Chamber and committees

We will leave the aspiring Professor Golden and his lecturing and move to Fergus Ewing.

Laura, can you go next, as I pointed the finger at local authorities a little bit?

As long as it is not another question on behalf of the Inverness tourist board.

Do our other two witnesses have anything by way of a final thought?

We continue with PE1934, which was lodged by Craig Scoular on behalf of Greenfaulds high school rights and equalities committee and calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to work with Education Scotland to develop an educational resource on gender-based violence for all year groups in high school. The resource should include education on the causes of gender-based violence to ensure that young people leave school with the tools to help create a safer society for women.

We last considered the petition at our meeting on 9 October 2024 and, at the time, we agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills. The cabinet secretary’s response states that the Scottish Government is committed to the commissioning of an independent review on the gender-based violence in schools framework before the end of this parliamentary session, with the aim of establishing positive practice and further areas for improvement. The submission notes, however, that schools will require time to implement the framework before the review takes place.

The cabinet secretary’s response also highlights the relationships and behaviour in schools action plan, published in August 2024, which includes an action to

“Empower staff through provision of ... professional learning to support relationships and behaviour approaches and practice and to respond to emerging trends in behaviour.”

As part of that work, Education Scotland ran an information session on the framework for school staff last September, and it will use the feedback from that session to determine whether there are any areas where more bespoke training might be helpful.

In light of the cabinet secretary’s response and the aims of the petition being progressed, I wonder whether colleagues have any suggestions for action.

As Mr Torrance has said, the issues could be brought back in the next parliamentary session if progress fails to be made.

Mr Torrance has made a proposal. Is the committee content to proceed on that basis?

Members indicated agreement.

PE1946, which was lodged by Sean Clerkin, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to use general taxation to pay for all charges for homeless temporary accommodation, including writing off the £33.3 million debt owed by homeless people for temporary accommodation to local authorities.

We last considered the petition on 13 November 2024, when we agreed to write to the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers and to the Scottish Government. We asked the Scottish Government for an update on the work undertaken by the housing affordability working group, and its submission states:

“the group has explored the underlying meaning of affordability and its different uses within housing debates, policy and practice. The group has not been asked to find solutions to housing affordability problems, nor has it been asked to focus specifically on homeless households. Rather, members have worked together to agree a shared understanding of what housing affordability is and how it should be measured, in order to support a range of policy and sector requirements across relevant areas.”

That might not have been everybody’s expectation, but there we are.

That report’s recommendations were expected before the summer recess in 2024. However, the Scottish Government's submission states that reaching consensus between stakeholders has—and I quote—“taken time”.

In response, the petitioner states that

“The ... exercise is yet another working group going nowhere”,

and, in his submission, he reiterates the increasing numbers of people in temporary accommodation and states:

“General Taxation should be used to pay for the costs of temporary accommodation”.

In its response to the committee, the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers shares its view that it does

“not think that there is any case for the Scottish Government to take on the cost of funding temporary accommodation or to write off existing arrears.”

However, the submission highlights a number of areas where there is a lack of clear data to inform any work that could be undertaken in that area, and it explains that

“Most of those in temporary accommodation are eligible for housing benefit”,

which

“In most cases ... will cover the full cost to the resident with a deduction for heating or ‘board’ where this is included in the rent charge.”

Finally, the submission notes that

“Councils ... take a proportionate approach to collecting any arrears that do arise”,

including debt write-off, when that is the most appropriate approach. The association also suggests

“targeted funding to support the acquisition of additional ... temporary accommodation to support councils to meet their statutory obligations and provide the quality of temporary accommodation that homeless applicants are entitled to expect”,

and calls for

“a more consistent approach to accounting for the cost of temporary accommodation to improve transparency around charges and value for money.”

Do we have any suggestions as to how we might proceed? Mr Torrance, do you want to comment? There is a case for writing to the Minister for Housing, I think.

If we can proceed on that basis, I would be grateful.

Thank you, both. Would anyone else like to comment?

PE2106, lodged by Adam Csenki, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to update the guidance on mobile phones in schools to require all schools to prohibit the use of mobile phones during the school day, including at interval and lunchtime.

We last considered the petition on 25 September 2024, when we agreed to write to a number of folk. In her response to the committee, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills states that the mobile phone guidance for Scottish schools, which was published last August, takes a balanced approach and that, while recognising the challenges that mobiles create in many classrooms, the guidance acknowledges that mobile devices can be powerful tools to enhance learning, teaching, communication and social experience. They might also remove barriers to learning for some pupils, and they can be used to access some school services, such as ordering school meals. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills reiterates that decisions on the restriction or limitation of mobile phones should be for headteachers.

On similar grounds of flexibility and balance, the responses received from the Educational Institute of Scotland, the Association of Heads and Deputes in Scotland and School Leaders Scotland indicate that restrictions should be a matter for schools and that they do not support a national ban.

In his recent submission, the petitioner argues that Scottish schools that allow pupils unrestricted access to smartphones could be in breach of the duties that they are supposed to uphold under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, primarily in relation to protecting children from information and material that is injurious to their wellbeing. The petitioner gives a series of examples of children being exposed to harmful content while at school.

Do members have any comments or suggestions for action?