Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Meeting date: Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Official Report 1047KB pdf

Point of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. As we are going into recess for the election after today, can you advise on how the Scottish Government can be held to account on regulations? I am sure that you know that today the regulations on forced closure of churches in Scotland have been deemed to be unlawful. As the session of Parliament comes to a close, I am concerned about how we can hold the Government to account to ensure that there are no other unlawful regulations, and that churches in Scotland are not again forced to close.

I thank Ms Smith for the point of order. That matter was discussed at length several times by the Parliamentary Bureau; the bureau agreed that we would go into and observe recess.

There is the facility for the COVID-19 Committee to meet to scrutinise legislation, if it feels that it is necessary. However, the committee has made it clear that it will do that only in an emergency.

I imagine that there will be calls for recall. However, I make it clear now that I will not recall Parliament unless there really is an emergency. Members can always feed through their points in the newspapers, in the normal way.