Taking the Scottish Parliament to the people (Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Liberal Democrats)

Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Liberal Democrats <Charles.Cavaye@talktalk.net>

Taking the Scottish Parliament to the people

September 23, 2009 7:19 PM
Originally published by Scottish Liberal Democrats

Jim Hume, Liberal Democrat MSP for the South of Scotland, has today praised the work of the Public Petitions Committee on its report into making the democratic process more available to the general public.

This afternoon's debate on the work of the Committee highlighted the importance of an accessible Scottish Parliament.

Jim Hume MSP said:

"This debate has not only highlighted the importance of openness, transparency and accountability within the Scottish Parliament, but also the need for people to hold organisations, democratic processes, ministers and the parliament to account. And we can truly say that the Scottish Parliament is totally accessible.

"What we have in Scotland is a good, thorough and accessible public petitioning system. But as recognised by the committee, improvements can always be made and we must always strive to ensure that all communities in Scotland are aware of this tool available to them; that they as individuals or groups can hold people to account.

"People can often be put off coming to the Scottish Parliament to make a representation because it's somehow seen as this huge inanimate organisation they can't relate to. To use my own experiences, for the last two summers I've conducted a tour of all the main rural shows across the South of Scotland including some of the local festivals. There isn't the time to do every single one, sadly, but when I embarked on this, now yearly schedule of shows I was enthusiastic but at the same time went into it with a feeling of the unknown; will people visiting an agricultural show be interested in talking to an MSP; will they be interested in learning about the Scottish Parliament or my individual work across the South or indeed how they can lobby for changes in policy? Will anyone actually stop by my stand to say hello or ask a questions about what I do and what the parliament can do? And the answer to all of these has been a resounding yes. People are interested, they're out there and it's our job to make ourselves available to them. Which is why what the petitions committee is doing is so important.

"And in turn, we as MSPs, should also acknowledge that we should never rest on our laurels. This committee report was focussed on the public petitions system, but I believe that the conclusions about reaching your audience can surely be applied to all of us as individual elected representatives. The Scottish people need to be - and I hope are - proud of their first Scottish Parliament in 300 years, but we also have to give them reason to be proud by serving them as we were elected to do."