Equal Opportunities Committee,

Meeting date: Tuesday, May 9, 2006

Official Report 285KB pdf

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Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005

I open the 10th meeting of the Equal Opportunities Committee in 2006. I remind all those present that mobile phones should be turned off completely, as they interfere with the sound system. I have received apologies from Frances Curran, Marlyn Glen, Nora Radcliffe, Elaine Smith and John Swinburne.

I propose to take items 2 to 4 first, as the Minister for Transport and Telecommunications is likely to be late. Are members happy with that?

Members indicated agreement.

Item 2 deals with correspondence from the Deputy Minister for Justice in relation to the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005. I invite general comments on the deputy minister's response.

I was a bit concerned about the funding allocation being a one-off. In his letter, the deputy minister mentions his hope that other funders might take on the costs. Could we write back to him and ask whether groups such as the Somali women's action group in Glasgow have been informed of which organisations they can apply to for funding, and how to go about doing that? I would also like to know when the women's group from Sheffield, which the deputy minister mentions in his letter, is going to come up to Scotland to carry out some monitoring. Could we perhaps get a timescale for that? It would also be useful to know where exactly that group will go.

We had anticipated that resources would be available to deal with some of the issues around FGM. The short-term nature of the resources is perhaps not what we expected. I invite further comments. Paragraph 7 of the clerk's paper says:

"Members will note from the letter from the Deputy Minister that no indication is given about reviewing the provision of guidance, education and training to ensure that the issues raised are kept high profile in the affected communities in future years."

We could cover that by asking about future funding and so on.

Paragraph 3 of the minister's letter says:

"There are additional grant funding options available to these communities, such as the Race Equality, Integration and Community Support Fund which is administered by the Development Department."

Can the organisations therefore make bids? Do we know how much could be given, and over what period?

No, we do not know that.

If a grant was available for, say, a three-year period, that might—

Certainly, the funds will be administered by outside organisations. We do not know the answer to your questions, but we can ask for clarification. My real concern is about the lack of emphasis on issues such as training, which we felt were important.

If we knew what money was available, would that resolve some of our questions? I would like some clarification on how the money could helpfully be used.

We know only that it is a bidding process—funding is not automatic. Organisations such as the Somali women's action group might need support to apply for money.

I would like a bit of clarification on that paragraph of the minister's letter in particular, if that is okay.

Yes, that is fine. We will await a further response.