Chamber and committees

Absolutely. In fact, I slightly disagree with Mr Adam—I do not believe that this is a starting point at all, I believe that this is a mid-point. We are in 2025 and halfway towards delivery of the Promise. I feel that a host of work has already been done, and is on-going, that has made significant improvements to the lives of children and young people—we hear that daily.

I believe that many of the provisions in the legislation will have extremely positive impacts. As I have already clarified, there will obviously be other areas of consideration further down the line, but I believe that the bill speaks to a lot of the issues that have been raised with me and with the Government through the years in relation to the experiences of children and young people with care experience.

We absolutely must strike a balance. There will be consequences, but I hope that we would all agree that there should be no excessive profiteering from the care of children and young people. If we do take that stance because we think that it is necessary to delivering on the Promise by 2030, we must take steps towards that. The steps that we are taking are timeous and proportionate and will give us time to develop the work and get it right, which, as I said at the start of the meeting, is my priority.

There are two ideas at the heart of the proposal for a register: promoting a positive experience, and the safety of children. A national register will work to strengthen safeguarding and transparency so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. The Scottish child abuse inquiry has heard about the need for more consistent and joined-up protection for children and the idea of a national register is a direct response to that.

At present, we have no national mechanism for tracking who has been approved as a foster carer, what their history is and whether their current status is active, suspended or withdrawn. A national register would help to support consistent oversight of foster carers across Scotland and to ensure that fostering services have access to accurate, up-to-date information so that decisions can be made in the best interests of children and young people.

As with other aspects of the bill, we have given ourselves time to more fully develop the idea of a register and to work with those who have an interest in order to get that right. We also have the experience of the adoption register.

It is outwith the scope when it comes to challenging, but not—

There are certainly similarities and there are things that we can learn from the adoption register, which supports agencies to match approved prospective adopters with children who are in need. That speaks to much of what I have just said. There is an element of safeguarding and—for lack of a better term—an element of making the matching process a little easier. I am not saying that a foster carers register would exactly draw on the adoption register, but there are similarities that we can look at and there are always lessons that we can learn.

I have directly discussed that with several stakeholder organisations and I know that there are concerns about the independence of that register. I do not have a straight answer at the moment, but the register will be created by secondary legislation, which will allow us time to consider the points about having an independent holder for the register, as well as other matters.

As I said, I am very clear that I know that there has been engagement with COSLA on a number of aspects of the bill, so further discussion is required if there is a point of contention, and I intend to have that further discussion.

When I met Who Cares? Scotland yesterday, that issue was not mentioned, but I know that it has come up previously. Again, we will consider that suggestion, but there are already appropriate ways to log complaints, which Ms Dunbar referred to, or whatever it might be. I go back to my original answer about the rationale for the register. I appreciate that, on the face of it, the register does not necessarily seem like a big, flashy aspect of the Promise bill, but it will help to enhance safeguarding for children across Scotland. Anything that we can do to further that aim will be considered when the regulations are drafted.

Yes. In a minute, I will bring in Tom McNamara, who, I know, has been itching to come in. We are very mindful that there is a wide range of views on the subject of single-member panel decision making. We have kept in place appropriate safeguards in relation to appeals and reviews of such decisions, and the single panel member will have full recourse to a panel, should that be deemed necessary or appropriate. However, having taken into account the questions that the committee has raised and some of the evidence that has been provided, I am considering what further safeguards could be implemented.

I ask Tom McNamara to say how decisions by a single-member panel would progress.

I am sorry to hear that that young person feels like that. That point of view has not been brought to me previously by a young person.

I am trying to look at it from their perspective, but I do not believe that the Promise has been lost in the Government machine. The Promise is extremely complex. There are a lot more challenges in the way than could have been foreseen back when we first set out to deliver the ambitions of the Promise.

As I said, the Government has a clear position on the legislation that is being delivered. The Government also has a clear ambition in relation to our aims and priorities and the many non-legislative ways that we are working to deliver on the Promise. I come back to what I said about complexity. There is the work that the Government has to undertake, the work that is being done by local authorities, and then we have everyone else who is involved, whether that be health boards, schools or third sector organisations.

As I say, I am sorry that that young person feels that way. If there is a way of making clear the range of work that is under way on the delivery of the Promise, that would be beneficial.

It might also be beneficial to highlight the work that is being done across the Government. My portfolio is for children, young people and the Promise, but we have already talked about housing today, for example. There are asks of other areas of Government that will be required to be delivered for the Promise. The Cabinet sub-committee meets next week and I will get an update on how other Government ministers are implementing their ambitions to deliver on the Promise. Perhaps we also need to make it clear that the work is not being done in just one area of the Government—it is a cross-Government priority and approach.

I will take that comment on board and keep it in mind as I try to ensure that young people are aware of the full suite of work that is under way to deliver on the Promise. I thank Mr Briggs for bringing it to my attention.