Plan for parliament shake-up to boost MSP responsiveness

A PROPOSED shake-up of the way the Scottish Parliament works would see meetings of the full chamber three days a week, more topical questions and late sittings.

Holyrood’s procedures committee said the changes would allow the parliament to react more quickly to events and improve scrutiny of the Scottish Government.

Instead of meeting on Tuesdays and Wednesday mornings with chamber business on Wednesday afternoons and all day Thursday, the report proposes committees Tuesday-Thursday mornings with chamber sessions in the afternoons.

Committee convener Dave Thompson said: “Our parliament is now 12 years old. There is a clear need for us to be more responsive to topical issues.

“At present, if something significant happens on a Thursday night the first chance the whole parliament has to deal with it is on a Wednesday afternoon.

“There is also a need to improve Holyrood’s flexibility.”