Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament

Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Gaelic: Oifigear Riaghlaidh Pàrlamaid na h-Alba Scots: Preses o the Scots Pairlament
Logo used to represent the Scottish Parliament
Incumbent Alison Johnstone since 13 May 2021
Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Scottish Parliament
Style	Presiding Officer (within Parliament) The Right Honourable (formal)
Member of	Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Scottish Parliament Privy Council
Seat	Queensberry House, Edinburgh
Nominator	Scottish Parliament (through secret exhaustive ballot voting)
Appointer	Scottish Parliament (elected by)
Term length	Elected by the Scottish Parliament at the start of each session, and upon a vacancy
Inaugural holder	David Steel
Formation	1999
Deputy	Annabelle Ewing and Liam McArthur
Salary	£118,511 per annum (2023) (including £67,662 MSP salary)
Website	Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament

The presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament (Scottish Gaelic: Oifigear-Riaghlaidh, Scots: Preses) is the presiding officer and speaker of the Scottish Parliament. The office of presiding officer was established by the Scotland Act 1998, and the elected presiding officer is a member of the Scottish Parliament who is elected by the Scottish Parliament by means of an exhaustive ballot, and is ex officio the head of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The presiding officer is considered a figurehead of the Scottish Parliament and has an office in Queensberry House.

Appointments to the Privy Council are made by the monarch, although in practice they are made only on the advice of the UK government. To date all presiding officers have been appointed members of the Privy Council, and therefore entitled to use the style 'Right Honourable'.

The current presiding officer is Alison Johnstone, who was elected on 13 May 2021, following the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. A member of the Scottish Greens, she was sworn in as presiding officer at the opening of the 6th session of the Scottish Parliament and is the second woman to hold the office and the first former member of the Scottish Greens to do so.

Responsibilities of office

Parliamentary responsibilities

The presiding officer presides over the Parliament's debates, determining which members may speak, and maintains order during debate. The presiding officer is expected to be strictly non-partisan, with some similarities in this respect to the tradition of the Speaker of the House of Commons. For this reason, they renounce all affiliation with their former political party for the duration of their term. They do not take part in debate, or vote except to break ties. Even then, the convention is that when the presiding officer uses their tie-breaking vote, they do so in favour of advancing debate, but on final ballots, retaining the status quo. The presiding officer is also assisted in their duties by 2 deputies. They have the same powers as the presiding officer; they keep their party affiliation but remain impartial when presiding.

In 2006 the St Andrews Fund for Scots Heraldry commemorated the hosting of the Heraldic & Genealogical Congress in Scotland by commissioning a ceremonial robe for the presiding officer to wear, however as of May 2017, it appears no presiding officer has worn the robe.

Governmental responsibilities

As well as being the presiding officer and speaker of the Scottish Parliament, the Presiding Officer represents Scotland and the Scottish Government and parliament within Scotland and during international visits. The Presiding Officer welcomes dignitaries from other national parliaments to study policy issues of the Scottish Government, share information on ways of working as well as exchanging ideas and knowledge. The Presiding Officer, along with other members of the Scottish Parliament, may visit other national parliaments in order to improve understanding on shared interests and developing and strengthening good working relationships.

Legal responsibilities

The overall responsibilities and functions of the office of the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament were detailed in the passing of the Scotland Act 1998. The act set out the responsibilities of the office in four areas; Purpose and Effect, General, Parliamentary Consideration and Details of Provisions.

Purpose and effect

The purpose and effect section under Section 19 of the Scotland Act 1998 provides for the election of a Presiding Officer to the Scottish Parliament and requires two deputies to preside over the parliament. It outlines the details for the term of office of the Presiding Officer and deputies; the exercise of the Presiding Officer's functions by a deputy if the Presiding Officer is unable to act or the office of Presiding Officer is vacant, the delegation of the Presiding Officer’s functions to a deputy and participation of the Presiding Officer and deputies in proceedings of the Parliament.

General

The General section of Section 19 of the Scotland Act 1998 highlight the general functions and responsibilities of the office of Presiding Officer. The Scotland Act 1998 highlights the general responsibilities of the Presiding Officer as being:

The Presiding Officer presides over the monarch's speech at the opening of each session of the Scottish Parliament

• Sections 2, 3 and 9 - recommending to the monarch the date for holding general elections and fixing the dates of by-elections;
• Sections 10 and 14 - receiving notification of a member’s resignation and of the filling of a vacancy in a regional seat;
• Section 21 - membership of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body;
• Section 26 - administering oaths to witnesses before the Parliament;
• Sections 31 to 35 - scrutiny of Bills and submission of Bills for Royal Assent; and
• Sections 45 and 46 - recommending to the monarch the Parliament's choice of First Minister and the appointment of another member to exercise the First Minister's functions in certain circumstances.
• The Standing Orders of the Parliament also provide that the Presiding Officer shall have such other functions as may be conferred upon him or her by the Parliament or by the Standing Orders.

Details of provision

Subsection (1) of Section 19 of the Scotland Act 1998 requires the Parliament following its first meeting after a general election to the Scottish Parliament has taken place, to elect from amongst its membership a Presiding Officer and two deputies. The elections have to take place after members take their oath of allegiance due to the fact that the members cannot take part in any proceedings until they have done so under section 84(2) of the Scotland Act 1998.

