Hansard

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

25 Mar 2026

Mobile Phone Use in Schools (Ban)

I am pleased to contribute to the debate, and in doing so, I thank Pam Gosal for bringing the issue to the chamber, and I wish her well. Pam was one of the first MSPs I met when I was elected to this place; we were in the same little group on the first day. Her leadership of t...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

24 Mar 2026

Bank of Scotland Branch Closures

I would be more than happy, in my last act of service to Christine Grahame, to ensure that those details are passed across to her, because she is completely right. What can also happen through a credit union is that people’s benefits, including social security and pensions, ca...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

24 Mar 2026

Bank of Scotland Branch Closures

I intend to make just a short speech this evening on a particular closure in my region. However, I begin by thanking Clare Haughey for lodging the motion and securing the debate. I also want to thank all colleagues who are taking part in the debate, and who have expressed many...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

24 Mar 2026

Point of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I would appreciate your advice on how a member can correct the record when they have made an omission. My colleague Sarah Boyack, in her very fine final speech in this chamber, omitted to say that, as minister, she was also responsible f...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

24 Mar 2026

Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

There is a distinct air of the end of term all around us. There was a degree of chatter at the back of the chamber between the cabinet secretary and me and others, because people are becoming slightly demob happy, notwithstanding that an election is to come. During the debate,...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

19 Mar 2026

Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill

For probably the final time in this parliamentary session, I declare an interest in that my husband is a children and families social work manager and a registered social worker.As I sum up on behalf of Scottish Labour, I put on record my thanks to everyone who has been involv...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

18 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · High Streets and Town Centres (West Scotland)

I thank the Deputy First Minister for that answer, and in doing so, I acknowledge that this will be her last portfolio question time. I say to her: beannachd leat—farewell.In towns and villages in communities such as Johnstone, scores of people have raised with me their sadnes...

2. Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

18 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · High Streets and Town Centres (West Scotland)

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support high streets and town centres in the West Scotland region, in light of reported issues, including high vacancy rates. (S6O-05649)

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

18 Mar 2026

Community Sporting Initiatives for Children and Young People

That was useful. Again, it will be for our successor committee to reflect on that issue and take it forward.Convener, I am happy to share the academic paper that I referenced with the clerks so that it can be shared with other committee members. Given that it was co-produced b...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

18 Mar 2026

Community Sporting Initiatives for Children and Young People

Debbi, you mentioned the University of Edinburgh. Are you in the early days of that partnership? Has it been established for quite a while?

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

18 Mar 2026

Community Sporting Initiatives for Children and Young People

That is a challenge. After all, you will want to spend every penny on delivery, because you know that it works, but you have to be able to evidence that, too. It is a bit of chicken-and-egg thing.We have heard examples this morning from the east and the north-east of the count...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

18 Mar 2026

Community Sporting Initiatives for Children and Young People

That is true, but it is extremely valuable in quantifying and qualifying what we are talking about. I should have mentioned that the piece of work to which I referred was co-produced by Jesse Mitchell, who is principal teacher in health and wellbeing at St Luke’s high school i...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Committee

18 Mar 2026

Community Sporting Initiatives for Children and Young People

Good morning. I want to follow up on some of the themes that colleagues have raised, and especially Willie Rennie’s point about the need for people to have a wider understanding of the benefits of the work that you do and the need to communicate that across Scotland, because w...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

17 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill

This is undoubtedly the most consequential decision that we will make in this session of Parliament, just five days before its conclusion. Indeed, it is one of the most consequential decisions that this Parliament has ever made in its relatively short existence. Many MSPs in t...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

17 Mar 2026

Non-surgical Procedures and Functions of Medical Reviewers (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

On a point of order, Deputy Presiding Officer. I could not connect. I would have voted yes.

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Stuart McMillan referenced the Republic of Ireland. He would recognise that there is a constitutional provision in Ireland that says that, when there are to be amendments to the constitution, they are decided on by referendums. There is a variation of opinion in the state abou...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Business Motions

I recognise that Friday is a working day, and I think that colleagues would all recognise that they work on Fridays. However, people were planning to do something different on Friday and had made arrangements based on that. Part of my day on Friday involved caring for my son. ...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Business Motions

Will the member take an intervention?

