As well as raising awareness of an issue, petitions can also help deliver positive change to the way things work in Scotland.

Some examples of petitions that could be considered to have achieved this before May 2021 are listed below—

Session 5

• PE1737: Review of hate crime legislation and security funding in Scotland. On 27 January 2020, the Scottish Government announced a £500,000 fund for security measures at places of worship. The new scheme will give funding for places of worship to install a range of security measures to protect them against hate crime.

 

(Petitioner gives evidence to the Committee on PE1737)

• PE1711: First Aid Training for All Primary School Children. In 2020 the Scottish Government agreed to work with the petitioner, St Andrew's First Aid, and other organisations to meet the aims of the petition.

(Members of the Committee are given CPR and first aid demonstrations by pupils from Parkhead Primary School, West Calder; PE1711)

• PE1621: Sepsis Awareness, Diagnosis and Treatment. This petition called for the Scottish Government to raise the awareness of Scottish health professionals and the public of the early signs of sepsis. The Scottish Government announced a public awareness campaign would launch in early 2018.
• PE1604: Inquests for all deaths by suicide in Scotland. In 2017, the Scottish Government agreed to extend the remit of section 37 of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 2015 to include the deaths of patients who were receiving care in the community under compulsory treatment orders, as called for by the petition.
• PE1595: Moratorium on shared space schemes. In 2019, the Scottish Government agreed to convene a seminar to bring together a range of interested stakeholders to discuss the issue of shared space road schemes and the impact these schemes can have on different users.
• PE1517: Polypropylene Mesh Medical Devices. In August 2018, the Committee published its report in connection with this petition calling on the Scottish Government to halt the use of mesh procedures in Scotland, until there was confidence in the findings of the Independent Review set up to examine the controversial procedure. In September 2018, the Scottish Government instructed health boards immediately to halt the use of transvaginal mesh altogether in cases of both pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, pending the implementation of a new restricted use protocol.

(Petitioners Olive McIlroy and Elaine Holmes appear before the Scottish Parliament's Public Petitions Committee to give evidence on the petition by the Scottish Mesh Survivors PE1517)

Previous Session outcomes

• PE1523: Tinkers’ Heart of Argyll. In 2015 Historic Scotland agreed to conduct an equalities impact assessment and reassess the site. Its reassessment led to the site being scheduled as a monument of national importance and a review of Historic Scotland’s wider processes for gathering and assessing ‘associative’ information.

    

The Committee are shown the Tinkers Heart site in Argyll by the petitioner PE1523)

• PE1473: Wi-Fi on CalMac Ferries. In 2013 Caledonian MacBrayne initiated a networks project to deliver Wi-Fi on their ferries.
• PE1285: Cut them free: Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation in Scotland. The Public Petitions Committee held an inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation. In response, the Scottish Government launched a National Action Plan to Tackle Child Sexual Exploitation in 2014.

(The Committee launches it report on tackling child sexual exploitation in Scotland, PE1285)

• PE1285: Free Calls to NHS 24 for Mobile Phones. In April 2014, the Scottish Government introduced a new 111 number.
• PE1135: Review of Guidelines to Allow Healthy Gay and Bisexual Men to Donate Blood. In 2011, guidelines were revised to allow men, whose last sexual contact with another man was 12 months ago, to be blood donors subject to meeting other donor selection criteria.