Public Petitions Committee, 14 Dec 1999

Meeting date: Tuesday, December 14, 1999

Official Report 155KB pdf

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Forward Programme

Members will see from the document before them that our programme up to June 2000 has been laid out. The clerk tells me that bids have been invited from committees to meet outside Edinburgh as part of a four-week pilot scheme. One committee would sit each week on a Monday afternoon, commencing Monday 17 January 2000. Possible venues are the Geoff Shaw room, Charing Cross, Glasgow, which is the old Strathclyde regional building, and the council chambers in Stirling.

Two committees have already indicated that they would like to meet in Glasgow. The Local Government Committee will meet there on 17 January, and the European Committee will meet there on 24 January. We have a meeting scheduled for 18 January, but we could bring it forward to 17 January, if members have strong views about meeting either in Glasgow or in Stirling. It is intended that only one committee should meet in each venue on each Monday, but we could explore the possibility of a short Public Petitions Committee meeting taking place before or after the Local Government Committee meeting on 17 January.

The problem with such an arrangement would be that petitions may dry up over the festive period.

We may get a festive petition.

Perhaps someone who is the worse for wear on the morning of 1 January will decide to petition the Scottish Parliament. However, if we held a meeting outside Edinburgh when there were only two or three petitions to consider, in contrast to the 15 that we have dealt with today, it may send out the wrong message.

The Parliamentary Bureau is of the view that committees travelling outwith Edinburgh should have strong reasons for doing so, such as direct local relevance. It may be best to arrange a meeting elsewhere later in the programme. Advance publicity may encourage petitions from the local area. I know that Christine had a suggestion along those lines.

I know that a non-party political petition about the Borders railway line is going round the Borders at the moment and will be sent to this committee in due course. I anticipate that it will arrive in January or February, so I suggest that we meet in the Borders, perhaps in Galashiels. The Tweed Horizons conference centre would be suitable for committee meetings, and there is also room for the public to attend. I suggest that the Borders rail link is just the kind of high-profile local issue that the Public Petitions Committee should be considering moving outside Edinburgh for, especially as it is outside the central belt.

Which petition is that?

It is a petition to restore the Borders railway line. It is local campaign, not a party political petition.

I note from the conveners liaison group meeting that there is a budget for committees to travel outside Edinburgh. The conveners group certainly thinks that it is important to meet elsewhere in Scotland, to show the people that the Parliament and its committees belong to them. It is an opportunity that we might not get again for the rest of the Parliament—we should seriously consider it.

How soon do petitioners have to put in a bid? Are we talking about informal—

It is not so much that the petitioners invite us; we decide whether to go to them.

The Borders railway line could be the kind of issue that would attract hundreds if not thousands of petitioners. Taking the committee to the Borders would be a good example of the committee's democratic progress.

We would have to apply for permission from the bureau and the conveners group for the expense of moving the committee to the Borders, which would give us time to publicise it in the area. People would have to submit petitions relating to that area.

I would have to consider that in relation to my other work at the time. I am not against going to Glasgow or Stirling. Glasgow is quicker for me and Stirling makes no difference, but the Borders might be a much longer trip.

Everybody else seems to be battling. As one of the people who said that the committee should go round the country if an item was important enough, I am all for travelling through. If the pensioners who came through to Edinburgh a fortnight ago had had a petition in, we could have met them in a more suitable area for them to travel to, rather than having them stand in the cold. That is what this committee is for. I am not bothered about whether we go to Glasgow or Stirling, as long as the issue is big enough that enough people would turn up. We should go to the petitioners, rather than them always having to travel to Edinburgh.

I have a note here that members do not have. I suggest that the clerk circulates it to members and that we put this on the agenda for the first meeting after the festive period. People can bring concrete proposals to the committee at that stage. The whole committee does not have to travel. The conveners group has made it clear that the quorum is three. If three of us go, that would be a sufficient number for the clerks and so on to go too.

The purpose of this is to publicise the activities of the Public Petitions Committee, the right of people to submit petitions and the value of petitions in various areas. To be honest, while I am happy to go to Galashiels, the people who come to that meeting will not be fully satisfied with what they hear, because their petition will be referred on, with little debate by ourselves. It might be a bit over the top for the petitioners to expect a debate. However, even if they get a result in the longer term, that could well do a lot for this committee, its petitions and the Scottish Parliament, in the Borders.

This does not just pertain to the Borders. I understood it, John, that if we went out and about, you were quite happy that we should invite the petitioners to speak to us about the content of their petitions. It is important that we directly engage the petitioners with the members of the committee and the Parliament. I do not know if you have ever been to the Borders, Pauline, but it does not take very long to get there. It takes only about three quarters of an hour by car to Gala, which is no big deal.

I understand where you are coming from. [Laughter.]

Are you saying, Christine, that those individuals would speak in support of their petitions during the committee meeting, or before and after it?

I have checked with the clerk—it is perfectly in order for people to speak to their petitions, as long as it is not sub judice. Local members or members of the public can speak in support of petitions; it is up to us to invite them. If we decided to go somewhere to discuss petitions, we would have to indicate to the petitioners that they had the right to speak to their petition. I do not imagine that we would go anywhere unless that was what we were going to do. If we get this paper back to the next meeting, we can make a final decision on this.