Chamber and committees

I absolutely agree.

The current media and political environments mean that many young trans people are terrified, like never before, to come out. That is compounded with long waiting times for care and the fact that they are now unable to access treatment that they could access this time last year, so it is no wonder that many of those young people need mental health support. I am glad that that is reflected in the documents that were sent alongside the statement.

However, with the approach that is currently being proposed, there is a danger that trans healthcare is seen purely through that lens, and that stigma is compounded for one of the most stigmatised groups in society. How will the Scottish Government ensure that that does not happen, that stigma and transphobia are challenged at every turn, and that this Government is committed to ensuring that young trans people’s healthcare is accessible and that their rights are upheld?

Sometimes dramatic, sometimes mundane and always interesting to those of us who are involved, elections offer us an incredible opportunity to voice our say about what values we want to guide the decisions that shape our country. Civil participation in our democracy is the only way to make it thrive. The inherent value of voting makes it a foundational principle for healthy democracies. That fosters expressiveness, equality and legitimacy and serves as a tangible link between residents and their representatives. It is the bedrock of our governmental structure.

The bill reminds us that this very institution is organic and welcomes expansion and inclusion. In contrast to those elsewhere in these isles who fight to conserve rigid and archaic structures, we have been allowed by devolution—in the relatively short history of this Parliament—to institute large advances in expanding rights. We have charted a different path in Scotland, and I hope that we will continue to expand and enhance access to our democratic institutions for everyone who lives here, so that they feel listened to and represented.

Votes at 16 for Scottish and local government elections is one of the greatest steps forward that we have taken to extend the franchise, and we have seen how young people have engaged with electoral processes as well as politics as a whole. That has certainly had an effect on policy.

I thank the clerks and the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee for their work, along with every one who took part in evidence sessions and in the consultation. I also thank my good friend George Adam MSP for the work that he put into the bill when he was Minister for Parliamentary Business. There is lots to welcome in the bill, and I note the general support and agreement of the committee in the stage 1 report.

Parts 1 and 2 of the bill, which extend candidacy rights at Scottish Parliament and council elections to those with limited leave to remain in the UK, are necessary and important changes. A right to vote for refugees was first brought to the chamber in a Green amendment that was lodged in 2018 by my colleague Ross Greer and was supported by Labour, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party MSPs. We firmly believe that those who reside in Scotland must be afforded the right to vote and decide how best they would like to be represented, and it is logical to give those who have the right to vote the right to stand at such elections.

I am also supportive of having a backstop provision for responding to any unanticipated events, such as a public health emergency, particularly in light of the impact on this chamber of the Covid-19 pandemic.

I encourage the Scottish Government to take bolder action. In 2019, my colleague Mark Ruskell pressed for measures that are now in the provisions of this very bill. Scottish Greens have been at the forefront of several of those campaigns. We pressed for the expansion of voting rights to asylum seekers and we continue to urge the Government to take action on that. I am pleased to hear of the amendments that the minister seeks to introduce. I am sure that we will speak to him on amendments ahead of stage 2.

I was pleased, too, to hear Daniel Johnson raise the issue of accessible voting. Earlier this session, I attended an event at the sensory centre in Falkirk on voting accessibility for partially sighted or registered blind people. The technology that we saw is hugely important for people who require it, and that need extends to people with various impairments and disabilities. Communicating changes to electoral systems and how we vote is also important for people with impairments and disabilities, and that should be at the heart of any measures that we introduce in the future.

We must do more to renew our democracy and to encourage democratic participation at all levels. Reform work still needs to be done in this session of the Scottish Parliament, and it should be a continuous endeavour. It is the view of Scottish Greens that there should be a more radical review of democratic reform and voter turnout so that we can start to incentivise active citizens in our society. That is the correct step forward. We will support the bill at stage 1.

I start by welcoming Gillian Martin and Alasdair Allan to their new roles. Those roles are essential to tackling the climate crisis and accelerating our path to net zero. I am sure that both Ms Martin and Dr Allan will not be surprised to hear that we will be pushing them hard on much of the work that we need to see progressed in the next year or so.

With more young women in Parliament than ever, we need to keep in mind that we need to look at how we support those going on maternity leave. The Government is able to reshuffle to cover those responsibilities, but there is no equivalent support for regional or constituency responsibilities to allow maternity leave to be proper leave. We should learn from those who have taken maternity leave this parliamentary session and look at how we as a Parliament could make that support better, including by exploring locum cover.

