Government responds to the speeches and concludes the debate

If Committees can hold external meeting occasionally then maybe Debates should sometimes be held somewhere other than Edinburgh and at some times other than office hours so more people can engage.

Permanent version of a Citizens panel with regional representation to check in with Parliament about how well they are engaging and reaching local communities

Not a lot of people are aware they can come in to the Parliament so it may be a challenge to get people to attend. Push it more on social media etc.

People signed up to Parliament social media feeds during COVID for example but not so aware of Debates being pushed through these channels. Don't always get the notifications.

Needs to be an awareness campaign to make people aware that they can suggest debate topics to MSPs.

Easy to understand once it is explained but usually the challenge is finding out about it in the first place.

This is not a contentious issue so it's not really a debate, everyone agrees that racism is bad so it's more of an awareness raising process

Could the community groups in the Gallery not have had a chance to speak in the debate since they were involved in the campaign? Would make it more human and relevant to the public... Would alter the hierarchy a bit.

I think this process is large and complexed. The video attached explains a small part of the process on time allocated but gives no details on how you would find out if a topic of interest or local to you was being debated. What is the process for the outcome of the debate. How do the debates and the outcomes directly effect people and their daily lives?

Raise awareness on how these debate can represent what is important to you and your local community. Consider social media as away of getting people involved and highlighting that you can put forward topics for debate to your MSP