Meeting description: We lobbied the Member on the issues of retrofitting and peace education. We asked the Member about the Local Government Housing and Planning Committee's work on retrofitting. Making Scotland's housing stock more efficient to heat is critical to Scotland's Net Zero targets. Quakers in line with their testimony to equality and economic justice support all efforts to ensure that improved insulation of our houses is affordable for those on low incomes or no income. We discussed how finance might be made available and the need for finance from the private sector. We sought for the Member to emphasise this issue in the committee's work and his broader work in parliament so that this might lead to more Scottish Government action on the issue. We discussed peace education peace is a Quaker testimony. Encouraging the continued development of peace education in schools including giving children and students experience/the tools for peer mediation and conflict resolution is part of this work encouraging Scotland's schools to continue to strive to achieve SDG 4.7. The Member has agreed to sponsor a peace education exhibition in the Scottish Parliament to help raise awareness of peace education among MSPs and the public. Our discussion with him on this was to update him on our progress and to discuss the inclusion of a demonstration of peer mediation by school children within the exhibition. We sought agreement from him that the demonstration could take place - he agreed to discuss it further with us at a future meeting. The exhibition is booked for 26-28 September 2023.
Topic label: Housing, Climate