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We do not have a reporter for disability issues now that Michael Matheson has left the committee. I will put that on the agenda for the next committee.
We have not had a meeting since the last full meeting of this committee. I can report that I have lodged a motion in relation to cross-examination of witnesses where the crime is of a sexual nature. I hope that members will support that motion and lobby for it to be taken as business.
The race group met last Tuesday. Because of technical problems—a problem with an internet server—we were not able to get the information out to everyone and the meeting was sparsely attended. We raised the issue of the Immigration and Asylum Bill and were able to get it on to this committee's agenda today. I thank our convener for indicating that the bill will remain a high priority. I spoke to the convener of the Local Government Committee on the issue. Proposals for that committee to consider the bill formally will be drafted.
The sexual orientation reporters group is due to meet on 29 January. I was availed of the opportunity to send out a mailing together with the Equality Network to inform people about the reporters group and to invite them to write to us with issues that they wanted to raise. I have had quite a large response, examples of which I could attach to the minutes of the next reporters group meeting. People appreciated the fact that they were being consulted.
Has anybody made representations about section 28?
The people who have written to me have also written to the Executive. The Equality Network has been encouraging people to make their views known to counter the well-organised campaign of representations that were being made by people opposed to the repeal of section 28.
Section 28 is one of the biggest challenges that we will have this year and might result in a public battle. I have received divided representations from people—perhaps more evenly divided than two or three weeks ago.
A lot of the fears that people have about repeal are easily allayed. There is a lot of misapprehension about what the section says and what the implications of its repeal are. The more people find out about it, the more reassured they will be. If parents are concerned, schools would be happy to answer their questions about guidelines for the teaching of sensitive issues in an appropriate way.
Although we do not have any legislation to consider formally, I presume that we will consider the ethical standards bill soon.
My experience is the opposite. Perhaps this reflects a north-south divide, but, of the hundreds of letters that I have received on the issue, not one has been in favour of repeal.
My mailbag is the same.
There might be a lesson to be learned from this affair about the presentation of information to the public. Particularly in matters of equal opportunities, we want to take the public with us. We should be careful to minimise misunderstandings from the outset. If this committee has a locus on any controversial matter, we should try to provide information to allay people's fears. If that had been done in this case, some misconceptions might not have developed.
The committee can get accurate information out to the public when it takes evidence. We will have the opportunity to do that when we take evidence on the ethical standards bill. However, we should remember that it will be in some people's interests to misrepresent issues such as this to the public.
Perhaps the wording of the amendment has given the wrong impression. The media are telling people that repeal of the section will allow the teaching of homosexuality in schools. The public is confused about the matter and imagines that repeal will open the floodgates.
I do not think that the Executive gave the wrong impression. The Executive stated its intention to repeal section 28, which talks about:
If we are to take evidence on the draft ethical standards bill, who are we going to invite? To decide that, we will have to liaise with the Local Government Committee, which is already taking evidence on the bill. We need to decide who to invite soon so we can timetable properly.
We will take evidence on the bill. We should discuss with the organisations that we deal with whether there are any areas that they are concerned about. I would like the reporters to do that and come back to the next meeting with suggestions about what evidence to take.
Will the item that dropped off the agenda be rescheduled?
Yes, but we do not have a date yet. At future meetings, we will try to bring forward the people who are giving evidence so that we have a fuller agenda.
Meeting closed at 11:22.
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