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We need to write to the Scottish Government to seek some more clarity on what consideration is given to the national impact of garages to homes developments in the Scottish Borders, whether it believes that a broader evaluation of such developments is required, and whether it recognises the value in assessing factors such as social impact as part of any evaluation of such developments. It is perhaps an opportunity to get COSLA’s view on the petition from a planning and local authority perspective. That would give us a flavour of how it sees the process.

Minister, you have touched on the deposit return scheme. How would the deposit return scheme operate in schools and what impact could it have on the use of bottled water?

We have heard that there is no need for a change and no information that it will be a reality. I suggest that we close the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders on the basis that the Scottish Government does not plan to change the electoral system to prevent a councillor from remaining in post following their resignation from the political party that they represented when elected.

You also talked about people closing ranks and your belief that you were not given all the facts or information.

As a mother of a family—a grieving mother—it is so important that you are given that respect and support. We have to trust organisations like the police to deliver that service, but obviously in this situation that was a massive failing.

And support the family.

That would be very acceptable. The strength of feeling on the matter is immense, and we have found out today that there is cross-party support for the petition. Thousands of individuals have made the petition part of their process and there is no doubt that there has been neglect of that process. That is coming through very strongly from the petitioner. Having the petitioner here would give us much more clarity. I also think that your idea of having the Minister for Transport come to the committee would be useful.

We need to get information from other organisations that are affected by the situation. Organisations such as the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland have a part to play in this, as does the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation and even the Road Haulage Association. Those are the organisations whose members are using the road and are suffering from the situation. This morning, we have heard MSPs speak eloquently about the dangers on the road and what is possible.

I like the idea of this committee considering an inquiry if it is not possible to for another committee of the Parliament to do one. That could be investigated by the clerks, as you suggest. We should not lose sight of the fact that this committee has an opportunity to ensure that something is done on the matter. That would be my suggestion, as well as your own.

Thank you.

Is any other legislation in Scotland or the UK been raised with the petitioner? He is trying to achieve something, and we know that people are trying to achieve other things as well, such as through the circular economy bill and the UK extended producer responsibility scheme. What impact could they have on the petition and on how you plan to go forward?

We have asked questions about the petition in the past and we have received some assurances. However, there are a number of issues that we might still want to ask about. It might be advantageous to write to Social Security Scotland to ask whether it intends to set targets for application processing times for special and normal rules cases. That is vitally important for an application process. If we have targets, we will get an answer as to where we are, and there are other options that we can look at thereafter.