Committee
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee 08 February 2023
08 Feb 2023 · S6 · Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
New Petitions
Child Protection (Public Bodies) (PE1979)
Our next new petition is PE1979, regarding the establishment of an independent inquiry and an independent national whistleblowing officer to investigate concerns about the alleged mishandling of child safeguarding enquiries by public bodies. The petition has been lodged by Neil McLennan, Christine Scott, Alison Dickie and Bill Cook. I see that some of the petitioners have joined us in the public gallery to observe our consideration of the petition today and, as far as they are all here, we welcome them to our proceedings. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to launch an independent inquiry to examine concerns that allegations about child protection, child abuse, safeguarding and children’s rights have been mishandled by public bodies, including local authorities and the General Teaching Council Scotland, and concerns that there are gaps in the Scottish child abuse inquiry; and to establish an independent national whistleblowing office for education and children’s services in Scotland to handle those enquiries in the future. The petitioners tell us that they have supported whistleblowers in raising historical and current allegations about child protection, child abuse, safeguarding and children’s rights and, while acknowledging the work of the Scottish child abuse inquiry, the petitioners believe that a separate and wider inquiry into safeguarding is required. In responding to the requests of the petition, the Minister for Children and Young People states that learning from the Scottish child abuse inquiry, the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and actions such as implementation of the revised national child protection guidance, mean that the Scottish Government does not consider that there is a need to extend the scope of the SCAI or to establish a separate inquiry to explore concerns that allegations about safeguarding have been mishandled by public bodies. Although the petitioners have welcomed comments about improving systems as a result of the inquiries into cases of non-recent child abuse, they have restated the call for a distinct inquiry into wider allegations and whistleblower concerns about unresolved child protection issues that relate to organised criminal child exploitation and trafficking. The petitioners also highlight in their response that national child protection guidance is non-statutory, and they consider the guidance to be confusing, complex and somewhat contradictory. The committee has also received a number of written submissions in support of the petition. Colleagues will recall our consideration of the eligibility criteria around some of the submissions that we have received and previously considered, many of which share details of families’ experiences in pursuing child protection and safeguarding concerns, and the difficulties that they encountered in trying to resolve concerns with a variety of public bodies. Do members have any comments or suggestions for action? I am certainly not inclined to follow the Scottish Government’s initial response that it does not see any further merit in this.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Con
Our next new petition is PE1979, regarding the establishment of an independent inquiry and an independent national whistleblowing officer to investigate conc...
David Torrance
SNP
Like, I assume, most of the committee, I would like to keep the petition open and gather more evidence on what the petition asks for. I would like to write t...
Alexander Stewart
Con
I agree with that. I think that the petitioners have found that there is a gap, and there is no doubt that the process is confusing and complex. A whistleblo...
Fergus Ewing
SNP
I agree with all the comments thus far. I do not think that the Scottish Government’s reply is adequate or sufficient by any means. I note that several MSPs ...
The Convener
Con
We could also draw Mr Ewing’s comments to the attention of colleagues in the Scottish Parliament who have raised the issues, to see whether there is anything...
The Convener
Con
Thank you. That might not have felt like a long period of consideration, but I hope that the petitioners see that we are taking practical steps forward.