The next item of business is consideration of business motion S6M-20101, in the name of Graeme Dey, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, on a change to business.

Apologies—I ask members to bear with me for a moment. Thank you. I just wished to confirm that I had the correct motion number.

Motion moved,

That the Parliament agrees to the following revision to the programme of business for Thursday 11 December 2025—

after

followed by Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee Debate: British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 Inquiry

insert

followed by Financial Resolution: Children (Withdrawal from Religious Education and Amendment of UNCRC Compatibility Duty) (Scotland) Bill—[Graeme Dey]

Motion agreed to.

The next item of business is consideration of business motion S6M-20068, in the name of Graeme Dey, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a business programme. I call the Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans to move the motion.

Motion moved,

That the Parliament agrees—

(a) the following programme of business—

Tuesday 16 December 2025

2.00 pm Time for Reflection

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

followed by Topical Questions

followed by Stage 3 Proceedings: Dog Theft (Scotland) Bill

followed by Stage 3 Proceedings: Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill

followed by Committee Announcements

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

6.00 pm Decision Time

followed by Members’ Business

Wednesday 17 December 2025

2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions

2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:

Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands;

Health and Social Care

followed by Ministerial Statement: Protecting Children from Harm

followed by Criminal Justice Committee Debate: Cybercrime

followed by Motion on Legislative Consent: Pension Schemes Bill – UK Legislation

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

5.30 pm Decision Time

followed by Members’ Business

Thursday 18 December 2025

11.40 am Parliamentary Bureau Motions

11.40 am General Questions

12.00 pm First Minister’s Questions

12.45 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions

followed by Portfolio Questions:

Social Justice and Housing

followed by Stage 1 Debate: Contract (Formation and Remedies) (Scotland) Bill

followed by Motion on Legislative Consent: Sentencing Bill – UK Legislation

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

3.10 pm Decision Time

followed by Members’ Business

Tuesday 6 January 2026

2.00 pm Time for Reflection

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

followed by Topical Questions

followed by Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee Debate: Legal Aid

followed by Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee Debate: Petition PE2018: Recognise the value of swimming pools and provide financial relief to help keep pools open

followed by Committee Announcements

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

5.00 pm Decision Time

followed by Members’ Business

Wednesday 7 January 2026

2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions

2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:

Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, and Parliamentary Business;

Justice and Home Affairs

followed by Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Business

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

5.10 pm Decision Time

followed by Members’ Business

Thursday 8 January 2026

11.40 am Parliamentary Bureau Motions

11.40 am General Questions

12.00 pm First Minister’s Questions

followed by Members’ Business

2.30 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions

2.30 pm Portfolio Questions:

Education and Skills

followed by Stage 1 Debate: Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill

followed by Financial Resolution: Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

5.00 pm Decision Time

(b) that, for the purposes of Portfolio Questions in the week beginning 15 December 2025, in rule 13.7.3, after the word “except” the words “to the extent to which the Presiding Officer considers that the questions are on the same or similar subject matter or” are inserted.—[Graeme Dey]

I call Douglas Lumsden to speak to and move Amendment S6M-20068.1.

There is a spare slot next Thursday, so, instead of MSPs sloping off early—

Members::

Oh!

—let us make the most of the little time that we have left in the current session of Parliament—[ Interruption .]

Let us hear one another, colleagues.

Let us make the most of the little time we have left in the session and have a debate on the Scottish National Party Government’s energy strategy.

When we come back in January, there will be a birthday, but it is not one to celebrate. It will have been three years since the SNP Government published its draft energy strategy; three years since the SNP announced its presumption against new oil and gas; and three years since the SNP turned its back on the oil and gas workers in the north-east, with the loss of thousands of jobs. One can see why, therefore, it is not a birthday to celebrate.

I have asked the SNP Government about 20 times if a new energy strategy will be published, but each time I have been met with a blank look, as if the lights are on but no one is in. However, maybe today will be different and the failing SNP Government will agree to my Amendment. Just this week, the First Minister has been keen to speak about energy. He has chased the headline “It’s Scotland’s Energy”, claiming that he could save people a third off their Bills. That is a bold claim, but he gave us absolutely no detail about how that would happen.

