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Mr Marra, you identify a gap in the process—there is no denying that. The families that engage with the process at the moment are those who have youngsters who have a challenge, a need or a disability. They are much more likely to be highly engaged in ensuring that their children’s needs are being addressed. The engagement is important, but there are elements within families, guardians and parents that do not engage because they are hard to reach, and schools have identified that as a problem in making sure that they cover the basics for all children.

I see where you are trying to take this, and it is laudable to take the matter in that direction, but there is a concern that not everyone would necessarily be captured. How will you ensure that the engagement is meaningful and that parents, guardians and families feel that their voices are heard and make a difference?

Good morning, Mark. You have outlined the need for such a group to come together with others and to collaborate. That represents an opportunity, because the existing groups are of quite long standing and they will have been looking at the system over the past session and even prior to that. You mentioned connections, and there is no doubt that those exist.

You said that you want to influence future Government policy and that the group would consider how to achieve that. How do you envisage that taking place? If you have an agenda to that effect—ensuring that you are running parallel with Government policy or aiming to influence it—how would you achieve it?

I agree, convener. Michael Marra has identified a gap in the system. However, I have some reservations about how successful such a group can be. We have heard about how different local authorities do different things and about how some individuals within the process are much more aligned to lobbying and making things happen—I acknowledge that. Nevertheless, it is courageous to try it.

It would be advantageous to see what happens after the group’s first year—whether it has made the impact that is intended or whether it has ended up having impacts in certain geographical areas that may be more aligned to doing something, instead of covering the whole of Scotland. There is merit in giving the group the opportunity to go forward at this stage. However, as I have said, its future will depend on its success.

Exactly. Thank you.

I think that we need to communicate with the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to find out specifics about the area, and about the planned independent review on sexual harassment and gender-based violence and the practice that covers that, which is mentioned in the petition.

It is also important that we find out from the Scottish Government and Education Scotland how they monitor children and young people who are being consulted on the curriculum across Scotland, in line with the Scottish Government’s best practice, and whether the Scottish Government currently monitors data in relation to sexual assault in schools.

Details on the membership are also important; we need to find out the membership of the gender-based violence in schools working group.

If we could require all that, it would give us a much better outlook and understanding of where the Scottish Government is with the process and how it is progressing it.

There might not be that understanding when people put forward their case to the police, and you have expressed the difficulties that you had when you went to court to try to move things forward. Were any support mechanisms provided by the police or by anybody else as you went through that process?

What would you say if you had the opportunity to develop such support, change the law or change the way in which the process is tackled?

I propose that we close the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders, on the basis that the Scottish Government intends to introduce the Legal Aid Reform (Scotland) Bill during this Parliament. In closing the petition, we might wish to highlight to the petitioner that she can contact her local MSPs about pursuing amendments to the bill once it is introduced, to ensure that the issues that are raised in the petition are fully considered.

I, too, commend you for your courage today in coming in and making the points that you have made.

You spoke about your difficulties when it came to reporting what had happened and dealing with the police, and you talked about the knock-on effects of that on you, as a victim. What developments would you like to see within Police Scotland in relation to how it manages such cases? The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 led to Police Scotland changing its priorities in relation to domestic abuse, but, given your circumstances, there is obviously still a gap, with things falling through the net. What should Police Scotland be looking at? What areas could be developed?

You talked about the peer group that you have set up. Do you liaise with any of the authorities? Do you go to them, or do they come to you?