Official Report 773KB pdf
We move to agenda item 3, which is consideration of new petitions. Before I introduce the first new petition, I highlight to those who are following today’s proceedings that a considerable amount of work has been done in advance of the consideration of a petition. Before a petition is first considered, an initial view is sought from the Scottish Government and a briefing from the Parliament’s impartial research service is provided.
Roadside Litter Awareness Campaign (PE2121)
The first new petition is PE2121, which was lodged by Carolyn Philip, who I believe is with us in the public gallery. Welcome. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to run a campaign targeted at companies to raise awareness of the harms that are caused by roadside litter and the penalties that could be brought against responsible parties. We are joined for consideration of the petition by our colleague, Rachael Hamilton MSP—welcome, Rachael.
Keep Scotland Beautiful reports that 50 tonnes of litter are abandoned on Scotland’s roadsides each month. The charity’s annual Scottish litter survey of 2024 set out that 88 per cent of respondents viewed roadside litter as a problem in Scotland.
The Scottish Government’s response highlights the 2023 national litter and fly-tipping strategy and year 1 action plan. The response states that that work recognises the importance of prevention through education and communication and of effective approaches to enforcement. On enforcement, section 18 of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024, when commenced, will enable the issuing of civil penalties for littering from a vehicle.
The response informs us that the national litter and fly-tipping strategy delivery group has established a communications sub-group that will explore the best ways to deliver effective communication messages on litter and fly-tipping. Proposals put forward in the petition will be shared with the sub-group so that it can consider them as part of its on-going work to look at improving communications at the national level. However, the Scottish Government has indicated that direct mailing to local businesses and roadside signage would be a matter for local authorities or Transport Scotland.
The petitioner’s response states that, although her group commends the amount of work that has been done in producing the action plan, she does not agree that the fundamental steps have been taken to address the point that is made in the petition. She points out that the action plan does not mention making companies responsible for securing loose items on open-back lorries. She states that large sums of money are spent each year to clean up litter and suggests that the money would be better spent on applying a workable and enforceable way of reducing litter in the first place.
Before I invite comments from the committee, I ask Rachael Hamilton whether she would like to contribute.
Thank you, convener. I thank you and the committee for giving me the opportunity to speak in support of petition PE2121 on running a targeted roadside litter awareness campaign.
Like the convener, I welcome to the public gallery the petitioners, Carolyn Philip and Myra Watson, from Berwickshire anti-litter group. The group regularly co-ordinates litter picks throughout Berwickshire, including on the A1, which is one of the main tourist routes into Scotland. I also welcome around 30 other litter and gardening groups who are watching online. Members of the committee will be pleased to hear that groups from their own constituencies and regions, such as West Lothian litter pickers and Dundee litter pickers, are among those watching online.
We all know that volunteers such as Carolyn and Myra give up their free time to pick litter, out of the goodness of their hearts. They choose to do it with very little support from anyone, including the Scottish Government and cash-strapped local authorities.
Between March and April 2024, Keep Scotland Beautiful held its annual spring clean, in which 45,000 people from every local authority across Scotland took part in 3,564 registered litter picks. Those volunteers care deeply about the communities in which they live, and they recognise the importance of protecting Scotland’s biodiversity through maintaining the cleanliness of our environment.
Recent statistics reveal that just over four in five people in Scotland—82 per cent—agree that they want to see more efforts to prevent litter in their area. A similar figure—81 per cent—express a desire for increased action to clean up litter locally.
Carolyn Philip, the lead petitioner, has said that, for three years, she and others have been writing to councillors, Government ministers, BEAR Scotland and Transport Scotland. She says that their responses have been patronising, thanking them for their hard work but not providing any positive or constructive solutions that are enforceable.
Despite the Scottish Government publishing the national litter and fly-tipping strategy that the convener mentioned, the landscape of who is responsible for collecting roadside litter, enforcing penalties and raising awareness of the issue remains confused and scattered. Furthermore, the pace of action by the Scottish Government is glacial, meaning that the blight of litter continues to have a significant negative impact on communities and our environment.
Keep Scotland Beautiful admits that we have reached the point at which there is a litter emergency, and that, without increased coordination and attention, the current situation is unlikely to change.
I agree with Carolyn when she says that we need definitive action, not more talk. On that note, I will close by saying that I would like to add my full support to the aims of the petition, and I hope that the committee will give it due consideration.
Do members have any suggestions or comments?
There is quite a lot in the petition, and it might help the petitioner if the Scottish Government could provide the context of roadside litter awareness campaigns and say who has been responsible for delivering them over the period in which this Scottish Government has been in charge, since 2007. It would be useful for the committee to have that context.
I would like the Scottish Government to detail who has been responsible for any specific campaigns. I am aware of one that was run by Keep Scotland Beautiful from 2016 to 2019, but I am also aware that there has been varied responsibility for delivering litter awareness campaigns more generally. In 2011, there was the “Dunna chuck bruck” litter awareness campaign in Shetland, which I might have to declare as an interest, as I funded it.
