Holyrood should elect committee conveners, MSPs recommend

Introducing committee convenership elections should be considered by the Scottish Parliament, a group of MSPs has said.

The Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee has published a fresh report looking at improving scrutiny provided by parliamentary committees.

Other recommendations include reducing the number of MSPs who sit on committees, having more time-limited and issue-specific committees, and providing training after the next election on how to be a good committee member.

Convener Martin Whitfield said such changes would ensure Holyrood was “as effective as possible”.

He said: “Better training for committee members, smaller committee sizes and more time for committee work will all make a real difference. We also heard about the vital role that conveners have in setting the tone, and culture of a committee. Given the importance of this role, the time is right for the parliament to decide if a system of elected conveners should be introduced.

“These changes will ensure that the committees in our young legislature can be as effective as possible in meeting the scrutiny challenges of the future."

As Scotland does not have a second chamber, the parliament’s committee system is one of the few ways the government can be held to account for decisions.

However in recent years, this system has been criticised for not providing strong enough scrutiny and for becoming more party political.

While the standards committee accepted that it was “not always appropriate or desirable” for members to “put their party role entirely to one side”, it did say that collegiate and cross-party working ensured better results.

It added that induction and training activities would support committees in achieving their aims because it “sets the tone and appetite for working practices which further strengthen interpersonal relationships and, crucially, builds trust between members”.

The cross-party committee also called for specific training to be offered to conveners, while adding that electing MSPs to those roles “can bring confidence and visibility… and a sense of legitimacy”.

The committee will set out a proposal for how it believes parliament should elect committee conveners in the future, mirroring the process used by the Welsh Senedd to elect committee chairs. It will consult with MSPs on that proposal before making a formal recommendation to parliament.

It hopes the new system will be in place from the start of the next session.

On committee size, it suggested they should be between seven and 10 members. It argued that having larger committees meant MSPs had to sit on more than one, creating workload problems, while “churn in membership” meant MSPs could not always “build up expertise and understanding”.

It also recommended changing parliamentary rules to ban single-sex committees after the election, with some support for ensuring all committees look like the wider gender make-up of the parliament.