Public Petitions Committee

Meeting date: Thursday, September 14, 2017

Official Report 536KB pdf

Continued Petition

Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 (Review) (PE1593)

I remind the committee that we will not be taking agenda item 3, which is consideration of new petitions on which we are not taking evidence.

Instead, we move to the final item on the agenda, which is consideration of a continued petition. PE1593 calls for a full review of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012. We last considered the petition at our meeting on 29 September 2016, when we agreed to defer further consideration of it until the outcome of James Kelly MSP’s consultation on a proposed member’s bill was known.

As members will be aware, the outcome of the process was that Mr Kelly was able to secure sufficient support for his proposal, and he has now introduced the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Repeal) (Scotland) Bill, which is currently being considered at stage 1 by the Justice Committee. The question for us is whether the petition has continuing relevance, given that what it calls for is now being actively pursued through the legislative process.

I think that the petition should be closed, given that, as you have said, action is already being taken by the Justice Committee, which would make further work on it by our committee seem redundant. As we know, a review on hate crime is also under way and will include a look at the 2012 act.

The proposal is that, under rule 15.7 of standing orders, we close the petition on the basis that the action that it calls for has been reflected in the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Repeal) (Scotland) Bill, which has been introduced by James Kelly. The Parliament will have the opportunity to vote on the bill in due course, and I think that Angus MacDonald’s comments on the work of the Scottish Government in this area are relevant, too.

Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

I thank members very much for their attendance, and I close the meeting.