Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee 5th meeting 2018, Session 5 Agenda Thursday 15 March 2018 at 10am in the Cross-Party Group paper David Livingston Room (CR6). Correspondence Members will note that the meeting is scheduled to start at 10am but members are asked to attend at 9.50am for a pre- brief. Meeting papers and Official Reports from previous meetings Next meeting: 29 March 2018 Future Meetings: 26 April 2018 10 May 2018 24 May 2018 7 June 2018 21 June 2018 www.parliament.scot/Standards SPPA/S5/18/5/A STANDARDS, PROCEDURES AND PUBLIC APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE AGENDA 5th Meeting, 2018 (Session 5) Thursday 15 March 2018 The Committee will meet at 10.00 am in the David Livingstone Room (CR6). 1. Decision on taking business in private: The Committee will decide whether to take item 4 in private. 2. Cross-Party Group: The Committee will consider an application for recognition from the proposed Cross-Party Group on Islamophobia, and take evidence from— Anas Sarwar, Convener of the proposed CPG on Islamophobia. 3. Cross-Party Group - approval: The Committee will decide whether to accord recognition to the proposed Cross-Party Group on Islamophobia. 4. Correspondence: The Committee will consider correspondence from James Dornan MSP. 5. Sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct (in private): The Committee will consider a note by the clerk. Joanna Hardy/Alastair Macfie Clerks to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee Room CG07 The Scottish Parliament Edinburgh Tel: 0131 348 6924 Email: [email protected] SPPA/S5/18/5/A The papers for this meeting are as follows— Agenda item 2 Note by the clerk SPPA/S5/18/5/1 Agenda item 4 Correspondence from James Dornan MSP SPPA/S5/18/5/2 Agenda item 5 PRIVATE PAPER SPPA/S5/18/5/3 (P) PRIVATE PAPER SPPA/S5/18/5/4 (P) SPPA/S5/18/5/1 Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee 5th Meeting 2017 (Session 5), Thursday 15 March 2018 Cross-Party Group Application Introduction 1. In accordance with the provisions on Cross-Party Groups (CPGs) set out in section 6 of the Code of Conduct (the Code), proposals for the establishment of CPGs in the Scottish Parliament must be submitted to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee (the Committee) for its approval. 2. There is one proposed Group for the Committee’s consideration. Proposed CPG on Islamophobia 3. The registration form submitted by the proposed Group is attached as an Annexe to this note. Consideration by the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee 4. Paragraph 18 of Section 6 of the Code states ―…one of the proposed Group’s MSP office bearers (usually the Convener) will be invited to attend a meeting of the Committee to explain the justification for the proposed Group.‖ Anas Sarwar MSP has been invited to the meeting to discuss registration of the proposed Group. Purpose 5. Paragraph 19 Section 6 of the Code states ―the Committee will pay particular attention to a proposed Group’s purpose. If the Committee considers that a proposed Group is not in the public interest but is intended, for example, to further particular commercial interests, the Group will not be accorded recognition. The Committee will also consider whether the purpose of a proposed Group overlaps the remit of an existing Group. If there is any overlap Groups are asked to provide justification as to why their aims could not effectively be achieved within an existing Group‖. 6. The stated purpose of the proposed Group is— to bring together elected members from all political parties, agencies and individuals working on the issue of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred in order to explore the nature and extent of Islamophobia in Scotland and how it can be challenged and overcome. The group recognises that the issue of Islamophobia presents specific challenges that have received relatively little attention in the Scottish context. It will seek to monitor the issue of Islamophobia in Scotland and develop strategies for tackling it. The group’s main purpose will be to inform Parliament of the work that it does in the hope of increasing awareness about racism and Islamophobia in Scotland and to ensure such matters are engaged with where necessary in policy and practice. 1 SPPA/S5/18/5/1 7. The Group recognises that there will be common issues with other CPGs especially on Race Equality. The Group will seek to find common themes and work together where appropriate. Membership 8. Paragraph 8 of Section 6 of the Code requires group membership to include at least five MSPs, with at least one MSP from each of the parties or groups represented on the Parliamentary Bureau. The Committee has previously agreed that there should be a general waiver of this Rule in the current Session and Groups are now required to have five MSPs from the majority of parties represented on the Parliamentary Bureau. The proposed Group meets this requirement. 