Minutes: 09 March 2022

1. Declaration of interests:

Graeme Dey declared that he had no relevant interests.

2. Subordinate legislation:

The Committee heard evidence on the Provision of Early Learning and Childcare (Specified Children) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2022 from—

Clare Haughey MSP, Minister for Children and Young People and Eleanor Passmore, Deputy Director for Early Learning and Childcare, Scottish Government;

3. Subordinate legislation:

Clare Haughey Minister for Early Learning and Childcare moved—S6M-02961—That the Education, Children and Young People Committee recommends that the Provision of Early Learning and Childcare (Specified Children) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2022 be approved.

The Committee agreed unanimously.

4. Subordinate legislation:

The Committee considered the following negative instrument— Police Act 1997 and the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 (Fees) (Coronavirus) Amendment Regulations 2022

The Committee agreed to write to the Minister for Children and Young People seeking clarification on a number of points.

5. Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill:

The Committee heard evidence on the Bill at Stage 1 from—

Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Scottish Government and Craig Robertson, Deputy-Director (interim) – Advanced Learning & Science Directorate, Covid Response and 

Nico McKenzie-Juetten, Lawyer, Scottish Government Legal Directorate.

6. Evidence Session (In Private):

The  Committee considered the evidence heard earlier, at agenda item 5, along with the evidence heard at agenda item 1 at its meeting on 2 March 2022.

 

7. Work programme(In Private):

The Committee considered its work programme.

The Committee agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans regarding children in prisons.

The Committee agreed to add consideration of the development of the Scottish Education Exchange Programme and the progress of the UK Government’s Turing Scheme in Scotland to its future work programme.

The Committee considered whether to include a one-off evidence session on universities at a future meeting. The Committee agreed to consider this further as part of a future work programme discussion.  

The Committee considered a response from the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills relating to the OECD report on the Curriculum for Excellence. The Convener proposed that the Committee consider matters relating to the correspondence in public at a future meeting.  

The proposal was disagreed to For 4 (Stephen Kerr, Oliver Mundell, Michael Marra, Willie Rennie); Against 5 (Kaukab Stewart, Stephanie Callaghan, Bob Doris, Graeme Dey, Fergus Ewing).