New Petitions

Our next three petitions, PE792, PE793 and PE794 are connected. They are in the name of Bill Welsh on behalf of Action Against Autism. Do members agree to consider all three petitions together?Members indicated agreement.

PE792 calls on the Parliament to inform the parents of children in school and pre-school in Scotland of the research findings of various paediatric scientists who have identified inflammatory bowel disease and other bowel disorders in many autistic children, and to ensure that their children are entitled to free gastro-enterological investigation and treatment. PE793 calls on the Parliament to urgently set up an independent scientific think-tank to assess and advise on scientific, medical and other breakthroughs now emergent worldwide in the treatment of autistic spectrum disorder, bringing into the forum independent scientists and experts with knowledge of all innovative developments in the way this previously enigmatic condition is being addressed.PE794 calls on the Parliament to set up an urgent independent public inquiry into why an epidemic of the previously very rare childhood condition autism has been overlooked by public health officials, an oversight which may have unnecessarily condemned thousands of innocent children to years of pain, distress and confusion.Before being formally lodged, the three petitions were hosted on the e-petitioner site from 1 November 2004 to 26 November 2004. PE792 gathered 237 signatures, 240 signatures were collected on PE793 and PE794 gathered a total of 264 signatures. In recent years, a range of work has been conducted on autistic spectrum disorder and the Parliament has considered a number of petitions on the topic. In June 2001, the Executive responded to a report by the Health and Community Care Committee on PE145 by establishing an expert group on measles, mumps and rubella and subsequently developed a joint-funded research programme on ASDs with the Medical Research Council. Four related petitions are still under consideration by the Health Committee: PE452 on the diagnosis and treatment of adults with ASD on psychiatric wards; PE474 on heavy metal poisoning; PE538, which calls for the establishment of an advisory committee on treatment of autism; and PE577, which requests the development of an autism-specific medical facility.In March 2004, the Executive announced a funding package of almost £2 million to provide opportunities for training, awareness raising and better service provision through multi-agency working to support people with ASD throughout Scotland. Do members have any comments to make on the three petitions?

Work in this area is on-going in the Health Committee. Perhaps the Public Petitions Committee should close the petitions today, but send an information note about them to the Health Committee. In the context of that committee's consideration, the comments in the three petitions could be taken on board. At the most recent Health Committee meeting when the petition was considered, I raised issues from the briefing note that was prepared by the Scottish Parliament information centre, as did David Davidson. David had been asking questions at EU level about heavy metal poisoning and I raised questions about the effect of mercury on pregnant women, as well as about the fact that mercury is still used in plumbing throughout Scotland, when it ought not to be used in new-build housing schemes. So, I propose that we send the petitions to the Health Committee.

Do members agree with that, since the Health Committee is doing ongoing work on those original petitions? It might be useful to add our three to that consideration.

A lot of petitions ask for public inquiries—we debated one in Parliament that asked for a public inquiry.

You are absolutely correct that the Parliament cannot do that, but the Executive can. It is for the Parliament to ask the Executive to set one up. I am not sure whether we are getting into semantics about what we can and cannot do. I take your point and I do not disagree with you, but the essence of the petition is not that it asks the Parliament to do something that it cannot; it asks the Parliament to ask the Executive to hold a public inquiry. Perhaps one should look at the wording of petitions more closely, but this is not out of line with what has gone before. Helen Eadie suggested that the petitions would fit in with what the Health Committee is already looking into. If members agree, we could close the three petitions at the moment and send them on to the Health Committee for consideration with the other petitions.

The present clerks were not the clerks when PE452 and PE474 were lodged. They were discussed prior to Jim Johnston becoming the clerk to the Public Petitions Committee. I am not sure whether the chief medical officer was contacted. However, if we contacted the Executive, the response would come from the Health Department. Even if we did not write to the chief medical officer directly, there must have been some input from that source. I do not know whether that helps.

If we refer these petitions to the Health Committee, it can take them into consideration along with the other autism petitions. Do we agree to close the petitions?Members indicated agreement.