Chamber and committees

The next petition is PE1902, on an appeal process for community participation requests. The note on the petition is quite long but, as if to prove my earlier point, we are joined again by Rhoda Grant, who was not necessarily expecting to be with us this morning. I am pleased that she is here, because it means that I now do not have to read out what would have been her written submission if she had not joined us.

The petition, which was lodged by Maria Aitken on behalf of Caithness Health Action Team, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to allow an appeal process for community participation requests under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. The 2015 act was intended to encourage and support community involvement and participation in public services. Part 3 of the act introduces the right to participation requests, which aim to ensure engagement and dialogue between community participation bodies.

The right to appeal decisions on participation requests was examined by the Local Government and Communities Committee during its post-legislative scrutiny of the 2015 act, and a recommendation in relation to an appeals process was made in the committee’s final report.

A three-year evaluation of the operation of participation requests was published in April 2020 and concluded:

“Given the significant challenges to introducing an appeals process and in ensuring its fairness and robustness, alongside the very small numbers of participation requests completed using the legislation, this is likely to be a longer-term piece of work.”

The Scottish Government submission notes that the Scottish Community Development Centre has been asked to explore what an appeals process might look like and that the centre will report its findings later this year. I am delighted to ask Rhoda Grant to speak in support of the petition.

A recurring theme of this morning’s meeting seems to be the need to ensure that requests for appeals are recorded and the outcomes monitored, given that the same issue arose in a previous petition.

Do members agree to keep the petition open?

Members indicated agreement.

I am minded to agree with you and am supportive of your proposal, particularly in the light of the COVID-19 Recovery Committee’s inquiry on the matter. We could let that committee know that we have received this petition on the scheme. Of course, we would not be referring the petition to that committee—we would only be advising that we had received and closed it.

That brings us to the end of our formal business. I thank everyone very much.

Colleagues, are we content to close the petition on that basis?

Members indicated agreement.

The next petition is PE1857, which is about the regulation of the role of the curator ad litem. I apologise that, when we last considered the petition, despite my O-level Latin, I could not remember whether it was pronounced “lit-em” or “light-em.” After that transgression after 50 years, I am told that it is “light-em”.

PE1857 was also lodged by Stephen Leighton—we considered a separate petition of his a few moments ago. The petition calls on?the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to regulate the curator ad litem and ensure historical claims of malpractice of?curators?ad litem in Scotland are investigated.

At?its previous consideration, the committee agreed to write to key stakeholders seeking views on the action called for in the petition.?In its submission, the Scottish Mental Welfare Commission states that?curators?ad litem are bound by the regulations of their respective professions. Usually, the role is held by?solicitors?and, less commonly, by social workers.

The Scottish Legal Complaints Committee states that it has no specific role in the regulation of, or in dealing with complaints regarding, curators?ad litem. However,?it may have a role if a complaint is made that a solicitor acting as?a curator ad litem has breached certain standards of service or conduct that apply to solicitors.

The SLCC responded to a recent consultation?that included proposals for a new register of?curators?ad litem and a regulatory complaints regime.?The commission suggested that, although a dedicated complaints process might be positive, it could potentially result in parallel investigations on the same matter, with?different decisions, outcomes and sanctions being made against a practitioner.

The Scottish Social Services Council?suggests?that?requiring?all?curators?ad litem to register with it would result in dual registration as?the majority of curators are?solicitors?who?are already registered with the Law Society of Scotland.?

That is quite complicated and technical legalese. Do colleagues have any thoughts?

The fact that a regulatory regime is anticipated to be operational by 2023 allows us to close the petition at this point. However, we will obviously keep an eye on how the matter progresses and, if it falls short, encourage the petitioner to come back to us with another petition at that time.

On that basis, do we agree to write to the Scottish Government expressing our concern about the fact that we have no data to quantify the use of a process that is meant to be a recourse for the public, that we point out that simply telling us that there is no way to quantify that falls short of the adequate security that the process is intended to provide in the first place and that we ask what its attitude to that is?

Members indicated agreement.

I agree. I felt that a distinction emerged in the evidence session between what is set out in this petition and the use of polypropylene mesh in transvaginal procedures, which the Scottish Government has stayed for the moment. I do not know whether the petition’s ultimate aim, which is an outright ban on all mesh procedures, was necessarily validated by the evidence that I heard, but what came out of the evidence was a number of other issues that colleagues have identified and which we should continue to explore. Again, those issues are informed consent, alternative options with regard to tissue and, more generally, the materials that are in use and the reviews that are taking place.

On this occasion, there is real merit in continuing with the petition and exploring the issues that colleagues have identified, but recognising that we are doing so as a consequence of the evidence session and not necessarily in the expectation of its leading to the outcome that the petitioners are seeking, which is a ban on all such procedures.

If members feel that that is a reasonable assessment, do we agree to keep the petition open and proceed on that basis?

Members indicated agreement.

Would you like to keep the petition open or to close it with that action in place?

I am happy to do that.