Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Meeting Minutes
14th Meeting, 2022
- Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2022
- Session: 6
- Location: T1.40-CR5 The Smith Room
- Meeting opened at: 09:32
- Meeting closed at: 12:17
- Published: Monday, November 14, 2022 11:06am
Also Present
Carol Mochan MSP
1 Consideration of continued petitions:
The Committee considered the following continued petitions—
PE1862: Introduce community representation on boards of public organisations delivering lifeline services to island communities and took evidence from the Minister for Transport and Fran Pacitti, Director of Aviation, Maritime, Freight and Canals, Transport Scotland. The Committee agreed to consider the evidence at a future meeting.
PE1856: Support the taxi trade and took evidence from Murray Fleming and Robert McLean, Scottish Taxi Federation and Steven Grant, Unite. Paul Sweeney MSP decalred an interest as a member of Unite. The Committee agreed to consider the evidence at a future meeting.
PE1854: Review the adult disability payment eligibility criteria for people with mobility needs. The Committee agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government and to the MS Society.
PE1907: Provide funded early learning & childcare for all 2 year olds in Scotland. The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government.
PE1914: Ban school uniforms in secondary schools. The Committee agreed to close the petition under rule 15.7 of Standing Orders on the basis that the Scottish Government have now published their consultation on school uniforms, and the Cabinet Secretary has indicated they have no plans to abolish the school uniform or mandate for specific school uniform items at a national level.
2 Consideration of new petitions:
The Committee considered the following new petitions—
PE1939: Amend the date of birth to allow wider accessibility to HPV vaccination programme for boys. The Committee agreed to write to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, Teenage Cancer Trust, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, Young Scot, and the Men’s Health Forum.
PE1942: Encourage peer support programmes in public sector organisations. The Committee agreed to write to stakeholder organisations, including the Mental Health Foundation, Scottish Association for Mental Health, Samaritans, the Scottish Recovery Network and the Laura Hyde Foundation.
PE1943: Help prevent the destruction of greenfield sites by providing financial incentives towards the remediation and reuse of brownfield sites. The Committee agreed to keep the petition open until the Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) is finalised and approved. The Committee also agreed to write to the Royal Town Planning Institute, Homes for Scotland, COSLA, the Clyde Gateway Urban Regeneration Companry, the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland and the Chartered Institute of Building.
PE1945: Ban the extraction and use of peat for horticulture and all growing media by 2023. The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government and the Scottish Crofting Federation.
PE1946: To call on the Scottish Government to pay all charges for homeless temporary accommodation. The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government and Shelter Scotland.
PE1947: Address Scotland's culture of youth violence. The Committee agreed to engage with communities and families that have been directly affected by the issues raised in this petition. The Committee also agreed to write to the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit.
PE1948: Improve the way that unexplained deaths are dealt with. The Committee agreed to write to Victim Support Scotland and Police Scotland. The Committee also agreed to take evidence from Stephanie Bonner.
PE1951: Reinstate inshore coastal limit on the use of dredge and trawl fishing gears. The Committee agreed to refer the petition to the Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee for consideration as part of their work on inshore fisheries issues.
3 Public Participation Inquiry(In Private)
The Committee considered evidence on its Public Participation Inquiry.