Chamber and committees

Yes, it was about the cross-border gap. A lot of the secure care centres have said that the cross-border placements sustain their service, as my colleague Willie Rennie has highlighted. How are you going to fill that gap?

The committee has heard from victims of offences that are committed by children that they are not given the breadth of information that is afforded to victims of offences that are committed by adults. Has the minister considered whether a more equitable approach to providing such information to all victims of crime should be taken?

Is 19 the right point at which to make that decision, given that other legislation, particularly that relating to the Promise, looks at supporting people up to the age of 26?

Good morning, panel, and thank you for the written submissions that you provided in advance, and for answering that first question.

I would like to begin where Jackie Irvine just left off. The committee has heard compelling evidence on the issue of developmental and chronological age that Jackie has just described. How do we design a person-centred approach that is responsive to the difference between chronological and developmental age, and how do we end the cliff edge of age-based detention?

As Jackie Irvine raised the topic, I ask her to start. I am also keen to hear from Ben Farrugia and Stephen Bermingham.

Good morning and thank you, convener. I, too, am pleased to be a member of the committee and look forward to the work that we will do together.

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests and declare that I have introduced a bill in the area of education—the Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions to Adulthood) (Scotland) Bill—which has come to the committee.

Yes, I have a final one on this theme. I also have a question on finance, but, as the convener has said, we will come to that later.

Further to that, Ben Farrugia, you note in Social Work Scotland’s submission that the bill does not fully understand the interface between guardianship and adult support and protection. What should the bill do in that space, and what in that regard should be understood and addressed in the bill?

Thank you, convener—I appreciate your using your discretion to do that. I will be brief.

My question is about the support that young disabled people who are in the system might need, which was mentioned earlier. Are you confident that secure accommodation will be able to provide additional support, for which you are seeing an increasing requirement?

Thank you, convener, and congratulations on your election as convener of the committee.

Good morning, panel. Thank you for sharing your evidence so far. It is grim, and I am really angry. I cannot believe that we are where we are. I agree whole-heartedly with the panel that this is an emergency and a human rights catastrophe and that it represents an end to our standing in the world as a place of protection for refugees, by breaching the UK’s obligations in the 1951 refugee convention and the European convention on human rights.

I agree that the Illegal Migration Bill would run a coach and horses through the protections passed by the Scottish Parliament on human trafficking. It is a trafficker’s charter and will end up with children being locked up, as we just heard from Andy Sirel. It is not just a sickening and draconian response to the arrival of small boats in the Channel but an assault on Scottish Parliament legislation—another one by this Tory Government. It threatens to undermine the human rights of vulnerable people so, yes, I am raging.

I am proud that UK Labour voted against the bill in the Commons; we will do the same here—we will vote to withhold legislative consent for the bill. I agree with many who have briefed us today, including the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, that it is incumbent on the Scottish Government and public authorities here to act in compliance with their human rights duties to mitigate, wherever possible, the harms caused by the bill. It is in that vein that I will approach my questions, which are short.

My first question is about the powers that the Scottish Parliament has in the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. Andy, you touched on some of this a moment ago. Has the Scottish Government done enough with the powers that it has in that act? What more might it need to do as a result of the impending disastrous legislation?

I appreciate the slightly more optimistic outlook, if we can call it that. I am sure that colleagues round the table will do what we can to push that forward. Thank you again to the panel.

I am not even sure how to follow that—thank you. I thought that it was grim earlier. That was pretty concise.

We had a briefing earlier from a representative of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner, who said that it is really important that we in Scotland do everything that we can in human rights terms. How important is it, given the Illegal Migration Bill and, I am sure, for other reasons, that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill is brought back to this Parliament and enacted as soon as possible? I will ask Andy Sirel again, because he mentioned children’s rights earlier.