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PE2194, which was lodged by Lesley E Roberts, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to amend the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, in line with the recommendations of the Scott review, to make it fit for purpose and to protect vulnerable adults from abuse of power of attorney.

The SPICe briefing highlights recommendation 13.3 in the final report of the Scottish mental health law review—the Scott review—as being particularly relevant to the subject matter of the petition. It adds that the Scottish Government announced new legislation to reform the 2000 act in its 2024 programme for government, but indicated in May 2025 that that had been delayed, with work being done to bring forward a bill early in the next parliamentary session.

The Scottish Government has explained that it has established an expert working group and a ministerial oversight group to progress work on the reform of the act in line with recommendations of the Scott review, including improvements to the power of attorney process, and that it commits to hearing the views of key practitioners and people with lived experience in developing the legislation.

Power of attorney has cropped up from time to time during this parliamentary session and, finally, something appears to be being done to look into it. Do colleagues have any suggestions for courses of action?

Thank you, Mr Golden. Are colleagues content to close the petition?

That brings us to PE2197, lodged by Linsay McRitchie, which is on allowing more survivors of care abuse to access redress. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to extend section 18 of the Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Act 2021 to include survivors of abuse that occurred after 2004.

Under section 18 of the act, redress payments are limited to abuse of children in “relevant care settings” in Scotland that occurred before 1 December 2004. The policy memorandum for the bill set out that that is the date when the then First Minister, Jack McConnell, gave a public apology in the Parliament.

The policy memorandum also set out that

“Rapid and substantial change in relation to the monitoring and regulation of the care system in Scotland took place in the period immediately following the creation of the Scottish Parliament.”

Consideration was given to the date being set at 17 December 2014 instead, to match the Scottish child abuse inquiry’s terms of reference, but the Scottish Government’s view was that 2004 was a more appropriate cut-off point in the context of the redress scheme.

The Scottish Government’s response to the committee states that it considers that the cut-off date for the scheme

“remains appropriate and in line with the core purpose of the scheme”.

It also states that there are no plans to review that.

The petitioner’s written submission states that

“Just because the law drew a line at 2004 doesn’t mean abuse stopped then”.

She believes that if the inquiry investigates abuse over a specified time period, the redress scheme should also cover that time period. The petitioner also states that the

“cut-off date leaves an entire generation behind”,

as they are left with no route to redress.

Do members have any comments or suggestions for action?

For the next new petition, I note that we have some guests in the public gallery, and we are also joined by Jackie Baillie.

PE2193, lodged by Avril Arnott, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to introduce mandatory clinical standards to ensure that urgent paediatric cancer referrals are subject to the same maximum wait times as adult referrals; require clear accountability and follow-up when a paediatric cancer referral is downgraded or delayed; fund training and update guidelines to enable general practitioners and clinicians to recognise, and escalate action on, signs of cancer in children as promptly as they would in adult cases; and undertake a formal review of paediatric diagnostic delays in Scotland, to identify systemic failures and implement change.

The petition was motivated—as petitions too often are—by the tragic passing of a young girl after she was repeatedly referred and downgraded in her medical assessments. The petitioner argues that no young person should have their symptoms underestimated simply because they appear to be healthy or are perceived to be too young for serious illness.

The Scottish Government points to a number of projects, either completed or in progress, that directly address the points raised by the petition. The Scottish referral guidelines were updated last summer to support GPs in referrals for children and young people. The cancer action plan for Scotland for 2023 to 2026 includes carrying out a clinically-led review of the latest evidence to determine

“whether there is merit in specific additional or alternative cancer waiting times standards for different types of cancer and cancer treatment”.

In 2024, NHS Scotland launched a primary care cancer education platform, which provides primary care clinicians with information to support earlier cancer diagnosis efforts and enable effective decision making. The Scottish Government expects the managed service network for children and young people with cancer to be alert to systemic failures and to initiate local board escalation procedures if necessary. Additionally, the Scottish Government previously stated that the managed service network handles the implementation of “Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care: cancer strategy for children and young people 2021-2026”. That work started in 2021 and is due to be completed in 2026.

Before the committee decides what action to take, I invite Jackie Baillie to contribute to our thinking.

We will close the petition on the basis that has been identified.