Subsection (2) of the Section 19 of the Scotland Act 1998 provides for the office holder of either the Presiding Officer or Deputy Presiding Officer to hold office until:

• a new Presiding Officer is elected;
• the Presiding Officer resigns;
• the Presiding Officer ceases to be a member otherwise than by virtue of a dissolution; or
• the incumbent Presiding Officer is removed from office by resolution of the Parliament.

In Law, the Presiding Officer and the deputies will not cease to hold the office of Presiding Officer merely because of the dissolution of the Parliament before a general election. The incumbent office holders will continue to serve office until such time as the new Parliament elects a Presiding Officer (and the deputies) under subsection (1).

Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone presides over the first speech to the Scottish Parliament by King Charles III

Subsection (3) requires members of the Scottish Parliament to elect a replacement for the Presiding Officer or a deputy who ceases to hold office for any reason before dissolution of the Parliament that may result in the Presiding Officer or a deputy leaving or being removed from the office. Subsection (4) highlights that the Presiding Officer’s functions may be exercised by a deputy if the office is vacant for whatever reason, or alternatively if the Presiding Officer is for any reason unable to act and fulfil the duties of office. Subsection (5) empowers the Presiding Officer, subject to standing orders, to authorise any deputy to exercise functions on their behalf.

Subsection (6) gives the presiding officer the power through standing orders to regulate the participation of the Presiding Officer and deputies in proceedings of the Parliament. They may cover any constraints on the way in which the Presiding Officer and deputies may vote in proceedings which they chair. Subsection (7) provides that the validity of any act of the Presiding Officer or a deputy is not affected by any defect in the election.

Future of the role

The Scottish National Party proposes that in the event of independence, the presiding officer's post be replaced with that of chancellor of Scotland. In addition to presiding over the Scottish Parliament, the chancellor would possess additional constitutional powers during the absence of the monarch from Scotland; chiefly, the chancellor should act in a role similar to a governor-general in the other Commonwealth realms.

Office holders

List of Presiding Officers

No.	Portrait	Name (birth and death) Constituency/Region	Term of office		Former party
1		The Lord Steel of Aikwood (1938–) Member of the House of Lords MSP for Lothian	12 May 1999	7 May 2003		Liberal
						Scottish Liberal Democrats
2		George Reid (1939–) MSP for Ochil	7 May 2003	14 May 2007		Scottish National Party
3		Alex Fergusson (1949–2018) MSP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	14 May 2007	11 May 2011		Scottish Conservatives
4		Tricia Marwick (1953–) MSP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes	11 May 2011	12 May 2016		Scottish National Party
5		Ken Macintosh (1962–) MSP for West Scotland	12 May 2016	13 May 2021		Scottish Labour
6		Alison Johnstone (1965–) MSP for Lothian	13 May 2021	Incumbent		Scottish Greens

List of deputy presiding officers

Name		Party	Constituency / Region	Name		Party	Constituency / Region
	Patricia Ferguson 12 May 1999 – 27 November 2001	Scottish Labour	Glasgow Maryhill		George Reid 12 May 1999 – 7 May 2003	Scottish National Party	Mid Scotland and Fife
	Murray Tosh 29 November 2001 – 2 April 2007	Scottish Conservatives	South of Scotland (1999–2003) West of Scotland (2003–2007)
					Trish Godman 7 May 2003 – 22 March 2011	Scottish Labour	West Renfrewshire
	Alasdair Morgan 10 May 2007 – 22 March 2011	Scottish National Party	South of Scotland
	John Scott 11 May 2011 – 12 May 2016	Scottish Conservatives	Ayr		Elaine Smith 11 May 2011 – 12 May 2016		Coatbridge and Chryston
	Linda Fabiani 12 May 2016 – 12 May 2021	Scottish National Party	East Kilbride		Christine Grahame 12 May 2016 – 12 May 2021	Scottish National Party	Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale
					Lewis Macdonald (Interim) 1 April 2020 – 12 May 2021	Scottish Labour	North East Scotland
	Annabelle Ewing 14 May 2021 -	Scottish National Party	Cowdenbeath		Liam McArthur 14 May 2021 -	Scottish Liberal Democrats	Orkney

Current presiding officer and deputy presiding officer

Position	Current holder			Term started	Party	Constituency / Region
Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament		Alison Johnstone		13 May 2021	Scottish Greens (Suspended during term as Presiding Officer)	Lothian
Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament		Annabelle Ewing		14 May 2021	Scottish National Party	Cowdenbeath
Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament		Liam McArthur		14 May 2021	Scottish Liberal Democrats	Orkney

List of elections

Presiding Officer elections			Votes received
Parliamentary term	Date	Candidates	1st Round	2nd Round	3rd Round
1st Parliament	31 May 1999	Sir David Steel	82
		George Reid	44
2nd Parliament	7 May 2003	George Reid	113
3rd Parliament	14 May 2007	Alex Fergusson	108
		Margo MacDonald	20
4th Parliament	11 May 2011	Tricia Marwick	49	73
		Hugh Henry	45	56
		Christine Grahame	32	ELIMINATED
5th Parliament	12 May 2016	Ken Macintosh	58	60	71
		Murdo Fraser	23	26	31
		Johann Lamont	23	26	26
		John Scott	17	15	ELIMINATED
		Elaine Smith	7	ELIMINATED
6th Parliament	13 May 2021	Alison Johnstone	97

See also

• Presidency of the old Scots Parliament (pre-1707)
• Lord Chancellor of Scotland
• Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland
• Presiding Officer (disambiguation page)
• Speaker (politics)
• Preses
• Lord Speaker
• Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)
• Llywydd of the Senedd
• Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly

External links

• Official website