Education Committee,

Meeting date: Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Official Report 260KB pdf

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Child Protection

Item 2 is the six-monthly update on the child protection reform programme, on which we have a letter and note from the Deputy Minister for Education and Young People. Do members have any comments?

Not having had the opportunity to go through the papers in significant detail or to have a follow-up discussion with the minister, I would be loth to let the matter go today for another six months. Could we come back to it?

The committee has a fairly tight agenda for the next few meetings, so it is unlikely that we would be able to return to the item much—if it all—before the summer recess. If members want more information from the minister on specific issues, I would rather that we write to him for clarification. If we need to or if the opportunity arises, we could call the minister in after that. I am not suggesting that we just let the matter lie for six months but, by the time we get a slot in which we can consider it, we might be halfway to the next update anyway, so it would be better putting to the minister any specific questions that you have arising from the update.

The committee's scrutiny of the matter has undoubtedly helped the Government's accountability on delivering the reform programme, so it is important that we give it the necessary time and attention. Having gone through the update, I must say that it raises more questions, as it usually does. In his letter, the minister mentions the implementation of the Bichard recommendations. There is also reference under recommendation 13 to more legislation on agencies' involvement in referrals to children's hearings and compulsory supervision measures. I assume that that recommendation will also have an impact because it refers to the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and the children's hearings system.

We need to take stock of what legislation is being introduced and when because the committee is chock-a-block with legislation to consider. We need to know which provisions will appear in which bills and whether there will be separate children's hearings legislation to deal with child protection issues.

The update states that recommendation 12 has been

"Actioned as indicated in previous update."

Unfortunately, it does not say in our papers what that action was. The recommendations were made in 2002 and it is now 2006. In the past few weeks, the First Minister has expressed serious concerns about drug-misusing families and children and we heard about a change in context only today. I have lots of questions on the review update for either the minister or officials. As a result of the experience in Edinburgh and the O'Brien report on the Caleb Ness case, we know that information sharing is critical.

There are more practical funding problems, too. E-care funding is held centrally as opposed to being dispersed, which has implications for the architecture of computer systems. I also want to know what is happening with the proposed single telephone number that has been piloted in Grampian. Will it be rolled out or has the pilot not worked? Will it be a national number? Will it be referred to social work services? We need to keep on top of various matters. I would like to ask those questions of officials, but preferably of the minister.

As I said, we need to take stock of the legislative implications of the update and what has been said recently. I would like the opportunity to have that discussion and to find a way forward. As fewer than half the committee members are present, I am happy to jot down those suggestions, but I do not know whether others have the same concerns.

I am not against inviting the minister to answer questions, but we need sufficient time to do it effectively. Until we have sorted out the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill, we will not have much time. There might be one slot before the summer, after we have completed the draft report, in which we could fit in a session with the minister, but time is probably too tight to do anything useful before then. That is why I suggest we write to the minister to get an update on matters that you think have not been covered adequately. That might give us information more quickly that we can then follow up with the minister if we feel that his answers are not satisfactory. I will write, "These are questions that committee members want answered," rather than say, "The committee has agreed that we want to ask these questions."

Perhaps you could make a note of the questions that you want to ask and I will write to the minister on behalf of members. Once we get the reply, we can decide whether we need to bring the minister in for an evidence-taking session. I am conscious that we need to keep things moving. Waiting for six weeks—which is probably the minimum period before we can deal with matters—might delay things unnecessarily.

Okay, that is fine.

If members are content with that approach, may I have any questions by Friday, so that we can draft the letter and have a quick look at it next week? I will ensure that absent members are made aware of that opportunity.

Members indicated agreement.

That concludes this week's business. Next week, we will continue to take oral evidence on the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill. I also hope to consider the draft report on early years education.

I will be slightly late next week.

Noted. I thank members, and I thank our adviser for the helpful briefing note.

Meeting closed at 12:34.