Chamber and committees

That is why training does not exist on its own. It would be for the guidance to set out good practice and the point at which someone would need to use the training from training providers. That is not to say that it would be the only training available to help people who were dealing with such situations.

In broad terms, yes. I have thought for a long time that initial teacher education should focus far more explicitly on additional support needs. Within that, there should be real clarity about elements of cognition and executive function and, by extension, de-escalation. It should be a core topic for anyone embarking on a teaching career.

I can respond in a number of ways. In essence, my bill does not alter that situation. If those things are occurring, we want to know about them. If people are making interventions, we want them to happen when the people concerned have already been properly informed and appropriately trained.

In a sense, there is a tension here for me, in that I almost do not know who to believe. On one hand, I am being told that everyone is already complying with the guidance. If that is the case, I would say, “Great, so what is the issue with putting it on a statutory basis?” On the other hand, people tell me that the bill will have massive resource implications. In that case, I would say, “I thought you said that everyone was already complying with the guidance.” You cannot have both going on.

Most fundamentally, let us be clear that there are different cohorts and different dynamics. Overall, when looking at education policy, you have to consider everything all at once. What I am looking at is the situation for children with additional support needs, who are often of primary-school age and often have quite profound needs. The wider issues of behaviour and violence in schools are a much bigger topic, which extends through the age range, and that is reflected in the evidence that we have had from people working in education. That was also quite clear from Lynne Binnie’s contributions.

The fact that there are other issues and problems—and even ones that are connected—does not mean that we should do nothing. The bill can provide clarity and will provide support and training to practitioners who really need them. Ultimately, it is also about providing clarity for parents.

My other response, especially on the point about violence in schools, is that that is a different situation, but that, as a parent, if my child is involved in an altercation in school, I would want to know. I would want to know if they were on the receiving end of that; I would want to know if they were the instigator. If that situation involved a teacher, I would want to know, and I would also want schools to have a clear understanding of such situations and what they are doing about them and to have a clear plan to deal with that. My bill does not detract from that; in fact, it might even help.

That is as the funder. The Government is looking at whether it would report on that as a subset of the information, so that we do not end up with confusing data. That would be done for the reason that you set out: such institutions have a very different relationship with local authorities, full stop. Local authorities use institutions such as the one that you mentioned as providers of education, rather than local authorities sitting as regulators of such institutions as providers of education, if that makes sense.

I, too, recently visited Donaldson’s, which is a really fascinating place and does excellent work.

I will first thank the committee; I know that you are very busy and looking at multiple pieces of legislation, so I really thank everyone for taking time to look at my bill. I also thank the Scottish Government. This has been a long and engaged process, and I have had a number of constructive meetings with the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills. I thank the non-Government bills unit, too, and cannot overemphasise the excellent work that it does and what an excellent aspect of the Scottish Parliament the unit is.

I will speak briefly because I really want to get into the questions. My first point is that the bill arrives at the end of a long process. In 2015, Beth Morrison lodged a petition with the Scottish Parliament, seeking to restrict the use of restraint and seclusion. Then, in 2018, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland produced an excellent report on the use of restraint and seclusion in schools, looking particularly at data. The subsequent “in safe hands?” report from Enable Scotland came to similar conclusions, which resulted in a meeting with the Government that led to a five-point plan in 2019 that called for urgent issuing of guidance. However, the guidance was produced only last year. There was also guidance in 2011, which was updated in 2017, but, as part of the 2019 meeting, the Equality and Human Rights Commission wrote to the Government saying that, in its view, the 2017 guidance was not compliant with human rights and that there was the prospect of judicial review. The bill is not something that has just come about; it is part of a long process.

It is worth highlighting the findings of the report from the Children and Young People’s Commissioner. It found that there were 2,674 instances of restraint but that only 18 local authorities were reporting on that. Only 18 authorities—but not the same 18—were able to provide data; only 13 of those 18 could actually provide the number of children restrained and only 12 could provide any insight into the use of restraint for pupils with additional support needs.

The issue affects hundreds of children but we do not have sufficient data or clarity, so that is what my bill seeks to address. It would provide guidance about something that, however you seek to look at it, is a serious intervention that can occur at school, and it would put that guidance on a statutory footing so that it must be complied with. Importantly, there would also be recording so that we can understand the situation; parents and guardians would be informed; and there would be a reporting mechanism so that we can have a national understanding of restraint and seclusion.

However, over and above the bill, or the numbers, there is a fundamental insight. I took the time to read every single one of the submissions to my consultation—it was, I have to say, a very difficult thing to do. Through the testimony of people reporting what happened to their child, I read about their anguish and about the sheer frustration that they went through just to find out what happened to their child at school and why they came home with bruises. It had often taken them weeks, if not months, to find out precisely what happened. That is not something that any parent would want anyone to go through.

The bill is, ultimately, about this point: everyone around this table who is a parent or who has children in their extended family will be familiar with the little slip of paper that comes home from school with a child when they graze their knee after falling down in the playground, and which has to be countersigned and handed back. That is the level of recording and reporting that goes on when things happen at school that are a matter of accident. Why is it not the case that the same is required when injuries happen as a result of deliberate intervention? I think that that should be required.

With that, I am happy to take questions.

On the point about holding a child’s hand, I contend that that would not constitute restraint on the basis of the definition, but it is an important point.

