Holyrood's new Presiding Officer has introduced a second session of First Minister's Questions, in one of the biggest shake-ups in the Scottish Parliament's history.
In a surprise announcement on Thursday, Kenneth Gibson told MSPs that under his tenure backbenchers would get 30 minutes on a Tuesday afternoon to quiz John Swinney.
Party leaders would then get 30 minutes on a Thursday afternoon.
Every week, Anas Sarwar and Malcolm Offord would alternate who goes first, with both parties getting three questions.
However, for "devilment and to freshen things up," Mr Gibson said he might occasionally "reverse the order" and let the Lib Dems, Greens or Tories open the session.
The new Presiding Officer said the changes, which will come in from the first week in June, were aimed at making parliament "more official, topical and effective."
One of the other big changes from the previous session is that questions from backbenchers will no longer be published in advance.
On debates, Mr Gibson said time taken for interventions would automatically be added to a speaker's allocation.
He said: "I believe this will encourage, embolden and build confidence and experience in members. While time will be built into debates, it may mean that on occasion we run over by a few minutes. Interventions should be short and sharp, of course, not many speeches in themselves."
Mr Gibson also confirmed a significant increase in the number of questions to ministers, with general questions rising from eight to 18 per week, and the total number of non-FMQ questions increasing from 32 to 38 per week plus supplementaries.
In another change, from the week beginning June 8, parliament will meet from 2pm to 5.30pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 1.30pm to 5pm on Thursdays, with Thursday mornings fully reserved for committees.
On points of order, Mr Gibson said he intended to clamp down on abuse of the procedure.
He said: "We will not allow valuable chamber time to be used up on matters that are clearly not points of order. I and my deputies expect members to identify the relevant procedure that is of concern at the beginning of any point of order."
Mr Gibson told MSPs he had been "elected on a mandate to shake up how we do things, make government more accountable to parliament, improve scrutiny and deliver more effectively for the people we represent."
He said: "The status quo is not an option and I am keen to push out the boundaries of what is possible within my remit. We need to declutter and simplify how we work. It is crucial to examine what we do, why we do it and consider if we need to do it better, if at all."
Mr Swinney was asked about the changes as he left the chamber. The First Minister referenced an answer given by former Labour leader Wendy Alexander in 2008, when she was asked about the prospect of an independence referendum.
“As somebody once said in this building, bring it on," Mr Swinney said.
John Swinney was just asked about the move to two FMQs a week. https://t.co/CIHGwThKj0 pic.twitter.com/dN40mvOUeS
— Andrew Learmonth (@andrewlearmonth) May 21, 2026
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