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I agree with many of the amendments that Fulton MacGregor has lodged—indeed, I spoke to that yesterday evening.I do not mean to conduct a debate through Fulton MacGregor in response to Emma Harper’s intervention, but—Interruption. I do not think that this sort of barracking is...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Mr McArthur seems to accept the broad concept that such inquiries are an important innovation for how we understand all the circumstances that surround a person’s life and their decision. I wonder why he thinks that they should not be mandatory. If there is nothing to worry ab...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I do not intend to detain members for long by speaking on the broader issues and themes that surround amendment 157, because many of them were raised during the proceedings yesterday evening when we discussed the important role that social work and multidisciplinary approaches...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

That is helpful. There is a lot in there to reflect on, which will take us into the next parliamentary session. These are issues that clearly should be addressed, and it was interesting to hear the witnesses’ different perspectives.12:15

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

There is a lot of merit in it, given the development opportunities that we now afford young people in sixth year and the experiences that they have, which we know to be very important in that wider context. It is not all about preparing people for university, because not every...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

We must also reflect on the work of college partners, as well as Professor Hayward’s work, because we do not want to exclude that from the broader conversation. Perhaps Professor Hayward will comment on that, but do you want to comment first, Donna?

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

I appreciate that other panellists want to come in. We will have a framework review of universities, which will focus on structural issues, predominantly funding. Do you think that it will be important for many of the people we are speaking to in the meeting to be part of that...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

That is interesting. Two decades ago, a sixth-year student who shall remain nameless had exactly that experience in that he received an unconditional offer midway through the year. He was doing two advanced highers that he did not require, and he was also head boy, which took ...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

We had a discussion with the previous panel about the purpose and role of sixth year. I do not know whether you caught any of the discussion, but Dr Bloomer was reflecting that sixth year has evolved as an experience for learners, and he said that it is probably in a better pl...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

I dare say that that will be on the agenda for the Parliament in the next session, and perhaps for our successor committee. It is useful to have that on the record this morning.

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

Dr Bloomer, do you have a view on whether we need to revisit much of the debate around the role of the chief education officer in local authorities, with a direct read-across to the curriculum?

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

I will move the discussion on slightly into a different area; I may be about to open—or reopen—a can of worms. During the passage of the Education (Scotland) Act 2016, there was a wide discussion about the role of the chief education officer and statutory powers. However, thos...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

Does anyone else want to offer a reflection on any of that?

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

I do not want to seem flippant, but that is the sense that I get when I talk to professionals: there is a balance of feeling frustration but also a sense of opportunity.It was interesting to hear what you said about the tangential issues that sit around the CIC. When Mr Rennie...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

Do you think that teachers are scunnered?

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Committee

11 Mar 2026

School Reform (Curriculum and Assessment)

I will follow on from the point about teachers’ views of the curriculum improvement cycle. We have heard a lot this morning about what teachers feel that they need in order to engage properly, and we have covered in detail the point about INSET days and so. However, I have spo...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I do not intend to say too much about my amendment 156, because my points have been largely covered in colleagues’ amendments. A number of amendments in the group seek to do the same thing: mandate that regulations are laid on the training to be offered to medical professional...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Pam Duncan-Glancy referenced the stage 2 amendments and the role of social workers, which, along with colleagues, I have been commenting on. Does she recognise that Social Work Scotland and the Scottish Association of Social Work have said that the provisions that were agreed ...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

If Liam McArthur is not willing to accept that GPs struggle to spot coercion, does he accept my point about social workers being highly trained professionals who identify patterns of coercion and systematic abuse? Does he understand how serious it is when the Scottish Associat...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Mr Greer raises a fair point. My intention in lodging the amendment was that the provisions would follow the processes that are already in place to deal with those issues in the healthcare space. People can access interpretation, advocacy and support as is appropriate and as t...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I was just about to sum up, but I will take Mr Greer’s amendment.

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I recognise what Mr McArthur said about how the bill was amended at stage 2. However, that does not get away from the fact that the social work representative bodies are still making the point that they cannot support the bill at this stage because they are concerned that it d...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Ms Nicoll makes an important and good point. She recognises the multidisciplinary nature of how we approach such things in Scotland at the moment. Adult protection investigations and child protection investigations are governed by a multidisciplinary approach that involves soc...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I will reflect on much of what my colleague Michael Marra has outlined about the challenge in the bill around coercion and the need to try to deal with coercion at this late stage in the process. For many colleagues across the chamber, it is a significant hole in the bill that...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I accept that my amendment 232 is drafted more broadly than others, and that it is not specific in the ways that Mr Doris outlines. My sense of the ethos and charism of those organisations tells me that they would compassionately signpost people, but whether we can legislate f...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Mr Marra is helpfully moving me on to that point, which I will move to now in the interest of time. There is serious concern in the Catholic Church in Scotland that those organisations would cease to exist. As I said in my opening remarks, the Little Sisters of the Poor have c...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I will finish this point and then give way to Mr Marra. Principally, when somebody inquires about assisted dying in the kind of setting that I am talking about—for example, the care homes of the Little Sisters of the Poor—the sisters will be placed in the position of needing t...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I recognise that that can be the case. It would not be unusual for there to be a considered and compassionate approach to such circumstances and to ensure that appropriate alternative provision can be considered.

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

My amendments in this group are in the vein of other amendments on organisational opt-out. I accord with much of what has already been said about individual opt-out for medical professionals, not least doctors—which we have covered and will cover further—and about organisation...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

04 Mar 2026

Banking Charges for Charities and Not-for-profit Organisations

I thank Jackie Dunbar for lodging the motion and for the debate that has ensued. I enjoyed much of her speech—if she does not obtain ministry in the Parliament, there is perhaps a calling to a different type of ministry in her future, given her opening Biblical verse.We are de...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

04 Mar 2026

Education

Of course I recognise what Karen Adam says about the challenges. Any Government has to deal with shocks and other such issues, but we are reflecting on almost two decades of the SNP’s decision making in this space. We have to ask what the picture and position was on many of th...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

04 Mar 2026

Education

I will pick up on a theme that I started with, because it came up a number of times in the debate: reflecting not only on the previous five years of this Parliament but on the 10 years since the pledge on the attainment gap was made and on the 20 years of the SNP in power.A nu...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

04 Mar 2026

Education

I thank Willie Rennie and the Liberal Democrats for bringing today’s debate—which is, I believe, the last education debate of the current session of Parliament—to the chamber and once again using Opposition time to debate these issues. It provides us with an important moment, ...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

26 Feb 2026

First Minister’s Question Time

More than a decade ago, a former Scottish National Party First Minister promised to close the poverty-related attainment gap, and, five years ago, the current First Minister promised a parliamentary session that was focused on Covid recovery in our schools. This week’s attainm...

Paul O’Kane Lab Chamber

26 Feb 2026

General Question Time · Mark Scott Leadership for Life Award Programme (Funding)

That answer is simply not good enough. The Scottish Government has tried this before: it tried to cut funding for that vital work a few years ago, but it was forced into a U-turn by cross-party opposition. I pay tribute to the former First Minister, Humza Yousaf, who personall...

1. Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab Chamber

26 Feb 2026

General Question Time · Mark Scott Leadership for Life Award Programme (Funding)

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has reportedly reduced the funding it provides to the Mark Scott leadership for life award programme for 2026-27. (S6O-05563)

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

25 Feb 2026

Group-based Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

:That is a useful overview.I will ask a final question—I was going to put the same point to Police Scotland. I appreciate that there will be limitations on what you can say about any operational matters or on-going investigations. There is sometimes, from some quarters, a sens...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

25 Feb 2026

Group-based Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

:I am grateful for that insight. Professor Jay, I apologise if this has been reported on and I have missed it, but in the work that you did in England, did you see a strong correlation between county lines and drugs and child sexual exploitation in terms of the young people wh...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

25 Feb 2026

Group-based Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

:Thanks, Mr Naylor. That is useful for the committee’s consideration. I do not want to do a disservice to the work that has been done because we are making progress, which is important, and you have clearly done work previously.I will pivot to Bill Kidd’s line of questioning. ...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

25 Feb 2026

Group-based Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

:Although I take your point that members did not respond directly to your call for views, I respectfully suggest that that was being raised in other ways, including in the chamber and in committees. Do you accept that there has been a debate for at least a year or two?

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

25 Feb 2026

Group-based Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

:I have listened to what you said there and to your exchanges with other committee members. Professor Jay’s work has been going on for some time and we know from examples in England that there are issues with some discrete groups. I entirely appreciate what you said about the ...

Paul O’Kane Lab Committee

25 Feb 2026

Group-based Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

:Given that you have been in your current role for, I think, four years and you have extensive experience beyond that, were you surprised that there had not been that level of work prior to November and prior to pulling together those proposals, which seemed quite quick and ru...