Charles III William, Duke of Rothesay Swinney government The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP Kate Forbes MSP Sixth session Alison Johnstone MSP Angela Constance MSP Dorothy Bain KC The Rt Hon Lord Carloway KC PC United Kingdom Parliament elections European Parliament elections Local elections Referendums Starmer ministry The Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP The Rt Hon Ian Murray MP The presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament (Scottish Gaelic: Oifigear-Riaghlaidh, Scots: Preses[3]) is the presiding officer and speaker of the Scottish Parliament.

[4] The presiding officer is expected to be strictly non-partisan, with some similarities in this respect to the tradition of the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Even then, the convention is that when the presiding officer uses their tie-breaking vote, they do so in favour of advancing debate, but on final ballots, retaining the status quo.

The Presiding Officer welcomes dignitaries from other national parliaments to study policy issues of the Scottish Government, share information on ways of working as well as exchanging ideas and knowledge.

The act set out the responsibilities of the office in four areas; Purpose and Effect, General, Parliamentary Consideration and Details of Provisions.

Subsection (5) empowers the Presiding Officer, subject to standing orders, to authorise any deputy to exercise functions on their behalf.

[15] The Scottish National Party proposes that in the event of independence, the presiding officer's post be replaced with that of chancellor of Scotland.