The Standing Orders are the rules of procedure for the Parliament.
The current version of the Standing Orders is the 7th Edition (published 11 May 2026).
On 21 May 2026 the Parliament agreed to motion S7M-00150. As a result, some Rules in Chapters 2, 11 and 13 of the Standing Orders have been suspended or varied in order to facilitate changes to the Parliamentary week proposed by the Presiding Officer as part of his “renewal and re-engagement” initiative. These arrangement took effect on 29 May 2026 and may remain in effect until 31 January 2027. To view the Standing Orders in their permanent form, follow the link above for the PDF version, or links under the heading “Contents” for the HTML version.
To view Chapters 2, 11 and 13 as they currently apply, follow these three links:
Chapter 2: Meetings of the Parliament
1. Where, under an enactment or otherwise, a report or other document is required or authorised to be laid before the Scottish Parliament, the lodging of a copy of that report or document with the Clerk shall be treated for all purposes as being the laying of it before the Parliament.
2. The Clerk may require the person laying the report or document to provide such additional copies as the Clerk considers necessary.
3. A report or other document may be laid before the Parliament at any time when the office of the Clerk is open.
4. No report or other document shall be laid before the Parliament unless it is required or authorised to be laid under an enactment or otherwise or it is laid by a member of the Scottish Government.
5. The Clerk shall ensure that notice of any report or other document laid before the Parliament is published in the Business Bulletin. The notice shall give the title of the report or document.
1. Where, under these Rules, the Clerk is required to publish any document, the Clerk shall arrange for publication through the Parliamentary corporation.
2. If the Parliament so decides, the Clerk shall publish any report or other document laid before the Parliament.
3. In these Rules, “document” means anything in which information is recorded in any form.
1. Any statement which is required or authorised to be published in pursuance of these Rules is published under the authority of the Parliament.
2. In these Rules, “statement” has the same meaning as in the Defamation Act 1996 (c.31).