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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 30 July 2025
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Displaying 3461 contributions

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Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee

New Petitions

Meeting date: 1 May 2024

Jackson Carlaw

We will thank the petitioner and keep the petition open. We will now embark on our quest to receive further comment and evidence. Thank you very much to Jackie Baillie, as well.

Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee

New Petitions

Meeting date: 1 May 2024

Jackson Carlaw

PE2076, which has been lodged by Maurice Frank, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to require original wills made outside of Scotland to be accepted into safe custody by Registers of Scotland, or other safe custody providers, without prior mailing around, removing their power first to require an opinion on the validity of the will from a lawyer in the jurisdiction of origin.

The SPICe briefing explains that

“prior to a person’s death, there is no requirement in Scotland to register a will with a public body. However, a person might choose to register their will for safekeeping in the Register of Deeds ... A document whose formal validity is governed by a law other than Scots law can be registered if the Keeper is satisfied that the document is formally valid according to the law governing such validity”,

and the Requirements of Writing (Scotland) Act 1995 makes that provision.

The Scottish Government’s response to the petition states that due to the resources involved in obtaining such confirmation, the responsibility for providing the necessary evidence test rests with the applicant. The response further states:

“This provision is consistent with the principle that as the Register of Deeds is a Scottish public register, members of the public in Scotland (who are not familiar with the laws governing documents in other jurisdictions) should be able to view the register with confidence that the documents registered therein are formally valid.”

Where an individual chooses to lodge a will in the register, it might be possible for evidence to be obtained electronically rather than by mailing the document to the relevant jurisdiction, depending on the requirements of that jurisdiction.

It is quite a technical request and quite a technical response. Do members have any suggestions or comments?

Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee

New Petitions

Meeting date: 1 May 2024

Jackson Carlaw

Thank you, Mr Torrance. I will make an additional suggestion. The cabinet secretary notes that the Education and Skills Committee’s 2017 report noted how valuable good PSE is to young people. Therein rests an issue of how contemporary the content of PSE is at any given point in time. From my constituents, I know that there is, at times, a feeling that the content has not been updated regularly enough to reflect current circumstances, and that the range of cultural and social issues affecting young people move apace, so what might have been relevant two or three years ago needs to be looked at again. Therefore, although the value of good PSE is there to be seen, students should not be questioning the value of the item in the curriculum, because they should feel that its content is relevant to their concerns and considerations. The content should not be speaking to something that is aged in relation to their personal experience.

Are members content that we proceed on that basis?

Members indicated agreement.

Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee

New Petitions

Meeting date: 1 May 2024

Jackson Carlaw

I say to Mr Ross that we are going to close the petition on the basis that the Government has no plans to do away with the subject. However, there is an issue at the heart of what he has said about the contemporary relevance of the subject at any given point, and we will draw that to the Government’s attention.

Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee

New Petitions

Meeting date: 1 May 2024

Jackson Carlaw

PE2078 is the last of our new petitions today. It was lodged by Ryan McNaughton and calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to create a new body to be responsible for the mandatory inspection, assessment and licensing of private ambulance service providers, or to encompass the clinical governance management of private companies in Scotland into Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

The SPICe briefing that we have received explains that the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 includes independent ambulance services in the definition of an “independent healthcare service”. The act sets out that Scottish ministers must

“prepare and publish standards and outcomes applicable”

to independent health care services and that Healthcare Improvement Scotland may inspect

“any independent health care service.”

However, HIS has confirmed that regulation of those services has not yet been commenced and that it is unable to undertake any regulatory activity in respect of that type of service.

The Scottish Government’s response to the petition states that the next step is for officials to continue engagement with stakeholders to explore whether the definition of “independent ambulance services” should be amended before the provision is commenced, in order to ensure that any regulation adequately reflects services today and in the future. The response also states that the commencement of HIS’s functions in relation to the regulation of independent ambulance service provision will be considered and prioritised as part of a suite of proposals regarding the regulation of independent healthcare.

The act was passed in 2010, but it seems that we have not yet commenced its provisions, which is certainly some lead time by any standard.

Do members have any comments or suggestions for action??

Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee

Decision on Taking Business in Private

Meeting date: 1 May 2024

Jackson Carlaw

Good morning, and welcome to the seventh meeting in 2024 of the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee—excuse my slightly hoarse voice. The first item on our agenda is a decision on taking items 4 and 5 in private. Item 4 relates to PE1975 and item 5 relates to the consideration of content for our annual report. Are members content to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee

Continued Petitions

Meeting date: 1 May 2024

Jackson Carlaw

Thank you. Given that that is the case, our questions might be quite focused and to the point. I do not think that we are pushing a stone up a hill, in the sense that the Government appears to have accepted the argument. However, it would be interesting to explore some of the issues underpinning the need for all of this.

Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee

Continued Petitions

Meeting date: 1 May 2024

Jackson Carlaw

That remains to be seen. Thank you, Mr Ewing.

Do any other colleagues wish to come in?

Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee

Continued Petitions

Meeting date: 1 May 2024

Jackson Carlaw

Thank you very much for that, Mr Ewing. I think that that is correct.

It is open to us to write to the Government to say that we are closing the petition on the basis of good faith, given that the Government has said that it will progress the issue. It would be helpful to try to tie it down to a more specific timeline.

I thank Mr Izatt very much for bringing an important petition before the committee. In the event that no progress is made, it would be open to him to lodge a fresh petition. As matters stand, the committee has taken the issue as far forward as we can, given the Government’s response and assurance. Are members content to proceed on that basis?

Members indicated agreement.

Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee

Continued Petitions

Meeting date: 1 May 2024

Jackson Carlaw

PE2019, which was lodged by Alan McLeod, calls on the Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to prevent all owners of self-catering holiday accommodation from obtaining rates relief under the small business bonus scheme. We last considered the petition on 28 June last year, when we agreed to write to the Scottish Assessors Association, the Holiday Home Association, the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers and the Scottish Government.

We asked the Scottish Government whether it would consider adding self-catering holiday accommodation to the list of properties that are unable to qualify for the small business bonus scheme. Its response outlines the current arrangements for self-catering holiday accommodation but does not provide any indication of its position on the petition. Its submission notes that a consultation on council tax for second and empty homes invited views on the thresholds that apply for self-catering accommodation to be liable for non-domestic rates, and that the responses were being analysed at the time of the submission.

I am very disappointed in the Government’s response. What is the point of sending us a response that is almost like a public information leaflet but does not address in any way, either positively or negatively, the ask of the petition and the question that we put? I would therefore like to go back to the Government in a direct way and say that the committee does not at all appreciate receiving a statement that we could reasonably have downloaded from the internet; we are asking about an instrument of future policy relating to the ask of the petition; and we would appreciate the Government’s views on the petition as put.