Chamber and committees

It is important to hear from Glasgow City Council, because Transport Scotland has referenced it significantly with regard to how many applications have been received from taxi operators for a temporary exemption, how many exemptions have been granted, what criteria there are for receiving a temporary exemption to the LEZ and how long such exemptions will last.

As you said in a previous meeting, convener, there is still some way to go on the issue, and we do not have an adequate response. With Alzheimer Scotland’s recent written submission, it is worth following up with the Scottish Government about its intentions to amend or remove the legislative test requiring severely mentally impaired people to be eligible for a qualifying benefit to obtain a council tax disregard.

The committee needs to be clear that we are conflating two separate asks here. One ask is in relation to what we have heard this morning about the future of the Clyde. The other—which is what I believe the petition focuses on—is about a change of ownership with regard to the future of the Clyde. I think that we just need to be clear that one does not necessarily link to the other—but it could. Our focus needs to be on the latter point, although it would be useful to have a fully informed opinion on the future of the Clyde from interested parties.

With that in mind, it might be useful to write to the Scottish Government regarding both aspects: the future of the Clyde and the ownership issue. In particular, I refer to Katy Clark’s submission, which says that the former transport minister Jenny Gilruth

“acknowledged that the private ownership of harbours ‘can substantially slow progress in relation to improvements and it also comes at a cost to the public purse.’”

If that is, indeed, Scottish Government policy, it strikes me that that would lead one to a conclusion that the petition should be warmly welcomed. However, it is important to clarify that with the Scottish Government.

In addition, it is worth while writing to the British Ports Association, the UK Chamber of Shipping, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, CalMac Ferries, Inverclyde Council, North Ayrshire Council and Glasgow City Council.

In addition to that, it would be useful to ask Creative Scotland to include what monitoring metrics it uses to analyse success or otherwise.

We should close the petition under rule 15.7 of the standing orders, on the basis that the “National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021” sets out general principles on how practitioners should involve children and families in child protection processes, and the written evidence suggests that introducing an automatic requirement to inform biological fathers would remove flexibility and discretion from the child welfare process and could have the unintended consequence of putting the child at further risk.

The starting point might be to write to the Scottish Government in order to understand its assessment of this proposal, the associated costs and the numbers involved—that is probably important, although we have heard estimates today. We should ask for an update on the options that it is exploring on this issue. Thereafter, it might be worth considering whether further evidence is required in writing or in person.

That is a sensible course of action, convener. It would be useful, as part of that letter, to get the Scottish Government’s view on the point that toilet provision is a basic requirement of public health and hygiene.

I declare that I am a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, which does some work on citizen participation, although I have not been involved in that thus far.

I agree that we should close the petition, at least partly on the basis that we do not know for sure the scope and form of what we would be stopping. There is quite a changing landscape in respect of extended producer responsibility and a delay to the rest of the UK scheme to 2026, which may or may not have implications for us in Scotland. There is also the potential for a different form of deposit return scheme via the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill, which we wait to see amendments for. Therefore, it is not clear to me exactly what we would be stopping. The petitioner might look kindly on a new form of deposit return scheme, if it was a digital one and there was something in it about refillables. However, I think that, until we and the petitioner know what we would be stopping, we have no option but to close the petition.

Yes, I realise that. I do not really need an explanation of the process—