What's happening at Holyrood this week: When the new cabinet will be revealed
We can expect to see the First Minister and cabinet appointed this week.
It is going to be another busy week in the corridors of power as the next Scottish Government gets formally appointed.
Last week the newly-elected MSPs descended on Holyrood to get officially welcomed, have their photographs taken, and be officially sworn into parliament.
The first item of business also passed - electing SNP backbencher Kenny Gibson MSP as the new presiding officer.
This week will see the election of the new government ministers as the second week of the new session gets underway.
On Tuesday 19 May the next First Minister will be elected. The winner needs to get more votes that the total number cast for all the other candidates combined. The candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated in each round of voting.
Given John Swinney MSP is the leader of the largest party, he is set to win this contest. However, there will be a contest. Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has already said he will stand against him as it would be “an insult to democracy” not to have a formal vote. We can expect the leaders of all the other parties to do the same.
A First Minister must be appointed within 28 days of an election.
Whoever wins the vote is then recommended by the pressing officer to King Charles III, who then makes the official appointment by royal warrant.
On Wednesday 20 May, Mr Swinney will be officially sworn in as First Minister and Keeper of the Scottish Seal at the Court of Session.
From this point on, he will start appointing his cabinet and junior ministers. The media will camp outside Bute House to watch which MSPs are asked to come in for a chat.
A number of MSPs who served in Mr Swinney’s last cabinet were re-elected, including Neil Gray MSP, Angela Constance MSP, Màiri McAllan MSP, Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, Gillian Martin MSP and Jenny Gilruth MSP. There is an implicit assumption they will all stay in cabinet.
Eyes are also on who becomes the next deputy first minister. Many are expecting the position to go to Ms McAllan, but government sources have told The Scotsman other names such as Ms Constance, Ms Somerville and Ms Gilruth cannot be dismissed.
New cabinet ministers are officially sworn in on May 26, the first full session of the Scottish Parliament. It is anticipated that first minister’s questions will resume on May 28.
Committees and the parliamentary bureau will also be formed in the coming days.
The bureau is made up of the presiding officer and a representative from each party and sets out the parliamentary business for the week.
One of the first issues the bureau needs to grapple with is Scottish Labour and Reform UK being the joint second biggest parties. Once the bureau is formed, they will decide on things such as which party gets to ask the first question at FMQs.
Parties can also choose which of their MSPs sit on which committees, although it is ultimately up to the whole parliament to agree to the appointments.
While junior ministers are technically allowed to sit on committees, this has never happened since devolution.
Both the finance committee and the standards, procedures and public appointments committee must be established within 21 sitting days of the election. Other mandatory committees must be formed within 42 sitting days.
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