Revamped FMQS when MSPS return to Holyrood

MSPS will be given greater scope to ask urgent questions of the Scottish Government when parliament reconvenes next week.

Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh has set out initial steps to implement some of the recommendations of an independent commission on parliamentary reform, which reported in June.

These include widening the scope of the current “emergency questions” procedure to allow MSPS to raise “urgent matters of national importance” with ministers on the day.

The parliament will also ditch the formal scripted diary questions that open First Minister’s Questions (FMQS).

In a letter to all MSPS, Mr Macintosh said: “It will allow us to move straight to the main purpose of FMQS, to allow members to ask substantive, pertinent questions.”