Seòmar agus comataidhean

I expect that it will be a relatively short evidence-taking session, because we are focusing on the issue in hand, so I thank you for your time.

I invite David Torrance to lead the questioning.

I am happy to accommodate that.

As there are no further suggestions, are members happy to keep the petition open and proceed on that basis? We can consider the petition afresh when we receive the submissions that we are now seeking.

Members indicated agreement.

PE1947, which was lodged by Alex O’Kane, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to address the disturbing culture of youth violence in Scotland. The petitioner highlights a culture of youth violence in Glasgow city centre, saying that children as young as 13 years old have been kicked unconscious and that such incidents have been videoed and circulated on social media. He also sent us a further submission to highlight a recent incident involving a young girl. He says that children should be safe on our streets and that young people

“need to learn about consequences and deterrents or they will simply become adults without fear of consequences and deterrents.”

The Scottish Government’s response outlines a number of on-going programmes and the work that is being undertaken with partner organisations such as the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit and Medics Against Violence. It also highlights a notable decrease in the number of young people frequenting Glasgow city centre and an associated decrease in antisocial behaviour and violence.

The Government states its plan to publish the first national violence prevention framework for Scotland, which seeks to refresh its approach to violence prevention and harm reduction. Its submission also notes that there was an 85 per cent reduction in the number of children and young people being prosecuted in courts between 2008 and 2020.

In view of the Scottish Government’s response and our own thoughts on this important petition, do members have any comments or suggestions?

I just want to explore that point. You have detailed quite specific technical specification and availability issues with regard to the ability to comply. What has been the response to that reality?

Mr McLean, I assume from your contribution a moment ago that you take a similar view. Do you want to articulate that?

Either Mr McLean or Mr Fleming can come in.

We can draw that together with the recommendation when we refer the petition. Given that the Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee is already exploring the issues, do we agree to refer the petition to that committee?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you very much. We will next meet on 9 November. That concludes the public part of the meeting.

Thank you. Would Mr McLean and Mr Fleming like to address the question?

Good morning, and welcome to the 14th meeting of the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee in 2022.

The first agenda item is consideration of continued petitions. The first of those is PE1862, which calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to introduce community representation on the boards of public organisations that deliver lifeline services to island communities, in keeping with the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018. The petition was lodged by Rona MacKay, Angus Campbell and Naomi Bremner on behalf of the Uist economic task force.

We last considered the petition on 4 May, and we thought that it would be useful to invite the Minister for Transport to provide further evidence. I am delighted that we have the minister, Jenny Gilruth MSP, with us today. I think that we are joined remotely—[Interruption.] Oh—she is with us now. Sorry. We also have Fran Pacitti, the director of aviation, maritime, freight and canals at Transport Scotland. I could not see the small type on her nameplate—once her job description is on there, there is little room left for her name. I welcome the minister and Ms Pacitti.

Members have a number of questions that they would like to explore. We are happy to move straight to them, unless there is anything that the minister particularly wants to say before we do.

We have a proposal to hear from the petitioner. It might be useful to seek further information from a variety of other organisations ahead of that. Do members have any suggestions in that respect?