Paying people to go to Holyrood and providing information in different languages 'key to getting public more involved in politics'

A Holyrood committee says many marginalised communities face barriers when it comes to engaging with the Scottish Parliament

Paying people back if they miss work to go to the Scottish Parliament and providing documents in different languages are amongst some of the recommendations on how to make Holyrood more successful.

For the past year, Holyrood’s citizen participation and public petitions committee has been trying to find out why some groups and marginalised communities weren’t being heard enough in the Parliament.

A group of 19 members of the public were selected at random to form a “citizens’ panel” to examine this and make recommendations on what improvements could be made.

A Holyrood committee says people face a number of barriers to engaging directly with the Scottish Parliament. Image: Andy Buchanan/Press Association.

They said ordinary people face a number of barriers to engaging directly with the Parliament, but added some changes could be made to fix this.

This includes paying people back if they have to take time off work or have to pay for childcare to come to the parliament, translating information into other languages and making documents easier to read, and providing more opportunities to engage with the parliament in the evenings, on weekends, or online.

The group also said the way citizenship is taught in schools should be reviewed.

On the back of this the Holyrood committee says there should now be two further “citizens’ panels” formed in the current parliamentary term, and a more permanent model for this should be adopted after the 2026 Holyrood election.

MSPs sitting on this committee also say there should be broader parliamentary reform, such as changing the MSPs’ code of conduct, reviewing the presiding officer’s authority, and the possibility of dedicating time each week for members of the public to question government ministers.

Jackson Carlaw MSP, convener of the citizen participation and public petitions committee, said: “Over the course of the past year, we’ve heard time and time again that the parliament doesn’t hear enough from some groups and communities across Scotland.

“This report is therefore a significant milestone in our pursuit of a more inclusive parliamentary process.

“The recommendations, particularly the introduction of increasingly regular citizens’ panels and the embedding of deliberative democracy in the work of the parliament, underscore our commitment to amplifying diverse voices.”