Plenary, 18 Mar 2009

Meeting date: Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Official Report 438KB pdf

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Question Time

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SCOTTISH PARLIAMENTARY CORPORATE BODY

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Travel to Work Plans

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, in addition to considering a cycle to work scheme, whether it will consider implementing personalised travel plans for staff to encourage more sustainable transport choices and promote cycling and walking to work. (S3O-6466)

A survey of building users in 2005 revealed that, of those who responded, only 20 per cent usually travel to the building by car, 35 per cent travel by public transport, 36 per cent walk, and only 4 per cent cycle. Although that is significantly more sustainable than the national average, the corporate body included in its environmental policy an objective to reduce the impact of travel to and from the Parliament. We have implemented a number of initiatives towards achieving that objective, including expanding the provision of cycling facilities, providing interest-free loans for bikes and public transport season tickets, and encouraging staff and members to use videoconferencing facilities.

We plan to repeat the travel to the Parliament survey within the next 12 months. The results will help us to determine whether it would be appropriate to implement personalised travel plans.

The corporate body can perhaps learn from other organisations that have introduced personalised travel plans, particularly Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board.

I suggest that the corporate body should consider whether it can encourage people who routinely use the car park to consider alternative methods of getting to the Parliament, particularly cycling and walking. I presume that a register is taken of the people who put their cars in the car park, so it should be relatively easy to identify those concerned.

I assure the member that we have already increased the number of cycle spaces in the car park by 16 and the number of lockers by 20. We hope that the reduction in the number of spaces for cars to increase the number of spaces for cyclists will be the first step in making the move that he suggests.

Will the corporate body give an assurance that it will not follow the example that the Scottish Government set with its policy of enriching Halfords by insisting that all its employees use Halfords, rather than supporting small businesses such as Sandy Wallace Cycles in Inverkeithing in my constituency? The matter was raised with me last night by a constituent who would prefer to support small businesses in Scotland.

I am not in a position to give a detailed answer to that, but I fully agree with the spirit of the member's question. I will take the matter up and respond to her in due course.

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Information Technology Systems

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what changes and improvements are planned to the Parliament's IT systems in the Holyrood complex and in constituency and regional offices. (S3O-6463)

Our budget for 2009-10 includes funding for several projects to improve the Parliament's information technology systems at Holyrood and in local offices. They include a desktop refresh project, under which our ageing desktop environment will be refreshed and updated to include the latest technologies, as well as improvements and updates to our network and business critical systems, such as our e-mail system.

Although those improvements are largely focused on Holyrood, they will also benefit users in local offices as they remotely access the same systems. Improvements that are directly focused on local offices include a technology refresh programme that will improve connectivity between Holyrood and local offices as well as a refresh of personal computers, software and remote access systems.

I am sure that members of the SPCB are as aware as any other user of our IT systems of the difficulties that members, our staff and other system users experience not only with the painfully slow and unreliable system for connecting from remote offices, but increasingly on the Holyrood campus as well. It is difficult to establish even relatively simple improvements such as the provision of wi-fi. With wi-fi, the user plugs it in and it works. We seek such improvements to the systems here in the Parliament, but it seems to take for ever to make progress.

Does the SPCB agree that, rather than a plodding desktop refresh, what we need is to open up the system to allow users to use the software, hardware and operating system of their choice, and to share data in secure areas of the internet rather than on the internal network? That would resolve all the problems at a stroke, and would probably save us a great deal of money into the bargain.

The member knows from previous discussions that I agree with him in many respects and have, indeed, had the same difficulties in connecting to the system that many members have experienced. I assure him that in the next desktop refresh we will look at standardising the operating system, which will provide an opportunity for other software to be considered.

As far as wireless connectivity is concerned, public wireless access has been available in the Parliament since late 2008, with access points located in the press conference room and the garden lobby. Lessons learned from the public wireless access project will be used to inform future wireless strategy in the Holyrood building.

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Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, in light of its proposals for the reorganisation of SPCB-supported organisations, whether it can guarantee the continuation of the work carried out by the office of Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People. (S3O-6457)

Any recommendations made to Parliament on the future structure of SPCB-supported organisations will be a matter for the Review of SPCB Supported Bodies Committee. In its submission to the committee, the SPCB has proposed a new rights body that would continue the functions that are currently undertaken by Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People and the Scottish Human Rights Commission. The SPCB has not proposed any diminution in the existing functions of either body.

I am grateful to the minister—the member, I mean—for his answer and for pointing out the SPCB's view on this matter. However, are he and the other SPCB members aware of the concerns expressed by many children's and youth organisations about the proposed merger of the roles of the children's commissioner and the Scottish Human Rights Commission? Over the past few years, the children's commissioner has brought to the attention of the public—and, indeed, the Parliament—a number of issues relating to children and young people, including children leaving care, the young people's health advisory group—

Questions should be fairly brief.