Are colleagues content to close the petition?

Members indicated agreement.

PE2199, which was lodged by Timothy Bowles, urges the Scottish Government to provide robust back-up or alternative means to ensure that remote communities are able to contact emergency services in the event of complete power failure.

The traditional landline telephone network—the public switched telephone network, or PSTN—is being replaced by voice over internet protocol technology across the United Kingdom. VoIP uses a broadband internet connection to make phone calls. That leaves users more vulnerable in a power cut because, as the SPICe briefing shows, the digital system works in a power cut only if battery back-up is available.

Because telecommunications are a reserved power under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998, the Scottish Government states that it is unable to intervene directly to provide back-up along the lines requested by the petition, or indeed to instruct providers to do so. However, it points to Ofcom guidance that advises providers to have at least one solution available to consumers to access emergency services for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power outage.

The Scottish Government also mentions that its new national islands plan acknowledges that more can be done to strengthen resilience across Scotland. It adds that the plan includes a commitment to work with local authorities and other key stakeholders to capture and apply learning from disruption affecting island communities, in order to strengthen its preparedness and response planning, including in relation to digital infrastructure.

Finally, the committee received a submission from Consumer Scotland, which highlights the extensive work that it has been doing in this area. It states that it continues to engage with the Scottish Government and local stakeholders to improve data sharing, in order to enable providers

“to more easily identify consumers who need support”.

Do colleagues have any suggestions for action?

Our next petition is PE2200, lodged by Melanie Jane Stuart on behalf of the Educational Institute of Scotland Further Education Lecturers Association—EIS-FELA—and Unison at Dundee and Angus College. It calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to develop, publish and adopt a multiyear—for example, three to five years—funding settlement for Scotland’s colleges, to avoid the reliance on annual decisions; to commit to funding that, at minimum, rises in line with inflation, in order to prevent real-terms erosion of college budgets; to deliver a substantive, above-inflation funding settlement within the 2026-27 Scottish budget that places all colleges in a financially secure position; to provide safety-net baselines for the provision for additional support needs, core student support services and regional or local community access programmes; and to require the Scottish Funding Council to give colleges clearer forward figures and simpler in-year rules, to allow planning flexibility for staffing, curriculum, capital investment and community partnership activities above the three baselines that are set out above.

Members will be aware that this has been a prominent issue in the Parliament’s chamber in the light of the reports from Audit Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council regarding significant financial challenges in the college and university sector. Furthermore, the Education, Children and Young People Committee recently completed substantive work on the long-term sustainability of funding for colleges and universities, that having been the focus of that committee’s pre-budget scrutiny for the budget that we have just received for 2026-27.

In its response to the petition, the Scottish Government has confirmed that the SFC is engaging with Colleges Scotland and the wider college sector on a fundamental review of the funding allocation model. Since responding to the motion, the Government has announced that its 2026-27 draft budget for education and skills reverses some of the previous considerable and damaging cuts in college funding, with an increase of £70 million in resource and capital funding to colleges. In addition, the 2026 Scottish spending review indicates that Scotland’s colleges will see £146 million of additional resource funding allocated by 2039-40.

Do colleagues have any comments or suggestions for action?

PE2201, which was lodged by Tamara Giocopazzi, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to place a legal duty on schools to inform parents and carers by the end of the school day if their child is involved in any incident or allegation that affects their safety, wellbeing or dignity. The Scottish Government’s response to the petition states that it expects schools to work with families on any issue that affects their child’s safety, wellbeing or dignity. It is the cabinet secretary’s expectation that this includes contacting parents or carers in a timely manner when an incident has taken place.

The submission states that schools and local authorities should already have established protocols in place to notify parents of incidents affecting their children’s safety and wellbeing, such as when they have provided first aid as a result of illness or injury. The Scottish Government’s view is that, as it is a local authority’s statutory responsibility to deliver education, it is appropriate that notification protocols are developed and implemented locally.

Mr Torrance has to leave us at half past 10, so I wonder whether he has any thoughts to share on the petition before he leaves us this morning.

It is also open to the petitioner and any individual affected to contact their local councillor, their local MSP or their local MP, who are, after all, elected to represent them and assist them should such incidents arise. However, I think that there is no option for the committee but to close the petition.