Current Petitions

The first petitions to be considered are PE535 and PE888, by Chris Daly. In PE535, the petitioner calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Executive to make an inquiry into past institutional child abuse, particularly in respect of children who were in the care of the state and under the supervision of religious orders, to make an unreserved apology for said state bodies and to urge the religious orders to apologise unconditionally.In PE888, the petitioner calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Executive, in the interests of people who have suffered institutional child abuse, to reform Court of Session rules to allow Court of Session court hearings in personal injury cases, to review implementation of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 and to implement the recommendations of the Scottish Law Commission report on limitation of actions.The committee agreed at its meeting on 30 October 2006 to seek an update from the Scottish Law Commission on its progress with consideration of the time-bar issue, and clarification on the operation of the fast-track rules, and to seek the petitioner's views on the response that was received.Responses have been received from the Law Commission and from Mr Daly, copies of which have been given to members.

It is clear that the Law Commission report on personal injury actions is still to be published and that the Executive's independent expert has yet to report, so I suggest that we keep the petitions open pending receipt of those reports.Members indicated agreement.