Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Meeting Minutes
6th Meeting, 2022
- Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2022
- Session: 6
- Location: T1.40-CR5 The Smith Room
- Meeting opened at: 09:31
- Meeting closed at: 11:54
- Published: Thursday, April 21, 2022 02:32pm
Also Present
Rhoda Grant
1 Declaration of interests:
Fergus Ewing MSP was invited to declare any relevant interests. Fergus Ewing MSP declared that he was a current member of the Law Society of Scotland and is on the active roll of Scottish solicitors.
2 Institutionalising Participatory and Deliberative Democracy (IPDD)
The Committee took evidence from members of the Scottish Government IPDD Working Group— Fiona Garven, Director, Scottish Community Development Centre; Kelly McBride, Deliberative Democracy Lead, TPXimpact; Talat Yaqoob, Independent Consultant and Researcher.3 Consideration of continued petitions:
The Committee will consider the following continued petitions—
PE1723: Essential tremor treatment in Scotland. The Committee agreed to write to the National Specialist Services Committee and the Scottish Government.PE1859: Retain falconers’ rights to practise upland falconry in Scotland. The Committee agreed to write to the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and the RSPB. It also agreed to invite the Petitioner and Dr Nick Fox and the Scottish Government to give evidence at a future meeting.
PE1877: Provide body cameras for all frontline NHS staff. The Committee agreed to await the publication of the pilot evaluation at the end of Q3 2022/23 and at that point, write to the Scottish Ambulance Service to request information about the outcome of its evaluation and next steps.
PE1902: To allow an appeal process for Community Participation Requests. The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Community Development Centre.
PE1914: Ban school uniforms in secondary schools. The Committee agreed to keep the petition open, pending the publication of the Scottish Government’s consultation on school uniforms. It also agreed to write to the Scottish Government.
PE1916: Request a public inquiry into the management of the rest and be thankful project. The Committee agreed to write to Transport Scotland.
4 Consideration of new petitions:
The Committee will consider the following new petitions—
PE1926: Expand universal free school meals for all nursery, primary and secondary school pupils. The Committee agreed to write to Child Poverty Action Group, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, COSLA, Community Food and Health Scotland and The Trussell Trust. It also agreed to write to the Scottish Government.PE1928: Provide free rail travel for disabled people who meet the qualifications for free bus travel. The Committee agreed to hear evidence from the petitioner and Sight Scotland at a future meeting. It also agreed to write to Transport Scotland.
5 Work programme(In Private):
The Committee agreed its meeting programme and the timetable for the Citizen Participation enquiry.