Hansard

I make it absolutely clear that the Scottish Government thinks that it is not acceptable to use physical punishment on children. We believe that children should have the same protection in law as adults have.

By removing the current defence, the bill will provide helpful clarity to parents and carers about the law. The committee comments on that in paragraphs 121 to 128 of its report.

The minority statement in the report says at paragraph 281 that the committee has spent

“too little time listening to legal experts”,

but there is significant evidence from legal bodies. For example, the Law Society of Scotland’s supplementary written submission to the committee says:

“The Bill, as proposed, would introduce clarity of the law on what amounts to assault on children as far as children and adults are concerned. Assaults on children would not be justified. Children would therefore be afforded the same protection as currently available to adults. Whether prosecution for an assault on a child results would follow a decision by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service as to prosecution being appropriate in the public interest.”

The Law Society goes on to say that

“If the Bill is passed, there is a need to ensure that there is effective communication of the change to all involved. That has to seek effective ways to ensure that those groups representing ‘protected characteristics’ are fully considered.”

The committee also makes that point in its report. As drafted, section 2 of the bill provides that

“The Scottish Ministers must take such steps as they consider appropriate to promote public awareness and understanding about the effect of section 1.”

If the bill is enacted with section 2 forming part of it, we will of course comply with that section. The Scottish Government has formed an implementation group that is considering what will be required if the bill is enacted by Parliament. The group’s work includes what will need to be done on public awareness.

The Scottish Government will continue to provide support for parents and organisations. We are not telling parents how to parent: we will continue to provide support for them so that they can decide for themselves the best way to take care of their children. I am a mum of three teenagers: we all know that parenting is a tough job. We know that children can be challenging and wonderful—sometimes at exactly the same time. Our approach to parenting support will continue to reflect the day-to-day challenges that parents face. We will continue to provide practical and realistic advice that parents can turn to for help with those challenges.

Awareness raising has cost implications: the stage 1 report asks about the cost implications of the bill generally. The Scottish Government will consult members of our implementation group, following which we will write to the committee before stage 2. In paragraph 241 of the report, the committee noted

“the divergence on costs for public awareness raising.”

There are a variety of views on exactly what should be done on awareness raising. It would be possible to raise awareness by taking steps that have low cost implications, such as putting material on websites. I note the oral evidence to the committee on 21 March from Jillian van Turnhout that, in Ireland, the “allocated budget was zero”, so there was no awareness raising or campaigning in relation to the change in the law there. We have discussed awareness raising and campaign work with our partners on the implementation group and we will take account of the points that the committee made in its report.

The committee also made points on restraint. The Scottish Government agrees with the committee’s conclusion in paragraph 62 of the report, which states:

“We do not agree physical punishment is required to protect children from harm. We conclude that the Bill as drafted will not change a parent’s or carer’s ability to restrain a child to keep him or her from harm.”

We note the comment in paragraph 68, which states that

“Restraint in care settings is an area we believe requires much wider scrutiny, although we do not think that this Bill is the vehicle for that scrutiny.”

We agree that the bill is not the right vehicle for that, but we recognise the importance of the issue of restraint in care settings. Mary Fee raised the issue in committee, and I will be happy to meet her any time to discuss the matter further.

The Scottish Government supports removal of the defence of reasonable chastisement. We welcome the committee’s report. I believe that the bill is the right thing, as well as being a rights thing.

I ask members to support the general principles of the bill at stage 1 at decision time later today.