Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 08 June 2022
Thank you, Presiding Officer, for affording me the opportunity to speak on this SSI on cross-border placements for children. This morning, members received a representation from the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland that we consider our decision on this issue in the light of our obligations as human rights guarantor for all children in Scotland. The commissioner laid out a set of issues pertaining to the regulations that deserve the attention of the Parliament. Colleagues on the Education, Children and Young People Committee heard evidence on the issue from the office of the commissioner as well as from the minister and her officials.
I know that the minister has reflected this in her work on the issue, but we should be clear that we must not let the perfect be the enemy of the good with regard to the welfare of children in England and Wales, for whom appropriate care placements are unavailable closer to home. The measures are, and must be, temporary. Labour will support the SSI on that basis, but the situation in which the Parliament finds itself is unacceptable. The situation with the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which could have been done many months ago, denies measures of legal clarity in the area, and that is a situation of the Government’s own making.
First, I ask the minister to assure members that the range of issues pertaining to the welfare of those young people that were raised by the commissioner are being taken on board by the Government. Can she now assure us that those issues will be dealt with to the fullest degree possible in accompanying guidance for the statutory bodies that must deal with the cross-border placements?
Secondly, the placements are required because the situation in England and Wales is one of disarray. We must also be clear that Scottish facilities are reliant on the funding that follows the placements to keep the lights on.
All is not well in our own sector—far from it. On 25 May, I asked the minister for assurances that the making available by the Government of full funding for Scottish placements would be an integral part of the proposed children’s care and justice bill. In response, she said:
“We need to think about how we can assist that service to be economically viable.”—[Official Report, Education, Children and Young People Committee, 25 May 2022; c 55.]
I ask her to elaborate on that assurance to the chamber, as the current situation in Scotland is unsustainable and presents a risk to appropriate provision.
Thirdly, the proposed children’s care and justice bill has been promised as the long-term fix for the temporary measures. We still have no date for the introduction of that bill, and I ask the minister to provide a firm date—