# The Scotland Act 1998 (Modification of Schedules 4 and 5) Order 2015, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order modifies Schedules 4 and 5 to the Scotland Act 1998 (c.46) (the “1998 Act”) and consequentially amends section 2 of that Act.
Article 2 amends paragraph 4 of Schedule 4 to the 1998 Act. Paragraph 4(1) provides that an Act of the Scottish Parliament cannot modify or confer power by subordinate legislation to modify the 1998 Act, subject to various exceptions at paragraph 4(2), (2A) and (2B). Article 2 excepts from paragraph 4(1) section 2(2) of the 1998 Act in relation to the first ordinary general election for membership of the Scottish Parliament after 2016.
Article 3 amends Section B3 of Part 2 of Schedule 5 to the 1998 Act. Schedule 5 to the 1998 Act defines reserved matters for the purposes of that Act (matters which are outside the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament). Article 3, subject to certain limitations, excepts from the matters reserved by Section B3, the day of the poll at the first ordinary general election for membership of the Scottish Parliament after 2016.
The limitations are that the Scottish Parliament may not determine a day of the poll which is the same day as an ordinary parliamentary general election, a European parliamentary general election or an ordinary local election in Scotland. Article 3 also provides that the exception does not apply to any later election for membership of the Scottish Parliament, where, by virtue of section 3(3) of the 1998 Act, what would have been the first ordinary general election for membership of the Scottish Parliament after 2016 is not held.
Article 4 amends section 2 of the 1998 Act in connection with the modifications to Schedules 4 and 5 to the 1998 Act. It inserts a new subsection (5A)(a) to take account of the possibility that the day of the poll selected by the Scottish Parliament may not be the first Thursday in May. It also inserts a new sub-subsection (5A)(b) and subsections (5B) and (5C) to provide that the power of the Presiding Officer in section 2(5) of the 1998 Act to propose a day for the holding of the poll which is not more than one month earlier or one month later than the date selected by the Scottish Parliament is subject to the same limitations as article 3.
A full impact assessment has not been published for this instrument as it has no impact on the private sector and civil society organisations.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2015/9780111137147/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/draft-scotland-act-1998-modification-of-schedules-4-and-5-order-2015/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.