MSPs have expressed concern that Scottish government plans to provide more information about the lobbying of politicians do not go far enough. 

Organisations and individuals would have to register following the face-to-face lobbying of MSPs or ministers. 

But a majority on Holyrood's Standards Committee said vital information could go unregistered. 

MSPs on the cross-party committee said ministers should consider including all forms of communication. 

The parliamentary business minister says the openness of the Scottish Parliament must be maintained by the bill.

He says a lobbying register must fit into the existing landscape and avoid duplication.

Mr Fitzpatrick says proportionality and simplicity are key.

Its Mr Fitzpatrcik in the lead again, this time in the first debate on the Lobbying (Scotland) Bill, external for the first time.   

Parlimanetary Business Minister Joe Fitzpatrick says it is an "incredibly short bill" with consensus across the chamber backing it.

However, clearly there is a debate to be had about how to progress forward to a permanent solution to avoid elections clashes. 

The minister says his preference is for a five year electoral cycle but accepts the debate on this must be had, as Ms Goldie made a good point about the four year cycle.

Following the Hamlet quote from Shakespeare, we go from one Bill to another!

Image source, Scottish Parliament

Normally we would publish a link to any bill that is being debated, but the Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill is so short, we publish the whole bill above.  

Scottish Conservative MSP Annabel Goldie also begins by highlighting how brief the bill is, turning to Hamlet for her quotation.

"Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief." 

Image source, bbc

Ms Goldie says there's no doubt that there's some advantage in consistency in having a parliamentary election every five years, however the four year cycle has a long history. 

She says there is room for debate on this but in the mean time her party supports the bill 

Labour MSP Mary Fee says her party supports the principles of the Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill. 

Ms Fee says the decision for a five year parliamentary term reflects terms elsewhere in the UK.

Scottish Labour fully support the Scottish government's plans to have the Holyrood election in 2021, she says.

The West of Scotland MSP says the problems seen in the 2007 Holyrood elections must be avoided in future. 

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee convener Stewart Stevenson says the committee members will subject this bill to the scrutiny that will be expected.

Mr Stevenson says the bill is "a mere 200 words" which leaves nowhere for mistakes to hide.

The SNP MSP says the committee's report on the bill is also short at around 1000 words. 

He says the bill is very straightforward but perhaps not and jokes that there may be a wave of proposed stage two amendments. 

A plan to extend the term of the next Scottish Parliament by one year is being debated by MSPs this afternoon. 

The change is necessary to avoid a clash with the Westminster general election, which could confuse voters. 

A four year term at Holyrood was the norm - until the Fixed Term Parliaments Act at Westminster. 

That meant the Scottish parliament election, due last year, had to be postponed until this year,  as it would have clashed with the UK vote. 

Image source, Scottish Parliament

The same clash would happen again in 2020, so MSPs are debating a proposed change to the date. 

There's cross-party support for the move.

It means the Holyrood poll would take place in May 2021, with the local government election also shunted back one year to May 2022, again to avoid a clash. 

New legislation at Westminster will eventually hand over power on elections to Holyrood.

When polling stations across Scotland closed on the evening of 3 May, 2007, everyone thought it would all be over by the following morning.

How wrong we were.

The chaos that descended across Scotland saw the suspension of several counts and the rejection of more than 140,000 ballot papers.

In 2007, the Holyrood and Scottish council elections took place on the same day, and saw the introduction of a new design of ballot paper for the parliament vote and a new voting system for the council seats.

Voters were to put crosses on one ballot paper and numbers on the other, while everything was counted by machine.

Confused? It seems many voters were.

The first real concerns on counting night came in the early hours, when the number of spoiled papers in the Airdrie and Shotts seat was confirmed at 1,536 - just 90 votes away from Labour's majority.

By 0400 BST, the Strathkelvin and Bearsden count was suspended, while problems in Edinburgh and Aberdeen and other areas of the central belt emerged.

Shortly after 0700, the Scotland Office, which is in charge of running Holyrood elections, insisted the e-counting system was "working well", saying the results were accurate and final.

