest organisation in the country concerned with electoral systems and procedures.

The Mission of the Electoral Reform Society is to secure at all levels of representation an electoral system which will:

• Ensure all votes have equal value
• Give effective representation to all significant points of view within the electorate
• Allow electors to vote for their preferred candidates without fear of wasting their votes
• Ensure the accountability of individual representatives to their electorates
• The Society believes the best way to achieve this is through the use of single transferable voting (STV) in multi-member constituencies.
• About 2,500 individuals from across the political and non-political spectrum make up the Society's membership and take an active role in its campaigning activities.

The Society's principal activities are:

• lobbying politicians, political parties and opinion makers
• publishing books and leaflets
• running an education programme for schools, colleges and the general public
• arranging lectures and seminars
• analysing and commenting on public elections
• providing an information service to respond to enquiries about public elections and electoral procedure - http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/votingsystems/systems.htm

Six political parties had members elected to the Scottish Parliament in 1999.