Meeting of the Parliament 28 January 2026 [Draft]
As colleagues will know, the bureau must take a range of factors into account when scheduling business. In the context of next week’s business, which the motion covered, we have four members’ bills stage 1 proceedings to schedule.
We are also alive, as we always are, to the concerns of members about late sittings, of which we have had two this week, with an extended decision time now to come tomorrow. The proposed business programme, among other things, sought to strike an equitable balance in relation to the various stage 1 proceedings.
However, the convener of the Criminal Justice Committee, which has done a power of work in considering the Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill, has written to the bureau today, seeking an extension of the time that is being allocated for the stage 1 proceedings, in order that its report can be fully explored. I have also received correspondence from the member in charge of the bill.
The bureau has therefore agreed to reflect on the request for allocation of additional time for the stage 1 debate, with a view to my bringing back, on its behalf, a revised business motion at decision time tomorrow.