Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 10 June 2020
I hear the “up to four minutes”, Presiding Officer. We find ourselves in the twilight of a wet Wednesday, in a sparsely populated chamber, in the middle of a deadly pandemic, and, indeed, in the shadow of a powerful debate on racism that ranged across the globe and across the centuries and dealt with matters of good and evil and life and death for far too many people. At this stage, it really is the truth to say that less is more.
However, I want to say this. We should be proud of our Parliament and pleased with ourselves for doing this today. Passing the bill is a symbol of something very important. The purpose of the disclosure regime is to make two things possible in safety. The first is the professional caring and nurturing of the vulnerable—teaching, caring, helping children and supporting people with disabilities. The second is all the volunteer-supported activity in our communities, which adds so much richness to our lives and opens so many doors that our young people would otherwise never even get to stand in front of—youth clubs, Scouts, the Boys Brigade, every kind of sports club that we can think of, and more besides. Those are things that create joy in our lives, and disclosure is about ensuring that they can happen in the confidence of safety from any who would pervert them for their predatory purpose.
Those are the very things that Covid has closed down. Caring has become a front-line battle, and the fun and companionship of sport and clubs has closed down all together. Hibernian Community Foundation, which I chair, usually runs children’s community football and holiday camps across the whole of the south of Scotland. We do not expect that to start again for a very long time, but start again it will. Taking the time today to pass the bill, even if much of what it effects is in abeyance, signals our hope, confidence and determination that those activities, which enrich our normal lives with joy and fun and caring, will be back. Children will play and learn again, and people will meet together again to socialise and support each other—and they will do so in safety.
That is not a bad night’s work.