HOLYROOD’S presiding officer has announced plans are under way to hold the parliament’s debut virtual First Minister’s Questions tomorrow.
The plan would see opposition leaders Jackson Carlaw, Richard Leonard, Willie Rennie and Patrick Harvie given the opportunity to quiz Nicola Sturgeon online, rather than in the Chamber.
In a letter to MSPs Ken Macintosh said other MSPs would be given a chance to put questions to the SNP leader in future weeks.
In the letter, the MSP reiterated the importance of holding the Government to account during the pandemic, adding he had called a meeting of the Parliamentary Bureau to assess the situation and arrange a way to enable scrutiny to continue.
He said: “In the first instance, the Parliamentary Bureau is exploring holding a Leaders’ Virtual Question Time where party leaders can question the First Minister. It is hoped that we would be able to hold the first of these sessions on Thursday of this week and, all being well, I would then want to open this up in subsequent weeks to include questions from all members.”
Macintosh added he would be writing to leaders soon with further information on the specific arrangements shortly.
The move comes after Holyrood was pushed to look into virtual meetings and video-link appearances just a few weeks back.
Aileen Campbell and Gail Ross, two SNP MSPs due to step down in 2021, had encouraged the Parliament to be more flexible and improve possibilities for remote working.
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