Current Petitions

PE790, by Lydia Reid on behalf of Justice for the Innocents, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Executive to conduct a public inquiry into organ retention; to consider introducing regulations to standardise the handling of children's bodies and the return of body parts after a procurator fiscal post mortem; and to consider making compensation payments to parents of children whose body parts were stored without permission.At its meeting on 8 December 2004, the committee agreed to write to the Scottish Executive, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and the Cot Death Society. We have now received those responses. Do members have any comments?

Given that the Minister for Health and Community Care introduced the Human Tissue (Scotland) Bill on 3 June, it might be appropriate to refer the petition to the Health Committee as part of its stage 1 consideration of the bill. I know that people all over Scotland will be pleased with the bill because, like many other MSPs, I have received a considerable volume of correspondence and representations from constituents who have suffered grievously from previous practice. I warmly welcome the fact that the bill has been introduced.

Do members agree to forward the petition to the Health Committee?Members indicated agreement.