Official Report 254KB pdf
Oil Depots (Public Health) (PE936)
We have a range of current petitions to consider. However, we should keep in mind—in case we are overrun with school students on the way out—the school's guidance on time.
Yes, indeed. That is all that we can do in the circumstances because we are still waiting for the major incident investigation board's recommendations to be published.
Does the committee agree to keep the petition alive?
Information Plaques (PE1012)
PE1012, from Frank Beattie, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to adopt a nationally co-ordinated and nationally funded scheme for marking people, events and places—you have to pronounce that accurately in case you get into trouble with the police—by erecting informative plaques at sites of local, regional, national or international importance.
With all due regard for the petitioner's sensitivities, I think that the issue is very much one for the many organisations that have an interest in such matters and for local authorities. Whom local authorities choose to honour should continue to be a matter devolved to local authorities rather than decided at national level.
I know. The alternative does not bear thinking about.
Village and Community Halls (PE1070)
PE1070, from Sandra Hogg, on behalf of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, is on the importance of village and community halls in rural Scotland. The petition identifies ways in which grants and funds could be made available for the refurbishment and modernisation of such halls. The petition also highlights the impact of changes to the water charges relief scheme for rural halls and communities.
It appears that research is being done on the usage and condition of community facilities. It would be sensible to suspend our consideration of the petition until we receive the results of that research.
Another suggestion is that we invite Scottish Government ministers to meet the petitioner to discuss the issues. I am sure that the Government has already made overtures, but we can recommend that.
I would like to think that SCVO is involved in such discussions, but we can certainly remind the Government that it should engage with SCVO on the issue.
Education Maintenance Allowance (PE1079)
PE1079, from Laura Long, calls on the Parliament to urge the Government to review the eligibility conditions for the educational maintenance allowance programme to take account of the number of children in a household who are between the ages of 16 and 19.
As with the previous petition, I suggest that we should keep the petition open until the review has reported. Rather than close the petition at present, we should wait to see the results of that review.
The clerks are howling in anguish—
I noticed that.
We make the decisions here. They should remember that.
Local Museums (PE1083)
PE1083, from John Arthur, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Executive to support the creation of local museums, such as the proposed Leith museum.
Kinship Carers (PE1085)
PE1085, from Caroline Garrett on behalf of You Are Not Alone, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to provide total recognition for kinship carers. I think that every member has been lobbied on the issue by constituents.
Can we write to the Scottish Government to find out, following recent reports in the press, what budgetary constraints might be faced by local authorities that the Government believes could cause problems for the delivery of its kinship care policies?
I suggest that we write to the UK Government about the tax system and, in particular, about the way in which calculations are made. I am starting to see a higher number of individuals in my constituency who fall within a category in which they could receive grant from the local authority in the next financial year. However, the grant could be irrelevant, because it would then be taken back off them when the Department for Work and Pensions and others make judgments about whether the money should be part of their calculations. I would like to get a view on that. I know that we are waiting to see a broader, more coherent picture from the Scottish Government, as it is working on its early years framework. Are members happy to accept that recommendation?
Parking Charges (Hospitals) (PE1086 and PE1091)
PE1086 and PE1091 will be considered together as they both relate to car parking charges at national health service premises, about which we have had extensive discussions. We have looked through the papers in great detail, particularly those that relate to PE1086, from Chris Paterson, who is a health board employee. She has asked the committee to close her petition.
I support the proposal to close the petitions. In saying so, I hope that the NHS boards that have PFI car parks take on board the views of previous Public Petitions Committees and seek an urgent remedy to the on-going problem of car parking fees.
I agree totally with John Wilson. We are entitled to say that petition PE1086 has been remarkably successful, in that as much has been accomplished in getting rid of hospital car parking charges as we could expect. I hope that, following John Wilson's suggestion, the remaining PFI agreements will be modified as soon as possible.
If the petitioner wants it closed—
We are considering two petitions. One of the petitioners wants to close their petition. The other petition, PE1091, was essentially to do with Stobhill, which has received an exemption following the cabinet secretary's intervention. We are talking about one or two other hospital car parks. In my constituency, which is served mainly by Glasgow royal infirmary, there is a particular challenge as the hospital has a PFI arrangement. From memory, there is another example in Dundee, and one other elsewhere. By drawing attention to the situation, we are saying to the health boards concerned that, although they have to make hard choices about their resources, if they thought that they could raise money through car parking contracts to invest in other areas, they will have to reconsider. The situation is worth exploring.
Given the convener's comments about an earlier petition, we should have regard to the contribution of Paul Martin MSP to the Stobhill debate. His contribution both to the work of the committee and elsewhere was useful in progressing the debate. I am just trying to make sure that you do not get into trouble with him, convener.
I do not know whether he will think that it is great news when I tell him that an SNP member was giving him 100 per cent praise. He will probably get upset.
I think that he will accept it with good grace.
Yes, he will. I appreciate John Wilson's comments because Paul Martin raised the issue in partnership with one or two of his constituents and there has since been a welcome policy shift that several people felt was overdue.
National Proof-of-age Card (PE1090)
PE1090, from John Drummond, on behalf of the Scottish Grocers Federation, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to introduce a free national proof-of-age card for all 12 to 26-year-olds. Do members have any views?
This is another petition that we could close happy in the knowledge that progress has been made. The Government is now in active dialogue with people to raise awareness of the Young Scot card, which has been generally accepted as a good way forward. There is a continuing campaign to improve awareness of the card. Perhaps we could close the petition, but write to the Government to ask it to give high-profile backing to the Young Scot card, so that more youngsters take it up.
