Meeting of the Parliament 15 January 2026
Presiding Officer, this is a fine way to finish our formal chamber business after a long day.
I thank Ruth Maguire, deputy convener of the SPPA Committee, for supporting the motion.
The motion is about the SPPA Committee’s first report this year—I assure Parliament that it will not be the last—which recommends standing order rule changes. The report recommends a temporary rule change on the deadline for lodging stage 2 and stage 3 amendments to public bills. It follows the committee’s consideration of a letter from the Presiding Officer, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, proposing that we consider an earlier deadline on days before the final lodging day for amendments. We support the proposed change and recommend that the deadline be altered from 4.30 pm to 2.30 pm on any day when an amendment may be lodged, but excluding the final day. We propose that the change should apply to the daily deadline in relation to stage 2, stage 3, reconsideration stage and the budget bill.
The change will enable the legislation clerks to prepare the daily list at an earlier point in the day and, consequently, it will lead to the daily list being circulated to members earlier than is the case at present. Any amendment that is lodged after the deadline will appear on the next day’s daily list. I am keen to emphasise that, as the deadline on the final day for lodging amendments will remain at 12 noon, the overall time that is available for members to lodge amendments will not change.
As the bureau suggested, the committee is recommending that a temporary rule be in place until the end of 2026.