The report of an independent commission (led by Paul Silk) recommended that the Welsh government should have the power to vary income tax by 2020.
Source: Empowerment and Responsibility: Financial powers to strengthen Wales, Commission on Devolution in Wales
Links: Report | Summary | Welsh Government press release | Hansard | Wales Office press release | CHC press release | Plaid Cymru press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Nov
The Wales Office published its annual report and accounts for 2011-12.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2011-12, HC 28, Wales Office, TSO
Links: Report | Wales Office press release
Date: 2012-Sep
A new book examined the process of devolution undertaken in the United Kingdom since 1997, focusing on the devolution of economic governance. It considered the purported reasons for, and the unintended consequences of, devolution.
Source: Mark Goodwin, Martin Jones, and Rhys Jones, Rescaling the State: Devolution and the geographies of economic governance, Manchester University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Sep
The Scottish Government published its programme for the 2012-13 parliamentary year. The programme contained 15 bills, including a Referendum Bill providing for a vote on independence in the autumn of 2014. Other bills set out measures to create jobs, improve economic growth, make more free early learning and childcare available, and improve care for older people.
Source: Working for Scotland: The Government's programme for Scotland 2012–2013, Scottish Government
Links: Programme | Scottish Government press release | SNP press release | CBI press release | Children in Scotland press release | SCMA press release | Christian Institute report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Sep
The Northern Ireland Office published its annual report and accounts for 2011-12.
Source: Annual Report and Accounts 2011-12, HC 69, Northern Ireland Office, TSO
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Sep
An article examined the debate over how much further the powers of the Scottish Parliament could be extended, and in particular whether devolution would allow Scotland to have a superior welfare settlement. It said that shortcomings in the steps towards fairness achieved under the existing devolution arrangements highlighted the need for a far-reaching and innovative approach to social justice to be carried out alongside any further discussions of independence. Such an approach could not be taken for granted.
Source: Gill Scott and Sharon Wright, 'Devolution, social democratic visions and policy reality in Scotland', Critical Social Policy, Volume 32 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jul
The Scotland Act 2012 was given Royal assent. The Act provided the Scottish Parliament with new tax and borrowing powers – including setting a Scottish income tax rate each year covering approximately 35 per cent of its revenue spending. The United Kingdom government published a technical note dealing with the tax-raising powers of the Scottish Government.
Source: Scotland Act 2012, Scotland Office, TSO | Clarifying the Scope of the Scottish Rate of Income Tax, HM Revenue & Customs
Links: Act | Explanatory notes | Technical note | BBC report
Date: 2012-May
The Welsh Government began consultation on whether Wales should be a separate legal jurisdiction from England and the rest of the United Kingdom.
Source: A Separate Legal Jurisdiction for Wales, Welsh Government
Links: Consultation document | Welsh Government press release
Date: 2012-Mar
An article examined how and what petitions could contribute to social policy following the introduction of petitions systems by the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament. In particular, it explored the extent to which petitions systems challenged or replicated existing inequalities; what voices and interests they enabled to be heard; and what impact they could have on social policy.
Source: Catherine Bochel, 'Petitions: different dimensions of voice and influence in the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 46 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
An article examined the implications for social policy of the changing character of statehood in Scotland. Policy-making was 'ensnared in a series of tensions' – not just over the issue of Scottish independence but also, more broadly, tensions between competing principles of social justice and territorial justice, and competing demands between welfare nationalism and competitive nationalism.
Source: Alex Law and Gerry Mooney, 'Devolution in a "stateless nation": nation-building and social policy in Scotland', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 46 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
An article examined how and what petitions could contribute to social policy following the introduction of petitions systems by the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament. In particular, it explored the extent to which petitions systems challenged or replicated existing inequalities; what voices and interests they enabled to be heard; and what impact they could have on social policy.
Source: Catherine Bochel, 'Petitions: different dimensions of voice and influence in the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 46 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
An article examined the ways in which members of the 'ethnic majority' in England discussed the issues raised by devolution. The findings suggested a tentative, but noticeable, shift towards an English identity, which was often defined as a necessary response to the increasing assertiveness of 'other' national groups within Britain.
Source: Michael Skey, '"Sod them, I'm English": the changing status of the "majority" English in post-devolution Britain', Ethnicities, Volume 12 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
An article said that devolution in Northern Ireland had promoted a mix between ethno-sectarian resource competition and a constantly expanding neo-liberal model of governance. Devolved neo-liberal structures that sustained social polarization might perpetuate strategies of resistance that could cut across and challenge ethno-sectarian politics and deepening social segregation.
Source: Brendan Murtagh and Peter Shirlow, 'Devolution and the politics of development in Northern Ireland', Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Volume 30 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jan
An article examined the 'economic dividend' of devolution in the United Kingdom. There had been a 'varied and uneven' relationship between regional disparities, spatial economic policy, and decentralization. There was limited evidence for any economic dividend of devolution, because its likely effects were overridden by the role of national economic growth.
Source: Andy Pike, Andres Rodriguez-Pose, John Tomaney, Gianpiero Torrisi, and Vassilis Tselios, 'In search of the "economic dividend" of devolution: spatial disparities, spatial economic policy, and decentralisation in the UK', Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Volume 30 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jan
A think-tank report said that there was evidence pointing to the emergence of a new kind of Anglo-British identity in which the English component was increasingly the primary source of attachment for English people. English identity was also becoming more politicized: the more English a person felt, the more likely they were to believe that the existing structure of the United Kingdom was unfair and to support a particularly English dimension to the governance of England.
Source: Richard Wyn Jones, Guy Lodge, Ailsa Henderson, and Daniel Wincott, The Dog that Finally Barked: England as an emerging political community, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report | SNP press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Jan