Insights

Who gets to ask oral questions

Each sitting week MSPs put questions to ministers in the chamber: General and Portfolio Questions, Topical Questions, and First Minister’s Questions on Thursdays. Ministers answer rather than ask, so this page compares each party’s share of the questions with its share of the MSPs who are able to ask them. Session 7 (2026–now).

Oral questions

567

70 of them First Minister’s

Asked by governing-party MSPs

40.4%

of General, Portfolio and Topical questions

Their share of MSPs able to ask

33.3%

SNP backbenchers, averaged over the session

MSPs who asked

108

at least one oral question

Share of questions and share of MSPs able to ask

All four kinds of oral question together

SNP in government 201 questions · about 57 MSPs

Oral questions35.4%
MSPs able to ask34.7%
Lab 93 questions · about 17 MSPs

Oral questions16.4%
MSPs able to ask15.6%
Reform 93 questions · about 17 MSPs

Oral questions16.4%
MSPs able to ask15.5%
Green 63 questions · about 15 MSPs

Oral questions11.1%
MSPs able to ask13.8%
Con 67 questions · about 12 MSPs

Oral questions11.8%
MSPs able to ask11.0%
LD 49 questions · about 10 MSPs

Oral questions8.6%
MSPs able to ask9.2%
Ind 1 questions · about 0.2 MSPs

Oral questions0.2%
MSPs able to ask0.1%

The solid bar is the party’s share of oral questions; the hatched bar is its share of MSPs able to ask (not ministers, not the Presiding Officer), averaged over the days of the session. Bars are drawn to the scale of the largest share shown. A party in government has many of its MSPs serving as ministers, so its share of MSPs able to ask is smaller than its share of seats.

Questions by kind and party

Number of questions; share of all oral questions; difference from share of MSPs able to ask

Party	MSPs (average)	Share of seats	Share able to ask	General	Portfolio	First Minister's	All oral	Share of questions	Difference
SNP	57.0	44.2%	34.7%	99	102	0	201	35.4%	+0.7 pts
Lab	17.0	13.2%	15.6%	30	49	14	93	16.4%	+0.8 pts
Reform	16.9	13.1%	15.5%	36	43	14	93	16.4%	+0.9 pts
Green	15.0	11.6%	13.8%	30	19	14	63	11.1%	−2.7 pts
Con	12.0	9.3%	11.0%	30	23	14	67	11.8%	+0.8 pts
LD	10.0	7.8%	9.2%	18	17	14	49	8.6%	−0.6 pts
Ind	0.2	0.1%	0.1%	0	1	0	1	0.2%	0.0 pts
All	129.0	100%	100%	243	254	70	567	100%

No Topical Questions are recorded for this session yet in the open data.

Rows marked on the left are parties in government during the session (SNP).

First Minister’s Questions

Questions lodged in advance, by party, split between party leaders and other MSPs

Party	Questions	Share	By the party leader	Share able to ask
Lab	14	20.0%	14	15.6%
Reform	14	20.0%	14	15.5%
Green	14	20.0%	14	13.8%
Con	14	20.0%	14	11.0%
LD	14	20.0%	14	9.2%

70 of 70 First Minister’s Questions (100.0%) were asked by a party leader. By convention the leaders of the opposition parties ask the first questions each week; the governing party’s leader is normally the First Minister. Supplementary questions asked on the day are not in the open data, so they are not counted. MSPs from the governing parties asked 0.0% of the lodged First Minister’s Questions.

Governing-party backbenchers, session by session

Their share of General, Portfolio and Topical questions against their share of MSPs able to ask

Session	In government	Share of MSPs able to ask	Share of General, Portfolio and Topical	Questions	Share of First Minister’s
Session 7 (2026–now)	SNP	33.3%	40.4%	497	0.0%
Session 6 (2021–2026)	Green SNP	39.4%	40.7%	5,669	23.4%
Session 5 (2016–2021)	SNP	36.1%	39.1%	5,215	16.7%
Session 4 (2011–2016)	SNP	41.5%	46.4%	5,177	26.9%
Session 3 (2007–2011)	SNP	27.5%	28.0%	1,312	16.8%
Session 2 (2003–2007)	Lab LD	44.1%	53.0%	1,433	28.6%
Session 1 (1999–2003)	Lab LD	47.3%	52.8%	1,918	55.0%

Portfolio Questions began in 2011 and Topical Questions in 2012; before that, General Questions covered every subject. The open data for oral questions in the early sessions may be less complete.

How this is worked out

How questions are chosen: MSPs who want to ask a General or Portfolio Question put their names forward and are chosen by random selection. Topical Questions and the constituency and general questions at First Minister’s Questions are selected by the Presiding Officer from those lodged. So the share each party gets reflects how many of its MSPs put their names forward as well as the selection; this page does not suggest that any party is favoured.
What is counted: Questions lodged for oral answer in the chamber, by the reference’s session (S6O-, S6F-, S6T-). Questions listed for the coming week are included. Supplementary questions asked on the day are not in the open data. Questions to the Parliament’s corporate body are left out.
Party: The party recorded against the question when it was lodged.
Share of seats: Each party’s MSPs counted day by day across the session (so by-elections and changes of party are reflected), as a share of all MSPs.
Share able to ask: The same, leaving out MSPs on days they were ministers (they answer questions rather than ask them) and the Presiding Officer. Deputy Presiding Officers are still counted.
In government: A party counts as in government on a given day when at least one of its MSPs held a ministerial post that day, from the Parliament’s record of government roles (Parliamentary Liaison Officers are not counted as ministers). That is how the Scottish Greens count as in government from August 2021 to April 2024, when two Green MSPs were ministers under the Bute House Agreement.
Party leaders: MSPs recorded by the Parliament as leader, co-leader, acting or interim leader of their party, or leader of its group in Parliament, on the day of the question.