9. The MSP membership (by party) of the proposed Group is as follows— 1 Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party 1 Scottish Green Party 4 Scottish Labour Party 1 Scottish Liberal Democrat Party 2 Scottish National Party 10. Paragraph 9 of Section 6 of the Code entitles groups to contain members from outwith the Parliament. The proposed Group has listed 13 non-MSP member in the individual category and 38 in non-MSP member organisations. Office Bearers 11. Paragraph 10 of Section 6 of the Code requires one MSP to be Convener of the Group and there to be at least one other MSP office bearer. The proposed Group meets this requirement: Anas Sarwar MSP is the Convener of the Group and Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP, John Finnie, MSP, Ivan McKee, MSP and Annie Wells, MSP are the Deputy-Conveners. Financial Benefits and Subscription 12. The registration form indicates that the Group will receive £7942.82 from Newcastle University and that this amount will include the travel costs and time for Newcastle University carrying out the secretariat role/ 13. The registration form also indicates that members will not be charged a subscription. Next Steps 14. At agenda item 2 the Committee is invited to discuss any aspects of the application for recognition of the proposed Cross-Party Group on Tackling Islamophobia with Anas Sarwar MSP. 15. At agenda item 3 the Committee will discuss whether to accord recognition to the proposed Group. 2 SPPA/S5/18/5/1 Sam Currie Support Manager Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee March 2017 3 ANNEXE CROSS-PARTY GROUP REGISTRATION FORM NAME OF CROSS-PARTY GROUP Cross-Party Group on Tackling Islamophobia PURPOSE OF THE GROUP AND PROPOSED DISCUSSION TOPICS 1. Please state the purpose of the Group. 2. Please also provide a brief explanation of the purpose of the Group and why the purpose is in the public interest. 3. Please also provide details of any overlaps with the purpose of existing Cross- Party Groups and an explanation of why, regardless of any such overlap, the Group should be established. 4. Please also provide an indication of the topics which the Group anticipates discussing in the forthcoming 12 months. 1-The purpose of the Group will be to bring together elected members from all political parties, agencies and individuals working on the issue of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred in order to explore the nature and extent of Islamophobia in Scotland and how it can be challenged and overcome. The group recognises that the issue of Islamophobia presents specific challenges that have received relatively little attention in the Scottish context. It will seek to monitor the issue of Islamophobia in Scotland and develop strategies for tackling it. The group’s main purpose will be to inform Parliament of the work that it does in the hope of increasing awareness about racism and Islamophobia in Scotland and to ensure such matters are engaged with where necessary in policy and practice. 2-The proposed purpose of the CPG will be to inform Parliament about the issue of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred in Scotland, monitoring incidents, raising awareness and exploring ways in which it can be challenged. The CPG will be taking evidence from Police Scotland, community councils, researchers, voluntary and community groups and local Government officials. The group can then take evidence to the Scottish Parliament for scrutiny and to develop new ideas for how to raise awareness about Islamophobia and work to challenge anti-Muslim incidents. This Group is in the public interest as Scotland has a growing Muslim population and there has been minimal attention on the issue of Islamophobia to date. The public would be updated on Parliamentary discussions and to consider new ways to tackle Islamophobia. This would also create a platform for local residents, researchers and agencies to present their concerns and proposed solutions to Parliamentarians. 3-The proposed CPG will not overlap with other active CPGs. There will be individual CPGs whose work will be relevant to the issues that this group will focus on but there is a need to recognise the unique challenges that Islamophobia presents to Scottish society and the desire to raise awareness of this issues, 4 ANNEXE develop a knowledge base about it and propose tailored policy solutions. We recognise there will be common issues with other CPGs especially on Race Equality. We will seek to find common themes and work together where appropriate. 4-We have agreed to explore the following 4 themes over the next 12 months: the cooperation of Police Scotland and its role in tackling Islamophobia;; online experiences of Islamophobia; tackling anti-Muslim hatred in and through education; Islamophobia in the workplace.