Seòmar agus comataidhean

We will add PE2139 to the shortlist of petitions that we would like to consider carrying forward.

In the circumstances, are members content with that?

Members indicated agreement.

PE2155, which was lodged by Daniel Taggart, calls on the Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to improve support for people trying to give up e-cigarettes and vaping by expanding access to nicotine replacement therapy and stop-smoking medications to include e-cigarette users and vapers. We last considered the petition on 18 June 2025, when we agreed to write to the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health. We wanted to get a bit more clarity on what steps the Scottish Government is taking to increase support, as well as awareness of support, for those trying to quit e-cigarettes and vapes, with a particular focus on young people.

The minister’s response points to the tobacco and vaping framework of 2023, via which the Government is committed to improving information on vapes and to increasing awareness of avenues for support with stopping vaping or smoking. The minister highlights a number of actions that have either already been taken or are to be taken over the next two years, although those are mostly focused on prevention rather than increasing support for those who are already using e-cigarettes and vapes.

Colleagues, do we have any suggestions for action?

I have been a member of the petitions committee, in various parliamentary sessions, long enough to remember the advent of vapes, which were, at the time, considered positively as providing a route to get people off hard tobacco. That was quite a successful initiative, but I do not think that anybody necessarily anticipated the massive growth in the use of vapes as an attraction in their own right, as opposed to their being a device to get people off hard tobacco.

As you said, vapes have now become incredibly prevalent, and they come in an assortment of flavours. Occasionally, I have asked someone what the flavour of their vape was, and they have said that it was mango, passion fruit or goodness knows what else. There are more flavours of vapes than there are flavours of ice cream nowadays.

I am not quite sure where we can take things.

The health committee in the next parliamentary session could also consider the issue, which has definitely grown over the lifetime of the Scottish Parliament. I do not think that a proper holistic view has been taken. I am not in a position to say what harms, if any, are caused by vaping in the way that I could for wider tobacco products, so I do not want to presume anything. However, it is the case that the prevalence of public vaping among young people is now widespread.

Are colleagues content with Mr Golden’s suggestion that we close the petition?

Members indicated agreement.

Agenda item 2 is consideration of continued petitions. Many people may be joining us this morning who are monitoring the development and progress of their petition. At this stage in the parliamentary session, there is little option but for the committee to consider whether there is anything further that we can do to progress a petition in this session. Irrespective of the merits of a petition, we may feel that we have no option but to close it. When that is the case, we will identify to petitioners that there is an option for them to resubmit the petition at the beginning of the next session of Parliament, if they think that that is the appropriate course of action. That would allow the petition to be properly explored by the Parliament in the new session.

PE1946, which was lodged by Sean Anthony Clerkin, calls on the Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to use general taxation to pay all charges for homeless temporary accommodation, including writing off the £33.3 million debt that, at the time of the petition, was owed by homeless people to local authorities for temporary accommodation.

We last considered the petition in June 2025, when we agreed to write to the Minister for Housing. The Cabinet Secretary for Housing provided a response to the committee that highlights work being undertaken to better understand the costs, quality and value-for-money challenges around increasing the use of suitable temporary accommodation. The submission states:

“Charges for temporary accommodation are a matter for individual councils, but councils must take into account what a person can afford to pay.”

It notes that the Scottish Government is willing to work in partnership with others

“to increase consistency in monitoring to improve transparency on charges and value for money.”

Colleagues, do we have any suggestions for action in relation to the petition?

Thank you, Mr Russell. Are colleagues content to close the petition on that basis?

Members indicated agreement.

PE2020, which was lodged by Anne-Marie Morrison, calls on the Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to provide the same fertility treatment to single women as is offered to couples in the national health service so that they have a chance to have a family. When the committee last considered the petition, on 21 May, we agreed to write to the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health.

The response that we received states that, at a meeting of the national fertility group, Public Health Scotland provided a recap on the demand modelling that had been completed earlier in the year and provided further information on capacity and cost modelling. It states that subsequently it was agreed that the Scottish Government would consider commissioning Public Health Scotland to carry out capacity modelling on the expansion of in vitro fertilisation access criteria to include single people. Once that work is completed,

“the National Fertility Group would then need to schedule time to properly discuss the modelling implications and consider whether they would support a criteria change recommendation in the medium to longer term as an aspiration when health budgets could support the increase in funding this would require.”

It further states that those

“conversations are likely to take place in early 2026.”

In the light of that response, do colleagues have any suggestions for action?

Are we content to close the petition on that basis?

Members indicated agreement.

PE2143, which was also lodged by Sean Anthony Clerkin, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to introduce legislation to require all private and registered social landlords to investigate and remediate damp and mould within specified timeframes and to high-quality standards.

We last considered this petition on 4 June last year, when we agreed to write to the Scottish Government. In its response, the Scottish Government reiterated its commitment to bringing Awaab’s law into force in the rented sector in Scotland from March 2026. As recently as last week, the Government announced the introduction of the first set of relevant regulations. Subject to agreement by the Parliament, the Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026 will require landlords to investigate reports of damp and mould and to start repairs within a set timescale.

However, the petitioner remains concerned that requiring homes to be only “substantially free” from rising and penetrating damp does not go far enough. He argues that a statutory framework should also define high standards for the remedial work that is undertaken by landlords in this area.

It does seem that the Scottish Government is making progress in this regard. Would members like to make any comments or suggestions for action?