Hansard

I, too, am pleased to lend my support to the bill. I congratulate the minister and her team on their success in taking the bill through Parliament; I also congratulate the minister on the speed with which she has done that. I am aware that her interest stems from her professional background and I am sure that she is pleased that the bill gathered cross-party support as it underwent the various stages of legislative scrutiny.

The bill had to deal with particular problems and it was important that we were concerned about the movement of employees who work with children, whether between employers or across jurisdictions. The bill goes a long way towards allaying concerns about those matters.

At stage 2, many concerns were tackled about the balance between the rights of children and the rights of the employees who work with them. Thanks to many amendments that Michael Russell lodged, questions about tribunals, provisional listing and hearings were aired. With the support of Ian Jenkins—a Liberal—we changed the bill, which allowed the Executive to think again. That represents a message to the Parliament. Voting need not be whipped on non-partisan bills on which agreement exists, because if a committee agrees to some amendments to a bill, the Executive thinks again and proposes an improved bill. That happened with the Protection of Children (Scotland) Bill.

Many of us are familiar with the costs to voluntary organisations, particularly those in the youth sector, of Scottish Criminal Record Office checks. Voluntary organisations will incur some costs that are not yet apparent, in particular from the administrative work load that some might face. I appeal to the minister to have an open mind—once the bill has bedded down and practices begin to be understood—about whether support for voluntary organisations will be required, if some organisations find that the administrative demands are onerous and make a call on their finances. It would be regrettable if any organisation tried to cut corners because it had to make savings.

I congratulate the minister on succeeding with the bill and I thank her team and the clerks to the Education, Culture and Sport Committee, who helped us to amend the bill.