Seòmar agus comataidhean

PE1905, on the public inquiry into the response of religious organisations to allegations of child sexual abuse since 1950, was lodged by Angela Rosina Cousins on behalf of UK XJW’s Support. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to order a public inquiry into the actions taken by religious organisations in response to child sexual abuse allegations since 1950.

At our last consideration of the petition, we heard directly from the petitioner about her experiences and the issues that she would like to see addressed. I thank Angela again for taking the time to come to the Scottish Parliament and speak to the committee on what was clearly a particularly difficult topic. I think that I speak for all members when I say that the committee found Angela’s evidence compelling, although it was difficult to deliver.

In that session, we heard that victims of that abuse are hidden in plain sight and need to be heard, as they are often isolated from everyday life. The petitioner made her case for the Scottish Government to conduct a public inquiry into the matter and raised the significance of mandatory reporting mechanisms.

Members will also recall the submission that we received from the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse that is under way in England and Wales. The inquiry undertook a specific investigation into child protection in religious organisations and has published its report, along with recommendations, including recommendations for further work. Members can find a link to the full report in their papers.

The evidence session was difficult for the committee. Having reflected on that evidence, do members have any comments on how we might now choose to proceed?

We will keep the petition open and progress accordingly.

PE1917, which was lodged by Amy Stevenson, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to provide full legal aid to all parents who are fighting for access to their child or children, regardless of income.

We last considered the petition on 23 February, when we agreed to write to a number of stakeholders. Since then, we have received written submissions from the petitioner, Relationships Scotland and Shared Parenting Scotland. The submissions highlight a number of issues with the current legal aid provision that is dependent on income, including the costs of legal proceedings, the impact of the financial barriers on children, the importance of early resolution mechanisms and the need to consider children’s rights and put children’s interests first.

I am inclined to write to the Scottish Government highlighting the evidence that we have received, requesting that legal aid provision relating to parental responsibilities be included as part of its planned review of the legal aid system and asking for information on the scope of the review now that it is under way, the plans and timetable for consultation and the timetable for introducing the legal aid reform bill.

Does that proposal meet with the approval of the committee?

Members indicated agreement.

Our final petition today is PE1925, which was lodged by David Singleton. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to increase the 40mph speed limit for heavy goods vehicles in Scotland to 50mph, in line with other parts of the United Kingdom.

We last discussed the petition on 9 March, when we agreed to write to the Scottish Government. The response from the Scottish Government confirms that HGV speed limits are being considered as part of the national speed management review. Transport Scotland indicated that it would be happy to engage directly with the petitioner.

Do colleagues have any suggestions for action?

Fergus Ewing joins us remotely this morning, and Paul Sweeney will be with us shortly.

No other colleagues are indicating that they wish to comment.

I continue to be perplexed. The inquiry in England and Wales has managed to accommodate the review into abuse in the care sector and, that being the case, it is unclear to me why there is resistance to closing the gap in the scope of the inquiry in Scotland. That is very much the petitioner’s perspective, from the evidence that we heard, and that point remains largely unanswered. The argument that it would create difficulty or delay does not seem to have been borne out by the ability of the inquiry elsewhere to accommodate that area of abuse, so we really want to pursue that point.

Is the committee content with the recommendations that have been made in relation to the evidence that we heard?

Members indicated agreement.

PE1912, on funding for council venues, was lodged by Wendy Dunsmore. It calls on Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to provide the necessary additional revenue to local councils to run essential services and venues.

When we last considered the petition, we agreed to investigate the issues with local authority chief executives. We have received responses from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Angus Council, North Ayrshire Council, Argyll and Bute Council, North Lanarkshire Council and Fife Council.

The responses highlighted a number of common challenges for leisure and sport funding at local authority level including: low customer return rates after pandemic lockdowns, resulting in reduced revenue for leisure venues; continuing financial pressure as a result of funding cuts; and the creation of limited flexibility for councils because of ring-fenced funding from the Scottish Government.

Local authorities also highlighted a number of changes in their service provision to tackle the issue of financial sustainability. However, concerns remain over the allocation of funding for sport and leisure activities in the future, which very much echo the concerns of the petitioner.

Do members have any comments or suggestions for action?

Do others have a view?

With regard to the development and delivery of multiyear projects of core services that are provided by the Parliament, you could point to a number of different examples. Maintenance of the lifts is an example: you might ask how much you know about how much it is costing to replace or maintain the lifts in the building. Such costs are all incorporated within the particular line item elements of the budget. I think that the corporate body would be more concerned were it to find—we would be alerted to it—that there was a significant problem evolving in the development of a project that was now somehow spiralling out of control or had spiralling costs.

In each year—and at each meeting of the corporate body throughout the year—the various departments of the Parliament schedule fairly detailed and extensive reports, which we consider. I think that many of those are subsequently available to the public as minutes. So, I do think that it was sufficiently transparent.

With regard to the overall portfolio of a £100 million budget—it might have been about £80 million at that time—the level of detail that the committee sought or asked us about was accommodated. As I said, I was asked questions in that year and in subsequent years about the project’s ongoing development.

In the year to which you refer, I gave evidence to the previous finance committee and colleagues asked me questions about development of the new website, which are in the Official Report. Therefore, MSPs on the predecessor committee were aware of development of the website and interrogated me on it.