SCoSS Charter Sub-Committee Meeting
Date: 3 March 2025
Time: 10:30
Venue: Microsoft Teams
Minutes
Present—
- Dr Mark Simpson (Chair)
- Dr Marilyn Howard (Member)
- Ed Pybus (Member)
Apologies: None
In attendance (SCoSS Secretariat)—
- Andrew Strong, Head of Policy and Scrutiny
- Christopher Galloway, Analysis and Participation Support Officer
1. Welcome and declaration of interests
The Chair, Mark Simpson, welcomed the attendees to the tenth meeting of the Charter Sub-Committee.
There were no apologies and no interests were declared.
2. Matters arising from previous meeting
Members noted the minutes of the previous meeting. Andrew highlighted that discussions were ongoing on the creation of accessible versions of the final report.
3. Draft report on experiences of people with communication needs
Andrew presented the latest iteration of the final report, incorporating feedback from Members at the last Charter Sub-Committee meeting and the most recent Board meeting, as well as responses to recent questions raised with Social Security Scotland following a meeting with them.
The Secretariat and Members reviewed the updated version, making final amendments based on today’s discussion in preparation for publication.
Marilyn advised that it would be appropriate to confirm with Social Security Scotland whether they were content being quoted directly in the report. The Secretariat agreed to seek Social Security Scotland’s confirmation before publication.
Members and the Secretariat held further discussions on the report’s final structure, content, and conclusion. Andrew agreed to revise the conclusion, apply the agreed changes, and circulate the updated draft to Members.
Action: Andrew to revise the conclusion and incorporate additional changes from today’s discussion before sharing the updated version with Members.
Action: Secretariat to confirm with Social Security Scotland whether they are content to being directly quoted in the final report.
4. Report promotion
Andrew updated Members on the plans for disseminating the final report upon publication, including ideas for promotion and stakeholder engagement. This involved a distribution list of interested stakeholders, a special edition of the SCoSS newsletter, and a planned press release.
Members and the Secretariat also discussed hosting webinars for interested stakeholders, considering suitable timings and accessibility requirements given the nature of the report.
5. Any other business
Marilyn raised discussion of the next steps, reflecting on the research process so far, key lessons learned, and the Sub-Committee’s progress, and also how the Sub-Committee will operate moving forward. It was agreed that the Sub-Committee would review the research process and explore topics at a future meeting.
Meeting closed at 12:07
Date of next meeting: Monday 31st March 2025 (13:00 – 14:15)