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?

Thank you for that.

The petition is an important one, and we have considered it in some detail. The Scottish Government has confirmed that it will include stakeholders in the review, and I propose that we keep the petition open at the current time.

I wonder whether colleagues would be happy for us to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government to request information and more detail on the timescales, including the dates for completion of each stage of the review; to ask how the Government intends to report on stage 1 of the review so that we have an understanding of the thinking; and to ask how the Government intends to engage with the Scottish Parliament throughout the period of the review and on the proposals and recommendations for action.

Are there any other proposals from the committee? Are we content to proceed on that basis?

Item 2 is consideration of new petitions. PE1939, on amending the date of birth to allow wider accessibility to the human papillomavirus vaccination programme for boys, was lodged by Suzanne Thornton. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to demonstrate a commitment to health equality for young males who were born between 1 September 1997 and 1 September 2006 by allowing them to access the HPV vaccination via the national health service.

The petitioner has told us that she is concerned that the current vaccine eligibility criteria are creating a health inequality. She has noted that all girls, as well as men who have sex with men aged up to 45 years, are offered HPV vaccination, but young males who were born prior to September 2006 are unable to access the vaccine. Should a young male who was born prior to that date wish to receive the HPV vaccine, he would have to do so through private healthcare, which the petitioner has advised us would cost approximately £500 per person.

The Scottish Government notes in its response that eligibility for teenage immunisation programmes in Scotland is defined by academic year rather than date of birth. As such, any boy who started in secondary 1 in 2019-20 would have been offered the vaccine and will remain eligible up to his 25th birthday. The response also notes that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation does not currently recommend a catch-up programme for boys and states that the evidence suggests that boys are already benefiting from indirect protection as a result of the roll-out of the vaccination programme to girls.

I know that the HPV vaccination has been controversial and that it has been the subject of previous discussion in the Public Petitions Committee in earlier parliamentary sessions.

Do members have any comments or suggestions in relation to the petition?

Thank you, Mr Stewart. If colleagues have no other suggestions on organisations to contact, is the committee content to keep the petition open and to pursue further evidence from those sources?

Members indicated agreement.

We move on with our consideration of continued petitions. PE1854, on reviewing the adult disability payment eligibility criteria for people with mobility needs, was lodged by Keith Park. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to remove the 20m rule from the proposed adult disability payment eligibility criteria or to identify an alternative form of support for people with mobility needs.

When the committee last considered the petition, it agreed to ask the Scottish Government to engage with stakeholders on the review of the adult disability payment. The Scottish Government has now confirmed that engagement with relevant stakeholders will be included in the remit for both stages of the ADP review. We also have a further written submission from the petitioner, which calls on the committee to seek further evidence from stakeholders and to report directly to the review.

We are joined by our colleague Carol Mochan. Good morning, Carol, and thank you for your patience. Do you have anything to contribute to the committee’s thinking on the issue?

That would be very helpful. Mr Park lodged the petition on behalf of the MS Society. It would be interesting to drill down into the very specific complications arising from the condition itself.

PE1907, on the provision of funded early learning and childcare for all two-year-olds in Scotland, was lodged by Claire Beats. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to provide funded early learning and childcare for all two-year-olds and remove the eligibility criteria for access to services.

The committee last considered the petition on 23 March, when we agreed to write to the Scottish Government for further information, including on its plans to address concerns about the impact of Covid-19 on the development of children born during the pandemic.

We have received a response from the Scottish Government, in which it refers to its

“commitment to expand early learning and childcare to 1 and 2 year olds, starting in this Parliament with children from low income households.”

The response also states:

“the Scottish Government is funding a range of ... learning resources for ELC practitioners, which are directly relevant to supporting COVID-19 recovery”.

Do members have any comments or suggestions?

That seems sensible, Mr Stewart. Does the committee agree with that?

Members indicated agreement.