Seòmar agus comataidhean

That was a wee jolt for us all, Richard. If our faces are looking a bit glum, it is maybe because the weather was a bit cold as we came in this morning.

I apologise to Ruth Crawford. I did not see her earlier.

Thank you very much. That is a good place for us to finish. The session has been really useful. Clearly, the committee wants to influence how we move forward, and the witnesses have certainly given us lots to think about.

We move into private session.

Time is tight, so our final contribution will be from Richard Susskind. We hope to be able to influence what will happen, rather than just being spectators. What would having asynchronous hearings, for example, mean in practice?

Again, because of the time, the committee will have to hold back with some of the further questions that we would like to ask.

I thank both of our witnesses for taking the time to join us. Your evidence has been really helpful. I had not realised that Dr Ryan was to be joining us from New York—I hope that it was not too early a start for you, Dr Ryan.

We will now move into private session.

As there are no further questions, we move to items 3 and 4, which is the formal business on the instruments. I invite the minister to move motions S6M-01530 and S6M-01531.

Motions moved,

That the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee recommends that The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 be approved.

That the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee recommends that the Equality Act 2010 (Specification of Public Authorities) (Scotland) Order 2021 be approved.—[Ivan McKee.]

Motions agreed to.

It is worth putting on the record that, as well as having the four panel members before us, we have received evidence from a wider range of people from various religions. That is part of our written evidence, which members of the public can access.

Most of the witnesses said that clarity is important. That might be a really important point for us to understand. My first question is about what conversion practices are. If a ban were to be introduced, what practices to try to change someone’s gender identity or sexuality do each of the witnesses think should still be allowed?

Can we go to John Greenall first? We did not bring him in for the previous question, so he has been waiting.

I thank all four of the witnesses. We could continue asking questions but there is only so much time and we have another two panels of witnesses to hear from today.

We will suspend briefly to change witnesses.

The committee will make a short factual report on our deliberations on the instruments that we have considered today.

That completes consideration of the instruments. I thank the minister and his officials for attending.