The time next week would be an ideal opportunity for the SNP Government to set out its fantasy plans. Will those plans mean more onshore wind infrastructure scarring our countryside, or is the First Minister now in favour of zonal pricing, which his Government did not previously support? Does he want to stop the monster pylons that are costing billions—

Members::

Oh!

All of those will have to be clawed back in our Bills. Will he be scrapping carbon levies that are adding to our bills and making our manufacturing industry uncompetitive, all in the name of net zero? Will he be looking to install more expensive floating offshore wind, all of which is subsidised through contracts for difference by bill payers right across the United Kingdom, adding more to our bills? How will our baseload be provided? Since the First Minister will not allow nuclear, does he plan to turn our rural communities into one huge battery storage system? [ Interruption .]

Let us hear Mr Lumsden.

Using the time next week for debate would give the SNP Government the chance to come clean on its fantasy claims and answer those questions. The debate could also give the Government the opportunity to defend the conflict of interest that my constituents in the north-east find so worrying, which is the fact that the chair of SSEN is one of the First Minister’s advisers for the ministerial code of conduct. We have a situation where the energy minister meets SSEN regularly but fails to meet concerned community groups who are seeing their countryside being ruined by monster pylons, substations and battery storage, and the First Minister and his advisers turn a blind eye. [ Interruption .]

Let us hear the member.

It stinks, Presiding Officer. It is clear that, when it comes to approving large-scale energy infrastructure projects, Gillian Martin gets to be the judge, jury and executioner. She fails to listen to the voices of our communities but is happy to jet-set around the world in business class to sell our countryside to the highest bidder.

Having the debate next week would give an opportunity to members of the Parliament who took part in a convention in Inverness four months ago to fulfil the promise that they made to the public on that day. During that convention, MSPs signed up to

“Undertake to do all that we can across our representative parties to secure urgent debates at both Holyrood and in the House of Commons at Westminster on the attached Unified Statement of the Highland Convention of Community Councils dated 14th June 2025.”

The statement was about looking at the impact of energy projects on local communities and the damage that they were causing. Douglas Ross signed it, as did Jamie Halcro Johnston, Tim Eagle and Fergus Ewing, as well as Emma Roddick and Maree Todd. An SNP Minister, no less, signed up to have more debating time on energy infrastructure in the chamber. If she does not support my Amendment, in effect, she will have deliberately misled the 400 attendees of the convention in Inverness.

We have time next week, so let us use it to have a full debate on the impact of energy infrastructure on our communities and finally have some answers on the energy strategy.

I move amendment S6M-20068.1, to leave out from third “followed by Business Motions” to “3.10 pm Decision Time” and insert:

“followed by Scottish Government Debate: Energy Strategy

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

5.00 pm Decision Time”.

I call Graeme Dey to respond on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau.

Although the member is entitled to raise the matter by this means, it is disappointing, to say the least, that his suggestion for debate has not been raised with me through the normal bureau process and that we are debating an Amendment to the business motion. Many members will see that for what it is. [ Interruption .]

Let us hear one another.

On the substance of his ask, the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy recently sent a letter to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee to provide an update on the Scottish Government’s energy strategy and just transition plan. The letter outlined that there have been significant changes in the energy sector since the draft energy strategy was published. Those include the establishment of the National Energy System Operator, which the Scottish Government jointly commissions, alongside the Welsh and UK Governments, to produce a strategic spatial energy plan. The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy will also be providing evidence to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee on 14 January about a number of petitions, including the request to publish an energy strategy.

Although I agree that lodging an Amendment of this kind without taking it through the business bureau is clearly performative and has been done as a wheeze rather than as a serious proposal for a serious debate—

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I seek your guidance. My understanding is that the time is allocated so that any member can lodge a change to the business motion. To call us performative is an insult to other members in the chamber.

Members can raise issues that they wish to have debated at this point, but the content of members’ contributions is generally a matter for them. The chair will intervene where required.

Having made that comment, I would like the Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans and his Government colleagues to be aware that others—not those who want a debate based on doubling down on the fossil fuel industry or chasing the votes of climate deniers—want a serious update on the energy strategy. We want an update to be given not just to the petitions committee, but to the Parliament.

Those of us who want to see an energy strategy that is based on serious climate policy also expect to see that brought to the chamber, although not as a result of a short-term proposal for a debate at the last minute. I think that the entire Parliament expects such a debate to happen in the new year, because the Government will not be able to go into the next election without making clear whether it supports doubling down on the fossil fuel industry or maintaining the presumption against new oil and gas extraction.

