Chamber and committees

Fulton MacGregor, that is connected to the area that you were going to ask about, so do you want to come in?

I call—

Do people have wider observations to make about the international picture?

As they do not, I will bring Karen Adam back in.

I will bring in Paul Daly at this point. Perhaps, Paul, you can also touch on what it would mean to young LGBT+ people if Scotland was a world leader in this area.

That is a really good point to end on. We have planned a number of evidence-taking sessions on this matter and are continuing to consider our approach to ensure that we are getting the widest range of evidence, but, for now, I want to thank you both so much for your evidence.

I suspend the meeting until 11 o’clock.

It is one of those areas where a couple of committees could be involved. We will certainly take an interest, but it will be for others to decide whether we are the lead committee. Thank you for that.

I have a question before I bring in Alexander Stewart. South of the border, in England and Wales, there has been legislation in relation to a system of no-fault divorce or dissolution. Are there any plans for such a system to be introduced in Scotland? Is there a need for that to happen?

I have one more question. As well as the impacts of the pandemic, we are having to deal with the impacts of Brexit. Do you have reflections on the impacts of Brexit on the civil justice system? In particular, are there any common frameworks between the UK and Scottish Governments that you feel it would be helpful to update the committee on?

I have a couple more quick questions. In the previous parliamentary session—or perhaps the session before that—there was a consultation on succession law and inheritance law, and the Government committed to legislating at the next available legislative opportunity. The Succession (Scotland) Act 2016 made some technical tweaks to the law, but it would be good to hear your thoughts on how we might take forward the commitment made in, I think, 2020 to introduce further legislation to deal with law that dates back to 1964.

Agenda item 2 is an evidence session with Tristan Gray and Blair Anderson. We are pleased to welcome Tristan, who is the principal petitioner, and Blair, on behalf of End Conversion Therapy Scotland. I refer members to papers 1, 2 and 3, and invite Blair to make a short opening statement.

What do you mean by “non-affirmative”?