MEMBERS of the public are being short-changed by the Scottish Parliament because civil servants are systematically blocking hundreds of requests for action.
MSPs serving on the Scottish Parliament's public petitions committee have noiw called for a shake-up of the system after figures compiled by The Herald showed barely a quarter of requests were accepted for consideration.
The rest were rejected by parliament clerks and never discussed by the committee.
While the Holyrood committee considered 170 petitions from the public, the equivalent body at the Welsh Assembly looked into 356 over the same period.
The figures, obtained under Freedom of Information, undermine the petitions committee's reputation as a democratic doorway to the parliament, allowing the public to raise a wide-range of issues.
Petitions currently under consideration include a call for murderers to serve "whole of life" prison sentences and a request for measures to improve the welfare of pet rabbits.
Another recent petition called on the Scottish Government to provide direct funding for food banks.
The committee often takes evidence in person from petitioners and can champion their cause if MSPs agree.
MSPs serving on the committee, which is convened by Labour's John Pentland, said they were unaware of the high rejection rate.
Independent MSP John Wilson said: “I’m shocked at the rejection figures being so high. We weren’t informed of this or I would have asked many questions.
“This is a worrying indication about what was seen as one of the most open and transparent petitions systems in the world.
"It now seems to be one of the most difficult. We aren’t told what the rejected proposals were about.”
He said will request that all rejections are made public in future.
Labour's Hanzala Malik said: “I’m surprised the numbers are so high. We need an audit on how the rejection system is working. We put huge responsibility on the shoulders of the clerks.
"I’ll suggest we pull out some rejected proposals and find out exactly why they didn’t reach the committee.
"Personally, I’m for any idea which would benefit the people of Scotland and inclined to give the public the benefit of the doubt.
"People care about their petition ideas and put a lot of work into them.”
The Welsh Assembly, unlike Holyrood, publishes rejected petitions and gives the reasons they were not considered by the committee.
Only since 2011 has the Scottish Parliament kept a record of the number of rejected petitions.
The parliament was criticised by Freedom of Information watchdogs last year, after it blocked an attempt to find out more about the system.
At Holyrood, MSPs only learn about a rejected petition if the petitioner disputes the decision.
In 2014-15, 185 petition proposals reached Holyrood. But only 47, a quarter of the total, were rated admissible.
In 2013-14, only 40 out of 173 proposals, fewer than a quarter, were accepted.
In 2012-13, just 46 out of 166 survived and in 2011-12 , 37 out of 125 were accepted.
According to the Scottish Parliament, petitions are one of the "principal means" by which members of the public can directly influence government policy.
If the petitions committee decides to take up a cause it can seek further evidence from public bodies and officials and put pressure on ministers to act.
Petitions can also lead to debates by the whole parliament, raising awareness of an issue.
Petitioners do not need to collect a list of signatures in support of their cause and receive advice from parliamentary clerks in preparing their case, if it is accepted for consideration.
Among the system's notable successes, a rule banning patients from continuing to access NHS services after they had paid privately for medicines unavailable on the NHS was scrapped following a critical report by the committee.
The petition was lodged by Buckie patient Mike Gray, who died from bowel cancer after winning his fight to have life-prolonging drugs paid for by the NHS.
A Scottish Parliament spokeswoman said: “Some proposals would have been spurious, others judged best handled by local government or referred to an MSP. "Proposals are the start of a dialogue between the clerks and petitioners”
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