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Our second petition today is PE1804, calling for a halt to Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd’s air traffic management strategy. The petition has been lodged by Alasdair MacEachen, John Doig and Peter Henderson on behalf of the Benbecula community council. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to halt Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd’s ATMS project and to conduct an independent assessment of the decisions and the decision-making process for the project.

I am pleased to welcome Liam McArthur, who I recall vividly asked a question on this matter or made an intervention during a debate. I had thought that it was a question to the First Minister, but it turns out that it was an intervention at a members’ business debate. Welcome to you, Liam. I also welcome Rhoda Grant, who I think is an unofficial member of the committee. I have remarked before that you seem to have a season ticket to our proceedings, Rhoda. It is a testament to the strength of the petitions that we are considering from the Highlands and Islands region. I am delighted to have you both here. Before I invite you to speak, I will provide a brief summary of what has happened since we last considered the petition.

At our previous consideration, we agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Scottish Government’s digital assurance office and the Prospect trade union. We were seeking information from the cabinet secretary about the current status of the project, whether it was still on budget and when a decision from the Civil Aviation Authority on the issue of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast—ADS-B—was to be expected; we asked about an update from Prospect about recent talks with Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd; and we asked for information from the Civil Aviation Authority regarding where remote tower technology had been successfully deployed. As I recall, that referred to the assertion that there were examples all around the world, and I wanted to know where they were. We also sought information from the Scottish Government about action taken following the assurance health check that was carried out in January 2021 and an assurance that the project was complying with Scottish Government requirements for a project of this nature.

I am pleased to say that we have received responses to all our correspondence, and a summary of those has been provided for members with this week’s papers. The petitioner has provided a further submission, which members should have in front of them.

I now invite Rhoda Grant and Liam McArthur to comment and contribute.

We note that suggestion.

I am content with that. The establishment of the sub-groups on the education of health professionals and on public awareness, and the commitment to establishing the clinical network, are all positive actions.

Does anyone else wish to come in?

The clerks tell me that we have not done that previously. As that is the case, it is a sensible suggestion.

We will investigate that.

Yes—that is a fair request.

The next petition is PE1857, which is about the regulation of the role of the curator ad litem. I apologise that, when we last considered the petition, despite my O-level Latin, I could not remember whether it was pronounced “lit-em” or “light-em.” After that transgression after 50 years, I am told that it is “light-em”.

PE1857 was also lodged by Stephen Leighton—we considered a separate petition of his a few moments ago. The petition calls on?the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to regulate the curator ad litem and ensure historical claims of malpractice of?curators?ad litem in Scotland are investigated.

At?its previous consideration, the committee agreed to write to key stakeholders seeking views on the action called for in the petition.?In its submission, the Scottish Mental Welfare Commission states that?curators?ad litem are bound by the regulations of their respective professions. Usually, the role is held by?solicitors?and, less commonly, by social workers.

The Scottish Legal Complaints Committee states that it has no specific role in the regulation of, or in dealing with complaints regarding, curators?ad litem. However,?it may have a role if a complaint is made that a solicitor acting as?a curator ad litem has breached certain standards of service or conduct that apply to solicitors.

The SLCC responded to a recent consultation?that included proposals for a new register of?curators?ad litem and a regulatory complaints regime.?The commission suggested that, although a dedicated complaints process might be positive, it could potentially result in parallel investigations on the same matter, with?different decisions, outcomes and sanctions being made against a practitioner.

The Scottish Social Services Council?suggests?that?requiring?all?curators?ad litem to register with it would result in dual registration as?the majority of curators are?solicitors?who?are already registered with the Law Society of Scotland.?

That is quite complicated and technical legalese. Do colleagues have any thoughts?

The fact that a regulatory regime is anticipated to be operational by 2023 allows us to close the petition at this point. However, we will obviously keep an eye on how the matter progresses and, if it falls short, encourage the petitioner to come back to us with another petition at that time.

On that basis, do we agree to write to the Scottish Government expressing our concern about the fact that we have no data to quantify the use of a process that is meant to be a recourse for the public, that we point out that simply telling us that there is no way to quantify that falls short of the adequate security that the process is intended to provide in the first place and that we ask what its attitude to that is?

Members indicated agreement.

I agree. I felt that a distinction emerged in the evidence session between what is set out in this petition and the use of polypropylene mesh in transvaginal procedures, which the Scottish Government has stayed for the moment. I do not know whether the petition’s ultimate aim, which is an outright ban on all mesh procedures, was necessarily validated by the evidence that I heard, but what came out of the evidence was a number of other issues that colleagues have identified and which we should continue to explore. Again, those issues are informed consent, alternative options with regard to tissue and, more generally, the materials that are in use and the reviews that are taking place.

On this occasion, there is real merit in continuing with the petition and exploring the issues that colleagues have identified, but recognising that we are doing so as a consequence of the evidence session and not necessarily in the expectation of its leading to the outcome that the petitioners are seeking, which is a ban on all such procedures.

If members feel that that is a reasonable assessment, do we agree to keep the petition open and proceed on that basis?

Members indicated agreement.