Does the member agree that such issues would not have been raised if we had not had the children's commissioner? Moreover, does he agree that the merger could dilute work being carried out on children's rights and that, if the proposal goes ahead, it will leave Scotland as the only part of the United Kingdom without a dedicated commissioner for children and young people?

I am grateful to the member for the albeit temporary promotion. It was nice for a few seconds.

I and the rest of the SPCB are very much aware of the concern that a number of bodies have expressed to the committee that is reviewing these matters. Indeed, we acknowledged that concern in our recent evidence to the committee.

However, as we have said, we believe that such concerns can be overcome. For example, we have suggested that, in the new legislation that would be necessary to establish the new body, provision could be made for a separate commissioner to deal specifically with children's issues. Another idea that is under consideration is to require each of the bodies to present to Parliament an annual strategic plan. It would then be up to us as parliamentarians to ensure that the plan specifically catered for children's needs and rights.

We obviously believe that our proposal has advantages, because otherwise we would not have made it. A new rights body, for example, could take a more holistic view of children's rights. In our recent evidence to the committee, we pointed out that although Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People can look at issues relating to the children of asylum seekers, she is at the moment unable to consider the whole picture, which would include the parents.

A new body would in principle also be capable of incorporating new rights-focused functions. Some people in Parliament hold the view that we should focus on the rights of other segments of society, and we feel that a new rights body could incorporate new functions without the need to establish new and separate bodies on each occasion.

Finally, I assure the Parliament that the SPCB has in no sense proposed a diminution in the children's commissioner's functions. After all, every SPCB member was party to the Parliament's decisions to establish the various commissions and commissioners. However, with the benefit of hindsight, we feel that we might be able to organise these things better in the interests of the functions in question and the public purse.

I accept that the corporate body has expertise in issues such as back-office functions and co-location, but will Mr McCabe advise the Parliament what expertise the corporate body claims to have in determining, or seeking to determine or advise on, the best way in which the functions of the bodies should be put together, given Parliament's decision to establish two free-standing bodies in the first place after detailed scrutiny by committees?

The corporate body has had a number of years' experience of supporting those bodies since they were established. The corporate body is made up of parliamentarians who bring their experience to that job, which they were given by the Parliament. They bring the same experience to those functions as they brought to the initial decision to establish the commissioners.

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Videoconferencing (Committee Rooms)

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what plans it has to equip all committee rooms for videoconferencing. (S3O-6461)

The current facilities, which include a dedicated videoconferencing suite and a portable unit that is based in committee room 1, have largely met the Parliament's requirements, and we have no current plans to equip all committee rooms for videoconferencing.

Will Mr Johnstone raise with the corporate body the opportunities that are provided by the next generation of videoconferencing technologies, which are known as telepresence systems—such systems are manufactured by Cisco Systems, among others—and which provide superior sound and vision, to enhance the broadcasting quality and provide members and the public with improved services?

I thank the member for suggesting areas in which we might consider alternative technology. I assure him that staff in the Parliament continually review requirements and the technical capabilities of the available systems. At some point in the future, decisions might be made on the equipment and technology that will be used.

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Equal Opportunities

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how it ensures that it complies with its equal opportunities responsibilities. (S3O-6462)

The SPCB's commitment to equal opportunities is embedded across the organisation and has created a positive environment to work in and visit for staff, visitors and members of the public. Our approach to equal opportunities has always been to work beyond compliance and to make equality part of our day-to-day practice. The SPCB's equality framework sets out the strategy for achieving all our existing legal duties and goes further than we are obliged to. For example, the SPCB is not bound by the gender equality duty but, nevertheless, we developed a gender equality scheme and action plan when that legislation was introduced. That has led to a number of initiatives, including the appointment of more female officers in the security team; a new policy on domestic abuse; and the enhancement of family-friendly practices, including the new expectant mothers and parenting room and a mentoring scheme for staff on maternity and extended parental or adoption leave. However, we are conscious that more can always be done, and work is under way to enhance our services even further.

I thank the member for that comprehensive answer—I can scrub the first half of my follow-up question as a consequence. However, as well as meeting its responsibilities to staff, how does the corporate body ensure that an equalities approach informs its outreach work and services for visitors? For example, how does the corporate body test the education service to ensure that youngsters from beyond mainstream schools who would like to visit the Parliament are encouraged and supported to do so and that they have the same opportunities that many youngsters in our constituencies, fortunately for us, take up?

I almost explained that in my initial answer. I do not have the figures on the specific point about the education service, but I will speak to the officers concerned. The question is a good one, and it is worth exploring how we approach that. The Parliament is doing more and more to encourage visits—young people are coming into the public gallery as I speak. The Parliament and its officers are keen to encourage as many young people as possible from throughout Scotland to come to the Parliament. I will get back to the member with the specific information that she asks for.