Meeting of the Parliament 19 March 2026 [Draft]
We spent a great deal of time listening to evidence—not necessarily specifically about any award-winning convener but about the challenges of such a process potentially being open to manipulation. Members will see that, under the proposed rules, where there is only one proposed candidate from a party that holds the convenership pen for that committee, there would be an election only if somebody put their hand up and said, “I object.”
The other important element is that there are very few secret votes in the Scottish Parliament. The Presiding Officer and the deputy presiding officers have the privilege of being appointed in an anonymous vote. The process for electing conveners of committees would be the same. That approach was deliberately chosen to reflect what the evidence showed happens in other Assemblies and Parliaments—it removes the party’s ability to dictate the vote unless the individual who is voting wants to accept that. We have heard, and have seen in debates and votes over the past few weeks, including the stage 3 debate that we have just had, that there should perhaps be room for more separation between the party or Government and individuals. I am confident that the changes that have been proposed will allow such separation for MSPs who remember who sent them to the Scottish Parliament and who their responsibility is to.