News In Focus
15 April 2009
Public petitions process under scrutiny
The Scottish Parliament’s public petitions committee is to hold a round table meeting on 21 April to discuss whether the process is still fit for purpose.
The meeting is the latest in the committee’s year-long inquiry into the public petitions process examining how to increase awareness of and participation in the public petitions system.
Committee Convener Frank McAveety MSP said: “To create a petitions system that is fit for the future we want to know what works and where we can make improvements. Our research tells us that the average petitioner is a 53-year-old, white, middle-class male and that is clearly not representative of a cross-section of Scottish society.
“It is our duty to ensure we create an open and accessible petitions process for everyone and build on the very positive responses we have received to date from our public meetings. We hope this inquiry will find practical ways to improve awareness and use of the public petitions process for a wider range of social, economic and ethnic groups across Scotland.”
Attending the round table are:
- Professor Alice Brown – former Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and CSG member
- Joyce McMillan – Chair of the Hansard Society Scotland and former CSG member
- George Reid - former Presiding Officer and CSG member
- Campbell Christie - former CSG member
- Bruce Crawford MSP - Minister for Parliamentary Business
- Professor Ann Macintosh - Professor of Digital Governance at Leeds University and former head of International Teledemocracy Centre, Napier University, Edinburgh which developed the e-petitions system used by the Scottish Parliament.
- Louise Macdonald - Chief Executive, Young Scot
- Ali Jarvis – Scottish Funding Council and former Director of Communication, Commission for Racial Equality in Scotland
- Rosemary Everett - Head of Education and Participation at the Scottish Parliament