Meeting of the Parliament 29 January 2026 [Draft]
::I begin by thanking and congratulating Daniel Johnson on his bill and all the work that he has put into it. I thank the committee for its meticulous scrutiny during stage 1, and I want especially to recognise Beth Morrison. We would not be here without her tireless campaigning to prevent anyone else from going through what she and her son Calum went through.
The bill responds to the very real experiences of children and families who have told us time and again that restraint and seclusion can be frightening, humiliating, deeply traumatic and, most importantly, often avoidable. It should be a rare occurrence and a last resort, but it is used in some cases on a daily basis.
This Parliament is on a journey towards enshrining and protecting the rights of children and young people. With the United Nations convention on the rights of the child now part of our laws and my Green colleague John Finnie’s bill ending legal physical punishment of children, it is a natural next step to ensure that restraint of children and young people becomes a thing of the past, except in the rarest of circumstances.
The strong backing of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland and The Promise Scotland should give Parliament confidence that the bill is both necessary and proportionate. It sets a clear expectation that restraint and seclusion are measures of last resort used only to prevent harm, and never as punishment, for the shortest possible time and within a transparent rights-based framework that protects children and staff. No more must parents and guardians find out about restraint from seeing the bruises on their child, as the committee heard. The bill provides a guarantee that parents must be informed within 24 hours—that is crucial.
Many children and young people who are restrained have additional support needs. When those actions prove necessary, it is not because the child or young person is at fault but because their needs have not been met. That is often because we have nowhere near enough support in our schools for children with additional support needs.
I was struck particularly by Kate Sanger’s evidence. In many cases, a child’s scream is not aggression but communication. Understanding why a child vocalises the way that they do seems so obvious. Her communication passport should be commonplace.
I want to address directly the concerns raised by the EIS, in good faith, given its commitment to the wellbeing of its members and the young people it teaches and supports. However, I do not accept that a statutory framework inevitably creates a blame culture. On the contrary, inconsistency and unclear expectations are what leave staff exposed. A framework reinforces that restraint is about safety and that staff acting within guidance should be supported.
Concerns have also been raised that the definitions could be too broad and inadvertently capture ordinary caring physical interactions, as we have heard this afternoon. I support the refining of the definitions at stage 2 so that restraint is clearly understood as a serious physical intervention.
The bill will not require all teachers to undergo training in physical intervention techniques. What it will require is statutory guidance on training and an up-to-date list of approved providers—things that already exist on a non-statutory basis. Decisions about who needs specialist training will continue to be made, sensibly, by front-line professionals, but with the support of guidance and a strong emphasis on de-escalation and prevention.
I understand the EIS’s concerns about workload but, given the seriousness of restraint and seclusion, recording cannot be optional. Evidence to the committee showed that recording and parental communication are currently inconsistent across local authorities, and a proper system of recording is necessary to address that.
On resources, I whole-heartedly agree with the EIS that reducing restraint depends on investment in staff, specialist support, time for relationships and early intervention. The bill should not be a substitute for that investment, but is a necessary foundation for it.
The bill is about rights, transparency and support. It is about keeping children safe and ensuring that the workforce that cares for them is properly guided and protected. The Scottish Greens will support the bill at stage 1, and we look forward to improving it as it progresses.