Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Official Report 627KB pdf

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New Petitions

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Universal Free School Meals (PE1926)

Item 4 is consideration of two new petitions. I always say, for the benefit of those who might be joining us to watch the committee consider their petition, that we forward new petitions to the Scottish Government so that we can get some preliminary views, which help to inform our consideration.

The first new petition before us, PE1926, which has been lodged by Alison Dowling, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to expand the provision of free school meals universally to all nursery, primary and secondary school pupils. Alison has lodged the petition as she believes that urgent action is needed at a national level to address food poverty for children and young people. She suggests that food poverty is sometimes hidden in schools, particularly among secondary school-aged pupils. She notes that, although an extension of free school meals is planned for younger pupils, there are currently no plans in place for older, secondary school-aged pupils.

In its submission to the committee, the Scottish Government indicates that its present focus is on expanding the provision of free school meals in primary schools. However, it notes that

“during the course of this parliamentary session, we are also committed to piloting approaches to universal meal provision in secondary schools.”

Do members have any comments or suggestions as to how we might take forward the petition? My screen has gone blank. We have lost Paul Sweeney, so I will go to David Torrance.

I would like us to write to several stakeholders, because the petition raises a really important issue that needs to be looked into. Those stakeholders should include the Child Poverty Action Group, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Community Food and Health Scotland, which does work on inequalities and barriers to healthy and affordable food, and the Trussell Trust.

I would also like us to write to the Scottish Government. Everything has a cost, so I would like to find out what investment would be needed to make possible the universal provision of free school meals in all nurseries, primary schools and secondary schools.

I call Fergus Ewing.

I have no comments to make on this petition, convener.

Sorry—there was a misstep in our communications.

Paul Sweeney, is there anything that you would like to add?

There is definitely merit from a social justice point of view in the petition’s proposed creation of a universal public good. It is also worth thinking about the fact that, although the issue is often talked about in terms of the cost of infrastructure and provision, increasingly, there are advances in community food growing and provision. Therefore, perhaps the issue needs to be considered in the wider context of communities’ food resilience.

11:15  

There is an interesting project in Glasgow involving Locavore, which is a community food local enterprise. It has taken over parts of public parks to start growing produce that can be sold commercially and used for food justice projects through food pantry networks and so on. That can all be part of the picture, and there is perhaps a bigger piece of work that needs to be done about how we improve the supply of food in the local community. That could be part of the exercise, too—the approach could be part of a broader public good than simply being the mechanical exercise of providing catering for schools.

I am quite happy to incorporate that point into the request for information that we are seeking from the organisations that David Torrance has mentioned. Do we agree to keep the petition open and take forward the gathering of information that was suggested a moment ago?

Members indicated agreement.

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Free Rail Travel (Disabled People) (PE1928)

Our final new petition today is PE1928, which calls on the Scottish Government to provide free rail travel for disabled people who meet the qualifications for free bus travel. The petition has been lodged by David Gallant, who notes that many disabled people who qualify for free bus travel are unable to benefit from it due to the withdrawal of some rural bus routes and the lack of access to suitable toilet facilities on board many buses that operate in rural areas. He also points out that train fares are unaffordable, so train travel is not currently a viable alternative in those areas.

We have received a submission from Sight Scotland highlighting the need for a consistent national policy for rail travel across Scotland that entitles blind and partially sighted people and their companions to free rail travel. Sight Scotland points out that there are different concessionary and companion schemes in different areas, which can cause confusion to passengers and rail staff.

Transport Scotland has also sent us a submission, which I should state was drafted prior to ScotRail’s move into public ownership. It indicates that ScotRail has no plans to introduce free travel for disabled people but points out that it offers discounted fares through the disabled persons railcard and that there is free travel for blind passengers via a scheme that is operated by local authorities.

Transport Scotland also highlights a planned fair fares review that is designed

“to ensure a sustainable and integrated approach to public transport fares in the future”,

and suggests that existing discounts and concessionary schemes across a range of transport will be considered as part of that review.

This is an interesting new petition. Do colleagues have any comments on it?

We should keep the petition open, and I suggest that we hold an evidence-taking session with the petitioner and Sight Scotland at a future meeting.

I concur. The issue is important because, as you have identified, convener, there seems to be a bit of a mismatch across regions and areas with regard to individuals with certain disabilities getting travel support.

We should also write to Transport Scotland to request an update on the fair fares review that you mentioned, which is important with regard to ensuring that there is consideration for disabled people across the piece.

Are we content to proceed on the basis of those recommendations?

Members indicated agreement.

On that note, we move into private session.

11:18 Meeting continued in private until 11:54.