Seòmar agus comataidhean

I am not sure that it is. It would be for the Government, if it chose to do so, to initiate an inquiry into any change to the electoral system for any form of representation—for example, for local government—and that would be on the basis of a consultation, a convention or whatever. It would be for the Government of the day to bring forward any proposals to change the system. Government legislation would be required.

I am not sure that that cogent summation of the merits of the current system advances the recourse that is open to us as far as the petition is concerned.

PE1907, which was lodged by Claire Beats, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to provide funded early learning and childcare for all two-year-olds in Scotland and remove the eligibility criteria for access to services. Submissions have been received from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the National Day Nurseries Association and the petitioner, as we requested.

COSLA’s submission references the delay in the implementation of additional funded early learning hours resulting from the pandemic and work to increase capacity in early learning centre settings. It welcomes the increased uptake of places for two-year-olds, but recognises that further work is needed to fully engage the families of eligible children. COSLA stresses the importance of taking

“a planned and considered approach to create additional capacity”.

The NDNA’s submission explains that it is

“the national charity representing private, voluntary and independent ... children’s nurseries across the UK”.

It states that

“Expanding funded ELC to all 2 year olds would be of benefit to children and families”,

and it references recent survey findings that show “significant impacts” on babies born during the lockdowns. The NDNA references the role of early learning in providing

“wide-ranging opportunities for the child to develop their skills and knowledge through activities and interactions”.

However, the NDNA also highlights concerns about the implications for the private, voluntary and independent sector of increasing the funded offer to all two-year-olds. It refers to recent recruitment difficulties and the impact of underfunding on the sustainability of nurseries and the viability of children’s places, and it states that

“any universal funded provision for 2-year-olds must be sufficiently funded at rates that ... reflect the cost of delivery”.

That is something that local nurseries have raised with me.

In her submission, the petitioner states that, as a nursery practitioner and the mother of a baby born in 2020, she sees the challenges arising from the fact that babies who were born during lockdown had little to no socialisation outside of the home because baby groups were closed. The petitioner believes that babies born during lockdown should have the same access to funded learning and childcare, regardless of their parents’ financial situation, adding that research suggests that lockdown-born babies are not at the same developmental levels as non-lockdown-born babies. I find that interesting.

Having considered the representations that we have received, I think that there are a number of actions that we might wish to consider. Would anyone like to offer any suggestions?

Are members content to pursue our consideration of the petition on that basis?

Members indicated agreement.

I think that Ruth Maguire’s suggestion that we check with the Education, Children and Young People Committee to find out when the issue might most recently have been considered is a useful one.

Are we all happy with that? On the basis of what we have heard, we will take forward what David Torrance has suggested. The petition remains open and we will see what response we receive.

That was the last of our continuing petitions.

Our final new petition today is PE1922, from Douglas Capon, which calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to cancel all local authority expenditure on Gaelic expansion. We are considering this petition to abandon the expansion of Gaelic in what I think Ruth Maguire said was Gaelic week.

PE1900, which was lodged by Kevin John Lawson, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to ensure that all detainees in police custody can access their prescribed medication, including methadone, in line with existing relevant operational procedures and guidance. At our most recent consideration of the petition we agreed to write to relevant drug treatment charities. A co-ordinated response has been received from the new chair of the Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce.

Before I come to that submission, I highlight that we received additional correspondence from the Scottish Government this week, which relates to earlier questions from the committee about a register of prescribed medicines in police custody. Members will recall that, as part of our consideration, it was identified to us that that information is not collected; in the absence of the information we were not persuaded that it is possible to assert with accuracy that no issues are arising.

The Scottish Government confirmed again that there is no central monitoring of the provision of prescribed medication in custody, and that that is not something that it is currently able to collate. As a consequence of our pursuit of the matter, the Government has confirmed that there is an “evidence gap” and says that it

“will consult with stakeholders in Justice and health to establish the best method of filling that evidence gap. We will report to Committee when an appropriate information gathering process has been put in place.”

The clerks have alerted the petitioner to that development.

In its submission, the DDT confirmed that

“all relevant individuals, including detainees in police custody, should have access to prescribed medication. This includes the consideration of opiate substitution therapy such as methadone.”

It also referenced

“the relevant Guidance for Police Scotland and Health Care Professionals”

and the

“Police Standard Operating Procedure”

that

“makes provision for providing access to methadone in custody and states that only NHS healthcare staff can administer methadone, although ... police can administer other medications.”

The DDT suggested that the committee might find it helpful

“to learn more about the availability of healthcare staff to administer methadone in police custody as there may be some areas where healthcare staff have a significant geographical area to cover which could impact on availability to administer methadone, resulting in some people going through withdrawal in custody.”

