Meeting of the Parliament [Draft] Business until 17:22

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Official Report 879KB pdf

Point of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Can you confirm that the matter relating to my topical question—the Scottish National Party’s transgender prisoner guidance and the subsequent legal action—can be spoken about freely by ministers, because section 5 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 allows

“matters of general public interest”

to be discussed without fear of that being treated as contempt of court?

Thank you, Ms White. That is a matter for Scottish ministers.

Presiding Officer, I was not expecting to have to come in on this point of order, but I think that Tess White and I would certainly appreciate having from the chair the ruling that the understanding of the Presiding Officer of this Parliament is that section 5 of the 1981 act means that ministers are freely able to give full and substantive answers on the issue. We all saw the clip last week in which the First Minister told journalists that he could not comment on the case because it is a live case. That is not a defence; indeed, ministers are able and encouraged to comment on this live case.

The extent of my role, Mr Ross, is covered by rule 7.5 of standing orders. I direct the member’s attention to that with regard to admissibility. That is the extent of my role in relation to the matter.