The Scottish Parliament is in recess from 9 October to 24 October 2021 (inclusive).
Please note that you can still submit or sign a petition, however, a response from the clerking team may take significantly longer than usual during this time.
Under consideration PE1902: To allow an appeal process for Community Participation Requests
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to allow an appeal process for Community Participation Requests under the Community Empowerment Act 2015.
Previous action taken
I have spoken to MSP Edward Mountain and MSP Rhoda Grant who both support the need for an appeal process to be part of Community Participation Requests.
Background information
Community participation is an excellent way for communities to have influence on services and be part of decisions that affect their lives. This is particularly important for rural communities who need to be consulted and involved in any decisions that impact on their fragile communities.
NHS Highland covers an extremely wide area and decisions are mainly made centrally. We have been left to feel we have no voice and are disempowered within our own community.
Although NHS Highland management were engaging with members of our team, we were not being consulted or involved in any of the decisions. Therefore, Caithness Health Action Team formally requested to participate in future decision making.
Unfortunately, we were turned down to be part of this process due to minor issues with our Constitution which we believe to be unfair. Surprisingly we have since found there is no appeal process that could review our request.
This petition is now under consideration by the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
123 signatures