Public Petitions Committee

Speech delivered on Wed 23rd Sep 2009

I welcome the opportunity this debate gives to showcase how committees such as the Public Petitions Committee, help in making this Parliament accessible, and therefore can help in decision making for the benefit of Scotland as a whole.

And I welcome the comprehensive report from the enquiry into the public petitions process. A report which highlights the progress that this committee has had, and the ideas for the future improvements in the accessibility and the workings of the committee, such as the ability of the youth of Scotland to engage better with their Parliament. It is of course correct that an enquiry should have been instigated, not because there was any doubt of the process, but more to endeavour to find better ways of working - it is after all the only way to improve, scrutinise and progress the working of the committee.

My own experience of the committee is limited to having been a once used depute on the committee for its first year of this session, but I like other MSPs are all too aware of the importance of petitions as a formalised way of accessing this parliament and the decision process.

And accessibility of this parliament is key and should always be paramount - there should be no ivory towers here - I have to admit that I stand here only because I as an active lobbyist found that I was able to access decision makers to inform them of what consequences there may of some of their actions, or actions of other Parliaments, and also to state what issues I believed could be changed for the better - and I found that it did make a difference - that's a huge benefit for our devolved Scotland. If the decision process was only in London then the difficulty in lobbying Westminster from Scotland does not have to be spelled out, and would be exclusive to those who can afford the time and the money to make that trip. That ability to gain access, be heard and be acted upon is vital for the working of a democratic, listening and acting Parliament that we all aspire to and petitions is a part of that.

There are of course several other ways of accessing this parliament, whether by directly contacting your constituency MSPs, or your much busier Regional MSPs, or through Cross Party Groups, but when there is a large public feeling of discontent over an issue then the public petitions committee is an ideal, transparent and useful approach.

And if you doubt those words, then you just need to look at the statistics. The committee has had a prolific number of petitions to consider in its first ten years of life, 1263 to be precise - that's over 1 every 3 days - a colossal amount and in recent years has been increased by the use of e-petitions -I believe the Scottish Parliament to be world leading in that respect.

And many petitions have highlighted serious issues to communities and areas of Scotland, such as the danger of cheap alcohol, installation of thermostatic controls in building regulations and the right of all members of the community to give blood - the shortage of blood being the subject of a member's debate tomorrow evening. Petitions such as the proposed Electronic Identification of Sheep, and the difficulties of management that will incur, the necessity to recognise the loss of life during the war of the Lancastria - Britain's worst maritime disaster with the estimated loss of 4000 lives, perhaps 6000 - I have even considered my petition to keep Tesco local in Haddington Centre, but perhaps will send that direct to East Lothian Council where the decisions will be made - but in every case the petitions committee highlighted these causes and as said considered over 126 petitions a year over the last decade.

But the report highlighted by today's motion shows that there is no sitting on laurels, and I am pleased to note that the report recommends to increase the number of languages that it prints its leaflets in. Also to proactively put out literature in so many more public places, can only be commendable. So I look forward to seeing the soon to be published "How to submit a public petition" in every public place possible. But the committee, not satisfied by leading the way with e-petitions, will also be considering using some of the more modern social networks like Twitter and Facebook and also videoconferencing, and I believe used well, will only further the accessibility of our Parliament and the petition process. I do confess to using Twitter and Facebook myself, but admit that my kids are much more familiar with those mediums - a clue there as to why they must be considered for engaging with that generation.

Presiding Officer, as said I welcome this report today, believe that it goes a long way to better the workings and accessibility of this Parliament and the decision process, I believe that we can be proud of the Committee's achievements and am glad that there is a hunger for improvement, I therefore would advise all MSPs and Committees to read the report and some of the recommendations, so that we can all consider better ways of working for the benefit of the Scottish people and the workings of this Parliament.