Thursday 28 June 2018 the Committee Will
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PPC/S5/18/12/A PUBLIC PETITIONS COMMITTEE AGENDA 12th Meeting, 2018 (Session 5) Thursday 28 June 2018 The Committee will meet at 9.15 am in the Robert Burns Room (CR1). 1. Consideration of new petitions: The Committee will consider the following new petitions— PE1692 by Lesley Scott and Alison Preuss on behalf of Tymes Trust and Scottish Home Education Forum on Inquiry into the human rights impact of GIRFEC policy and data processing; and will take evidence from— Lesley Scott, Tymes Trust Scottish Officer and Alison Preuss, Scottish Home Education Forum; PE1691 by Christopher R Hampton on behalf of Steering Group of Bowman's View on Review of the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003; and PE1697 by Michael McGuire on Child Funeral Fund. 2. Consideration of continued petitions: The Committee will consider the following continued petitions— PE1619 by Stuart Knox on Access to Continuous Glucose Monitoring; and will take evidence from— Shona Robison, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, Gillian Gunn, Team Leader Diabetes, Heart Disease, Stroke, and Richard Shearer, Senior Policy Officer, Strategy Planning and Clinical Priorities Team, Healthcare Quality and Improvement Directorate, Scottish Government; PE1480 by Amanda Kopel on behalf of The Frank Kopel Alzheimer's Awareness Campaign on Alzheimer's and dementia awareness / PE1533 by Jeff Adamson on behalf of Scotland Against the Care Tax on Abolition of non-residential social care charges for older and disabled people; PE1610 by Matt Halliday on Upgrade the A75 / PE1657 by Donald McHarrie on behalf of A77 Action Group on A77 upgrade; PE1629 by Jennifer Lewis on MRI scans for Ocular Melanoma sufferers in Scotland; PE1664 by Harry Huyton on behalf of OneKind on Greater protection for PPC/S5/18/12/A mountain hares; PE1683 by Jennifer Edmonstone on Support for families with multiple births; and PE1680 by Angela Flanagan on Private Water Supplies in Scotland. Sarah Robertson Clerk to the Public Petitions Committee Room T3.40 The Scottish Parliament Edinburgh Tel: 0131 348 5186 Email: [email protected] PPC/S5/18/12/A The papers for this meeting are as follows— Agenda items 1 and 2 PRIVATE PAPER PPC/S5/18/12/1 (P) Agenda item 1 Note by the Clerk PPC/S5/18/12/2 Note by the Clerk PPC/S5/18/12/3 Note by the Clerk PPC/S5/18/12/4 Agenda item 2 Note by the Clerk PPC/S5/18/12/5 Note by the Clerk PPC/S5/18/12/6 Note by the Clerk PPC/S5/18/12/7 Note by the Clerk PPC/S5/18/12/8 Note by the Clerk PPC/S5/18/12/9 Note by the Clerk PPC/S5/18/12/10 Note by the Clerk PPC/S5/18/12/11 PPC/S5/18/12/2 Public Petitions Committee 12th Meeting, 2018 (Session 5) Thursday 28 June 2018 PE1692: Inquiry into the human rights impact of GIRFEC policy and data processing Note by the Clerk Petitioners Lesley Scott and Alison Preuss on behalf of Tymes Trust and Scottish Home Education Forum Petition Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to summary initiate an independent public inquiry into the impact on human rights of the routine gathering and sharing of citizens’ personal information on which its Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) policy relies. Webpage parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01692 Introduction 1. This is a new petition that collected 1,488 signatures and 209 comments in support. Background (taken from the SPICe briefing) 2. Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) is a policy approach to children’s services introduced over the last 12 years which seeks to ensure a holistic approach to considering a child’s needs. 3. Part of the GIRFEC approach is that a child has a designated ‘named person’ as a point of contact and advice. Attempts to legislate for the named person have stalled following the Christian Institute case. Amending legislation which seeks to ensure the information sharing function complies with data protection and human rights legislation is currently at stage 1 in the Parliament. Committee consideration is on hold pending the development of a draft Code of Practice. 4. Therefore, the current named person scheme where it is used in local authorities is based on policy rather than legislative requirement. 5. Separately from any Scottish legislation, information sharing must be compatible with data protection legislation and human rights law. The recent coming into force of the GDPR means that many organisations have had to consider their data protection procedures. 6. This petition relates to the current legal situation rather than the prospective legislation from the 2014 Act and 2017 Bill. Current information sharing under GIRFEC must be done in accordance with both data protection legislation and human rights requirements. 1 PPC/S5/18/12/2 Scottish Government action 7. The following sets out advice issued on information sharing in relation to the named person scheme. 