First, I reiterate that the definitions are literally just about providing scope—there are no prohibitions or prescriptions. Secondly, the definitions are very much in line with the guidance that the Government produced in 2024. I would argue that not only is that compatible with what the Government has already produced, it is narrower. If you read the current Government guidance in its entirety, you will see that it provides for restraint to include physical actions that constitute supporting a child, but the definition in the bill is narrower than that.

There is a real need to look at one area that the Government has raised with me in private and through correspondence and oral evidence with you, which is the relationship with reporting. I spoke about providing a scope for the guidance, which can then be further refined and focused. As it stands, the guidance on reporting may be too expansive, and I am open to narrowing the definitions in the guidance if that would be helpful and, in particular, to providing further clarification about the reporting requirements in the bill. For example, that might focus on the reporting of more sustained uses of physical intervention, such as when a practitioner uses such an intervention over a period of minutes rather than seconds.

I have a final point. The bill certainly does not define all physical contact as restraint. It is about physical intervention that deprives an individual of the ability to act independently. That is why I am not sure about the example of holding a child’s hand because, when you do that, the child can usually withdraw. There might be an issue when that is more forcible. It is important to me that a supportive hand on the shoulder, or perhaps even a hug from a teacher, especially for a younger child, is not restraint—it is physical communication.

There is a final category of interventions that might protect a child, such as the example of pushing a child out of the way of a moving vehicle. We need to look at that, which is why looking at duration might be in order, but there is also another way of looking at that. If my child was on a school trip and had to be pushed out of the way of a moving bus, would I want to be told about that? Yes, I would. Would I want that to be recorded and for there to be some reflection on how that had happened? Yes, I would.

I understand that there are nuances but, overall, those things should be captured and reflected on.

I will bring in Roz Thomson to cover the methodology of the bill’s financial memorandum in more detail. I have met the Scottish Government about every six months during the bill process. There has been an extensive level of engagement. It was important for the Government to be aware of the bill, especially given its concurrence with the issuing of its guidance.

Critically, as I said directly to the cabinet secretary, it was really important to me that the bill did not contain any surprises for the Government; that is the approach that I have sought to take. As I understand it, the Government broadly agrees with the numbers that are set out in the financial memorandum. The costs are not overly significant. Mr Kidd is absolutely correct to say that the measures do not add up to nothing. There will be costs of around £3 million in year 1, with similar on-going costs each year, which is not the biggest amount of money in the context of the education budget.

Let us also be clear that we have guidance and that all actors say that the guidance is being complied with. I do not envisage a requirement for any huge alterations to the guidance. There will be a need to revise and reissue the guidance, and there will be some additional implementation costs, but we are taking at face value the assurance from both providers and the Government that there is already compliance.

Roz, do you want to provide some clarity about the more detailed elements of the methodology?

In a word: clarity. Although we would wish such instances to be avoided, we all understand that they will occur. When they do occur, from a parental perspective, it is important that parents are informed promptly so that they understand what has happened to their child and do not have to piece it together or try to figure out why a bruise has occurred. It is also about parents having clarity, more than retrospectively, about the sorts of things that might be going on at school and that might form part of their child’s care.

As a country, we need clarity on the pattern of how restraint and seclusion occur and in what circumstances, so that we have some oversight.

Clarity is important for practitioners, too. At the moment, there is a lack of statutory guidance, and there has been criticism from some quarters of the current guidance and the lack of practical help that it provides. If there are situations where practitioners need to use restraint or seclusion, it is really important that they have clarity about when it is appropriate to do so and, critically, what form that should take. That is why we need the training element.

In essence, all those things boil down to clarity: for the individuals, for parents, for practitioners and for all of us as a country.

I understand their concerns, and I understand the overall pressures on the teaching profession and on all practitioners working in classrooms, but I find myself struggling somewhat with some of those arguments, for two primary reasons.

First, it is contended that the guidance is already being followed. If so, I do not understand why putting that guidance on a statutory footing is problematic. If the guidance is being followed, and because I do not foresee a huge change in the substance of that guidance, which would be revised but would not be altogether different, I do not understand why putting it on a statutory footing would be problematic.

Secondly, there is the more fundamental point that I outlined in my previous answers. We are talking about the use of force and the deprivation of liberty. Those things are very serious when they occur, so we need the most robust levels of oversight and recording; if anyone thinks that that is not the case, I would really like them to explain why they think those things should just be a matter of routine and should not require what I think is a not terribly onerous level of oversight. We are just asking for those things to be recorded. I have not specified exactly how, but that might simply be a matter of recording in an electronic journal. I have not specified how the informing should occur but, in most instances, that would probably mean just a phone call.

Regarding the training requirements, if physical intervention is to be applied, especially if that is foreseeable and regular, it is clear that people will need training.

I have not heard an explanation of why any of those elements is problematic.

The member raises an interesting point, which goes to the heart of the matter. The most profound concern probably comes from people with those needs. I am not clear about any need for particular provision, primarily because the bulk of such incidents involve children with additional support needs, which means that it would be impossible to look at guidance in that area of practice without keeping additional support needs absolutely front and centre, as they very much are in the current guidance.

The question is interesting from another perspective, and I would be interested to follow up informally with committee members about their visit to Donaldson’s. When we talk to practitioners working in such settings, they have the fewest issues or concerns about the bill, because they understand the need for sensitivity. When I spoke to people at Donaldson’s, they almost questioned the need for the bill because they do not use restrictive practices.

I absolutely think that, when we look at the bill and develop guidance, we must have young people with additional support needs or disabilities at the forefront of our minds. I do not think that that means there is a need for more specific provision within the bill, but I am focusing precisely on that.