Given all the activity that I have noted and the fact that there is already a parliamentary process covering the topic, the request for a debate, certainly ahead of that concluding, is unnecessary. However, I take Patrick Harvie’s point. It is, of course, open to the member who raised the issue—and, indeed, to Mr Harvie—to pick it up with his business manager, for the matter to be discussed at the Parliamentary Bureau. That is how the bureau and this Parliament work.

I say gently to Douglas Lumsden that talking of MSPs “sloping off” on a Thursday afternoon is a bit rich considering the barren nature of his party’s benches pretty much every Thursday.

The question is that, Amendment S6M-20068.1, in the name of Douglas Lumsden, which seeks to amend motion S6M-20068, in the name of Graeme Dey, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a business programme, be agreed to. Are we agreed?

Members::

No.

There will be a Division.

There will be a short suspension to allow members to access digital voting.

Meeting suspended.

On resuming—

We come to the vote on Amendment S6M-20068.1, in the name of Douglas Lumsden, which seeks to amend motion S6M-20068, in the name of Graeme Dey. Members should cast their votes now.

The vote is closed.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My app would not work. I would have voted yes.

Thank you, Ms White. We will ensure that that is recorded.

The result of the Division on Amendment S6M-20068.1, in the name of Douglas Lumsden, is: For 34, Against 89, Abstentions 0.

Amendment disagreed to.

The next question is, that motion S6M-20068, in the name of Graeme Dey, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a business programme, be agreed to.

Motion agreed to,

That the Parliament agrees—

(a) the following programme of business—

Tuesday 16 December 2025

2.00 pm Time for Reflection

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

followed by Topical Questions

followed by Stage 3 Proceedings: Dog Theft (Scotland) Bill

followed by Stage 3 Proceedings: Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill

followed by Committee Announcements

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

6.00 pm Decision Time

followed by Members’ Business

Wednesday 17 December 2025

2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions

2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:

Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands;

Health and Social Care

followed by Ministerial Statement: Protecting Children from Harm

followed by Criminal Justice Committee Debate: Cybercrime

followed by Motion on Legislative Consent: Pension Schemes Bill – UK Legislation

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

5.30 pm Decision Time

followed by Members’ Business

Thursday 18 December 2025

11.40 am Parliamentary Bureau Motions

11.40 am General Questions

12.00 pm First Minister’s Questions

12.45 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions

followed by Portfolio Questions:

Social Justice and Housing

followed by Stage 1 Debate: Contract (Formation and Remedies) (Scotland) Bill

followed by Motion on Legislative Consent: Sentencing Bill – UK Legislation

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

3.10 pm Decision Time

followed by Members’ Business

Tuesday 6 January 2026

2.00 pm Time for Reflection

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

followed by Topical Questions

followed by Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee Debate: Legal Aid

followed by Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee Debate: Petition PE2018: Recognise the value of swimming pools and provide financial relief to help keep pools open

followed by Committee Announcements

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

5.00 pm Decision Time

followed by Members’ Business

Wednesday 7 January 2026

2.00 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions

2.00 pm Portfolio Questions:

Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, and Parliamentary Business;

Justice and Home Affairs

followed by Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Business

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

5.10 pm Decision Time

followed by Members’ Business

Thursday 8 January 2026

11.40 am Parliamentary Bureau Motions

11.40 am General Questions

12.00 pm First Minister’s Questions

followed by Members’ Business

2.30 pm Parliamentary Bureau Motions

2.30 pm Portfolio Questions:

Education and Skills

followed by Stage 1 Debate: Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill

followed by Financial Resolution: Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill

followed by Business Motions

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

5.00 pm Decision Time

(b) that, for the purposes of Portfolio Questions in the week beginning 15 December 2025, in rule 13.7.3, after the word “except” the words “to the extent to which the Presiding Officer considers that the questions are on the same or similar subject matter or” are inserted.

The next item of business is consideration of business motion S6M-20069, in the name of Graeme Dey, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, on timetabling of a bill at stage 2.

Motion moved,

That the Parliament agrees that consideration of the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill at stage 2 be completed by 12 December 2025.—[Graeme Dey]

Motion agreed to.