On behalf of my party, I take the opportunity to wish Màiri McAllan well for the arrival of her baby. We wish her, her husband Iain and the rest of the family all the best for this new adventure and the expansion of their family. I very much hope that Màiri McAllan has a good and peaceful maternity leave—as much as it can be—and I am sure that the whole Parliament looks forward to meeting the new arrival in the coming months.

Will Jeremy Balfour give way?

I thank Jeremy Balfour for taking my intervention. As well as there being adaptations for people with visual impairments, I note that we have not even started looking yet at a range of other impairments that impact people’s ability to participate in the democratic process. Does Jeremy Balfour agree that we need to do much more across the disability spectrum to consider what more we can do to involve people in the democratic process, including in voting in elections?

Sometimes dramatic, sometimes mundane and always interesting to those of us who are involved, elections offer us an incredible opportunity to voice our say about what values we want to guide the decisions that shape our country. Civil participation in our democracy is the only way to make it thrive. The inherent value of voting makes it a foundational principle for healthy democracies. That fosters expressiveness, equality and legitimacy and serves as a tangible link between residents and their representatives. It is the bedrock of our governmental structure.

The bill reminds us that this very institution is organic and welcomes expansion and inclusion. In contrast to those elsewhere in these isles who fight to conserve rigid and archaic structures, we have been allowed by devolution—in the relatively short history of this Parliament—to institute large advances in expanding rights. We have charted a different path in Scotland, and I hope that we will continue to expand and enhance access to our democratic institutions for everyone who lives here, so that they feel listened to and represented.

Votes at 16 for Scottish and local government elections is one of the greatest steps forward that we have taken to extend the franchise, and we have seen how young people have engaged with electoral processes as well as politics as a whole. That has certainly had an effect on policy.

I thank the clerks and the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee for their work, along with everyone who took part in evidence sessions and in the consultation. I also thank my good friend George Adam for the work that he put into the bill when he was Minister for Parliamentary Business. There is lots to welcome in the bill, and I note the general support and agreement of the committee in the stage 1 report.

Parts 1 and 2 of the bill, which extend candidacy rights at Scottish Parliament and council elections to those with limited leave to remain in the UK, are necessary and important changes. A right to vote for refugees was first brought to the chamber in a Green amendment that was lodged in 2018 by my colleague Ross Greer and was supported by Labour, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party MSPs. We firmly believe that those who reside in Scotland must be afforded the right to vote and decide how best they would like to be represented, and it is logical to give those who have the right to vote the right to stand at such elections.

I am also supportive of having a backstop provision for responding to any unanticipated events, such as a public health emergency, particularly in the light of the impact on this chamber of the Covid-19 pandemic.

I encourage the Scottish Government to take bolder action. In 2019, my colleague Mark Ruskell pressed for measures that are now in the provisions of this very bill. Scottish Greens have been at the forefront of several of these campaigns. We pressed for the expansion of voting rights to asylum seekers, and we continue to urge the Government to take action on that. I am pleased to hear of the amendments that the minister seeks to lodge. I am sure that we will speak to him on amendments ahead of stage 2.

I was pleased, too, to hear Daniel Johnson raise the issue of accessible voting. Earlier this session, I attended an event at the sensory centre in Falkirk on voting accessibility for partially sighted or registered blind people. The technology that we saw is hugely important for people who require it, and that need extends to people with various impairments and disabilities. Communicating changes to electoral systems and how we vote is also important for people with impairments and disabilities, and that should be at the heart of any measures that we introduce in the future.

We must do more to renew our democracy and to encourage democratic participation at all levels. Reform work still needs to be done in this session of the Scottish Parliament, and it should be a continuous endeavour. It is the view of Scottish Greens that there should be a more radical review of democratic reform and voter turnout so that we can start to incentivise active citizens in our society. That is the correct step forward. We will support the bill at stage 1.

You mention the different layers of delivery. Policy can be quite inspirational and forward looking, but by the time you get through all the layers, a change in interpretation can suddenly take things away from what the initial policy set out to do. That is probably what we are hearing from people in relation to some of that local variation. How do we pull that back into alignment? How do we make sure that the initial ethos of that self-directed support being the primary delivery model for social care—it is still not well understood that it is the primary delivery model—aligns neatly all the way down the structure, rather than what we are seeing at the moment with that interpretation knocking it out of line in different places?

Self-directed support has, understandably, been implemented alongside other pressing issues. Some believe that that has affected its prioritisation. How can we better manage and align the implementation of SDS with other legislative and policy demands to ensure that it receives the necessary focus and resources?

Given the assurances from the minister, I will not move the amendment.