Chamber
Plenary, 07 Dec 2006
07 Dec 2006 · S2 · Plenary
Item of business
Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3
Does the minister acknowledge that that was not in the bill at stage 1, and that the redefinition of adoption to include the whole process—pre-adoption, during adoption and post-adoption—rather than simply what happens at the point of adoption was the result of cross-party pressure from the committee? That substantial rewriting of the bill has meant that it was not possible for the committee or the Parliament to make any changes until we saw the amendments that were lodged five days ago.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Mr George Reid):
NPA
The next item of business is stage 3 proceedings on the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill. Members should have in front of them the bill as amended at st...
Section 1—Duty of local authority to provide adoption support services
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
Group 1 is on adoption services. I will put the question on the amendments to amendment 4 before putting the question on amendment 4 itself. Amendment 1, in ...
The Deputy Minister for Education and Young People (Robert Brown):
LD
I echo Lord James's earlier comments by acknowledging that the bill is technically complex, as is reflected by the fairly large number of amendments that are...
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
Not at all.
Robert Brown:
LD
Amendments 4A and 4B were lodged by Adam Ingram. The purpose of amendment 4A is to include counselling and assistance to birth parents who are considering gi...
Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
The minister will appreciate that we broadly support the Executive's amendments, for the reasons that he expressed; we have discussed these matters at commit...
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con):
Con
I support Adam Ingram's amendment 4A, which would include in the categories that are introduced by amendment 4 the provision for counselling to birth parents...
Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab):
Lab
The media focus on more controversial aspects of the bill has obscured the fact that improving the support that is available to adoptive families is at its h...
Iain Smith (North East Fife) (LD):
LD
I want to put on record the concerns that the Education Committee expressed about the way in which the bill appeared before it at various stages. When stage ...
Robert Brown:
LD
I can assure Iain Smith that there is nothing to stop local authorities working together. That already happens in many aspects of the work that they do.I acc...
Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP):
SNP
Does the minister acknowledge that that was not in the bill at stage 1, and that the redefinition of adoption to include the whole process—pre-adoption, duri...
Robert Brown:
LD
I accept that, but it was always our intention nevertheless to improve adoption support services generally. As I recognised early in stage 2, the bringing to...
Amendment 1 agreed to.
Amendments 2 and 3 moved—Robert Brown—and agreed to.
Amendment 4 moved—Robert Brown.
Amendment 4A moved—Mr Adam Ingram.
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
The question is, that amendment 4A be agreed to. Are we agreed?
Members:
No.
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
In that case, there will be a division but we will first suspend for five minutes.
Meeting suspended.
On resuming—
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
We will proceed with the division.
ForAdam, Brian (Aberdeen North) (SNP) Aitken, Bill (Glasgow) (Con) Brownlee, Derek (South of Scotland) (Con) Byrne, Ms Rosemary (South of Scotland) (Sol) Can...
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
The result of the division is: For 36, Against 71, Abstentions 0.
Amendment 4A disagreed to.
Amendment 4B moved—Mr Adam Ingram.
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
The question is, that amendment 4B be agreed to. Are we agreed?
Members:
No.
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
There will be a division.