How to follow a stage 2 meeting

What documents are used at a stage 2 meeting?

A stage 2 committee meeting works with two documents: 

• the Marshalled List of Amendments and 
• the Groupings.

The Marshalled List is a list of all the amendments that have been lodged, set out in the order they appear in the bill.

The Groupings document groups amendments together based on their subject-matter and shows the order in which they will be debated by the committee. The aim of this is to avoid repetition in the debates.

What happens at a stage 2 meeting?

At a stage 2 meeting:

• debates on amendments take place in the order set out in the Groupings
• decisions on amendments are made in the order set out in the Marshalled List.

At the meeting, there will be a debate on each group of amendments. The committee convener (the MSP in charge of the committee) will invite the MSP who lodged the first amendment in the group to ‘move’ the amendment and talk about the amendments in the group. This begins the debate on that particular issue. Other MSPs with amendments in the group are then invited to speak. After that, any other MSP may be able to take part in the debate. The relevant Scottish Government Minister will also be invited to speak in the debate on the group, even if s/he did not lodge any of the amendments. 

The debate on a group ends with the MSP who proposed the first amendment saying whether or not s/he wants the committee to take a decision on it. If the MSP wishes to withdraw it – perhaps because of assurances given during the debate – s/he needs the committee’s agreement.

If the amendment is not withdrawn, the convener will ask the committee if they wish to agree to it. If they do not all agree, there will be a vote, usually by a show of hands. Only members of the committee can vote, and the convener has the casting vote if there is a tie.

The decision on other amendments in the group will be made only when they are reached in the Marshalled List. This might be much later in the process, but there will be no more debate on the issue. 

The committee has to consider each section and schedule of the bill at stage 2 and formally agree to them, even if no amendments have been proposed. The convener will invite the committee to agree to a section once all the amendments relating to it have been dealt with.

What happens next?

At the end of stage 2, an ‘as amended’ version of the bill is published reflecting any amendments that have been agreed to. This version is usually published on the Parliament’s website the day after the committee completes stage 2.

If you are interested in how a stage 2 meeting works in practice, you can view our case study.