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I have a couple of brief questions, minister. The bill includes a number of provisions that seek to enhance the rights of children who have been detained in police custody with rights that they currently would not have. Could you expand on what those provisions are and how they will benefit young people in those situations?

That is helpful, minister. I have no further questions.

The more I hear, the more the convener’s question about how that will be monitored becomes pertinent. In evidence sessions, witnesses have said that we do not want to set young people up to fail by putting in place an MRC that they will find really tough to comply with.

You mentioned that, should there be breaches of MRCs, there would be a review of the order that is in place and a fresh children’s panel would be held. If MRCs were used instead of a secure accommodation disposal by the children’s panels, that review would have to be done in short order. What reassurances can you give us, either today or by following up in writing, about how quickly children’s panels can be set up to carry out that review and to decide whether the MRC needs to be reviewed or kept in place, or whether the young person needs to be moved on to secure?

Thanks, minister.

That would be helpful, convener. I welcome the minister to her position.

The exchange with Ms Maguire was helpful, because I think that the committee has a better understanding of the policy intent behind the changes to the terminology relating to movement restriction conditions. The committee would welcome that being tightened up. We will produce a stage 1 report in due course. We have repeatedly heard about the challenges with the changes to MRCs and we have not heard much about the potential opportunities. I would not want those to get lost in our stage 1 report. Can you talk about what those opportunities might be?

I am assuming that an MRC is less restrictive than secure care, which may be better for a young person. For a young person who is in secure care, it is a big jump to have a full restoration of liberty. An MRC could be deployed as part of their pathway back into the community. I have not heard much about that.

Do you expect more MRCs to be used after the bill is passed? The convener is absolutely right to ask how that would be monitored. Will you also say what the potential benefits might be?

I want to have a wee look at enhancing the rights of children—16 and 17-year-olds—in police custody. As I understand it, the bill will ensure that, wherever possible, they are not detained in police custody in the first place and that their parents are notified, unless the child objects, in which case they can identify another individual in that respect. The two things that will always happen are that the local authority will be informed, given its wider duty of care, and the child will not be able to waive their right to a solicitor.

I hope that I have summed up the enhanced rights, but are they sufficient? What difference will they make? Should the range of rights that I have suggested be added to? Ben Farrugia, do you want to go first?

So, the notification requirements and active engagement from the local authority, social work or whoever will be, as you have described it, a stretch. Perhaps this would be an appropriate time to bring in Councillor Buchanan.

Do you want to flesh that out a little? Can you give a specific example, other than capacity issues, of where police custody would be absolutely unavoidable, which would mean that we would not want the provision to be included in the bill?

Are some young people being put in secure units just now because the threshold to apply a movement restriction condition is quite high? Could we avoid putting them in a secure unit if the threshold were lowered, with the appropriate support package, of course?

Are there young people who are in secure placements longer than they would be if the threshold were lowered to allow movement restriction conditions to be applied in a way that allowed them to leave secure accommodation earlier, again with the significant caveat about an appropriate support package being in place? I do not think that that has been discussed in evidence so far.