Seòmar agus comataidhean

We move on to questions from Paul McLennan.

Item 2 is to take evidence as part of the committee’s consideration of the Scottish Government’s local governance review. We will have three panels before us. I welcome to the committee Rona Mackay, who is a member of Benbecula community council; Alison Macleod, who is society secretary of Midsteeple Quarter; Debbie Herron, who is development manager at Forres Area Community Trust; Pauline Smith, who is chief executive of Connect Community Trust; and Philip Revell, who is a community board member of Sustaining Dunbar.

We will move straight to questions. If the witnesses wish to respond or contribute to the discussion, please type an R in the chat box to indicate that. Some questions might not necessarily be relevant to your experience. Initially, we will direct questions to one or two people, but if other witnesses want to respond, they are welcome to do so.

We are in the privileged position of overseeing the conclusion of the local governance review, which was launched in 2017, and ensuring that its findings shape the coming local democracy bill and community wealth building bill. My first question is a general one for everyone. We would like to understand what is going on in your communities. What are the challenges, strengths and roles of each organisation in improving the outcomes for the local governance review?

I say for the record that I know Debbie Herron. We live in the same town and recently worked together on the response to Covid-19. It is great to have you here, Debbie. We will begin with Rona Mackay, followed by Alison Macleod, Debbie Herron, Pauline Smith and Phil Revell.

We cannot hear you, Rona.

Thank you.

Philip, will you tell us about your organisation and the strengths of and challenges for your community?

Thank you. I am sure that committee members’ questions will bring out more issues. Pauline, will you tell us about your community?

It is helpful for the committee to hear that people do not even know what the local governance review is.

I will ask my question again, because I hear that my microphone may not have been working and I was not clear. We would like to hear about your involvement in the local governance review, your expectations for your participation, communication with the organisers, and your understanding of the next steps.

We move on to questions from Meghan Gallacher.

Thank you. We will move on to questions from Miles Briggs.

I will move on to another area. In the context of the recovery from Covid and—fittingly—of the climate and nature emergencies, we have been talking about how communities can be empowered at local level to make the responses for localism, which Alison Evison talked about, and how we can make that real. We heard from one witness on the community panel that there is a need for spaces for meetings and for the skills to convene and facilitate and that people need to be paid for their time. Is the Scottish Government considering that? I imagine that the issue might present itself in the local democracy bill and the community wealth building bill.

That concludes our questions. I thank the cabinet secretary, Robin Haynes and Brian Logan for joining us.

The committee will now move into private session, as agreed earlier.