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Seòmar agus comataidhean

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 4 May 2021
  6. Current session: 13 May 2021 to 21 November 2025
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Displaying 1597 contributions

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Education, Children and Young People Committee

Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 September 2025

Ross Greer

I have no further supplementary questions. That covers it.

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 September 2025

Ross Greer

Absolutely. That was really useful.

Perhaps I can press you just a bit further. I have sat on this and similar committees for nine years now and, in that time, really compelling cases have been made to us for all the things that teachers need to be trained in but which they are not being trained in. A couple of times in that period, the committee has done inquiries on initial teacher education, and it has, quite often, come to the same conclusion that, with the best will in the world, and even with a full four-year degree course rather than the one-year postgraduate diploma in education, teachers cannot be trained in absolutely everything.

We are coming to the point that half of all children in Scotland have some kind of additional support need. I am not saying that they are all complex needs—they can vary from their being exceptionally gifted or having English as a second language to the kind of complex needs that your daughter has. Some of the feedback that we get is that, realistically, not every teacher can be trained in everything, and what is really needed is more specialist staff in schools. In your view, what is the balance between trying to train every classroom teacher and every classroom assistant and having more specialist staff on hand in every school?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 September 2025

Ross Greer

That is really useful—thank you.

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 September 2025

Ross Greer

I would like to start with Kate Sanger. You mentioned that a lot of teachers and school staff end up using restraint and seclusion because they feel that they have no other option. If I picked you up right, in your view, that is because they have not been trained and supported to understand what the other options are.

Will you expand on that a bit and explain what other approaches could be taken that would mean that the instances in which restraint might be inevitable could be reduced to almost zero? What is it that teachers and other school support staff are not being supported and trained to do?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 24 September 2025

Ross Greer

That is great. I am conscious of the time. I ask Simon Webster to set out Enable’s position on the positive alternatives to restraint and seclusion. What can teachers and school staff be trained and supported to do that would avoid restraint and seclusion?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 17 September 2025

Ross Greer

It would be quite formal, rather than the softer approach that you are indicating.

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 17 September 2025

Ross Greer

That is helpful, specifically what you said about the report. It points to the wider issue that you indicated: there is a lot of detail about how the meeting should take place but there is more ambiguity about what impact it will have on the rest of the process. Would it be helpful for the legislation to go into further detail about the purpose of the report and what it can and cannot be used for?

Some of what you said makes me think that we need amendments to clarify what the point of the process is and what the product is. There is a tension between that and your point about the preference for an informal approach, because the more detail we put in legislation, the harder it is to take an informal approach.

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 17 September 2025

Ross Greer

Thank you, convener—I was almost going to say good afternoon; it feels like that, but it is still morning, so, good morning all.

I want to tease out some issues. There has been quite a lot of consensus this morning, but in the SCRA’s written submission there were definitely points of difference. In particular, a lot of other organisations have welcomed the enhanced role for the reporter, but the SCRA flagged up issues to do with power imbalance.

We have touched on that a little bit already, but perhaps Alistair Hogg could draw out some of those concerns for us.

Finance and Public Administration Committee [Draft]

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Meeting date: 16 September 2025

Ross Greer

That is helpful.

Finance and Public Administration Committee [Draft]

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Meeting date: 16 September 2025

Ross Greer

I have quick questions for Elaine Morrison and Lesley Jackson, both of which are on the theme of how to get best value for public money.

Elaine, if I recall correctly, it was four years ago this month that Scottish Enterprise added conditionality on a real living wage to grants that it issued. I would be interested in your reflections on the impact of that. Has it just resulted in more money going to businesses that were already paying the real living wage, or has it resulted in some businesses that you are working with deciding to sign up and become real living wage employers? Has it tangibly boosted wages in the way that it was intended to do?

Lesley, I absolutely sympathise with the financial situation of the universities sector, which I recognise is not sustainable. Part of the challenge for me is that universities are not frank enough in understanding the political difficulties. Quite understandably, they come to the Government and the Parliament to ask for more funding, but they very often bristle at the suggestion that there should be any conditions attached to that funding. Are there any conversations taking place in the sector about being more open to the fact that, if you come to ask for more money from the Government—quite justifiably, given the state of the sector—it is pretty hard to do so when you have bloated, extremely highly paid senior management teams at one end and, at the other end, graduate teaching assistants who are being paid less than the real living wage and are on zero-hours contracts and so on? Realistically, if the sector is to expect more public funding, it perhaps needs to concede that there will be more conditions attached to that funding.