Membership of Ken Macintosh’s Independent Commission on Parliamentary Reform announced

Ken Macintosh - Image credit: David N Anderson Photography/Holyrood

The members who will make up Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh’s Independent Commission on Parliamentary Reform has been announced today.

Scottish Parliament Presiding Officer announced his plans to set up an independent commission to look at the way the parliament works and give it an ‘MOT’ last week.

The 10-person commission will be made up of five cross-party politicians and five members from outside politics.

It is to be chaired by Electoral Commissioner for Scotland and former BBC Scotland controller John McCormick.

The five non-party political appointments are Katie Burke MSYP, member of the Scottish Youth Parliament for North East Fife and former chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament; Pam Duncan–Glancy, a disability and human rights activist who now works for NHS Health Scotland; former moderator of the Church of Scotland the Very Rev Dr Lorna Hood; Reform Scotland director Geoff Mawdsley; and Professor Boyd Robertson, the principal of Scotland’s Gaelic college Sabhal Mòr Ostaig.

The members representing the different political parties in the parliament will be Fiona McLeod, former SNP MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden; Jackson Carlaw, Scottish Conservative MSP for Eastwood; former Scottish Labour leader and current MSP for Glasgow Johann Lamont; John Finnie, Scottish Green MSP for the Highlands and Islands; and Jeremy Purvis, the former Lib Dem MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale.

The political appointments were nominated by their parties to represent them on the commission.

Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh MSP said the group will be well placed to take the Scottish Parliament “back to its roots”.

He said: “I’m delighted to be able to announce the line-up for the Independent Commission on Parliamentary Reform.

“This is a great mix of individuals, each with a different skill set and background, but collectively, I am confident they will have the wisdom and experience to take the Parliament back to its roots in being open, transparent, and truly participative.”