Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 02 June 2026 [Draft]
02 Jun 2026 · S7 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Phone-free Classrooms
Jackie Dunbar is absolutely right. The principle of meaningful participation is central to the adoption of a children’s rights-based approach and is a general guiding principle of the UNCRC. We are developing our approach to engagement with children’s organisations to ensure that children’s voices are heard as part of the consultation process.
We have rightly focused on children and young people, our pupils and our school environment today, but it bears saying that, as adults, we could probably all benefit from thinking about our social media use, too, and about the distinction between the online world and the real world. I often reflect that I might like it if someone took my phone off me for six hours a day.
We will stick to the remit of the task at hand with our education and learning environments, and perhaps adults can learn a thing or two from young people.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Clare Adamson)
SNP
The next item of business is a statement by Màiri McAllan on phone-free classrooms. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement and...
The Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic (Màiri McAllan)
SNP
My priority is to ensure that our school environments support pupils to thrive and to reach their full potential. There is no doubt that new and evolving tec...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Clare Adamson)
SNP
The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues that were raised in her statement. I intend to allow about 20 minutes for questions, after which ...
Angela Ross (Edinburgh and Lothians East) (Reform)
Reform
Thank you for your speech, cabinet secretary. We support the ban of mobile phones in schools to help to ensure focus in classrooms and to support teachers in...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
I thank Angela Ross for her question and her support for the policy. I hope that we can continue to garner that support right across the chamber. I also ackn...
Katherine Sangster (Edinburgh and Lothians East) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the cabinet secretary for the advance notice of her statement.We welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to making progress on mobile phone-free...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
I would reflect a similar experience to that of Katherine Sangster. She mentioned having spoken with a number of parents who are keen to see this carefully d...
Patricia Gibson (Cunninghame South) (SNP)
SNP
I welcome the cabinet secretary’s statement. As a former English teacher of 25 years’ experience, I have front-line experience of how destructive and distrac...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
It is not at all daunting to have one former teacher sitting next to me and one over my shoulder, but that helps to stress how much I hope that we can delive...
David Kirkwood (South Scotland) (Reform)
Reform
Deputy Presiding Officer, congratulations on your election, and congratulations to the cabinet secretary on hers.Does the cabinet secretary agree that given ...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
In my response to Katherine Sangster, I reflected that, anecdotally and in a constituency capacity, parents and teachers have said to me that a national posi...
Fulton MacGregor (Coatbridge and Chryston) (SNP)
SNP
Deputy Presiding Officer, I also welcome you to your role.As doctors have recently warned that social media can be just as harmful to children as smoking, I ...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
I hope that, when the changes come into force, we will find that disruption in the classroom is lessened, that concentration in the classroom is heightened a...
Jenny Young (Central Scotland and Lothians West) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement today. I am very glad that the Scottish National Party has shifted its position on the issue...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
I thank Jenny Young for her insights, and I will add her as another teacher whose input I look forward to getting in this role. I assure her that teachers’ v...
Dawn Black (Angus North and Mearns) (SNP)
SNP
Introducing phone-free classrooms will provide greater consistency across Scotland, but will the cabinet secretary say more on what exemptions might be made ...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
I am pleased to note that the guidance that my colleague the former education secretary developed had exemptions at its heart. The guidance provided a strong...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Clare Adamson)
SNP
I call Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill, who will be followed by Marie McNair, who will ask the final question.
Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill (Edinburgh and Lothians East) (Green)
Green
The cabinet secretary has outlined that existing guidance gives schools the power to ban the use of mobile phones, with the Government’s support. Although we...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
Trust is vital, and we absolutely trust our school leaders and teachers to lead the policy. That is why the Deputy First Minister’s guidance put them front a...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Clare Adamson)
SNP
We actually have a bit more time for questions. Marie McNair will be followed by Meghan Gallacher.
Marie McNair (Clydebank and Milngavie) (SNP)
SNP
I welcome you to your role, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I congratulate the cabinet secretary on her new appointment.The vast majority of Scotland’s pupils ...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
I associate myself with Marie McNair’s question. Recently, I spoke to a guidance teacher who said that, almost exclusively, she begins her mornings by dealin...
Meghan Gallacher (Central Scotland and Lothians West) (Con)
Con
We are all aware of the negative impact that mobile phones can have on young people, from bullying to disruption and violence in our classrooms. The Scottish...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
I would reflect to Meghan Gallacher that the law in Scotland is as it stands, and the Government’s position has long been that we cannot unilaterally impleme...
Willie Rennie (Fife North East) (LD)
LD
Legislation to control the use of mobile phones in schools is certainly a welcome step, but I ask the cabinet secretary to look further at the use of digital...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
I would certainly be interested to engage with Willie Rennie on the growing body of concern that he has spoken of regarding the use of digital devices being ...
Jackie Dunbar (Aberdeen Donside) (SNP)
SNP
Previous Scottish Government guidance on mobile phones in schools was developed by listening to the voices not just of headteachers and school staff but of o...
Màiri McAllan
SNP
Jackie Dunbar is absolutely right. The principle of meaningful participation is central to the adoption of a children’s rights-based approach and is a genera...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Clare Adamson)
SNP
Thank you, cabinet secretary. My apologies to the members I could not call in the time that we had allotted.