– in the Scottish Parliament at 5:04 pm on 29 January 2025.
Alison Johnstone
Green
5:04,
29 January 2025
There are four questions to be put as a result of today’s business.
The first question is, that motion S6M-16252.1, in the name of Neil Gray, which seeks to amend motion S6M-16252, in the name of Jackie Baillie, on supporting Scotland’s health and social care workforce, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
Alison Johnstone
Green
There will be a Division.
There will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system.
Alison Johnstone
Green
We come to the vote on Amendment S6M-16252.1, in the name of Neil Gray, which seeks to amend motion S6M-16252, in the name of Jackie Baillie. Members should cast their votes now.
The vote is closed.
Jackie Baillie
Labour
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I apologise. My phone was in the possession of information technology staff because my app would not connect. I would have voted no.
Alison Johnstone
Green
Thank you, Ms Baillie. We will ensure that that is recorded.
Neil Gray
Scottish National Party
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I apologise that I do not have quite as elaborate an explanation as Jackie Baillie does, but my phone would not connect. I would have voted yes.
Alison Johnstone
Green
Thank you, Mr Gray. We will ensure that that is recorded.
Colin Smyth
Labour
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My phone did not connect. I would have voted no.
Alison Johnstone
Green
We will ensure that that is recorded, Mr Smyth.
Division number 1
Decision Time
Alison Johnstone
Green
The next question is, that Amendment S6M-16252.2, in the name of Sandesh Gulhane, which seeks to amend motion S6M-16252, in the name of Jackie Baillie, on supporting Scotland’s health and social care workforce, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
Alison Johnstone
Green
There will be a Division.
Division number 2
Decision Time
Alison Johnstone
Green
The next question is, that motion S6M-16252, in the name of Jackie Baillie, on supporting Scotland’s health and social care workforce, as amended, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
Alison Johnstone
Green
There will be a Division. Members should cast their votes now.
The vote is closed.
Shirley-Anne Somerville
Scottish National Party
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My app would not connect. I would have voted yes.
Alison Johnstone
Green
Thank you, Ms Somerville. We will ensure that that is recorded.
Division number 3
Decision Time
Alison Johnstone
Green
5:17,
29 January 2025
The result of the Division on motion S6M-16252, in the name of Jackie Baillie, on supporting Scotland’s health and social care workforce, as amended, is: For 61, Against 53, Abstentions 7.
Motion, as amended, agreed to,
That the Parliament deeply regrets that current high wait times mean that too many are waiting too long for treatment; thanks hardworking NHS and social care staff who provide extraordinary care across the country; recognises that there are crises facing too many parts of the NHS; notes investment of over £11 billion in the NHS workforce and an estimated £950 million to ensure that adult social care workers, including those in the third and private sectors, are paid at least the real Living Wage; recognises that the biggest threat to the health and social care workforce comes from the UK Government’s decision to increase employer national insurance contributions, and demands that the UK Labour administration reimburse the Scottish Government in full; supports the calls for the publication of a medium-term approach to health and social care reform, including workforce planning, before the Parliament’s 2025 summer recess, and believes that the aim of the medium-term reforms must be to ensure that everyone can access the treatment and care that they require, in the right place, at the right time.
Alison Johnstone
Green
The final question is, that motion S6M-16268, in the name of Jamie Hepburn, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, on approval of a United Kingdom statutory instrument, be agreed to.
Motion agreed to,
That the Parliament agrees that the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) Order 2025 [draft] be approved.
Alison Johnstone
Green
That concludes decision time, and we move to members’ business.
17:24
Members’ business will be published tomorrow, Thursday 30 January 2025, as soon as the text is available.
The House of Commons votes by dividing. Those voting Aye (yes) to any proposition walk through the division lobby to the right of the Speaker and those voting no through the lobby to the left. In each of the lobbies there are desks occupied by Clerks who tick Members' names off division lists as they pass through. Then at the exit doors the Members are counted by two Members acting as tellers. The Speaker calls for a vote by announcing "Clear the Lobbies". In the House of Lords "Clear the Bar" is called. Division Bells ring throughout the building and the police direct all Strangers to leave the vicinity of the Members’ Lobby. They also walk through the public rooms of the House shouting "division". MPs have eight minutes to get to the Division Lobby before the doors are closed. Members make their way to the Chamber, where Whips are on hand to remind the uncertain which way, if any, their party is voting. Meanwhile the Clerks who will take the names of those voting have taken their place at the high tables with the alphabetical lists of MPs' names on which ticks are made to record the vote. When the tellers are ready the counting process begins - the recording of names by the Clerk and the counting of heads by the tellers. When both lobbies have been counted and the figures entered on a card this is given to the Speaker who reads the figures and announces "So the Ayes [or Noes] have it". In the House of Lords the process is the same except that the Lobbies are called the Contents Lobby and the Not Contents Lobby. Unlike many other legislatures, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have not adopted a mechanical or electronic means of voting. This was considered in 1998 but rejected. Divisions rarely take less than ten minutes and those where most Members are voting usually take about fifteen. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P9 at the UK Parliament site.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
The House of Commons votes by dividing. Those voting Aye (yes) to any proposition walk through the division lobby to the right of the Speaker and those voting no through the lobby to the left. In each of the lobbies there are desks occupied by Clerks who tick Members' names off division lists as they pass through. Then at the exit doors the Members are counted by two Members acting as tellers. The Speaker calls for a vote by announcing "Clear the Lobbies". In the House of Lords "Clear the Bar" is called. Division Bells ring throughout the building and the police direct all Strangers to leave the vicinity of the Members’ Lobby. They also walk through the public rooms of the House shouting "division". MPs have eight minutes to get to the Division Lobby before the doors are closed. Members make their way to the Chamber, where Whips are on hand to remind the uncertain which way, if any, their party is voting. Meanwhile the Clerks who will take the names of those voting have taken their place at the high tables with the alphabetical lists of MPs' names on which ticks are made to record the vote. When the tellers are ready the counting process begins - the recording of names by the Clerk and the counting of heads by the tellers. When both lobbies have been counted and the figures entered on a card this is given to the Speaker who reads the figures and announces "So the Ayes [or Noes] have it". In the House of Lords the process is the same except that the Lobbies are called the Contents Lobby and the Not Contents Lobby. Unlike many other legislatures, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have not adopted a mechanical or electronic means of voting. This was considered in 1998 but rejected. Divisions rarely take less than ten minutes and those where most Members are voting usually take about fifteen. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P9 at the UK Parliament site.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