A BBC investigation later found tens of thousands of votes in the Holyrood election were rejected by the electronic counting machines without any human adjudication.

Basically, the machines had been programmed to reject some of the new style ballot papers automatically.

Parliamentary Business Minister Joe Fitzpatrick begins be explaining this is "a very short and simple bill".

Mr Fitzpatrick says the bill is necessary after the debacle of the 2007 Holyrood elections.

Image source, bbc

The minister says the Smith Commission recommended the Scottish Parliament should have all powers relating to Holyrood and local elections.

These powers will be in the Scotland Bill, but clearly not in place before the election in May.

MSPs will now debate the Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill, external for the first time. 

The legislation does what it says on the tin, basically making provision about the determination of the day of the poll at the first ordinary general election for membership of the Scottish Parliament after 2016 and about the year in which local government elections fall to be held. 

The bill provides for a change to the date of the Scottish Parliament general election that would otherwise be held on 7 May 2020 to 6 May 2021 so that it does not coincide with the UK Parliament general election scheduled for 7 May 2020. 

It also provides for a change to the date of the Scottish local government elections due to be held on 6 May 2021 to 5 May 2022, so that they do not coincide with the new date of the Scottish Parliament general election. 

MSPs will shortly debate the Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill for the first time.

This will be followed by the Stage 1 debate on the Lobbying (Scotland) Bill.

We'll be back at 14:30 as MSPs will debate the Scottish Elections (Dates) Bill for the first time.

Followed by the Stage 1 debate on the Lobbying (Scotland) Bill

Ms Hyslop concludes saying the exercise of freedom of expression brings duties and responsibilities, including allowing people to say things you disagree with. 

The minister ends by quoting the Paris motto: "She is shaken by the waves, but does not sink".

Image source, bbc

This, she says, is a symbol of Paris's resistance to terrorism and Scotland stands shoulder to shoulder with her in this task.   

Ms Hyslop says terrorist messages will not resonate.

The Europe secretary says the assault was an act of terrorism and an attack on freedom of speech.

The SNP MSP says freedom of speech is a fundamental human right and it must be protected.

She says tyrants and dictators still fear satirical cartoons, which highlight injustices.

Ms Hyslop says democracies thrive in the face of challenge from freedom of speech. 

Europe and External Affairs Secretary Fiona Hyslop says the attack 

The hash tag "Je Suis Charlie" went viral says the minister.

The attack prompted an unprecedented show of solidarity across the world, she says.

"Today's debate shows we continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with France."

She says the attacks were intended to spread terror and drive a wedge between people, but the result has been the opposite of that goal. 

At 11:30 local time (10:30 GMT) on Wednesday 7 January, a black Citroen C3 drove up to the Charlie Hebdo building in Rue Nicolas-Appert. Two masked gunmen, dressed in black and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles got out and approached the offices.

They burst into number 6, Rue Nicolas-Appert, before realising they had the wrong address. They then moved down the street to number 10 - where the Charlie Hebdo offices are on the second floor.

Once inside, the men - now known to be brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi - asked maintenance staff in reception where the magazine's offices were, before shooting dead caretaker Frederic Boisseau.

Image source, AFP

One of the magazine's cartoonists, Corinne Rey, described how she had just returned to the building after picking up her daughter from day care when the gunmen threatened her, forcing her to enter the code for the keypad entry to the newsroom on the second floor - where a weekly editorial meeting was taking place.

The men opened fire and killed the editor's police bodyguard, Franck Brinsolaro, before asking for editor Stephane Charbonnier, known as Charb, and other four cartoonists by name and killing them, along with three other editorial staff and a guest attending the meeting.

Witnesses said they had heard the gunmen shouting "We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad" and "God is Great" in Arabic while calling out the names of the journalists.

Scottish Conservative MSP Jamie McGrigor praises the value of satire.

Mr McGrigor says: "It takes great bravery to stand up and be counted and tell the truth."

He says the people of Scotland and all MSPs stood shoulder to shoulder with the French and the satirists, we must continue to do so he concludes.