Summary:
2 October 2007: The Public Petitions Committee agreed to seek views on the petition from the Scottish Government. Link to Official Report 2 October 2007
29 January 2008: The Committee agreed to write again to the Scottish Government, covering the Scottish Prison Service, on what action it is taking to investigate and analyse, for example through academic research, the disproportionate number of Roman Catholics, and Muslims, in prison and any link between social deprivation and offending and victimisation. The Committee also agreed to write to the Equality and Human Rights Commission on the issues raised in the petition. Link to Official Report 29 January 2008
13 May 2008: The Committee agreed to write again to the Scottish Government asking it to respond to the issues raised in the petition and each of the written submissions received as a matter of urgency and to state why it did not reply to the Committee’s previous request. The Committee also agreed to seek responses to the issues raised in the petition from the Scottish Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, Association of Directors of Social Work, academia, including University of Stirling and University of London and Sheriff’s Association. Link to Official Report 13 May 2008
18 November 2008: The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government seeking a response to the specific points raised during the meeting. Link to Official Report 18 November 2008
10 February 2009: The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government seeking further responses to the specific points raised during the meeting. Further, to request that SPICe undertake background research on the issues discussed. Link to Official Report 10 February 2009
16 June 2009: The Committee agreed to invite the Scottish Parliament's Information Centre (SPICe) to consider a study into the scope and feasibility of research. Link to Official Report 16 June 2009
3 November 2009: The Committee agreed to invite, through the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, academics to take forward a detailed scoping study on a research project into the issues raised in the petition and to report back to the Committee. Link to Official Report 3 November 2009
12 January 2010: The Committee agreed to invite academics to discuss the scope of a possible research project into the issues raised in the petition. Link to Official Report 12 January 2010
9 February 2010: The Committee agreed to invite the Scottish Parliament's Information Centre and the Clerk to develop a research proposal to present to the Convener’s Group. Link to Official Report 9 February 2010
7 December 2010: The Committee agreed to defer consideration of petition PE1073 to a future meeting. Link to Official Report 7 December 2010
21 December 2010: The Committee agreed to publish the draft final report of the research it had commissioned. It also agreed to invite, in its legacy paper, the Session 4 Public Petitions Committee to give further consideration to the petition and the issues raised in the research and consider whether it wishes to invite other relevant committees of the Parliament to consider, as part of their work programme, undertaking some form of inquiry into the issues raised. Link to Official Report 21 December 2010
28 June 2011: The Committee agreed to refer the petition to the Equal Opportunities Committee under Rule 15.6.2 for further consideration. Link to Official Report 28 June 2011
13 September 2011: The Equal Opportunities Committee considered a petition by Tom Minogue calling for the Scottish Parliament to investigate and establish the reasons for the apparently disproportionate number of Catholics in Scottish prisons. The Committee noted the findings of recent research showing that more than one faith group was affected in this way and drawing a link to deprivation. The Committee agreed to close the petition and to write to the Scottish Government inviting it to conduct further research on the link between deprivation and regional imbalances in the prison population. Link to Official Report 13 September 2011
Written Submissions: