Overview of the Act
The Scotland Act 2016 delivers the Smith Commission Agreement, which was published in November 2014 having been agreed by all the political parties in Scotland.
	This Act is intended to be an enabling Act and the majority of the provisions in the Act set out the powers that are being transferred to the Scottish Parliament and or the Scottish Ministers. In particular the Scotland Act 2016 amends the Scotland Act 1998 and rebalances the devolved and reserved responsibilities between the administrations. This Act also includes provisions which set out the constitutional relationship of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government within the United Kingdom’s constitutional arrangements. It does not amend this relationship.
	In summary this Act:
declares that the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government are considered permanent parts of the UK's constitutional arrangements and will not be abolished without a decision of the people of Scotland. It also recognises that the UK Parliament will not normally legislate in relation to devolved matters without the consent of the Scottish Parliament, whilst retaining the sovereignty to do so;
gives increased autonomy to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Ministers in relation to the operation of Scottish Parliament and local government elections in Scotland;
gives increased autonomy to the Scottish Parliament in relation to the power to amend sections of the Scotland Act 1998 which relate to the operation of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government within the United Kingdom;
increases the financial accountability of the Scottish Parliament through devolution of the rates and bands of income tax, Air Passenger Duty and Aggregates Levy, and assignment of VAT revenues;
increases responsibility of welfare policy and delivery in Scotland through the devolution of welfare powers to the Scottish Parliament and / or the Scottish Ministers;
gives significant responsibility to Scotland for areas such as road signs, speed limits, onshore oil and gas extraction, consumer advocacy and advice amongst others by devolution of powers in relation to these fields to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Ministers; and
increases scrutiny for the Scottish Parliament of specific bodies and increases the ability of the Scottish Government to design schemes relating to energy efficiency and fuel poverty by the devolution of functions to the Scottish Ministers.
	The Smith Commission Agreement sought to increase the financial accountability of the Scottish Parliament. A new fiscal framework has been agreed for Scotland to accompany the further powers included in this Act, in order to set and coordinate sustainable fiscal policy for the UK as a whole. This gives the Scottish Government the tools to manage the powers in this Act while ensuring consistency with the fiscal framework in the rest of the UK.