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Education Committee

Scottish Parliament's Education Committee demands major changes to Scottish Executive Bill

CED006/2006 | 21 December 2006

A parliamentary committee has demanded that the Scottish Executive delete part of a bill in order to ensure that full consultation can take place.

In a report out today, the Scottish Parliament’s Education Committee has given conditional support to the general principles underpinning the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill on condition that part 3 of the bill is removed and enough time is provided for full consultation on the details of how the new legislation will operate.

View the committee report (pdf 2 MB).

The committee convener, Iain Smith MSP, commented:

"The importance of child protection cannot be underestimated and the committee thinks that the proposed vetting and barring scheme is probably an improvement on the current system.

"However, we are concerned that so much of the detail about how the new system will operate is unclear. Therefore, we think that the bill should not progress to Stage Two until all subordinate legislation and guidance has been consulted on. This will allow stakeholders to see and understand how the new system will operate in detail.

"Furthermore, the committee is particularly concerned by the inadequacy of the consultation on part 3 of the bill which contains major provisions relating to the sharing of personal information. We believe that it should be removed from this bill and considered in the context of the proposed legislation on Children's Hearings.”

In the report, the committee voiced its concern that the drive towards ever more robust child protection measures may come at the expense of children’s welfare. It notes:

"The Committee is concerned at the rapid growth of a culture that is increasingly characterised by the desire to eliminate all risk and the negative effect this may have on children.”

Mr Smith added:

"No piece of legislation can eliminate risk and we need to have a debate about how to balance the need to protect children and the need to ensure their welfare.”

Background notes

The report recommends that part 3 of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill be withdrawn from the Bill and incorporated into proposed forthcoming legislation to reform the children’s hearings system. This will allow proper consultation to be conducted on the proposals.

The Scottish Executive introduced the bill on 25 September 2006. The Bill creates a legislative framework for a new vetting and barring scheme for those people who work with children and/or protected adults and replaces the existing disclosure system established by the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003.

The bill’s provisions stem from recommendation 19 of the Bichard inquiry which investigated the events leading to the conviction of Ian Huntley for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

The Education Committee issued an open call for evidence and received responses from over 50 organisations. During November, it heard oral evidence from 39 individuals.

For further information, the media contact is:

Richard Holligan: 0131 348 5605

email: richard.holligan@scottish.parliament.uk

Education Committee contact information

For public information enquiries, contact: 0131 348 5000

For general enquiries, contact 0845 278 1999 (local call rate)

email: sp.info@scottish.parliament.uk

Visit our website at: www.scottish.parliament.uk