Okay—we accept that recommendation. I echo the point that Nanette Milne made: there is a real issue about ensuring that the Young Scot card is used much more predominantly throughout Scotland and that young people get their entitlements.
Community Prisons (PE1150)
The next petition is PE1150, from David Wemyss, on behalf of Aberdeen prison visiting committee, which calls on the Parliament to urge the Government to consider whether large prisons that are remote from prisoners' families offer the best way of rehabilitating offenders or whether, as an alternative, localised community prisons should be supported much more strongly to maintain genuinely easy access to family links and other community virtues. Are there any strong views?
As a member for North East Scotland, I have been involved in the will to submit the petition. There are several issues. I have no problem with the proposed new prison at Peterhead, but to say that it is community facing is not correct. Peterhead is 30-odd miles from Aberdeen. There is no railway and, although there is a bus service, it is not brilliant. Many of the people who will go to the new prison will be based in the city of Aberdeen, which will cause all sorts of practical problems. Also, many of the prisoners will come from the more deprived communities in Aberdeen. Getting to and from Peterhead will put a strain on families. It is well known that family visits are key to rehabilitating prisoners in the community at the end of their sentence.
I have strong views, convener. I declare an interest as a member of the Howard League for Penal Reform. We should invite the cabinet secretary to discuss the broader policy about community prisons and reforming the prison service in a big way. I would like to draw the cabinet secretary's attention to a small but important observation by Kathleen Marshall, Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People, who said that the issue is not about prisoners' prerogatives but about children's rights to visit their fathers—we are talking mainly about fathers although, in the case of Cornton Vale, it is mothers. The issue is about children's rights and about a more enlightened justice system that focuses on returning prisoners to society in a better state than when they were incarcerated.
As there are no other comments, we will accept Nanette Milne's recommendation. Given the nature of the petition, we need to consider the broader implications of the difficult decision and how it relates to the broader national strategy.
Public and Voluntary Sector Services (Cuts) (PE1158)
The next petition is PE1158, from Kevin Hutchens, on behalf of Aberdeen Trades Union Council, which calls on the Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to review whether it is making adequate and sufficient funding available for the provision of public and voluntary sector services. The petition has been in front of us before, and we have taken oral evidence on it.
The petition definitely raises issues, but I am not sure how to take it forward. The Government considers that it is making adequate and sufficient funding available to local authorities for the provision of public and voluntary sector services, but what has come to my ears from my local council and other councils is that it is not.
Nanette Milne is right. The jury is still out on how voluntary sector organisations are faring under the concordat agreements. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities has said that it does not have any remit to advise local authorities on how to spend their money, but it was involved in negotiating the concordat, so it is incumbent on it to show that local authorities are delivering to voluntary sector organisations in their areas the budgets that we would expect. As Nanette Milne suggests, real fear exists. The voluntary sector provides a range of services that cannot be provided by others. For many voluntary sector organisations, if core funding is removed, they will not be able to deliver the services that we expect to be delivered in many communities.
I think that there is good agreement in the committee on the matter. The unspoken bit of the local government agreement is that we do not know its implications. It would be best to keep the petition open and make the inquiries that John Wilson and Nanette Milne have suggested. Let us see whether we can interrogate the matter a bit further.
Can we also write to the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, which is the voluntary sector umbrella organisation, and to the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers?
Okay.
We could ask the SCVO to hammer away at added value. For every pound that is invested in the SCVO, we probably get £10 to £15-worth—or more—of value back in delivered services.
I thank members for their contributions.
National Concessionary Travel Scheme (PE1162)
The next petition is PE1162, from Sally Ann Elfverson, on behalf of the Learning Disability Alliance Scotland. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to amend the national concessionary travel scheme to ensure that people who are in receipt of the lower rates of the mobility and care components of disability living allowance are eligible for a national entitlement card.
I was not a member of the committee when this petition was originally considered. The petition calls for people on the lower rates of the mobility and care components of the disability living allowance to be eligible for a national entitlement card, but wider issues arise, to do with who is entitled to concessionary travel cards. There used to be something known as the companion card; I am not sure whether the petitioner referred to it in earlier submissions. Someone on a lower rate could apply for a companion card if they needed someone to escort them on public transport. I understand that that card has now been taken away, so people will no longer be able to get a card for an escort, let alone a card for themselves. If that point has not been raised in submissions, it might be worth throwing it into the hat for the review.
The clerk has just told me that he does not know whether that point was raised in the original submission. We will check. I agree that issues arise. Each local authority had a different interpretation of concessionary schemes, and companions may have received a raw deal. If the point has been raised as part of the petition, we will be happy to take it on board. It might be something that we can follow up anyway.
Graduate Endowment Abolition (Scotland) Act 2008 (PE1166)
The next petition is PE1166, from Elaine Ramsay, which calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to amend the Graduate Endowment Abolition (Scotland) Act 2008 because of the unfair financial burden it places on all graduates, particularly those who continued with postgraduate study after April 2007 to seek vocational training.
It is difficult for me to comment because I am a former rector of two Scottish universities, but retrospective legislation is always thought to be difficult and inadvisable, shall we say. The Government has explained clearly why it is not in a position to do anything. I therefore do not think that we have any option but to close the petition. If there were a way of taking it forward, I would be only too glad to pursue it.
I appreciate that you are making that suggestion reluctantly, but I agree that, from the information that we have received, it would be appropriate to close the petition.
Billy Liddell (PE1172)
The last current petition on our agenda today is PE1172, from Bill McCulloch, on behalf of the Billy Liddell memorial campaign. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to consider what support and assistance can be provided to local authorities to erect lasting memorials to local sporting legends.
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