Equal Opportunities Committee,

Meeting date: Tuesday, May 9, 2000

Official Report 201KB pdf

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Correspondence

Item 5 on the agenda is correspondence; I will comment on some of the items on our long list.

The letter from Mrs D M Islam raises a fairly complex matter regarding her employers. The recommendation is that we should reply to say that we have noted the contents of the letter, and that we should refer the matter to the Commission for Racial Equality, who may take up her case.

Mr Drummond has written concerning the television licence rebate. Again, we should note the contents, and refer the letter to the disability reporters group. Perhaps we should also send a letter to the UK minister.

We should note the contents of the letter from the Presiding Officer. I know that many members are concerned about what is happening to the space in the new Parliament building for the crèche and family facilities, and confirmation that there is to be a space is welcome. Perhaps members will want to ensure that they respond with their thoughts on the use of that space.

As for anything else, it is a good idea to plan now for the crèche. A space is a space, but we do not want to end up with a space that is too small. We should emphasise the importance of identifying needs as early as possible. The need should determine the space.

I agree with Johann. I have organised conferences at which a room has been set aside for the crèche, but professional crèche workers have said that the room is unsuitable because it does not have good toilet access, natural light or ventilation. The idea of having a multi-purpose space is not good enough. There should be a family-oriented space that is devoted to that specific purpose. If it is not used, so be it, but given the number of people who are invited to give evidence to Parliament, it would be useful to let witnesses know that they can have their children looked after while they are here.

We should write to the corporate body to express that view and to find out a bit more about the space.

The last words leaped out of the paragraph at me: "in light of experience". What experience? Perhaps it would be a good idea to set up a crèche now and get some experience of how it would operate and what demand there might be.

We can seek clarification on that.

On St Mary's Episcopal Primary School's loss of grant-aided status, I suggest that we note the letter and that the convener, the clerks and I consider the matter further.

The other correspondence is for noting only. The letters are available from the clerks if members want to see more details. We welcome the fact that the Transport and the Environment Committee, the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee and the Local Government Committee have indicated that they are considering equal opportunities in relation to the budget process.

Have we had a response to our request to the Procedures Committee? At our previous meeting, we discussed the fact that that committee planned to examine all the procedures except those that affected equal opportunities issues. That struck me as bizarre.

The Procedures Committee has deferred that process and is doing nothing further at the moment.

We should make it clear that equal opportunities should be at the heart of the process, if it goes ahead, rather than excluded.

We will chase up the issue.

After reading the Official Report, I wrote to the convener of the Procedures Committee to ask why that recommendation was in the committee's report.

We now move into private session.

Meeting continued in private until 12:07