The Record Review: Edinburgh

Marking the tenth anniversary of Scottish devolution, Alicia McCarthy presents a special edition of the Record Review from Edinburgh.

This week the Scottish Parliament celebrates its tenth birthday. With a raft of special guests, we look into its successes and its mistakes.

How comfortable is its relationship with Westminster, and where can it go from here?

In ten years the Scottish Parliament has had time to establish its own history and find its place in the minds of the people it seeks to serve.

It has looked at Westminster working methods and found opportunities to go about its business in a different way.

Daniel Brittain spoke to Professor John Curtice about the first decade.

Petitions

In Westminster many a parliamentary day ends with the presentation of petitions.

While they may contain thousands of signatures, they never see the light of day again.

Andrew Wilson spoke to the Clerk of Holyrood's public petitions committee, Fergus Cochrane, to find out whether or not Holyrood has found a way to make its constituents' concerns count.

Expenses

While MPs in London are still nursing their bruises from the expenses scandal, Holyrood appears to have fared better with this most thorny subject.

In its early days there were resignations over taxi receipts, eventually leading to MSPs' allowances being regularly published online.

But issues surrounding second homes have proved as problematic as they have in Westminster.

Has the Scottish Parliament found a perfect solution to keeping clean the reputation of its members?

Alicia McCarthy caught up with independent MSP Margo Macdonald, and the leader of the Scottish Green Party, Patrick Harvie.

English Parliament

Westminster's justice committee has published its report on how devolution is working so far, and has decided that England is stuck in a pre-devolution time warp.

But members of the committee failed to agree what the answer might be.

Back in Westminster, Mark D'Arcy asked the Campaign for an English Parliament's Michael Knowles and justice committee member Alun Michael MP why England shouldn't have its own devolution settlement.

Ten years and counting

MSPs put aside their differences for one day to celebrate this tenth anniversary.

To put the truce to the test, three of them come together to discuss the twists and turns of the last decade.

Joining Alicia outside the Scottish Parliament are:

• Mike Russell MSP, constitution minister

• David Mcletchie MSP, first Tory leader in Holyrood

• Malcolm Chisholm MSP, Labour, has sat in both parliaments

Tune in to the Record Review on BBC Parliament at 2300 on Friday, 1100 on Sunday and 0900 on Monday. You can also watch the programme on BBC iPlayer.

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