Equal Opportunities Committee, 19 Sep 2006
Meeting date: Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Official Report
110KB pdf
Age Taking Stock
Item 4 is the committee's taking-stock exercise on age. I invite our reporter on age issues, Sandra White, to speak to the paper that she circulated.
I thank Zoé Tough and the other clerks for collating the evidence and putting it into the paper. I also thank the people who participated in the exercise. I was a bit disappointed by the number of responses that we received to our call for evidence, given how many papers were sent out and how many people we spoke to. However, the responses that we received are excellent. I am more than happy to rubber-stamp the paper and I hope that members of our successor committee will take the work forward, perhaps by visiting various groups.
I draw members' attention to some of the issues that the participants raised, particularly on children and young people. The views that Kathleen Marshall and others expressed on physical punishment of three to 16-year-olds were interesting. On dispersal powers, respondents feel that children are not a valued part of society but are viewed as causing bother. It was interesting that those issues came up; they were obviously of concern among those who work with younger people.
Among older people, employment issues and poverty among women pensioners in particular were raised. Other issues that were mentioned in responses were the lack of day care provision and the rationing of health services based on age.
The paper is excellent and I am particularly pleased with the priorities that are recommended for the parliamentary session of 2007 to 2011, which are: to highlight and challenge ageism; to ensure that all legislation is age proofed; and to adopt a life-course perspective on policies for people, not age-category policies. I hope that the successor Equal Opportunities Committee will take those priorities on board. I thank the respondents and the clerks for putting the paper together.
I hope that the committee will agree to the recommendations that the responses and the summary of the issues that they raised be published on the committee's web pages, that all those who responded be sent a summary of the issues that were raised, that those issues be used in future Equal Opportunities Committee work and that the successor committee draw on them for its work in the next session.
I thank everyone once again. The paper is excellent and the responses are thought-provoking. There are too many to mention, but I wanted to highlight certain ones. I ask the committee to agree the recommendations. I would be happy to answer any questions that committee members might have.
Thank you for that and for the work.
Will you explain to me what a partner library is? It is mentioned in paragraph 4 of the paper.
Each constituency has a partner library with the Parliament. They were identified at the very start.
I do not understand the term.
In each constituency, there is a partner library that has information about the Parliament. The Business Bulletin, the Official Report and other documents are available in local libraries that link up with the Parliament.
In the Partick library, a room is set aside for any papers from the Parliament. Everything is there and library users can check it.
I was not sure what it meant.
Are members content to implement Sandra White's recommendations for action?
Members indicated agreement.