St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007

Background

The Bill that led to the Act being passed was first proposed by Dennis Canavan, Independent Member of the Scottish Parliament for Falkirk West in 2003. The first reading of the bill was rejected in 2005 by the Parliament; with the Scottish Executive opposed to the idea of another bank holiday, and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce claiming that an extra holiday would cost the country £400 million in lost productivity.

In May 2005, Samantha Mungall, Iain Scherr and Alexandra Gill - three first year students at Clyde Valley High presented a petition before the Public Petitions Committee to make this a national holiday. Their petition was discussed and was accepted, and this propelled the bill along.

The Bill was sent back to the Parliament's Enterprise and Culture Committee, and was eventually supported by Jack McConnell, the then First Minister after a compromise agreement was reached whereby the holiday would not be an additional entitlement. The First Minister stated that he believed that employers and employees should mark the day with a holiday, but that this should be as a substitute for an existing local holiday, rather than an additional one.

The Bill was passed by the Parliament on 29 November 2006, and received Royal Assent on 15 January 2007.

Provisions

The Act amends the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which sets out the official bank holidays for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The 1971 Act does not give employees the right to a day off workers or require banks to close. However, the 1971 Act gives relief of obligation to make payments on days specified as bank holidays.

If St Andrew's Day is on a Saturday or Sunday, the next Monday is designated as the bank holiday.