Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Official Report 762KB pdf

Decision Time

There are two questions to be put as a result of today’s business. The first question is, that amendment S5M-02624.1, in the name of Monica Lennon, which seeks to amend motion S5M-02624, in the name of Mark McDonald, on adoption and permanence in Scotland, be agreed to.

Amendment agreed to.

The second question is, that motion S5M-02624, in the name of Mark McDonald, on adoption and permanence in Scotland, as amended, be agreed to.

Motion, as amended, agreed to,

That the Parliament welcomes the first-ever Adoption Week Scotland, which takes place from 21 to 27 November 2016, to celebrate and promote adoption; acknowledges the role played by measures in the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 and by Scotland’s Adoption Register, which have resulted in progress in recent years to increase the number of adoptions; considers that there is more to do to speed up decision making and reduce drift and delay in the system; notes the need for continued support services for adoptive families facing challenges; accepts that adopted children should be given the same priority as looked-after children in education and access to mental health services; recognises the transformative benefit of adoption and permanence to children and their families, and supports the roll-out of the Permanence and Care Excellence (PACE) programme to all local authority areas to make improvements in this regard so that more children benefit from a secure, permanent and nurturing family environment at the earliest opportunity.

That concludes decision time.

Could members who are leaving the chamber please do so quietly? [Interruption.] Quietly, please! If that is quiet, I would hate to hear noisy.