New Petitions

Would the 24-hour police presence that you request have to be 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or are there peak periods when you would need policing?

So there is no pattern. Are incidents not more common on Friday and Saturday nights?

But they can happen any time.

Thanks very much. We will now move on to consideration of your petition.The suggested action is that we pass this petition to the Health and Community Care Committee for further consideration, on the grounds that it is a national problem. I do not know whether the committee feels that it would be worth while for it to deal with the Glasgow NHS trust first.

That committee is responsible for the police.

We know that the Parliamentary Bureau is considering ways in which it can facilitate a greater work load for the Justice and Home Affairs Committee. At the moment, that committee cannot cope with its work load, and moves are afoot to address that situation. The Health and Community Care Committee has expressed an interest in passing comment on this petition, so perhaps we should pass it on to that committee. When we receive its comments on the petition, we can then give further consideration to it. I would like to establish whether this is a national problem, not one that is based on our own anecdotal experience.

Yes. That is reasonable. I would support the view that we pass this to the Health and Community Care Committee in the first instance, as there is a degree of urgency about this. People's lives are being threatened.

Would it be worth our while to write to the Glasgow trust to ask for its opinions?

Twenty-something. There were 47, but the number was reduced.

The suggestion is that we pass this petition to the Health and Community Care Committee, asking it to respond to us, giving us its view on whether this is a national problem. We can also write to the NHS trust in Glasgow, asking it to tell us in writing what it intends to do. We can then consider the matter further.

Might we want to invite representatives of the trust to come to one of our meetings?

It is still Strathclyde police, I think. We ought to establish the contours of the problem first.

I know that this is not procedurally correct, but Margaret Smith would like to make a comment.

Please come back to the table.

No. This committee tries to ensure that progress in made on petitions. Now that we have taken charge of the matter, we will try to ensure that a response is received.

That is now on public record.Is the committee agreed on the proposed action?Members indicated agreement.

We now move to discussion of other petitions, which do not have representatives to speak about them but which should be treated with the same seriousness.The next petition is PE190, from Peter Saunders; it concerns a planning application for John Woods hospital, and calls for the Parliament to halt the work that is in progress at the hospital as a result of that planning application. Technically, the petition is inadmissible as it calls for the Parliament to do something that it does not have the power to do. However, the petitioner is concerned that Fife Council planning department has provided misleading information to the local development committee during the planning process. For that reason, it is suggested that we could pass the petition directly to the Scottish Executive planning division, with the request that it investigate the petitioner's concerns.An alternative would be for the clerk to write to the petitioner to request further details of his concerns. One of the problems with the petition is that it does not specify what Fife Council planning department has done wrong. If we ask the planning division to investigate the matter, it would probably have to write to the petitioner anyway, to ask what exactly he was referring to. Should we write to the petitioner first, to ask him for more details?

The next petition is PE192 from Alex Doherty, about the Mental Welfare Commission. The petition asks the Scottish Parliament to order the commission to regard all its records as health records and to comply with access requirements. Members have received a briefing from the Scottish Parliament information centre on this; parts of the briefing have been highlighted. On the first page, there is a quote from a written answer of 17 August 1999 in which Susan Deacon said that"care records of the Mental Welfare Commission do not fall within the definition of ‘health records'"as contained in the regulations. However, in proposals for the freedom of information bill, it is being considered whether the records of groups such as the Mental Welfare Commission should be included, to allow people access to those records.It is suggested that we pass the petition, along with the background papers, to the Health and Community Care Committee, and that we draw its attention to the work that is going on.

Yes, we will keep him informed. We will pass the petition to the Health and Community Care Committee, and to the Justice and Home Affairs Committee for it to note.Members indicated agreement.

The next petition is PE198 from Donside Community Council. It requests the Executive to investigate the causes of the current shortfall in funding for Aberdeenshire Council. We have already had a petition on this topic; we passed it to the Local Government Committee, which passed it to the Scottish Executive. When the committee received the Executive's reply, it decided to note the petition but to take no further action. Given that the Local Government Committee has already done the background work, I think that we should send this petition to that committee.

The Local Government Committee has considered the funding of Aberdeenshire Council, so it will be in a better position than us to respond to the petition. If members agree, we can inform the petitioner that the petition has been referred to the Local Government Committee, but also inform him that he has the right to go to the ombudsman if he believes that there has been malpractice.Members indicated agreement.

The next petition is PE199 from Scotland's Tomatoes Ltd. It calls for the Scottish Parliament to try to obtain a commitment from all supermarket retailers trading in Scotland that they will guarantee to stock Scottish produce that meets their quality standards in their Scottish stores. The petition, as you might expect, relates especially to tomatoes.The Parliament, obviously, does not have the power to force any supermarket or retailer to do what the petitioners ask. However, it has been suggested that the petition could be passed to the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee for further consideration, with the suggestion that it consult the Rural Affairs Committee as appropriate. Those committees may be interested in the issue.

That does not preclude us from sending the petition to the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee.

Is that agreed? Members indicated agreement.

The next petition is PE201 from Mr Edwards and is about the Electoral Reform Society. He calls on the Scottish Parliament to agree that the Electoral Reform Society has shown a lack of independence and impartiality by not accepting a commission to carry out a poll of the people of Scotland on section 28. The Electoral Reform Society is an independent body and, as such, it is entitled to whatever view it wishes to take when accepting, or not accepting, commissions. Also, it is not for the Parliament to instruct the Executive on whom it might commission for such work. It is suggested that the clerk writes to the petitioner on those lines and that no further action be taken. Is that agreed?Members indicated agreement.

The next petition is PE202 from Mrs Mason and is about refuse collection. She calls on the Scottish Parliament to force East Ayrshire Council to improve the refuse collection service to her house. Members will see that she has taken up the matter with the council, the ombudsman and one of her local MSPs, Alex Neil. All are agreed that no further action can be taken in pursuit of her problem. We should write back to her to inform her that the Parliament is unable to become involved, as it is entirely a matter for the local authority.

The final petition is PE203, which is about the Victoria infirmary; it has 12,000 signatures. The petition calls on the Parliament to call for a new hospital to serve the people of south Glasgow and surrounding areas, with the services that are provided at the Victoria infirmary being maintained in the meantime.The petition was submitted previously to Greater Glasgow Health Board, which is responsible for that area, but the petitioners are concerned that the health board ignored the petition. It is suggested that we pass the petition to the Health and Community Care Committee for consideration.

The relevant MSPs being—

Okay; that is agreed. We will also send the petition to the Health and Community Care Committee.Members indicated agreement.

Absolutely. Are we still quorate? It appears that we are—just.