1. Explain how devolution has brought benefits to Scottish citizens

2. If this is an 8 mark essay: Introduction
In your introduction you should explain what devolution means
The Scottish Parliament was formed in Power was devolved to Scotland so that Scottish people would feel more included in government decisions.
The Westminster Parliament passed some powers to the Scottish Parliament – these were the issues that affect the daily lives of Scottish people, these are called the devolved matters.
During the independence referendum in 2014, there was a vow made by the PM to devolve further powers to the Scottish Parliament.

3. The devolved matters are:
Health
Education
Social Work
Police and Fire Services
Environment
Sport Planning
Courts

4. Health
Scotland has specific health problems which lead to a lower life expectancy in the West of Scotland, this meant that it made sense for Health to become a devolved matter. The Scottish Parliament is responsible for deciding on new policies to improve health in Scotland, so promoting a healthy diet through “Healthy Eating in School”, and trying to reduce smoking through the Smoking Ban which first came into force in Scotland in 2006.
The Scottish parliament has also recently legislated to have Vitamin D added to bread in order to reduce MS and bone development problems.
The Scottish Parliament has launched campaign to try and increase the number of mothers who breastfeed their babies, the national target is to achieve 33%, mothers from poorer backgrounds are less likely to do this, and this can mean the child has more chance of developing certain illnesses later in life.

5. Education
Scotland has a different education system to the rest of the UK, so it made sense for this also to be a devolved matter. The Scottish Parliament has put in place the Curriculum for Excellence which aims to improve education by making it more about skills and lifelong learning than about learning facts. The Scottish government has also chosen to remove university tuition fees to keep university education free for Scottish students.
The Scottish Parliament also decided to keep the Educational Maintenance Allowance, so that over 16 year olds from poorer backgrounds could be helped to stay on at school. The Scottish government have made it a priority to cut inequality in education between richer and poorer children.

6. Policing
Scotland has a different criminal law system, so policing is also a devolved power. The Scottish Parliament can set priorities for police in Scotland – like bringing in the “No Knives – Better Lives” campaign which aimed to reduce knife crime, particularly in Glasgow which was named Britain’s most violent city. The scheme has been very successful and knife crime has reduced significantly.
The Scottish Parliament also decided to bring together the 8 separate Scottish Police Forces in to “Police Scotland”. This should make policing more efficient, as the different police forces will not be spending so much on various admin costs.