HOLYROOD will crack down on MSPs working from home or abroad, the new Presiding Officer has said.
Kenneth Gibson said that it was a “piece of nonsense” that MSPs were voting from the “coffee lounge” or from foreign countries.
The former SNP politician, who took over the Scottish Parliament’s chair from Alison Johnstone last month, also dismissed claims that a new pen hemming in journalists in Holyrood was an attack on press freedoms during an interview with The Herald.
He said: “One of the changes I have brought in is that if members are going to be absent for two weeks they will need to notify the Presiding Officer with a reason so people aren't just working remotely week after week.
"We have also brought in changes so that people have to ask the Presiding Officer if they want to vote from abroad which wasn't the situation in the last parliament.
"And then you can judge if they are on parliamentary business. Clearly if they are on parliamentary business or if they have a pressing family matter they would be allowed to vote. But they can't just be on holiday which has on occasion been the case. We have tried to tighten things up a bit."
The new changes will be in force until at least January next year when they will be reviewed, he added.
Elsewhere, he said that MSPs would be “discouraged” from working remotely, saying that Parliament was a place where people should mingle in person.
Gibson added: “Members can work remotely but it is discouraged. It is a parliament...it is for people to meet and deliberate and scrutiny is much more effective if you are in the room.
“If there is a vote in the chamber and people are in the building they need to be in the chamber to vote.”
Asked if that meant MSPs would no longer be able to vote from their offices, he said: “Yes or the coffee lounge. A piece of nonsense it was."
Elsewhere, Gibson addressed the controversy about a new pen restricting journalists in the corridor of the Scottish Parliament, where political leaders are often grilled in impromptu sessions with members of the media.
He said the pen – which was brought in under the auspices of concern for the safety of MSPs – would be reviewed over the summer.
Gibson said: “Over the summer we will look at it all fully, where we feel journalists should or should not have access, because we all have to ensure this building is for all users and we have to ensure we have full scrutiny in the chamber and we need scrutiny from journalists as well, that will certainly be honoured.”
