Chamber and committees

I cannot speak for other ministers or about pieces of legislation other than the one that I have introduced. As I have said, it is regrettable that two aspects of the Promise bill are not compliant with the UNCRC. I have given the reasons for that, which relate to complexity and time. However, as Mr Ross has stated, I am seeking further advice in relation to the concerns that have been raised in the conversations that I have had around the Promise bill in its entirety.

I am more than happy to provide more information around that at the stage 1 debate next week. Claire Montgomery might be happy to follow up on Mr Ross’s points around the UNCRC more generally.

They would have been entitled to that anyway; the point is that the placing authority would not have known about it, so it would not be able to plan in advance and consider the child’s needs. That is where the regulations come into play.

Could you be more specific, Mr Rennie?

I appreciate that you were not on the committee at that time, Mr O’Kane, but I have been clear on the matter several times previously. There will always likely be a need for cross-border placements, but that is only when it is in the best interests of the child. There will always be exceptional circumstances where it might be better for a child to be placed in Scotland.

I discussed the issue at the committee previously. In relation to some of the numbers—especially in relation to secure care—it was very clear that there were failings in the system in England and that other reasons for cross-border placements existed, beyond what was best for the child. It is always important to try to reduce those cross-border placements when they are not in the best interests of the child, but also to understand that there might always be a need for them.

There will always be the need for, for example, emergency placements, which has been taken into account. For example, there is a recognition in the regulations around visits and the requirement for visits to take place that, sometimes, there might not be time for that visit to take place in advance of the placement needing to be put in place. That visit would obviously then have to take place at a later date, and there is a time limit around that. An enabling factor is in place to ensure that, when it arises, the need for those emergency, short-term decisions has been taken into account.

That is certainly something that we can consider. We need to be mindful that the cabinet secretary will be making a statement later today and what we have said about mandatory reporting this morning. However, that could follow on from those discussions.

I have been discussing that legislative review—not specifically in relation to that topic but more generally. It has come up in my discussions with The Promise Scotland and other stakeholders in relation to the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill, which I will call the Promise bill for short.

Work has been done with The Promise Scotland to review the legislative landscape, but a decision was made not to take that forward in the Promise bill. Again, I am speaking of review in a general sense rather than in relation to the specific legislation on child protection that Mr Greer referred to. Given the scale of the reviewing task, it was agreed that taking it forward in the Promise bill was perhaps not the best approach. However, that does not detract from the fact that work on that is still under way in other areas of Government.

I still very much want to take forward the review, which was a recommendation from The Promise Scotland. It would be very beneficial for child protection and for other areas. However, given the timings around the Promise bill and the complexity of decluttering the landscape, it was decided that the review would not be taken forward as part of that bill. However, as I say, I have been engaging with The Promise Scotland on the review, and we still very much plan to do it, because it is key to our delivery of the Promise.

I would be happy to write to the committee on that exact point, because I do not have advice on that at this moment. I will need to consider that, and I will write to the committee to confirm that.

Mr Briggs will be aware that I met the petitioners to discuss the issue. That was some time ago, so I would be more than happy to seek an update on the most recent correspondence that has been received. This morning’s discussion on mandatory reporting links directly to the petition and, if I recall correctly, was something that was spoken about in my meeting with the petitioners.

Mr Briggs might also be aware of the Care Inspectorate report about Edinburgh. I have engaged directly with the City of Edinburgh Council on that. Although there were some positives in that report, there were also real questions to do with culture, as well as issues to do with the workforce not necessarily knowing who to direct problems to. Again, that reminded me of some of what came up in my meeting with the petitioners. I have written directly to the City of Edinburgh Council to ask exactly how it will remedy some of those issues. I believe that I requested a meeting with it, although I am not sure whether I have had any response. Again, I am more than happy to write to Mr Briggs on some of those points if that would be helpful.

Mr Greer has been very positive about the bill passing. The review is not being thought about in a way that is exclusive or detached from the bill. It is still going on aside from the bill. As I said, I have been discussing the matter with The Promise Scotland, which undertook some work around the legislative landscape. I now need to consider whether that work is a good basis for advancing that agenda or whether the Government will have to conduct its own review or enhance that work.

I assure Mr Greer that thinking around the review is under way and that it has not dropped off the agenda. He will be aware that I have engaged a lot with children and young people on the delivery of the Promise bill and that there has been a lot of focus on specific areas. I feel that the areas that we are delivering on in the bill are those that will make the most difference to children and young people right here, right now. However, please be assured that our longer-term view to tidy up the legislative landscape has not fallen off the radar—it is being discussed in conversations that I am having.