Public Petitions Committee

Meeting date: Friday, March 15, 2013

Official Report 610KB pdf

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Current Petitions

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Ferry Fares (PE1421)

Agenda item 3 is consideration of three current petitions. PE1421, by Gail Robertson, on behalf of the Outer Hebrides Transport Group, is on fair ferry fares. Members have a note by the clerk, which is paper PPC/S4/13/7/5.

I thank Gail Robertson and her team for all the work that they have done on the issue. The three councillors who gave evidence earlier referred to the issue as being one of the key issues in the Western Isles and beyond. I note that we still await publication of the impact study final report. It seems that it would be sensible to wait until we get the final report before we make any further decisions, because that report is crucial to the petition.

What are members’ views?

I agree, but I think that the wording, in urging the Scottish Government

“not to remove Road Equivalent Tariff”

is rather unfortunate because removal of the tariff is not the case. We are waiting for the impact study from Transport Scotland; in my opinion, we should continue to wait for that. However, I think the petitioner acknowledged that, as far as I am aware, there has been no discussion about removing RET for freight vehicles.

I would be all for ending RET because it is prejudicial. Only certain islands benefit from it; other islands do not and there are no plans to extend it to the other islands where people feel equally strongly about the issue. I am quite happy for the petition to remain open.

When will the report be concluded?

I have no information on the timescale, but we can certainly drop Transport Scotland a note to say that we are very keen to get that information as soon as possible.

I want to clarify a point that was made by Jackson Carlaw. RET is being rolled out to other islands, including Colonsay, Islay and Gigha.

It is not being rolled out to all other islands that want it.

I understand that members might have different philosophical views on RET, but I want to address the content of the petition. It is useful to get that crucial piece of information from Transport Scotland before we determine the next step. Are members agreed that we will continue the petition until that information is available?

Members indicated agreement.

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Fair Isle Marine Protected Area (PE1431)

PE1431, by Nick Riddiford, on behalf of the Fair Isle Community, is on a marine protected area for Fair Isle. Members have a note by the clerk, which is paper PPC/S4/13/7/6, and the submissions.

It is a familiar story, but as you will know crucial information is required from Marine Scotland; we need the final assessment of the demonstration research proposals to be published before we can make a decision. Do members agree that we should wait for that?

Members indicated agreement.

I want to clarify what we are agreeing. Are we agreeing to write to Marine Scotland to ask them when the report will be published so that we can consider it?

Yes. We will, in effect, chase them up.

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Court Records (Access) (PE1455)

The final current petition today is PE1455, by James Macfarlane, on public access to court records. Members have a note by the clerk, which is paper PPC/S4/13/7/7, and the submissions.

Members will know that we were previously short of vital information on the issue. We now have the information, in particular from the Law Society of Scotland, which members will have read. My view is that we should close the petition under rule 15.7, on the basis that what it seeks is broadly impractical, for the reasons that are set out in the responses that we have received.

Not only is what the petition seeks impractical, but it could be argued that it could be dangerous.

Do members agree to close the petition?

Members indicated agreement.

In summary, we have agreed to close the petition under rule 15.7 on the basis that what it seeks is broadly impractical, for the reasons that are set out in the responses.

That is the end of the formal meeting. As I have said, we are all delighted to have been here today for a little bit of history; it is the first time in the history of the Scottish Parliament that the committee has been in the Western Isles. I thank everyone in the gallery for coming along—particularly those who gave evidence.

If you are interested in lodging a petition, we would welcome that. Our clerking team is very helpful and can give advice and guidance on future petitions, so please use today as food for thought. If there are issues that you would like to be clarified, my colleagues, the clerking team or I would be happy to help you.

Meeting closed at 15:50.