Meeting of the Parliament 19 March 2026 [Draft]
: As the member in charge of the bill, I will support all three amendments in the group and all the amendments that have been lodged this afternoon.
I thank the Government for giving me early sight of its amendments. Indeed, there was some discussion about whether I would lodge amendments. Many of the amendments are about operability, so it is important to hear from the Government.
I thank John Mason for lodging amendment 1 and for his interest throughout the bill process. He is absolutely right that it is important that we do not inadvertently capture types of physical contact that we would expect and encourage in our schools, especially for primary school children. Amendment 1 is proportionate and provides a safeguard against the inadvertent capturing of such behaviours. I note that it addresses the issues that have been raised by the teaching unions. I thank Willie Rennie not only for raising those real concerns, as it is important to have them on the record, but for going through all the unions’ acronyms and sparing me from having to do the same thing. Including provisions to adjust the definitions through secondary legislation is a better way of addressing those concerns than having explicit exclusions in the bill, because it means that we can take a more nuanced approach to the definitions.
I note the concerns raised by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner, who urges members not to support amendment 1. I understand those concerns, particularly the one about altering the definition of seclusion, but there are important safeguards. The regulations would be subject to consultation and to the affirmative procedure. Therefore, the Government would have to make a case for alterations, and Parliament would have the final say as to whether they proceed. I believe that that makes the provision proportionate and safe.
It is important that we are able to adjust the reporting requirements in line with changes to the definition, so I welcome amendment 3. Likewise, on amendment 6, we can all understand that the nature of looking after nursery school children is very different from that of looking after primary school children—it is literally a hands-on activity. Therefore, it is really important that we exclude nursery classes and classrooms and nursery children from the bill, because it is a complex area. I very much welcome amendment 6.