Meeting of the Parliament 24 June 2025 [Draft]
I thank Mr Briggs and Ms Duncan-Glancy for setting out their amendments. I put on the record my sincere thanks to Scottish Government officials in the legislative team and in policy for all their assistance ahead of today’s large stage 3 amendment proceedings.
I am grateful to the offices of Ms Duncan-Glancy and Mr Briggs for working with the Government on amendments 1, 5, 76, 166, 167, 248 and 249 to ensure that they will strengthen the bill for people with educational support needs. Of course, the Government is happy to support those amendments.
As for Ms Duncan-Glancy’s amendments 165 and 168, I would be happy to offer my support to amendment 165 as I believe that adding the word “inclusive” to section 25 would deliver on our shared intentions. I am grateful to the Presiding Officer for accepting my amendment 321 as a manuscript amendment so that a comparable change can be made to the equivalent publication duty in part 2 of the bill, as I would not want anyone to draw the conclusion that the Government was suggesting that the chief inspector did not also need to publish documents in a similar manner.
However, I am not able to support amendment 168. The amendment reflects provisions from the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018, which would not work in the context of this section of this bill. I acknowledge that Pam Duncan-Glancy is not going to move amendment 168, however, and I very much accept the intention behind it.