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Chamber and committees

Question reference: S6W-26332

  • Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
  • Date lodged: 20 March 2024
  • Current status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 17 April 2024

Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to schools to reduce the use of seclusion and restraint.


Answer

Restraint and seclusion should only ever be used as a last resort to prevent the risk of injury. Under existing guidance , all local authorities are asked to have policies in place governing the use of these practices and are asked to monitor their use.

As part of their scrutiny and improvement roles in schools, Education Scotland inspectors consider the impact of practice in relation to the use of physical intervention for children and young people.

To further improve practice in this area, the Scottish Government is developing new human-rights based guidance on the use of physical intervention in schools. We are due to publish the consultation analysis report on our draft physical intervention in schools guidance very shortly. We will then reconvene the physical intervention working group to make final revisions to the guidance.

Progress with this work can be followed via the working group’s webpage .