Eight more bills announced for Holyrood 2015-16 programme

Bills on abusive behaviour, bankruptcy and private tenancies are likely to be of most significant interest to the legal profession in the Scottish Government's programme for 2015-16, announced today by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

The eight bills to be added to Holyrood's timetable before the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2016 also focus on lobbying, a Scottish Fiscal Commission, the budget, burial and cremation – and the extension of the next Parliament to five years, so that once again elections will take place in the year following the UK general election.

The Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill will be introduced once an order under the Scotland Act 1998 has been approved by the Westminster and Scottish Parliaments to devolve the necessary legislative competence.

On domestic abuse, the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm Bill will "modernise the criminal law to better reflect the nature and experience of domestic abuse", also reforming the law in relation to acts of harassment and sexual offending, with enhanced protections available under civil orders. There will be a new statutory domestic abuse aggravator, a new offence of sharing private intimate material ("revenge porn"), and more controversially, require judges to give juries specific directions when dealing with sexual offence cases.

The Private Tenancies Bill will implement the Government's proposal to replace the current assured tenancy system with a Scottish private rented tenancy. Landlords will no longer be able to reclaim possession simply because a fixed term tenancy has ended, but will be able to regain possession in specified circumstances. Tenants will be protected against "excessive" rent increases, and local rent controls will be permitted in "pressure" areas.

Bankruptcy legislation will be consolidated as recommended by the Scottish Laaw Commission, bringing a much needed simplification to the statutory framework.

A new register of lobbying activity will be introduced under the Lobbying Bill, which will take account of the findings of the recent inquiry by the Scottish Parliament’s Standards, Procedures & Public Appointments Committee into lobbying in Scotland.

The Scottish Fiscal Commission Bill will place the Commission on a statutory basis, directly accountable to the Parliament. The Commission will scrutinise tax forecasts and other fiscal projections prepared by the Scottish Government, with its functions being expanded as new fiscal powers are devolved.

The Burial and Cremation Bill will implement the recommendations of Lord Bonomy's report which followed the "baby ashes" scandal, in which parents of cremated babies and young children were wrongly told that no ashes remained to be returned to them. It will also seek to modernise the whole law around burial and cremation, addressing pressure on burial grounds and increasing manitenance and inspection powers.

Introducing her programme, however, Ms Sturgeon chose to place education at its heart, following criticisms of the Government's record. A new National Improvement Framework will be introduced to standardise pupil assessments at stages from P1 to S3, focusing on literacy and numeracy and bringing greater consistency to the Curriculum for Excellence.

Among other measures she also committed the Government to abolishing fees for bringing cases to an employment tribunal, once the power to do so has been devolved.

Another justice innovation will be a statutory code of practice on stop and search, to be annonced later this week.

Click here to view the full Scottish Government programme.