Presiding Officer's Summer Programme

I have been Presiding Officer for three years now and consider it an immense honour and privilege to represent the Scottish Parliament in this way.

In my role I remain politically impartial in everything that I do, taking the interests of all Members equally into account and acting on their behalf.  I have various responsibilities, the most obvious being the chairing of proceedings in the parliamentary chamber.  I also select questions to the First Minister and select supplementary questions and amendments during debates.

My other duties include chairing the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and chairing the Parliamentary Bureau.  I also represent the Scottish Parliament at home and abroad.

In 2008 I decided to commence a Summer Working Programme to engage with as many people as possible – taking the Scottish Parliament out of Edinburgh to all corners of Scotland.

My previous working programmes have taken me to a number of places including Skye, Aberdeen, Inverness, Dumfries and Galloway, Eyemouth and Fort William.

This year I will embark on my third, and final, summer working programme as Presiding Officer during the 2010 summer recess.  By the end of this programme I will have visited more than 30 different organisations in every region of Scotland.

The programme provides an opportunity for me, as Presiding Officer, to learn from local people and groups about how the Scottish Parliament is communicating with them and encourages them to do more to engage with their Parliament at Holyrood.