Minutes: 29 June 2022

1. Consideration of continued petitions:

The Committee considered the following continued petitions— 

PE1887: Create an Unborn Victims of Violence Act. The Committee took evidence from the petitioner, Nicola Murray, and from Julie Ruzgar. It agreed to consider the evidence heard at a future meeting.  

PE1860: New legislation for Prescription and Limitation Act. The Committee agreed to close the petition under Rule 15.7 of Standing Orders on the basis that, while the Scottish Government has undertaken to keep this area of law under review, the existing legislation already allows the courts to override the principal limitation time limits where it is persuaded that it is equitable to do so. In addition, the Scottish Government has no plans to collect and evaluate information on the use of judicial discretion under section 19A of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973. 

PE1864: Increase the ability of communities to influence planning decisions for onshore windfarms. The Committee agreed to write to the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, the PAS and  Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA). The Committee also agreed to write to UK Government Ministers. 

PE1885: Make offering Community Shared Ownership mandatory for all windfarm development planning proposals. The Committee agreed to write to the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth and the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport. 

PE1902: To allow an appeal process for Community Participation Requests. The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government.  

PE1917: Provide full legal aid to all parents fighting for access to their children. The Committee agreed to close the petition under Rule 15.7 of Standing Orders on the basis that the Scottish Government intends to introduce the Legal Aid Reform (Scotland) Bill during this parliament. In closing the petition, the Committee agreed to highlight to the petitioner that they can contact their local MSPs about pursuing amendments to the Bill (once introduced) to ensure that the issues raised in this petition are fully considered.     

2. Consideration of new petitions:

The Committee considered the following new petitions— 

PE1930: Ensure customers are always given information on cheapest possible fare in new Scotrail contract. The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government. The Committee also agreed to write to Transport for London. 

PE1934: Develop an educational resource on gender-based violence for all year groups in High School. The Committee agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills. It also agreed to write to COSLA. 

PE1935: Create an Independent Committee to judge whether Scottish Ministers have broken the Ministerial Code. The Committee agreed to seek further briefing from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre on the issues raised by the petition.  

PE1938: Introduce compulsory microchipping of cats in Scotland. The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government and to the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission.  

3. Work programme(In Private):

The Committee agreed its work programme.