Current Petitions

The next petition is PE400 from Clare McCann, which is on behalf of the Deaf Equality and Accessibility Forum and concerns the removal of the post of specialist worker for hearing impaired people in the area served by South Lanarkshire Council. We agreed to seek the views of the Executive and South Lanarkshire Council on the issues raised in the petition.The Executive has responded by indicating the kinds of initiatives that help those who are deaf or hard of hearing and explaining how it monitors how local authorities provide social work services to such people. It says that it has no plans to issue guidance to local authorities, but provides details of a range of initiatives that are designed to improve services.South Lanarkshire Council has given a comprehensive response. It points out that, by including the Deaf Equality and Accessibility Forum in the consultation on the council's sense and progress agenda, it has begun to address the points raised by the petitioner. That has resulted in specific recommendations to increase the existing social work complement from two to six—one per local office—by redeploying existing personnel to assume specialist responsibilities for people with sensory impairment. Those personnel will receive specialist training as a matter of priority and will, as part of a recurring annual service improvement plan, improve services to people with a sensory impairment.The council points out that the petition predates the improvement in service provision and that, as a result, the concerns raised by the petitioners have now been addressed. The Equal Opportunities Committee is of the view that the petition should be referred to the Local Government Committee, should the Public Petitions Committee agree that further consideration is necessary. It also requests that Gil Paterson MSP, as disability reporter, be kept informed of developments on the petition.It would appear that South Lanarkshire Council has addressed the concerns raised in the petition. It is suggested that the committee may wish to agree to copy the responses that have been received to the petitioners and ask whether they are content with the action that has been taken by the council. It is also suggested that, in the meantime, we keep Gil Paterson advised of the action that we have agreed as a committee. Is that agreed?Members indicated agreement.