Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Official Report 694KB pdf

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Petitions

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Salmon Farms (Closed Containment) (PE1715)

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Access to Broadband (Rural Scotland) (PE1703)

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Bus Services (Regulation) (PE1626)

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Human Right to Food (PE1733)

Item 7 is consideration of four public petitions. The committee is invited to consider whether it wishes to take any further action on these petitions, as we approach the end of the parliamentary session. The committee might wish to note that, if any of the petitions are to remain open, they will be referred back to the Public Petitions Committee to be allocated to the relevant committee for consideration in session 6.

The first petition is PE1715, on closed containment for salmon farms in Scotland. John Finnie wishes to say something on that. I will go through each of the petitions, and I will try to summarise the action to be taken on them all at the end.

As ever, I thank the clerks for the information that they have provided. The committee has had some offline discussion of that petition, and we must consider the presentational options, because it is entirely right that that petition is referred to in our legacy report. I would go further and say that, given that we have looked at the wider issues of the fish farm industry but been unable to specifically address the particular aspect of closed containment, the petition should be kept open. Neither mentioning the petition in our legacy report nor keeping it open would compel the new committee to take further action, whichever committee that would be and however formed. However, it would send a clear message that this committee realises that it is very much a live matter—almost every other day, there seems to be some issue about the industry.

I note the convener’s comment that, if kept open, the petition would go to the Public Petitions Committee to be allocated to a future committee. As we know, aspects of the issue straddle two committees, so we need a clear understanding, and it is my view that there is unfinished work here. Yes, of course it should be mentioned in our legacy report, but we should also keep the petition open. I understand that that is not everyone’s view, but it is important to express that.

Thank you, John. I see that there are no further comments on that petition.

The next petition for consideration is PE1703, on access to broadband in rural Scotland. I can see that there are no comments on it, so we will move on.

The next petition is PE1626, on the regulation of bus services. Colin Smyth has some comments. Colin, are you there?

I am certainly here, convener, but I do not think that my camera is on yet.

My camera is on now. This is an important petition. We were able to amend the Transport (Scotland) Bill, now the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, to allow for the establishment of municipal bus companies by local authorities. However, the provisions in that part of the act have not yet been implemented by the Scottish Government, so local authorities do not yet have those powers, never mind the guidance to go with them. It is very much unfinished business, so I would like the committee to, at the very least, write to the Government to stress the importance of ensuring that those provisions are implemented as soon as possible, so that councils get the powers that are clearly set out in the 2019 act.

Are there any other comments on the petition?

I concur with everything that Colin Smyth said. It is a hollow provision if it is not implemented, so that course of action would be helpful to push the issue on. I fully support Colin’s comments.

The final petition for discussion is PE1733, on the human right to adequate food. Does anyone have any comments on the petition?

Again, I think that it is important that work on this issue continues and that it is mentioned in the committee’s legacy paper. Elaine Smith has proposed a member’s bill on the right to food. The bill still has to go through the parliamentary process, so it will be a challenge to pass it before the recess begins, which will be at the end of March, as things currently stand. However, the right to food is very much a live issue that has not been resolved. The good food nation bill, which was put aside by the Government, would have been a key part of this committee’s work. There is a commitment from the Government and, I am sure, other parties, to take the issue forward in the next session of Parliament. It is important that that happens. It may simply be a matter of the committee emphasising in its legacy paper the importance of considering the issue in the next session of Parliament.

John Finnie talked about compelling future committees to pick up existing issues, so I wanted to ensure that we were clear that, whatever we put in the legacy report, we do not dictate to future committees the programme of work that they should take forward. I support the language that John Finnie used when he said that, although we are not compelling future committees, we need to ensure that we convey to those committee which issues are on-going.

I do not disagree with anything that has been said about the importance of these issues and the likelihood of them being on-going. However, it is important to close these petitions, because it allows the petitioners to consider what has happened—or not—and to take into account the bills and so on in a new Government’s programme for government.

I sit on the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, and the convener of the Public Petitions Committee talked to us recently about petitions and how they are dealt with in the system. It is important that petitioners are given the opportunity to reflect on whether they want to change what their petition says in the light of commitments given by a new Government. The Public Petitions Committee convener was very keen to ensure that petitioners have the chance to give evidence to the relevant committees. That is a really important part of our work going forward.

I very much agree with Maureen Watt. We should close the petitions now; it is up to the petitioners to lodge them again once the new Government has been formed. I think that that is the right way forward.

Let me see if I can summarise what has been said. First, I believe that petitions play an important role in parliamentary business. It is important that the Parliament is seen to respond to petitions and gives petitioners a fair hearing and the correct outcome for their petitions.

I think that we have given a fair hearing to all these petitions. A lot of them are unfinished business, but that is because we are coming to the end of the parliamentary session. What is important is that we ensure that our legacy report brings the petitions to the attention of the future committee. Emma Harper is entirely right that it is not for us to dictate the actions of the future committee. That committee will do the same as we did at the start of the session when we sat down and worked out our work.

I now seek the committee’s approval to include all the petitions in our legacy report so that the future committee is aware of them.

On PE1715, I note John Finnie’s view that we keep it open, but that is not the universal view of committee members. I suggest that we write to the Scottish Government in relation to the closed containment of salmon farms, draw its attention to the report that we published in which the issue was mentioned and ensure that that information is passed on to the future Government.

On PE1703, on accessing rural broadband, again we should write to the Scottish Government indicating the importance of the issue.

On PE1626, on the regulation of bus services, as Colin Smyth said, relevant provisions are in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, but obviously they have not commenced. Again, I think that we should write to the Scottish Government and say that we consider the issue to be important and ask whether the future Government will consider the provisions and commence them.

Finally, on PE1733, on the importance of the human right to adequate food, we should write to the Scottish Government to say that we note that a good food nation bill should have been introduced and that we still consider it to be important, especially in relation to that petition.

We will therefore write to the Scottish Government on each of the petitions, but I believe that the best way of dealing with them is to close then and write to the petitioners to let them know that they have the right to bring the petitions back to the Parliament in the next session, so that the new Government, whatever its progress and business, can take the petitions into account.

I hope that that is a fair summary. Is everyone happy with what I have suggested?

Members indicated agreement.

We will therefore close the petitions, but we will write to the Government on each of them and ensure that they are included in our legacy paper.

The next meeting of the committee will be on 24 February, for stage 2 of the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill, when Emma Harper will be sitting on the other side of the table, so to speak. We will also consider our letter in relation to the evidence session on the climate change plan. I am pleased to inform the committee that we will have three Scottish statutory instruments and one statutory instrument to consider. More details about the next meeting will become available once the agenda is published.

That concludes the committee’s business for today. I thank you all for attending and taking part.

Meeting closed at 11:47.