Current Petitions

The minister will be here as soon as possible. We will proceed with some of the current petitions on our agenda and return to the Burns petitions at the appropriate time.The first of our current petitions is PE758, by Jim Black, on behalf of the home safety committee of the Scottish Accident Prevention Council. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Executive to place a statutory requirement on all local authorities to employ home safety officers and to provide the necessary funding to achieve that.At its meeting on 8 December 2004, the committee considered responses from the Minister for Health and Community Care and COSLA, and agreed to write to each local authority seeking its views on the petition. The committee has received submissions from 15 local authorities, which have been circulated to members. Having had a chance to look at the submissions, what do members think we should do?

It is interesting to note the range of opinion that is contained in the responses. For example, North Lanarkshire Council says that there ought to be"a statutory duty on all local authorities to carry out the Home Safety function, rather than create a statutory appointment of a home safety officer".Orkney Council says that it would prefer that"each authority should be given the flexibility to tackle issues at a local level".Clackmannanshire Council gives an outright no to the proposal and says that it"would not … support the use of statutory requirements"in the area. Aberdeenshire Council also says that it does not support the proposal. Other councils take a slightly more qualified view and say that they welcome the main thrust of the petition. However, all councils say that, if the proposal goes ahead, it must have additional support or funding from the Scottish Executive and must not impose another burden on local authorities.The committee may want to refer all the responses that it has received to the Local Government and Transport Committee, which could give further consideration to the issues that have been raised. Along with other party-political representatives, I attended a conference that was organised by the council, which was really worth while. Some important issues were raised at the meeting, and I was able to acquaint myself with the petitioners and the objectors. The council's work is to be commended. The point has been made that there are many more accidents in the home than there are even on the roads. The issue is how the Parliament tackles that problem, rather than whether the proposal is a good idea. It is a good idea, but we need to consider how it can be implemented in a way that allows local authorities to have flexibility and to maintain their resources.

Are members happy for the petition to be referred to the Local Government and Transport Committee?Members indicated agreement.