Chamber and committees

I would welcome your bringing something to the committee—let us see what we can do in that direction. We have come to the end of our questions, so thank you for that useful and informative discussion.

We agreed at the start of the meeting that we would take the next items in private, so I now close the public part of the meeting.

Under item 2, we will take evidence on the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman’s annual report for 2020-21. We are joined by Rosemary Agnew, who is the ombudsman; Niki Maclean, who is the director of the SPSO; and Andrew Sheridan, who is the head of improvement, standards and engagement at the SPSO. I welcome our witnesses to the meeting.

Members have received copies of the annual report, along with an update on work that has taken place since the period that is covered by the report. I intend to allow about an hour for this session, although we have some room for flexibility if we need to overrun.

I will ask the first question. The report and the update mention the impact of Covid-19. I am interested in how Covid has impacted on the number and type of complaints that have been dealt with by the ombudsman, and in whether there have been any significant changes as a result of so many public services going online.

You will be pleased to hear that there is one last question. It has been a useful discussion, and I want to take us out to a global level. Your submission states:

“the international community has set new standards and expectations for Ombudsmen which have been ratified at UN level”.

I am interested in how the current set-up in Scotland compares.

Good morning, and welcome to the 11th meeting in 2022 of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee. I ask all members and witnesses to ensure that their mobile phones are on silent and that all other notifications are turned off during the meeting. We have received apologies for absence from today’s meeting from Mark Griffin, Willie Coffey joins us remotely.

The first item on our agenda is to decide whether to take items 3 and 5 in private and whether to consider draft reports on the Non-Domestic Rates (Coronavirus) (Scotland) Bill and the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill in private at our next meeting. Do members agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

We move on to questions from Miles Briggs.

It is great to hear that you were determined to keep your doors open, to support other organisations to keep their doors open in relation to complaint handling, and to allow people to give feedback on the services that were being offered.

I will continue on the Covid-19 thread. I am keen to hear whether the cases that you receive are becoming more complex and whether the office has adequate resources and expertise to fulfil its role.

That is helpful. The act was written 20 years ago, and much has changed in the past 20 years.

I have a tiny question, although it might need too big an answer. I read in our papers that such changes would have to be done in primary legislation. I presume that we would look towards the next session of Parliament for that. What do we need to do now to set that up so that it can come about?

I am aware of the potential for the Subsidy Control Bill to constrain the Scottish Government’s ability to diverge from the UK Government on subsidy levels and policies. How might that bill affect the operation of the fisheries management and support common framework with regard to fisheries grants and subsidies?

That was a very helpful response. You mentioned that a bycatch mitigation initiative is due to be published. Is that a Scottish Government document or a joint document?

I want to continue on the science theme. Last week, the cabinet secretary announced a consultation on remote electronic monitoring with cameras to gather data and feed it into decision making and policy setting, so there is talk about rolling out and it is at the consultation stage. I would love to hear your initial thoughts on remote electronic monitoring giving you, your organisation, your members and the Government the science that you need to make better decisions.