It is important that the Scottish Government tells us how much funding has gone into roadside litter awareness campaigns each year—if it is generous, it might expand that to litter campaigns in general—and who is responsible for delivering them. It should also tell us what the assessment of the dumb dumpers phone line was. That was a national phone line, but if you call it now, you are instructed to call your local authority, which might not necessarily be set up to deal with the issue.
We should also ask the Scottish Government for further information on the national litter and fly-tipping strategy delivery group’s communications sub-groups—what a mouthful—including what actions will be taken at the national level to improve communications about littering. It is important that that action is taken nationally, as this is not purely a local authority issue. We should also ask what engagement has been done with stakeholders. It would also be worth asking whether the littering provisions in the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 will cover unintentional littering from commercial vehicles—I hope that they will, because the 2024 act will not deliver a circular economy if it does not deliver on litter.
It might be interesting to talk to other stakeholders who might have an interest in the issue. Rachael Hamilton mentioned those that manage our trunk roads, including Transport Scotland. I know from paddle boarding under the Friarton bridge how dangerous roadside litter can be, because lots of individuals will throw various things over the side of the bridge.
Finally, on extended producer responsibility, I would like us to ask how the Scottish Government is engaging with producers to help to co-ordinate litter collection and therefore reduce disposal costs, which I know many of the large companies and small producers are keen to do.
Thank you for that comprehensive submission.
I am impressed by how much Mr Golden knows about rubbish.
Do members agree with the proposed action?
Members indicated agreement.
Pensions (Divorce) (PE2124)
Our final new petition is PE2124, which was lodged by Eliza Wiper, and calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to change the law so that it no longer considers private and workplace pensions to be part of matrimonial property.
The Scottish Parliament information centre briefing explains that pension benefits that are built up during the period of the marriage or civil partnership are considered matrimonial or partnership property. The briefing also notes that a key principle of financial provision on divorce is that the net value of a couple’s matrimonial or partnership property must be shared fairly between them. Fair sharing is usually equal sharing unless special circumstances apply.
The Scottish Government’s response to the petition states that it does not support the aims of the petition. In response to the petitioner’s view that no contribution is made by the partner to the pension, the Scottish Government highlights an indirect contribution made, such as one spouse leaving or reducing paid work to care for children or other family members.
The petitioner’s written submission shares her view that staying at home to look after children is the choice of that individual and highlights the Scottish Government’s proposed early years childcare funding. The petitioner is also keen to receive more data on the issues that are raised in the petition.
Do members have any comments or suggestions for action?
I have tried to consider the petition carefully. As a solicitor formerly in private practice for a quarter of a century, I dealt with quite a lot of matrimonial work and the financial settlement on divorce, which, as the minister said in her reply, is covered by the Family Law (Scotland) Act 1985
One understands that both parties to divorce usually have very strong feelings and often feel that the division of the cake is unfair, and one can sympathise with that in certain circumstances. However, the Government has set out clearly that it is not in favour of that policy, and there is really no prospect whatsoever that it will change those principles.
I think that the 1985 act is a very good piece of legislation, and I want to make one specific point clear, which may not be immediately apparent. Under the act, the assets that fall to be divided between the parties are classified as matrimonial property, that is, property that is brought in in anticipation of marriage or property that is acquired or created during the period of the marriage, from the date of the marriage until the date of the separation or raising of the writ, if there has not been a separation.
In other words, the point is that, if you get married at, say, 50 and then divorced at 55, and you took out a pension when you were 25 and you still have that pension, then only the proportion of the pension attributable to the time period relating to the date of the marriage and the date of the separation falls to be taken into account. That is because the law recognises that there needs to be a recognition of the contributions of both parties in bringing up children and so on. If there is one breadwinner, the other spouse—usually, though not always, the female—may often have substantial childcare responsibilities.
The law is quite sophisticated. It seems to me to have stood the test of time. It seeks to be fair and, although the petitioner feels that it is unfair, I am not persuaded by her arguments. Therefore, on this occasion—I have not said this for a while—I agree with the Scottish Government.
Are you suggesting that we close the petition under rule 15.7 of the standing orders?
Yes. I know that the petitioner will be disappointed but, as you said in relation to a previous petition, convener, a lot of work has been done up to this time by the clerks to get a response from the minister and the petitioner. Were there any prospect of any reform, it would be our duty to explore and examine that, but my personal view—members may take a different view—is that there is no prospect at all of the Scottish Government changing its mind. If there is a different Government in the future, the petitioner might bring the issue back, if she so wishes.
Do members agree to the proposed action?
Members indicated agreement.
That concludes the public part of our meeting. Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday 19 February. I hope that our convener will be well enough to convene it.
11:44 Meeting continued in private until 12:07.Air ais
Continued Petitions