8. The March 2013 advice from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) stated that “If there is any doubt about the wellbeing of the child and the decision is to share, the Data Protection Act should not be viewed as a barrier to proportionate sharing.” 9. The GIRFEC programme board issued a letter in April 2013 on information sharing, attaching information sharing advice from the ICO. This stated that: “Whilst the ICO in its capacity as a regulator does issue substantial penalties for breaches of the Data Protection Principles, Ken Macdonald emphasises that these penalties are aimed at systemic failures and not practitioners making good faith decisions to share information in the best interests of children.” 10. In September 2016, (following the Christian Institute case) a statement from Head of ICO Region Ken MacDonald highlighted the implications of the Supreme Court judgement to Scottish local authorities, area health boards and Police Scotland. He said: “GIRFEC partners should now review existing procedures and policy to ensure that they are sufficiently clear. […] The sharing of personal data without the consent of the individual is likely to take place only in very particular and clearly justified circumstances rather than as common practice.” 11. In July 2017, the Scottish Government issued a policy update in July 2017, to advise practitioners of the impact of the Supreme Court judgement on the GIRFEC policy. This stated: “”Local Authorities, Health Boards and other organisations have worked hard to prepare for implementation of Parts 4 and 5 of the Act and should continue to implement the Getting it right for every child approach, operating within the existing legal and policy framework.” Scottish Parliament Action 12. The Education and Skills Committee considered the Children and Young People (Information Sharing) (Scotland) Bill at stage 1 during autumn 2017. This focused on the proposed legislation rather than whether existing practice breached data protection requirements. 13. The Committee received submissions from a range of organisations including Scottish Home Education Forum, who stated that: “We had regularly raised concerns over local authorities’ misrepresentation and misapplication of the legal framework pertaining to home education and 2 PPC/S5/18/12/2 our members had reported increasing misuse of their personal data as a result of implementation of the GIRFEC policy (which lacked statutory foundation), and the premature ultra vires operation of named person schemes that sanctioned the misuse.”1 Action 14. The Committee is invited to consider what action it wishes to take on the petition. Options include— Writing to the Scottish Government to seek its views on the action called for in the petition Writing to the Information Commissioner’s Office for its view on the action called for in the petition Any other action the Committee wishes to take. SPICe/Clerk to the Committee 1 Available at: www.parliament.scot/S5_Education/Inquiries/170821ScotHEForum_response_amended_version.pdf 3 PPC/S5/18/12/3 Public Petitions Committee 12th Meeting, 2018 (Session 5) Thursday 28 June 2018 PE1691: Review of the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003 Note by the Clerk Petitioner Christopher R Hampton on behalf of Steering Group of Bowman's View Petition Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to summary review the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003, which prohibits a change of factor in the estate unless agreement is obtained by a two- thirds majority of owners in the estate, particularly in terms of the impact of that requirement on residents of sheltered accommodation. Webpage parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/titleconditions Introduction 1. This is a new petition that collected 22 signatures and one comment. Background (taken from the SPICe briefing) 2. Title conditions (also known as real burdens) are legal obligations set out in the title deeds to properties. They are not affected by changes of ownership of the affected properties. Consequently, they are a much more permanent type of obligation than, for example, obligations contained in a contract. 3. In communities like sheltered housing complexes all owners are typically subject to the same title conditions, inserted by the developer of the complex in the title deeds of the properties sold. The conditions are mutually enforceable by the owners against each other. 4. Title conditions cover a wide range of topics associated with the management and maintenance of developments. These include who should pay for repairs and maintenance to any common parts and facilities in the development. 5. Because title conditions can impose financial obligations on individual owners, prospective purchasers should have been notified by their solicitor of important title conditions in advance of any purchase. 6. The Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003 (‘the 2003 Act’) was a major reform of the legal framework relating to title conditions. It covers a wide range of topics.