Chamber and committees

Do you have ideas about the scope and form of the consultation? Do you know what you intend to bring forward or how will mirror what has been done by other jurisdictions that have introduced such legislation?

We should write to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to seek an update on action that is being taken to ensure that the phased roll-out of free school meal provision proceeds without delay, including further information on the outcomes of the Scottish Futures Trust survey on the resource and capital needs of local authorities to deliver the commitment.

It might also be helpful to ask the cabinet secretary to confirm, in respect of the commitment that is included in the programme for government—as the convener mentioned—whether the Scottish Government still intends to take forward a pilot of universal free school meals in secondary schools during the current parliamentary session.

Unfortunately, I think that we have come to the end of the road with the petition, and I think that we should close it under rule 15.7 of standing orders on the basis that, first of all, the Scottish Government has no plans to review the wheelchair-accessible housing target guidance at this time; secondly, it has recently consulted on changes to part 1 of “Housing for Varying Needs: a design guide”, which includes the design criteria for housing specifically designed for wheelchair users; and finally it is considering the housing-related recommendations contained in the dying in the margins policy briefing.

I should highlight that I know the petitioner and her sister. I raised this matter with the First Minister previously. However, it is my colleague, Tess White, who has primarily been supporting the petition, and she raises some very pertinent points.

Our first course of action should be to write to the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport to seek updates on the development of a draft service specification for perinatal mental health services; on progress on the Scottish Government’s consideration of NHS National Services Scotland’s options appraisal report on mother and baby unit provision; on the review of the mother and baby unit family fund; and on the publication of the mental health and capacity reform programme, which was initially expected at the end of last year.

I am interested in the comments that Professor Borg-Barthet made about the Council of Europe initiative. The Scottish Government is committed to aligning with EU law. Therefore, in theory, there is no need for the petition, because the Scottish Government should align with EU law. What options for intervention are open to the Scottish Government? There is the legislative route, but what about non-legislative routes, such as via solicitor regulation? Would that assuage the requirements of the petition?

As a committee, we genuinely try to follow up on every petition, particularly in our consideration of new petitions. In this case, I think that we should close the petition under rule 15.7 of the standing orders, on the basis that the Scottish Government intends to continue to follow the JCVI’s advice on vaccination programmes, that the JCVI’s advice on spring 2024 vaccination does not suggest offering vaccinations to teachers and school staff and that it indicates that the autumn campaign will be smaller than in previous years.

It is probably worth reflecting that the evidence that we received at the previous meeting was disturbing and deeply troubling. We should look to ensure that the petitioners are properly recognised.

Convener, you are right to highlight what appears to be a difference in the approach of the current Deputy First Minister and that of the previous one. We reached a recognition of the harm to the survivors from Fornethy but, beyond that, the Scottish Government was going to take no further action on the basis that there might be many more victims out there, and that, according to the Deputy First Minister, those victims experienced the abuse only for a very short time, which is quite a harrowing suggestion to have made.

I agree with your point, convener, but it would also be worth writing to the Law Society of Scotland and Thompsons Solicitors to seek their views on the issues raised by the petition, including any advice that they provide to potential applicants to the redress scheme about evidential requirements.

I think that we should close the petition, but not yet. I think we should wait to see whether the regulations proposed by the Scottish Government, which would achieve the aims of the petition, come into force. I believe that the regulations are at the draft stage at the moment and will be introduced. For the comfort of all, I think that we should wait until that occurs before closing the petition.

I think that we should also write to the Royal College of Physicians. In our correspondence to the Scottish Government, and perhaps to other stakeholders, we should include questions about monitoring indoor air quality, which could be relevant to what factors we might wish to consider in order to improve it. We need to get evidence on that.

What action has been taken to support those who were abused in short-term holiday care and to enable them to access some form of redress?