Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 10 June 2020
This debate concludes my first full experience of scrutinising legislation in the Scottish Parliament since I was elected last summer. I record my thanks to the Education and Skills Committee’s clerks and the legislation team, who guided me through the process. I also thank my committee colleagues for their support. I have seen that ahead of any legislative reform a power of work goes on behind the scenes. That is even more impressive in the current context, so I pay tribute to all those who are somehow keeping Parliament ticking in these extraordinary times.
In the stage 1 debate, I said that
“the bill has the potential to make genuine, positive changes to the disclosure process.”—[Official Report, 16 January 2020; c 73.]
I will focus on a couple of the specific ways in which the bill will, after it is passed today, do that.
The bill will make it possible for people to apply for and receive disclosures digitally, which is an important and significant step for the future. It has taken a pandemic to prove that parts of Scotland’s administration are pointlessly reliant on paper, which is no longer the way that the world works. Offline alternatives are obviously still needed, and I still have some concerns about information technology capacity, given that 1.2 million people might need to apply for PVG membership as the renewal system gets under way. However, I am hopeful that if the disclosure system can maintain accessibility and make the move a success, it will create a precedent that other systems can follow.
The bill also makes sensible changes to the PVG scheme. The move to renewable five-year membership, which will be mandatory for people in regulatory roles, puts the scheme back in line with reality. Disclosure Scotland says that 20 per cent of those who are currently included in the scheme do not need to be in it, which means that hundreds of thousands of people are being monitored for no reason. Ending lifetime membership should address that pointless intrusion and the needless burden on Disclosure Scotland.
I am also glad that the bill will end automatic disclosure of childhood offences that are committed between the ages of 12 and 17. Mistakes that people make in their early years should not prejudice their adult life chances. Scotland still has some way to go, as we strive towards incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, but I welcome each move that is made in that direction.
As I said, the bill will make good changes to the disclosure system, but I cannot finish without mentioning the amendments that my colleague Alex Cole-Hamilton lodged at stages 2 and 3, which seemed to be completely in line with the bill’s policy aims. It is clear that politicians fit within the scope of the bill’s definition of people who hold “power or influence”, and that situations can and do arise as part of an elected representative’s role in which such power or influence could be used improperly. It is not enough to say that it should not be used in that way; the point is that it could be.
Although Alex Cole-Hamilton did not press amendment 39, I hope that, given his work to raise the issue, and the welcome announcement by the Minister for Children and Young People that there will be an independent review to look at the safeguarding issue, there will be a change in the future. On that hopeful note, I say that I am happy to support the bill today.