Chamber and committees

This is one of our final questions, and it is for those who are here representing their party as opposed to being here as councillors. I will direct it to Kelly Parry as the local government convener of the SNP, James Kelly as the general secretary of the Scottish Labour Party, and Sheila Ritchie as convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

What are your parties doing to encourage a wider range of candidates for next year’s local government elections? If you could be as succinct as you can be, that would be fantastic.

Thank you. Does Alison Evison want to add anything?

You have already touched on my next question, which is about people who do not want to stand for elected office for a political party. Are there people who are really community minded and want to be community champions but are put off by party-political conflicts? Have you encountered people who feel that such conflicts distract from their aim?

I will limit myself to two questions. First, I would like to explore with Jessie Duncan the point that was made by Engender, which was that when women gain access to these spaces, they are routinely held to higher standards than men who are in the same position. Can you speak briefly on that?

If we are to write to the Scottish Government as Willie Coffey has outlined, I would like to include a request that it ensure that local government be included in the common frameworks. We should make sure that that is outlined, from the committee’s perspective.

Thank you very much. I will hand back to the convener for the moment.

Before I ask my question, I, too, refer to my entry in the register of members’ interests: I am a councillor in East Ayrshire.

I will follow on from Mark Griffin’s question. If the order is not passed, will the Government provide more resources to support Scottish assessors’ consideration of appeals? Obviously, the number of appeals could multiply if the order is not passed. Should we consider workload issues when we are making our decision? Should those issues impact on the decision that we make today?

Do you have any thoughts on my question about whether workload should be a valid consideration in deciding whether to allow coronavirus-related appeals?

A number of constituents have contacted me to raise concerns about the lack of access to general dental practitioners for all but emergency treatment and the fact that such treatment is often framed around minimum interventions. People moving to Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley have also had issues registering with a dentist. When will general dental practices resume more routine services?

Thank you. Charles Golding would like to come in before I hand back over to the convener.