Scottish Parliament Conveners’ Group to question First Minister

Scottish Parliament - Image credit: Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament Conveners’ Group will have a chance to question the First Minister on the Scottish Government’s legislative programme on 16 November, it has been announced.

It will be the first time Nicola Sturgeon has appeared before the Conveners’ Group since the Scottish Parliament elections in May.

The session with the First Minister will allow the committee conveners to question her on a broad range of issues, including newly devolved powers in areas such as social security and taxation.

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Chair of the Conveners’ Group and Deputy Presiding Officer Christine Grahame MSP said: “With areas such as welfare and income tax now devolved to Holyrood, the role of committees in scrutinising the Scottish Government has never been more important.

“This session will enable us to question the First Minister on the entirety of her programme complementing the very detailed scrutiny which will take place in individual committees.

“I think we can look forward to a lively and hopefully a very informative session.”

The Conveners’ Group is made up of the conveners of the all the committees in the Scottish Parliament, which scrutinise different aspects of policy and legislation, and is chaired by the presiding officer or a deputy presiding officer.

It is a forum for Scottish Parliament committee conveners to discuss the operation of committees and to facilitate liaison between the committees, the Parliamentary Bureau and the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body.

The group handles a range of matters including promotion of good practice to improve committees’ performance, particularly their scrutiny function, and making recommendations to the Parliamentary Bureau on committee business to be scheduled in the chamber.

This is the fourth time a first minister has appeared before the Conveners’ Group.