School Uniforms Policy (PE1411)
Item 3 is consideration of two new petitions, the first of which is PE1411, on reforming school uniform policy in all Scottish local authority schools. Paper 3 refers and members will have received the clerk’s note, the Scottish Parliament information centre briefing and the petition. I invite the committee to consider the petition and the briefing and to suggest any action that we should take.
I know that similar petitions have come before the committee and that the subject has been discussed by various local authorities and schools. I do not know whether the petitioner is present this afternoon, but I note his comment that it is cheaper not to have school uniforms. However, people in my Glasgow Kelvin constituency have told me that it is better to have them. I am not saying that this happens in every school that does not have a school uniform policy, but one secondary school in particular found itself having to deal with people who were not pupils coming into the school and causing problems. I guess that it is all about choice. Perhaps we should continue the petition, but I just wanted to say that a number of headmasters and headmistresses have pointed out to me various safety and security aspects of school uniforms. Indeed, it might even prove cheaper for local parents to buy them.
I agree with what Sandra White said, and we did not talk before the meeting. Basically, I think that school uniforms are a good idea, and I reject the idea that they are somehow more expensive. Virtually all the schools in my constituency have a school uniform policy. I remember that, when I was a very young person, which was a long time ago, people tried to get away with things to do with their uniform, such as the type of tie that they wore. Broadly speaking, I think that school uniforms are a very good idea. I reject the argument that they are more expensive, but perhaps, as Sandra White said, we should continue the petition.
I do not want to correct my colleague Bill Walker, but the petition is not about the cost of school uniforms. The school uniform issue is important, but the petition is about gender identity and issues such as the effect that gender-specific school uniforms have on students who have a conflicted gender identity, albeit that the number of such students might be very small.
Thank you—that was a useful point.
I accept what Mark McDonald says and I do not disagree that the Equal Opportunities Committee might be the best committee to take forward the petition, but the issue of cost does come up in the petitioner’s comments. In my experience, school uniform is a leveller—it makes people equal. I happen to live in the west part of oily Aberdeen, where there is a lot of money around. Kids were turning up for school in designer outfits that cost the earth, as we all know. A requirement to wear school uniform meant that clothing of a reasonable price was made available to all. Whatever we might read in the press, not everyone in the north-east is well off.
I second Mark McDonald’s proposal that we should refer the petition to the Equal Opportunities Committee.
Although I agree with Mark McDonald and Neil Bibby on the idea of passing the petition on to the Equal Opportunities Committee, I think that this committee should do the first trawl and see what we get back. As Mark McDonald quite rightly identified, the petitioner seems to be asking a specific question about the transgender community, which is referred to in the petition. I am keen that we should be allowed to take the petition forward in the first instance and to gather some evidence, after which we could pass it on to the Equal Opportunities Committee. There are issues in the petition that fit into that committee’s remit and which relate to the existing raft of legislation on discrimination. Transgender is an area that is covered in the legislation that emanated from Europe. I would like us to have the opportunity to do the first trawl and to find out what responses we get, because we may find that we have a stronger case to pass the petition on to the Equal Opportunities Committee on the basis that legislation that is supposed to be in place may not be being applied by education authorities throughout Scotland.
I am not going to die in a ditch over the issue, so I am more than happy to roll back. The clerks have identified a number of organisations that we should write to, but there is one glaring omission—given that the petition raises an issue to do with the transgender community, it is important that LGBT Youth Scotland is one of the organisations whose views we seek.
I agree. I think that we should also write to the Scottish Youth Parliament.
If there are no further comments, do we agree to continue the petition and to write to the bodies that are identified in the clerk’s paper, plus those mentioned by Mark McDonald and Neil Bibby?
Bonds of Caution (PE1412)
PE1412 is on bonds of caution. Members have the note by the clerk, the Scottish Parliament information centre briefing and the petition. I invite the committee to consider the petition.
This is quite an interesting petition. I am not a lawyer, as I said earlier, but the petition is intriguing and I would like to continue it. We should write to the Government about the timeframe and about giving separate consideration to the abolition of the requirement for bonds of caution. I would like to take forward the clerk’s recommendations.
I agree that we should keep the petition open. We should perhaps ask the Government what the timeframe is for a formal consultation on succession law.
Do colleagues agree that we should continue the petition and write to the bodies that are identified in the note by the clerk?
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