Chamber and committees

What would you consider to be “recent”?

I want to be clear. Are you saying that the conversation about the proposals took place only last week, after they had become public?

My question is about the interaction and relationship between the office of the commissioner and the Scottish Government. From what you have said, there seems to be quite a lot of blue water between your position and that of the Government. Was there any discussion between the office of the commissioner and the Scottish Government while the regulations were being put together?

You mentioned the opportunity for the child to challenge, but surely that challenge would lie with the placing authority. The challenge ought to be between the child and their representatives and the placing authority, so it would not lie in Scotland, would it?

I will come at the issue from a slightly different direction, cabinet secretary, and perhaps get a more detailed answer to the point that the convener is making. To approach the issue from the bottom up, teachers we have spoken to in our evidence gathering have been clear that the impacts of the pandemic have been significant, and we have to recognise that. We also have the cost of living crisis. Teachers have also acknowledged that they now have a much clearer idea of what works in addressing the attainment challenge.

We have that as well as the funding and the Government providing direction. Looking at all that in the round, now that those foundations are in place, would it be reasonable to expect that, in the coming years—the next few years—we will begin to see further and quite significant progress?

Cabinet secretary, I am one of the majority of members of the Scottish Parliament who very much welcome the funding that is going to the 23 other local authorities and will reach the 59 per cent of youngsters who were not previously captured by the approach. However, I am keen to get an assurance that the money will be accompanied by access to the gathered knowledge that we now have about what works.

I was very struck by the sessions that we have had with teaching staff from the west of Scotland. I found them incredibly positive about the work that is being done. However, I note that most of the knowledge has been amassed in the west of Scotland. We have the regional improvement collaboratives for sharing best practice, but I am looking for some assurance on how that best practice—the gleaned knowledge—will be made available to the other local authorities that have not had the opportunity up to now, other than through individual schools and their pupil equity funding. That is important so that they do not have to reinvent the wheel but can capitalise on the best practice and what we know works. Within that, there is a question about the role of Education Scotland.

You are absolutely right about that, but do you recognise the risk that, if the proposal was accepted, we could have fewer opportunities than are required to place the children now?

Thank you for indulging me, convener.

I am looking at the proposed amendments from the commissioner’s office, many of which make perfect sense in the context of the legislation that is coming down the track. However, I want to pick up on one practical point—this is not a hostile question. You say that any care home that accepts young people must be

“registered, regulated and inspected by the Care Inspectorate as a care home for children and young people”,

and must have

“a recent ‘adequate’ inspection report.”

We would all agree that that is fundamental, but it is not practical at the moment, because we are still in the pandemic and there will probably be a backlog of inspections. In fact, what you propose, with the best of intentions, could make the situation worse because, if insufficient numbers of homes met that particular criterion, there would be an issue about where to place the children, full stop, would there not?

That is my point. Were you not having a dialogue before then about what progress in this area would look like?

Would the element of access to advocacy services not be a step forward?