Local government in Scotland
Charles III William, Duke of Rothesay Swinney government The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP Kate Forbes MSP Sixth session Alison Johnstone MSP Angela Constance MSP Dorothy Bain KC The Rt Hon Lord Carloway KC PC United Kingdom Parliament elections European Parliament elections Local elections Referendums Starmer ministry The Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP The Rt Hon Ian Murray MP Local government in Scotland comprises thirty-two local authorities, commonly referred to as councils.
Each council provides public services, including education, social care, waste management, libraries and planning.
[1] Councils receive the majority of their funding from the Scottish Government, but operate independently and are accountable to their local electorates.
[5] Local elections are normally held every five years and use the single transferable vote electoral system.
[6] The Convention of Scottish Local Auuthorities (COSLA) is an umbrella organisation formed in 1975 to represent the views of Scotland's thirty-two councils to central government.
Malcolm III appears to have introduced sheriffs as part of a policy of replacing native "Celtic" forms of government with Anglo Saxon and French feudal structures.
As a result of the dual system of local government, burghs (of which there were various types) often had a high degree of autonomy.
The only exceptions to this were the three island councils, Western Isles, Shetland and Orkney which had the combined powers of regions and districts.
The Conservative government of John Major (1990–1997) decided to abolish this system and merge their powers into new unitary authorities.
The new councils vary wildly in size – some are the same as counties, such as Clackmannanshire, some are the same as former districts, such as Inverclyde, and some are the same as the former regions, such as Highland.
The changes took effect in 1996 with shadow councillors elected in 1995 to oversee the smooth transition of control.
In 2007, council elections moved to the single transferable vote system, with wards represented by either three or four councillors.
In total, there are 32 unitary authorities, the largest being the Glasgow City with more than 600,000 inhabitants, the smallest, Orkney, with just over 20,000 people living there (population of 21,670 in 2015).
[19] If a person believes that a councillor has broken the code of conduct they make a complaint to the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland (CESPLS).
Political control may be held by minority governments (min), coalitions (co), joint leadership arrangements (j.l.)
Elections for community councils are determined by the local authority but the law does state that candidates cannot stand on a party-political ticket.
