Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning, and welcome to the first meeting in 2022 of the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee. We are operating in a virtual format this morning, with members participating remotely.

Before we start, I have the pleasure of welcoming Ruth Maguire not only as a new member of the committee but back to Parliament. We are all delighted to have Ruth back with us at Holyrood.

Before I ask her to declare her interests—such as they may be—I also thank and pay tribute to Bill Kidd. We veterans must stick together. I have been working with Bill for many years, during the time that I have been a member of the Parliament, and I very much valued his contribution, sound judgment and advice during the months that he served with us on this committee. I know that he will be serving Parliament in some other capacity, and I wish him well in that. I thank him very much for the job that he did with us over the past year.

The first item on our agenda is to welcome Ruth Maguire and for her to establish for the record whether she wishes to declare any interests.

Our third continued petition is PE1873, on providing hypnotherapy for the treatment of mental health conditions, psychosomatic disorders and chronic pain. It was lodged by Graeme Harvey and last considered in September. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to instruct the national health service to provide hypnotherapy for the treatment of certain conditions. The Scottish Parliament information centre has produced a summary of the available research on hypnotherapy conducted in other countries. It concludes that irritable bowel syndrome appears to be the condition with the most research on the efficacy of hypnotherapy and that evidence for its efficacy in other conditions is more mixed.

Submissions from the leads of clinical health psychology, NHS Orkney and North Ayrshire health and social care partnership highlighted a lack of available evidence on the merits of hypnotherapy. The petitioner’s recent submission reiterates the point that hypnosis in various forms has been in use for thousands of years. He also highlights the point that mindfulness and meditation are not new practices and have always been a part of hypnotherapy treatments.

I should say that I am a former convener of the cross-party group on chronic pain, which has considered the issues.

I take note of that. We may well come back to it.

Like you, I wore a school uniform—more than half a century ago now. I do not know whether it fell out of fashion, but my own experience was that there was an active facilitation of second-hand school uniforms at that time. In fact, there were even retail outlets that organised the sale and receipt of second-hand uniforms. You are absolutely right—very often, there is still a long shelf life left in a school uniform item, as it has only become available because the young person has grown out of it very quickly.

In the first instance, Mr Torrance recommends that we keep the petition open and that we write to the various agencies as he described. We will then hear what they have to say and consider the petition again on receipt of their submissions. Do members agree?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you.

I thank Rhoda Grant for joining us and for her contribution. As she will have heard, we will keep PE1916 open for the time being and see what response we get. I understand that there are considerable issues, and she highlighted the considerable costs that have been associated with simply trying to make do in relation to the existing facility.

I thank everybody for their forbearance with the remote format and for their contributions, and I look forward to future meetings.

Having said that, I gather that David Torrance wishes to contribute further on the points that we have been discussing.

That being the case, although we note the BMA’s submission, we are minded to keep the petition open and to write to the Scottish Ambulance Service and the Scottish Government in the terms suggested by Mr Sweeney and supported by Mr Stewart. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

As no other member wishes to come in, on the basis of David Torrance’s suggestions and the contribution from Rhoda Grant, I think that we are proposing to write to the Scottish Government to highlight the success in Dundee and to ask when the pause is likely to be removed. We will also ask the Scottish Government whether it intends to provide dedicated funding to ensure that ultrasound scanning can be made available to more patients in Scotland and how it plans to raise awareness of essential tremor among patients and healthcare professionals.

I would also like us to take on board Rhoda Grant’s suggestion that we write to the two organisations that she mentioned. I am sorry, but I did not actually catch the acronyms, but they will have been noted by the clerks. She mentioned two bodies that she was keen for the committee to write to, so I would like to include them in our further submissions.

Are members content with that approach?

Members indicated agreement.

Do members agree with Mr Torrance’s recommendation that we close the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders?

Members indicated agreement.

In closing the petition, I thank the petitioner, Carol Burns, and very much hope that she engages with the Scottish Sentencing Council on the development of the guidelines that is under way.

Is the committee content to proceed on the basis of Ruth Maguire’s recommendation?

Members indicated agreement.

PE1888, which was lodged by Joseph Allan, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to grant full legal protection to hedgehogs and moles. We previously considered the petition at our meeting on 3 November 2021, when we agreed to write to the hogwatch Scotland project, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Mammal Society.

We have had responses from the hogwatch Scotland project, which is operated by the Conservation Volunteers in Scotland, and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. In its submission, the hogwatch Scotland project reiterates that

“Hedgehog numbers in Britain have fallen from an estimated 30 million in the 1960s to just 1.5 million in recent years”.

It notes with concern that

“the Scottish biodiversity list categorises hedgehogs in the ‘Watching Brief Only’ category. This means hedgehogs are considered of ‘less concern’ and only require monitoring”.

It considers that the declines that have already been shown by current estimates require a more proactive approach, and it believes that

“Increasing the level of protection afforded to hedgehogs in Scotland and raising awareness about their conservation could drive conservation efforts from the public, particularly in urban settings.”

In its submission, the Scottish Wildlife Trust explains that it is

“very concerned about the decline in hedgehog numbers, which is highlighted by the fact that it is currently considered vulnerable to extinction on the Red List for Scottish Mammals. We would like to see concerted action to protect these and other vulnerable species by directly addressing the causes of their decline”

and increasing legal protection. The trust’s view is that there does not seem to be evidence to suggest that moles have experienced a similar decline in numbers to that of hedgehogs. However, it believes that more needs to be done to mitigate the impact of human activity on all biodiversity. The trust believes that that is especially important if we are to achieve the Scottish Government’s ambition to address both the nature and climate crises.

We have been advised by the Scottish Government that it is awaiting the outcome of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee review, which is not due for publication until early spring. It will then require scrutiny before any policy actions can be taken, albeit that there is clearly widespread concern in relation to the issues that the petitioner has raised. I am minded to recommend that we close the petition and look forward to the consideration of the JNCC review. Are colleagues minded to support that course of action?

Members indicated agreement.