Official Report 517KB pdf
PE2161 was published in May 2025 and was lodged by Ivor Roderick Bisset. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to amend the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2022 to allow for a two-year complaints period for people with cognitive disabilities. Jackie Baillie has expressed an interest in the petition.
The Scottish Government’s submission states that it is considering what legislation should be taken forward during this parliamentary session. The Government adds that the SPSO has piloted a revised and updated version of the time bar guidance tool, which has now been fully implemented, and that the SPSO can now gather data on when discretion is exercised by a decision maker in respect of the time bar.
The petitioner expresses concern that the SPSO’s new approach to data gathering has yet to be tested against evidence and wishes for the time bar to be formally extended to two years.
Our predecessor committee stated in its legacy report that the new committee might wish to receive further evidence from the SPSO to inform its consideration of the petition.
I invite Jackie Baillie to make any comments.
My colleague Rhoda Grant was very supportive of the petition in the previous session, and I have been contacted to take it on.
I will be brief. There is an issue of principle here, in that somebody with a disability or who is neurodivergent might require extra time to facilitate a complaint. That is widely accepted, and the SPSO seems to have accepted it, because it is undertaking work on the issue. However, it is too early to tell whether the guidance will be sufficient. Therefore, the committee should keep the petition open and invite the ombudsman to give evidence in order to establish whether what the SPSO is doing will work and will provide the necessary safeguards for people who are neurodivergent and who wish to complain.
Do colleagues have any comments?
Given the nature of the issue, I suggest that we keep the petition open, seek further evidence from the SPSO and refer the petition to the Social Justice, Housing and Local Government Committee to ask it to consider the issue in its annual session with the SPSO.
I agree with that, convener.
Agreed.
Do we want to write in the first instance? Is that your intended action, Marie?
Yes, if we could.
That makes sense.
It would be to ask that committee to consider the issue.
Our colleague Ms McKee has said that, particularly now that the Scottish Government has decided to scrap the learning disabilities, autism and neurodivergence bill, the petitioner is right that the question whether the process works for neurodivergent people has not been addressed. Ms McKee also points out that, as the SPSO says that it will have data at the end of the year, we should consider the issue at that stage.
Everyone seems to be in agreement. I am more than happy to keep the petition open and seek further evidence from the SPSO.