Chamber and committees

As we get to the end of the evidence session, I invite you all to think of any last comments that you want to make or any further thoughts that we have not touched on.

No, but I was interested when you said that the majority of Scottish people like to be near water when they are on holiday. Perhaps it is just that we are used to getting wet.

Abi Thomson, would you like to contribute at this stage?

That is what I am trying to understand. I get what you are saying about the pressures on family budgets and that the scale of that is all the more intense in areas of deprivation. I am trying to understand whether the issue is the budgetary aspect of swimming or whether there is less appreciation by parents of how important it is. Does that need to be worked on, or is there a high level of understanding of that importance? I am curious about that.

They are beginners, and their first experience of learning to swim is through school lessons. I am intrigued by something that we have not touched on. Do you have any understanding of where the ability to swim sits within parental priorities? Is there a parental understanding of its importance and a desire to see it happen, or is it something that happens, but without the impetus to ensure that it does?

Mr Torrance has offered a suggestion as to how we might proceed. Are colleagues content to proceed on that basis?

Members indicated agreement.

PE2079, which was lodged by Martin James Keatings, calls on the Scottish Parliament to ask the Scottish Government to introduce legislation to provide for exemptions in paying medical facility parking charges and to create a new classification of parking badge for care givers.

We last considered the petition at our meeting on 15 May 2024, when we agreed to write to Disability Equality Scotland, COSLA, Carers Scotland and the Scottish Government. We have now received responses from all those organisations, which are detailed in our papers for today’s meeting.

In its response, COSLA stated that it is

“fully committed to supporting unpaid carers”,

and that it supports the local implementation of the cross-Government carers strategy. It goes on to note the importance of parking charges as a source of income for local authorities, and it suggests that further work would need to be undertaken to quantify the cost of the petition’s proposed policy and how potential lost revenue could be reimbursed to local authorities.

In its response, the Scottish Government highlights that the blue badge scheme is designed to allow disabled people who experience severe barriers to their mobility to park closer to their destination, and that it applies only to on-street parking. The Government suggests that a separate concessionary scheme, such as a carers badge, would present significant challenges for administration, resourcing, enforcement, and measures to prevent fraud and misuse.

The Government also offers information on the introduction of the carer support payment, which became available across Scotland in November 2024. Further benefits, including the carers allowance supplement, might be available to carers who are on low incomes, and unpaid carers are encouraged to contact their social work department or local carer centre to find out what support it might be able to offer them.

Disability Equality Scotland has provided information about the financial challenges that disabled people experience and expresses its support for the introduction of legislation to provide for exemption from paying medical facility parking charges for disabled people, and for the creation of a new classification of parking badge for those who provide transport to disabled people for medical reasons.

Similarly, Carers Scotland has shared information from its 2023 state of caring survey, which found that 29 per cent of unpaid carers supported the person or persons they care for with 10 or more medical appointments in the previous year, while 69 per cent of unpaid carers visited community pharmacies to collect prescriptions on behalf of the person they care for.

Carers Scotland also draws our attention to work that City of Edinburgh Council is undertaking to develop a carers permit, which would be limited to those who can provide evidence that they are in receipt of the carers allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions, which is now Social Security Scotland’s carer support payment, or carers credit. It is Carers Scotland’s view that the petitioner’s proposal to introduce a carers permit has merit and warrants further exploration by the Scottish Government.

Do colleagues have any suggestions on how we might proceed?

Mr Ewing, do you have a follow-up to that, or has that answered your question?

I am conscious of time—

Are colleagues content to close the petition?

Members indicated agreement.

We come to a series of petitions that relate to road infrastructure. At our previous meeting on 2 April, we heard from the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Fiona Hyslop, and from Transport Scotland officials on a number of road infrastructure-related petitions. That provided an opportunity to explore general issues that affect the trunk road network as well as to get updates on the individual petitions that we have been considering throughout the parliamentary session.

PE1610, lodged by Matt Halliday, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to upgrade the A75 Euro route to dual carriageway for its entirety as soon as possible. PE1657, lodged by Donald McHarrie on behalf of the A77 action group, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to dual the A77 from Ayr’s Whitletts roundabout south to the two ferry ports located at Cairnryan, including the point at which the A77 connects with the A75.

When the committee considered the petitions with the cabinet secretary on 2 April, we heard that £64 million has been spent on the completion of five major improvements to the A77, including the Maybole bypass, and that more than £50 million has been spent on six major road improvement projects on the A75. We also heard that work is progressing to design and assess options for creating a bypass at Springholm and Crocketford.

The Scottish Government held an initial meeting with the petitioners in March and has set regular six-monthly meetings between the campaign groups and Transport Scotland. The cabinet secretary stated that, given the existing promises to dual other roads, it would not be realistic to commit to new dualling projects.

Do members have any comments or suggestions for action on PE1610?