Chamber and committees

Our final new petition is PE1992, lodged by Laura Hansler, which is on dualling the A9 and improving road safety. I welcome to the committee Murdo Fraser and—a regular visitor to the committee—Rhoda Grant.

The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to deliver on the commitment that it made in 2011 and address safety concerns on the A9 by publishing a revised timetable and detailed plan for dualling each section; completing the dualling work by 2025; and creating a memorial to the people who have lost their lives in road traffic incidents on the A9.

As I said, we are joined in our consideration of the petition by our colleagues Murdo Fraser and Rhoda Grant.

The petition has been somewhat superseded by the Minister for Transport’s statement to the Parliament on 8 February, in which it was confirmed that the 2025 completion date is now “no longer achievable”. Nevertheless, I will set out some of the background to the petition, before opening it up to wider discussion.

In the background information to the petition, the petitioner, Laura Hansler, tells us that the A9 dual action group was formed to raise awareness of the number of people who have lost their lives on the A9 and of the need for a mandatory safety feature to be deployed to reduce further loss of life, as well as to explore whether there should be an investigation into the procurement procedures that are associated with the project.

In its initial response to the petition, which was received prior to the minister’s statement, the Scottish Government highlighted the short-term road safety measures that have been developed by Transport Scotland to take account of the recent trend of fatal accidents on the A9.

The response states the Scottish Government’s firm commitment to completing the dualling of the A9 between Perth and Inverness, albeit without providing a revised timetable on when the work is likely to be completed.

Following the minister’s statement, the committee received a submission from the petitioner in which she calls on us to consider a public inquiry into the matter.

I open up the discussion to members.

Do colleagues have any other suggestions? We could write to organisations including COSLA, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, the General Teaching Council for Scotland, the Scottish Catholic Education Service and the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child to seek their views on the issues raised within the petition. Do members agree with those suggestions?

Members indicated agreement.

Welcome to the third meeting of the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee in 2023. I have apologies from Jackson Carlaw, so, as deputy convener, I am convening today.

The first item on our agenda this morning is a decision on whether to take item 4 in private.? Do we agree to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

Our first continued petition today is PE1948, lodged by Alex O’Kane, which calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to encourage Police Scotland to review its practices for dealing with unexplained deaths, from initial recovery through to the support that is offered to family members.

We are joined this morning by Stephanie Bonner, who is here to tell us about what change she believes is needed, following her own personal experience. Thank you for your courage in coming to give evidence this morning, Stephanie. We appreciate you taking the time to speak with us.

I also welcome members of the public who are here to support the petition and Stephanie.

Stephanie, I believe you have a brief opening statement. Would you like to read it out? Just take your time.

Stephanie, before we draw the evidence session to a close, is there anything that we have missed or that you would like to say?

Thank you for that. Do we all agree on those recommendations?

Members indicated agreement.

PE1913, which was lodged by Wendy Swain, calls on the Scottish Parliament to?urge the Scottish Government to create a separate department in Social Security Scotland that will fast-track future adult disability payment applications for people with a cancer diagnosis while they are undergoing treatment.

At our previous consideration of the petition, we agreed to write to Social Security Scotland highlighting the concerns of the petitioner and the recommendations for system improvements that are set out in Macmillan Cancer Support’s submission.

In response, Social Security Scotland has confirmed that it will publish quarterly statistics and that the information that is available will be expanded as it continues to collect more data. That will include information on processing times. The response outlines its work to address the issues that are raised by Macmillan Cancer Support’s recommendations.

The petitioner’s recent submission highlights her on-going concern about rejected applications for disability payments through the personal independence payment.

Do members have any comments or suggestions for action?

Stephanie, thank you very much for coming and giving us evidence. I know it is a really difficult time for you and it is difficult to go back through it.

Thank you also to the people in the public gallery for coming to support Stephanie Bonner and the petition—it is greatly appreciated. I suspend the meeting to allow Stephanie to leave.

Could the statutory guidance on nutritional requirements for food and drink in schools be revised to address the concerns that Callum Isted raised in the petition?

Thank you, Fergus Ewing. Is the committee happy with those recommendations?

Members indicated agreement.