Chamber and committees

As you said, community engagement is really important for community planning, given its focus on improving outcomes and reducing inequalities. Engagement at personal or family level is especially important for households that experience disadvantage, in order that we can understand what matters to those households, so that suitable responses can be shaped around that.

However, direct engagement—using the usual methods—might not always be appropriate, so we need to look at different ways of ensuring that people have the opportunity to have their voices heard on the issues that matter to them, and that they feel confident that their views have been heard.

It has been interesting to hear about examples of CPPs engaging with people in less formal settings, in which they are likely already to be: for example, the North Lanarkshire CPP’s engagement in schools and health centres and the East Ayrshire CPP’s hosting of an annual joint session with its children and young people’s cabinet and local members of the Scottish Youth Parliament. We need to look at how we can do more of that and share such best practice.

What is done will vary because communities are, by their very nature, different and places are different. However, it is good to see examples of CPPs reaching out. The concern, however, is that they are just hearing from the same folk as ever and not from the people who are most impacted by the plans that they intend to take forward.

The purpose of the 2015 act was to empower communities, so it is reasonable to ask for examples. I will highlight three areas. The first is participation requests, which help people to start a dialogue about the issues that matter in their communities. They allow people to have their voices heard in policy and service development through contributions to decision-making processes, and to challenge decisions and seek support for alternatives, which improves outcomes.

Since 2017, 75 participation requests have been made, which includes community participation and outcome improvement processes for issues such as pier safety, local road improvements, the future of local police offices and improvements to community halls.

The second area to consider is the asset transfer provisions, which is designed to encourage and support ownership and control of assets by communities. Since it came into force on 23 January 2017, 203 asset transfers have been agreed and there are more in progress. They include parks, woodlands, sports and recreational facilities and community hubs. Asset transfer helps to reduce inequalities by ensuring that all communities can be in control of their outcomes and environments.

The final area, which Councillor Heddle mentioned briefly—I might be teeing this up for him—is participatory budgeting, which is a tool for community empowerment that enables local people to have a direct say in how public money is spent. There has been an impressive scaling up of participatory budgeting in Scotland over the past few years, with more than 200,000 people being involved in deciding how money has been spent in their communities

Those are three areas in which we can see real involvement, which shows why it is so important that we keep doing the work to encourage more involvement by and empowerment of communities.

If your question is on this instrument, just go ahead.

As there are no further questions, we will move to agenda item 3, which is consideration of the motion for approval of the affirmative instrument. I invite the minister to move motion S6M-08058.

Motion moved,

That the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee recommends that the Legal Aid and Advice and Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) (No. 2) Regulations 2023 [draft] be approved.—[Elena Whitham]

Motion agreed to.

I thank the minister and her officials for attending the meeting.

That concludes our formal business in public. We will move into private to consider the remaining items on our agenda.

Agenda item 4 is consideration of three negative Scottish statutory instruments. I refer members to paper 2.

As members have no comments to make on the instruments, does the committee agree to make no recommendations in relation to them?

Members indicated agreement.

Good morning, and welcome to the eighth meeting of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee in 2023. We have received no apologies for the meeting.

Our first agenda item is a decision on whether to take in private item 6, which is consideration of correspondence received from the Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project—MECOPP. Do members agree to take that item in private?

Members indicated agreement.

The second item is consideration of an affirmative instrument, the draft Legal Aid and Advice and Assistance (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) (No 2) Regulations 2023.

I welcome to the meeting Elena Whitham, Minister for Community Safety. I also welcome her supporting officials: Shona Urquhart, legal aid policy lead; Denise Swanson, deputy director civil law and legal system; and Emma Thomson, solicitor in the Scottish Government’s legal directorate.

I refer members to paper 1 and invite the minister to speak to the draft regulations.

I invite the committee to agree to delegate to me the publication of a short factual report on our deliberations on the affirmative Scottish statutory instrument that we have just considered. Do members agree to do that?

Members indicated agreement.