Standing Orders of the Scottish Parliament
The Standing Orders are the rules of procedure for the Parliament.
They have been made in accordance with the Scotland Act 1998.
Standing Orders of the Scottish Parliament, 5th Edition, 8th Revision (8 March 2021)
Some Standing Order rules have been suspended or varied for the duration of the public response to Covid-19.
Suspension and variation of Standing Order rules (129KB pdf)
Contents
- Previous versions of the Standing Orders
- Chapter 1 Members
- Chapter 2 Meetings of the Parliament
- Chapter 3 Officers of the Parliament and Other Officers
- Chapter 3A Parliamentary Corporation Supported Bodies
- Chapter 3B Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme Fund Trustees
- Chapter 3C Directions and resolutions under the Lobbying Scotland Act 2016
- Chapter 4 The Scottish Government
- Chapter 5 The Parliamentary Bureau and Management of Business
- Chapter 6 Committees
- Chapter 6A The Conveners Group
- Chapter 7 Conduct of Meetings
- Chapter 8 Motions and Points of Order
- Chapter 9 Public Bill Procedures
- Chapter 9A Private Bill Procedures
- Chapter 9B Consent in Relation to UK Parliament Bills
- Chapter 9BA Consent in relation to Orders under the Public Bodies Act 2011
- Chapter 9C Hybrid Bills Procedures
- Chapter 10 Subordinate Legislation Procedure
- Chapter 10A Proposals for European Union Legislation
- Chapter 11 Decisions and Voting
- Chapter 12 Committee Procedures
- Chapter 13 Statements and Parliamentary Questions
- Chapter 14 Laying and Publication of Documents
- Chapter 15 Openness and Accessibility
- Chapter 16 Reporting of Proceedings
- Chapter 17 Miscellaneous
Previous versions of the Standing Orders
When changes are made to Standing Orders, this is referred to as a Revision. The Revisions are numbered in the order in which they are issued (1st Revision, 2nd Revision, etc.).
This page lists the:
- 5th Edition of the Standing Orders
- each Revision made to the 5th Edition of the Standing Orders
- the dates the Revisions took effect
Each Revision includes the complete text of every Chapter.
Standing Orders, 5th Edition (April 2016 1.5MB pdf)
Standing Orders, 5th Edition, 1st Revision (September 2016 1.5MB pdf)
Standing Orders, 5th Edition, 2nd Revision (October 2016 1.5MB pdf)
Standing Orders, 5th Edition, 3rd Revision (February 2017 1.2MB pdf)
Standing Orders, 5th Edition, 4th Revision (March 2017 1.3MB pdf)
Standing Orders, 5th Edition, 5th Revision (May 2017 1.3MB pdf)
Standing Orders 5th Edition, 6th Revision (May 2018 1.7MB pdf)
Standing Orders 5th Edition, 7th Revision (September 2019 1.7MB pdf)
Next
Chapter 1 Members