Seòmar agus comataidhean

I echo the comments of the convener and others about being impressed by the dedication of those who ensured that the elections took place—it would be hard not to be impressed. I commend and congratulate all who supported that.

This year was the first time that a Scottish Parliament election allowed qualifying foreign nationals and prisoners serving 12 months or less to vote. I will ask about qualifying foreign nationals first. How many were registered to vote? You have talked about barriers to accessibility and trying to remove those barriers. What are your reflections on how foreign nationals participated in the election and what lessons, if any, have you learned?

It would appear that one of the biggest barriers was the size and length of the ballot paper. Can that be looked at in the future?

That is excellent. I ask Andy O’Neill to cover the barriers and how accessible voting was.

The commission’s report shows that people with disabilities or long-term health conditions were slightly more dissatisfied and found it a bit more challenging to identify chosen candidates or parties on the regional ballot paper, for example. Those ballot papers were extensive—that is the best way to describe them—and were much more challenging for individuals in such categories. How were they supported to manage that? How are you reflecting on what can be done in the future? I do not see things changing dramatically at the next election or beyond, so a mechanism is needed to identify individuals with disabilities or long-term illnesses for support.

I have a comment on that last question. We all understand that being able to observe a count is very important. There was some criticism in the report about how administrators, candidates and agents felt that there was a barrier to doing that, because of the restrictions. I spoke to people at my count and they felt that there were difficulties in observing the count.

If restrictions are still in place when we hold the council elections in a few months’ time, what will be done to address that issue?

What statistics and data do we have about prisoners who were serving sentences of 12 months or less? How many registered and how many participated? What barriers did you have to manage? That was a new dimension to the process. What lessons have been learned from that exercise?

I thank our witnesses for attending this morning. The discussion has been enlightening.

In her opening statement, Megan Snedden talked about the loneliness, the suffering, the damage and the risks that individuals who identify in certain ways face. I would like to tease out something about the further measures that might be in place to support people. We have heard suggestions that a legislative ban might not be enough to end conversion therapy, and we have taken some evidence from organisations and individuals who have stressed that there needs to be a range of supportive measures in place across many sectors. Those measures might be practical mental health support, education and awareness work, support for survivors, and a range of developments across regulatory standards for professionals in many sectors who might be involved in such support. It is important that we understand that. What further support measures might need to be in place to ensure that a ban is successful in ending conversion therapy?

Each of your organisations exists to manage issues and support people, and you all have your ways of doing that. It would be useful to get a flavour of how you identify different needs and how you target support to ensure that survivors and people who are at risk come forward. Each individual is different, and, as you have identified, the experiences that people have gone through can be traumatic. Although some people might not wish to unravel some of those experiences, others might look to do so. How do you strike a balance so that people feel that they have the opportunity to come forward and get the support that they need?

There is a role for the third sector and social enterprises in all that. What discussions are you having with those sectors to capture their projects and proposals and marry them with your work in Government?

I will move on to the topic of older people.

As we know, we have an ageing population, and a large percentage of our society falls into that bracket. “A Fairer Scotland for Older People—A Framework for Action”, which came out in April 2019, identified a number of priorities, including outcomes for access to services, health and social care employment, financial scrutiny and housing. Will the cabinet secretary give an update as to where we are with the framework, and how likely it is that a report will be published? Obviously, the pandemic has had an effect on the report, but it has also had a huge effect on the older population across Scotland.