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I think that, in the light of the fact that we now have a legislative proposition progressing through Parliament, we should invite the petitioner to contribute to that, as suggested.

Agenda item 1 is consideration of continued petitions. The first one is PE1812, which calls for the protection of Scotland’s remaining ancient, native and semi-native woodlands and woodland floors. It was brought by Audrey Baird and Fiona Baker on behalf of Help Trees Help Us. It calls on us to encourage the Scottish Government to deliver world-leading legislation to give Scotland’s remaining fragments of ancient, native and semi-native woodlands and woodland floors full legal protection. You can tell that the petition has been with us for a while, because it wants that to happen before COP26—the 26th United Nations climate change conference of the parties—which was held in Glasgow in November 2021. That was the petition’s original aim, but the issue remains one of concern, and that aim indicates how long the petition has been in progress.

As I have said, we welcome Jackie Baillie, who has been following our deliberations on the petition at its various stages. We last considered it on 9 November 2022, when we agreed that we would pull together a summary of the evidence that we had heard and send it to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee and the Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee. Subsequently, we considered a draft letter to the Minister for Environment and Land Reform at our meeting on 7 December, at which we also agreed to hold off writing to the two subject committees until a response from the minister had been received, because the letter to the minister was, in effect, the summation of the issues that we wanted to take forward.

It has taken some time, but we have now received a response from the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, which has been included in our meeting papers for today. The cabinet secretary notes that a number of measures are already in place to protect ancient woodlands, including provisions contained in the fourth national planning framework—NPF4—and the control of woodland removal policy. The cabinet secretary goes on to restate the Government’s commitment to restore Scotland’s Atlantic rainforest and say that there is on-going work, in collaboration with NatureScot and Scottish Forestry, to determine the best approach to establishing a new national register of ancient woodlands. In response to our suggestion for an additional legislative protection, the cabinet secretary says that the forthcoming natural environment bill would be the route for safeguarding and managing ancient woodland within protected areas.

We have also received another submission from the petitioners, which reflects on their meeting with officials from Scottish Forestry. It highlights in particular the impact of invasive, non-native species on our woodlands—which we as a committee saw for ourselves on a site visit—and notes Scottish Forestry’s view that

“financial constraints are acting against the restoration of Scotland’s ancient woodland”.

The petitioners would like the Scottish Government to

“urgently re-evaluate the policy for commercial forestry species selection”

as a way of limiting and, if possible, reversing the spread of invasive species such as Sitka spruce.

Before I ask the committee to comment on where we might go given that we have received a response from the cabinet secretary, I wonder whether Jackie Baillie would like to contribute to our thinking.

The next petition is PE1926, on expanding universal free school meals for all nursery, primary and secondary schools. Monica Lennon joins us again for our consideration of this petition, which was lodged by Alison Dowling and calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to expand universal free school meals provision for all nursery, primary and secondary school pupils.

We last considered the petition at our meeting on 22 February, when we agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills. I am pleased to say that we have received a response from the new Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Jenny Gilruth, which states that the Scottish Government remains

“focused on working with delivery partners to progress our free school meal expansion programme.”

The cabinet secretary notes that the Government is continuing to work with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and other key delivery partners on the next phase of expansion, and goes on to say that she will

“update the committee on anticipated timescales for the pilot in secondary schools once”

the Government’s

“planning work has further progressed.”

Members may have noted that, in response to a question in the chamber on 18 May, the cabinet secretary said that she had not yet met officials to discuss proposals for the pilot in secondary schools but was willing to engage with young people in the design of the pilot.

Before I ask colleagues to comment, I invite Monica Lennon to contribute to our thinking.

PE1956, which was lodged by Louise McGee, is on increasing the provision of wheelchair accessible homes. It calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to review the existing wheelchair accessible housing target guidance and to explore options for increasing the availability of wheelchair accessible housing in Scotland.

The petition was last considered at our meeting on 23 November 2022, when we agreed to write to the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, from which we have now received responses. However, as members will have noted, COSLA asked the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers—it has a marvellous acronym, but we will just stick with that—to provide a response on its behalf.

In its response, the Scottish Government confirmed that it is currently undertaking a review of the adaptations system, which it expects to have completed by the spring of 2024.

The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations noted that the most recent Government statistic for the total number of wheelchair accessible homes developed for social rent was 0.3 per cent for the year 2020-21. The SFHA highlighted that progress on a review of adaptations, new building standards and plans for a new accessible homes standard has been slow.

The Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers agreed with the petitioner that the Scottish Government should review the existing wheelchair accessible housing target guidance. It provided information on the wheelchair accessible homes targets that have been set by various local authorities, and went on to say that there is currently no definition of a wheelchair accessible home, which it said is a measure that is needed in Scotland.

In the light of the representations that we sought and have now received, do members have any comments or suggestions?

The cabinet secretary notes that the Government is continuing to work with COSLA, so it would not be unreasonable for us to get a view from COSLA about what it thinks that that engagement is producing. I would like to ask whether it has highlighted some of the issues that Paul Sweeney has just identified and whether it has had any response, or whether there are other issues that it feels might arise as a consequence. Do we agree to that approach?

Members indicated agreement.

The next petition, PE1937, lodged by Gillian Lamarra, concerns giving children the respect that they deserve by providing options for privacy when changing for PE. It calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to implement the option across all schools for primary school children to wear their PE kit to school on the days that they have PE. We last considered the petition on 8 March and, at that time, we agreed to write to the Scottish Government to ask what consideration has been given to reviewing and updating the learning estate strategy, because we felt that a lot of the issue depended on the estate itself.

We have received a response from the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, stating that the Scottish Government does not have any plans to update the learning estate strategy but that, along with the Scottish Futures Trust, it remains committed to working closely with local authorities in relation to individual councils’ school estates. Do members have any comments or suggestions in the light of that?

Thank you, Jackie Baillie. I agree. In many respects, it seems ironic that we as a nation pride ourselves at times on the fact that we have resisted physical invasion for 1,000 years but it would appear that our natural habitat is the subject of a successful invasion by foreign species. At times, there seems to be lip-service acknowledgement of that but no concrete action. The statistic that you gave of 56 per cent of trees at the highest altitude being Sitka spruce is an example of that. Of course, we all saw that for ourselves.

I know that we have received warm words, but I wonder whether the committee feels, as Jackie Baillie does, that there is still room for us to pursue these issues.

Jackie Baillie’s testimony had a couple of specific suggestions that I think the committee would be happy to embrace.

Given the investment that we have made in the petition, it may end up being one that we consider to be suitable for a debate in the chamber at some point. A love of Scotland can extend very much into the natural habitat of our country, and the concern that the committee has felt has very much been given substance by what we have seen for ourselves.

Jackie Baillie said that Scottish Forestry could be overwhelmed and that the last thing that it is looking for is a sort of nature watch from the public. We are at the stage where non-native species are so prevalent that the battle could become a battle lost. Before it can be a battle won, it has to be a battle properly engaged in, and we are maybe not at that point.

Do we agree to keep the petition open and proceed on that basis?

Members indicated agreement.

As no one has any other comments, are we content with Mr Torrance’s suggestion?

Members indicated agreement.

I thank the petitioner, but I think that we have exhausted our ability to take forward the issues in the petition. However, it is always open to the petitioner, in due course, to come back with another petition if it does not appear that the way in which the Scottish Government is trying to progress the aims of the petition through the conversations that it is having with individual local authorities is producing results.