As the Session 7 Parliament gets underway, SPICe will publish a series of briefings to help to explain how devolution works. This mini blogpost provides a central hub for this work to assist Members and others.
The explainers will cover:
- the UK Internal Market Act 2020 and implications for the Parliament.
The how devolution works explainer is the main briefing in the series and was published on 19 May 2026. The briefing considers the devolution settlement in Scotland, explaining the powers of the Scottish Parliament, what legislation is and how law making at the Scottish and UK Parliaments interacts. It describes how devolution works, including intergovernmental processes which affect the Parliament and the exercise of its powers. It considers how the operation of devolution has evolved since 1999, the implications of how devolution works now for the Parliament and what the key oversight issues are likely to be for the Session 7 Parliament.
Sarah McKay, SPICe research