The emergency Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill

Scottish Parliament

The emergency Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill was published on Tuesday 31 March.
We expect all 3 stages of its passage will be on Wednesday 1 April. Subject to the Parliament’s approval, the Bill is likely to come into force next week.

Details can be found here:
https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/Bills/114929.aspx

Among other things, the Bill contains provisions that if passed will:

  • extend protection from eviction for tenants while confined to their homes.
  • alleviate pressures on public services, business and consumers and enable continued operation of services while controls on movements are in place.
    For example there are provisions for an extended moratorium on debt relief, extended and more flexible deadlines for FOI, suspending timescales set out in the Social Security (Scotland) Act, and delaying ballots for Business Improvement Districts.
  • enable the justice system it to continue to deliver essential services.

The majority of measures in the Bill will automatically expire six months after coming into force. They may be extended for two further periods of six months, giving a maximum duration of 18 months.

Once the Bill has completed its Parliamentary process, we will provide high level guidance to assist public bodies identify the provisions that are likely to be relevant and action they need to take.