Highlanders urged to engage with Citizens' Panel to help shape future of Scottish Parliament
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People will be selected at random to take part in a Citizens' Panel, which aims to improve how the Scottish Parliament engages with communities.
The 24-person panel should broadly reflect the demographic make-up of Scotland and will give members of the public a direct opportunity to influence change, according to Holyrood.
The Citizens’ Panel on Participation will meet for two full weekends at the parliament as well as meeting online for shorter sessions.
A total of 4800 households will be selected at random and invited to register interest, with a random selection of 24, weighted to make sure that there are people from all across the community, then selected.
Participants do not need any prior knowledge to take part and the panel will receive support throughout the sessions, which will hear from speakers who are passionate about democracy and public participation, to help facilitate discussion and inform findings.
The panel will report to the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee which recently launched an inquiry into public participation.
Committee convener MSP Jackson Carlaw said: “This is a unique opportunity to help shape the way the Scottish Parliament works with the people of Scotland and I would encourage everyone who receives an invitation over the coming weeks to register and get involved.
“We know that the parliament doesn’t hear enough from some groups and communities and this Citizens’ Panel will bring together a diverse range of voices to make recommendations over how Holyrood can better connect and reflect the views of the people MSPs are here to represent.
“If selected, your views could help to directly shape the future of the way the Scottish Parliament engages with communities across Scotland and improve public participation in decision making across the board.”
Citizens' panels are used elsewhere in the world to learn about issues, discuss them with one another, and then make recommendations about what should happen and how things should change.
Recommendations from the panel will be considered by the committee, alongside evidence from focus groups and written submissions. The committee will then produce proposals on how the Scottish Parliament can improve collaboration with under-represented groups.
