Hansard

It is with pleasure that I open this debate on behalf of the committee, which will allow us to highlight some of the important petitions that we have discussed, as well as other aspects of our work this session.

Four key principles—those of sharing power, accountability, access and participation, and equal opportunities—were adopted by the Parliament as the basis for conducting business. It has been important to develop a culture of genuine participation. When the Parliament was re-established in 1999 there was a recognition that we had to put in place an institution that would operate in a new way and which would reflect the hopes, aspirations and expectations of all the people of Scotland. We needed to be innovative and imaginative to ensure that we did not replicate, for example, Westminster conventions and procedures.

We had a blank sheet of paper to create a new Parliament, and I think that we took the correct step in identifying that, for a petitions process to be legitimate and to have a purpose, it must have a focal point; otherwise we would be wasting the time, and raising the expectations, of petitioners. That resulted in the establishment of the Public Petitions Committee. Since 1999, nearly 1,400 people have brought petitions to their Parliament for consideration.

The committee takes responsibility for the petition’s initial consideration, sometimes through hearing evidence from the petitioner, and it seek comments from various appropriate bodies. I believe that we have been successful in enhancing participation and in upholding the founding principles of the Parliament. Petitioning provides all citizens with an open and accessible route into the policy scrutiny and development arena. We emphasise the “public” in public petitions, as the process is about sharing power between the executive, the legislature and the people.

The Public Petitions Committee is a consensual committee. We consider petitions in the best interests of the petitioner, and I believe that the committee has fulfilled that role very well. We involve petitioners at every stage, and the process is designed to work around them.

A key feature is the ability to gather information, and at this point I thank those who have worked so constructively with us. That of course includes petitioners themselves, but I also ask the Minister for Parliamentary Business to pass on our thanks to his ministerial colleagues, a good number of whom have appeared before us—indeed, some of them are due to appear at our final meetings. I also thank the ministerial officials who submitted responses to the very many requests that the committee made. In the run-up to dissolution we have squeezed response deadlines, and we appreciate the efforts that have been made in getting information to us before the dissolution date.

There has been a noticeable increase in the number of current petitions that have been considered at our fortnightly meetings. At one meeting we considered 65 petitions. That has primarily been down to our desire to bring petitions back with minimum delay. That meant that we considered some petitions three or four times over the course of a year, which I think brought certain benefits, in that it kept the matter fresh in our minds and, importantly, ensured that the petition moved through the process speedily and with shorter gaps between discussions.

Over session 3 we have had 357 new petitions and around 930 current petitions filling the agendas of our 73 meetings. That has resulted in more written material being gathered.

A unique feature of the Public Petitions Committee is that we do not set our agenda. We do not come up with a list of topics that we wish to investigate as part of a work programme. Our work is absolutely set by the petitioners, who bring forward the topics that are important to them and which might not ordinarily be considered in this place.

Petitioning allows people to identify when something is missing or not working in the way that it was meant to work. The petitioners are ideally placed to say, “I think this issue needs to be looked at.”

We have had petitions on an amazing array of topics. I doubt that any other committee or member since 1999 has raised the issue of witchcraft legislation—we had two petitions on the subject. We have had petitions on a range of subjects, including cancer drugs and school bus safety, on which we have been working constructively with ministers.

Through small steps we have actively encouraged more young people to get involved in the process, which is important. We have done that through meetings in secondary schools throughout Scotland and here in the chamber in October, as part of the Scottish Youth Parliament conference, when we considered three petitions, two from MSYPs and one from the Parliament’s community partnership project. Three excellent oral presentations were made and we hope that positive action will emerge. For example, as a result of the petition on political education in schools, a meeting will take place tomorrow between the young petitioner, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People and Scottish Government officials. A petition on banning Mosquito devices has attracted support from the police and local authorities.

We held seven external meetings: in Dumbarton, Easterhouse, Duns, Fraserburgh, Alness, Anstruther and Arran. Five of the meetings took place in the local secondary school. We met in locations in which no other parliamentary committee had met. At our meeting in Berwickshire high school—the first time that any committee of the Parliament had been to Berwickshire—we adopted a new style for gathering evidence, as part of our inquiry into the petitions process. Did people know about the process? If not, what did we need to do to increase awareness? How could we improve the process? Who better to ask than those who came along to the meeting? That is exactly what we did.

We realised that we get out of meetings only what we put in and that inviting people to sit and watch is not the most appealing way to encourage them to turn up. Therefore, at external meetings since the inquiry finished, we have adapted the approach in which we asked the audience to one in which the audience asks us—a sort of question time. We tried to do something different and the people who attended appeared to enjoy themselves. At the Easterhouse meeting, people were sitting on the floor because there were no seats left.

I do not want to create the impression that we have cracked the engagement and participation nut. We have not done so. However, we are trying different approaches, by having external meetings, producing publicity material about the petitions process in a range of formats and languages, and making using of social media, such as our blog and podcasting. There is more to do and I am sure that the session 4 committee will build on our work and introduce other creative and innovative ideas.

Our procedures provide an open and accessible process. We recognise the efforts of petitioners in mobilising support and publicity for their petitions, but petitions are given equal weight and consideration whether they have one signature or 1,000 signatures. Unlike other petitioning processes, we are concerned with issues, not numbers. It is all well and good to attract thousands of petitions each year, but if there is no real scrutiny or participation, what is the point? People must feel that the process and the committee have relevance and can make a genuine difference.

In closing, I reflect on the simple thank yous that we get from petitioners for the time, effort and consideration that we gave their petitions and for involving them in the process. That alone makes the work worth while for all members of the committee.

I move,

That the Parliament notes the continued evolution of its public petitions process; applauds the work of petitioners who have engaged with their parliament through this process by highlighting issues of concern and importance that led to examination by the Public Petitions Committee and key policy makers; believes the process to be a positive demonstration of the Parliament’s founding principles, and supports the work of the committee and petitioners in bringing further improvements to the policies that affect the day-to-day lives of the people of Scotland.

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