It went on to explain:

“The implementation of Medication Assisted Standards (MAT) in Scotland will enable consistent delivery of safe, accessible, high-quality drug treatment across Scotland ... support of the MAT standards would equate to support for ‘all detainees in police custody accessing their prescribed medication, including methadone’.”

The DDT said that it

“notes that the Minister for Drugs Policy has made a commitment in the Scottish Parliament to embed these evidence-based MAT Standards by April 2022 and active participation from people with experience of problematic drug use will be central to this phase. Demonstrable commitment from senior leaders in NHS boards, Local Authorities and Health and Social Care Partnerships will also be critical ... this needs to be supported by sustained funding, workforce development, system change and culture change. A key way to measure success will be the experiences of people and families that use services.”

The task force highlighted the Covid pandemic’s negative impact on service delivery and initiatives to improve referrals and early access to treatment and support for people in the justice system. It said:

“some rural areas have already highlighted concerns regarding their ability to meet same day treatment (standard one).”

In his submissions, the petitioner continues to highlight his concerns, particularly in the context of NHS Grampian, that detainees are being prescribed the unlicensed drug dihydrocodeine rather than methadone. He wants recognition that detainees in police custody have the right to give informed consent, should be seen by an advanced nurse practitioner or doctor and should have access to phone advice and visits as required and as per previous agreements.

The petitioner calls on the Scottish Government to recognise the Mandela rules and concludes by quoting Mr Mandela:

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”

I thank the petitioner again for everything that he has done to highlight the issue and bring it to the committee’s attention. I seek colleagues’ advice on action that we might consider taking.

Good morning. I welcome everybody to the fifth meeting in 2022 of the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee. Before we turn to consideration of the petitions that are before us, I note that today is the second anniversary of the first Covid-19 lockdown and is a national day of reflection.

As the Presiding Officer has said, the global pandemic has taken so much from so many. Parliament stands shoulder to shoulder with all those who have suffered, those who are grieving for loved ones, and those whose lives have been changed forever. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen communities respond with care and understanding, which should give us all hope for the future.

Accordingly, we will pause later this morning, at 12 noon, to join in with the minute’s silence. I warn members about that, as we could be at any point in our proceedings, depending on the progress that we have made.

Item 1 is consideration of continued petitions. Petition PE1812, which is on protecting Scotland’s remaining ancient, native and semi-native woodlands and woodland floors, was lodged by Audrey Baird and Fiona Baker on behalf of Help Trees Help Us. We heard from the petitioners in an evidence session a fortnight ago.

The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to deliver world-leading legislation giving Scotland’s remaining fragments of ancient, native and semi-native woodlands and woodland floors full legal protection before the 26th United Nations climate change conference of the parties. Obviously, the petition was lodged before COP26.

When we considered the petition on 9 March, we took evidence from the petitioners and from a range of interested organisations. Today, we will take evidence from Màiri McAllan, who is the Minister for Environment and Land Reform. Welcome, minister. It is nice to have you with us. The minister is joined by Doug Howieson, who is interim head of operational delivery at Scottish Forestry. He has an honorary season ticket to the committee, having participated in the round-table discussion on the petition a fortnight ago.

Jackie Baillie was sadly unable to join us a fortnight ago, but she is joining us remotely today. I will invite her to comment when we have heard what our witnesses have to say.

We will go straight to questions. The round-table session was fascinating, lots of themes emerged from it, and there was a lot of commonality. There were some areas that the committee had not considered quite so much in our earlier review, and the petitioners submitted a comprehensive portfolio of photographs that particularly illustrated the effect of invasive species in our native woodland.

In the most recent progress report on “Scotland’s Biodiversity—a Route Map to 2020”, the targets for native woodland were identified as areas in which “insufficient progress” has been made. People are wondering what the Scottish Government is doing to enhance efforts in that area.

PE1889, which was lodged by Nikki Peachey, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to provide tailored financial support to self-employed individuals working in the travel industry whose businesses have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

We have received a submission from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy, who explains that on 10 February the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise met the Scottish Passenger Agents Association and the Association of British Travel Agents to hear directly the challenges that the outbound travel sector faces. The cabinet secretary also confirms that she has written to the UK Minister for Business and Industry on the issues that were raised in the petition but has not received a response.

In her submission, the cabinet secretary sets out details of support packages that the Scottish Government has made available to those in the travel sector who are most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The support includes further funding for tourism businesses that have been impacted most by the omicron public health advice and a top-up scheme to provide additional funding to Scotland inbound tour operators.

We are advised that officials are working with stakeholders to set up a sector-specific scheme to target funds to those who are most impacted, including self-employed individuals who do not have premises. The cabinet secretary’s submission indicates that details of eligibility and of how and when to apply will be published on the Scottish Government website and on the Find Business Support website as soon as they are available.

In the light of that, do members have any options to consider?