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The next petition is PE2058, which was lodged by Julie Louden, and calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to improve fire safety in dog boarding kennels by mandating the installation of smoke detectors, smoke alarms and sprinkler systems.

We last considered the petition at our meeting on 21 February 2024 and agreed to write to the Scottish Government, COSLA, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home, Dogs Trust, and other relevant stakeholders. The committee has received responses from all of them, as well as from the Pet Industry Federation and the petitioner.

The Scottish Government is considering revoking the act that currently regulates animal boarding and bringing boarding under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021. Its response to the committee states that the Scottish Government will consider how to address fire safety under any future licensing scheme.

Dogs Trust stated its support for bringing animal boarding under the scope of the 2021 regulations, noting that it hopes to see the creation of guidance under any new legislation for boarding establishments which mirrors the animal welfare establishments guidance, as a minimum.

The Scottish Government’s submission also states that, in light of the incident that is highlighted in the petition, animal welfare officials will seek to engage with colleagues in the fire protection and safety unit to identify appropriate enhanced fire safety measures and how best to incorporate those measures into any future licensing scheme for animal boarding.

Stakeholders raised concerns about the practicalities of requiring sprinkler systems to be installed in dog boarding and rehoming kennels. The Dogs Trust consulted a contractor, which gave a rough estimate of tens of thousands of pounds to install a sprinkler system at one of its centres.

The Pet Industry Federation sought views from kennel and cattery members across Scotland. All respondents said that they had smoke detectors in addition to the fire extinguishers that are required, and none had sprinklers installed. Respondents were open to the suggestion that sprinklers be installed. However, some raised concerns about the cost and economic viability of installing sprinkler systems in commercial boarding premises and said that, in some cases, it would be practically impossible to do so. The federation concluded that the cost of installing such systems was likely to be too high for many and that it would be difficult to support an additional requirement that could put its members out of business.

In its response, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service provided figures for the number of fire incidents since 2009. Twenty-four fire incidents were recorded under the relevant category for animal boarding and shelter kennels for dogs. Four of the premises involved in those incidents were noted to have had smoke alarms present. The SFRS noted that, under fire safety law, measures need to be taken to address risk, but not to the extent that the cost, effort and other disadvantages associated with the provision of fire safety measures would be disproportionate to the risk to life.

Do members have any comments or suggestions?

Our final new petition is PE2124, which was lodged by Eliza Wiper, and calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to change the law so that it no longer considers private and workplace pensions to be part of matrimonial property.

The Scottish Parliament information centre briefing explains that pension benefits that are built up during the period of the marriage or civil partnership are considered matrimonial or partnership property. The briefing also notes that a key principle of financial provision on divorce is that the net value of a couple’s matrimonial or partnership property must be shared fairly between them. Fair sharing is usually equal sharing unless special circumstances apply.

The Scottish Government’s response to the petition states that it does not support the aims of the petition. In response to the petitioner’s view that no contribution is made by the partner to the pension, the Scottish Government highlights an indirect contribution made, such as one spouse leaving or reducing paid work to care for children or other family members.

The petitioner’s written submission shares her view that staying at home to look after children is the choice of that individual and highlights the Scottish Government’s proposed early years childcare funding. The petitioner is also keen to receive more data on the issues that are raised in the petition.

Do members have any comments or suggestions for action?

That concludes the public part of our meeting. Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday 19 February. I hope that our convener will be well enough to convene it.

Do other members want to add anything?

On that point, do you feel that there is an awareness of less-common stroke symptoms among clinical staff?

Thank you. If there are no other contributions, I thank you for your evidence and suspend the meeting briefly to allow a changeover of witnesses.

If we were to have a public awareness campaign that included more symptoms, can you highlight what risks you feel that there would be?

Good morning, and welcome to the second meeting of the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee in 2025.

Our first item of business is to make a decision on whether to take in private agenda items 4 and 5, which are on consideration of evidence that we are about to hear and our work programme. Are members content to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

The first new petition is PE2121, which was lodged by Carolyn Philip, who I believe is with us in the public gallery. Welcome. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to run a campaign targeted at companies to raise awareness of the harms that are caused by roadside litter and the penalties that could be brought against responsible parties. We are joined for consideration of the petition by our colleague, Rachael Hamilton MSP—welcome, Rachael.

Keep Scotland Beautiful reports that 50 tonnes of litter are abandoned on Scotland’s roadsides each month. The charity’s annual Scottish litter survey of 2024 set out that 88 per cent of respondents viewed roadside litter as a problem in Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s response highlights the 2023 national litter and fly-tipping strategy and year 1 action plan. The response states that that work recognises the importance of prevention through education and communication and of effective approaches to enforcement. On enforcement, section 18 of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024, when commenced, will enable the issuing of civil penalties for littering from a vehicle.

The response informs us that the national litter and fly-tipping strategy delivery group has established a communications sub-group that will explore the best ways to deliver effective communication messages on litter and fly-tipping. Proposals put forward in the petition will be shared with the sub-group so that it can consider them as part of its on-going work to look at improving communications at the national level. However, the Scottish Government has indicated that direct mailing to local businesses and roadside signage would be a matter for local authorities or Transport Scotland.

The petitioner’s response states that, although her group commends the amount of work that has been done in producing the action plan, she does not agree that the fundamental steps have been taken to address the point that is made in the petition. She points out that the action plan does not mention making companies responsible for securing loose items on open-back lorries. She states that large sums of money are spent each year to clean up litter and suggests that the money would be better spent on applying a workable and enforceable way of reducing litter in the first place.

Before I invite comments from the committee, I ask Rachael Hamilton whether she would like to contribute.

Do members have any suggestions or comments?