 The next item of business is reconsideration stage, proceedings on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Incorporation Scotland Bill. In dealing with the amendments, members should have the bill as passed at stage 3, that is, SP Bill 80B, the Marshall List and the groupings of amendments. The division bill will sound and proceedings will be suspended for around five minutes for the first division of the afternoon. The period of voting for the first division will be 45 seconds. Thereafter, I will allow a voting period of one minute for the first division after a debate. Members who wish to speak in the debate on any group of amendments should press their request to speak buttons or enter the letters RTS in the chat room as soon as possible after I call the group. Members should now refer to the Marshall List of amendments. I call under group 1 compatibility duty, amendment 1, in the name of the cabinet secretary, grouped with amendments 2, 3 and 45. The Parliament unanimously passed the UNCRC Bill on 16 March 2021, based on our then understanding of the devolution settlement under the Scotland Act. The section 6 compatibility duty was intended to extend to all devolved functions. The UK Government chose to refer the bill to the Supreme Court before it could receive royal assent. Although we fully respect the judgment, the Scottish Government was disappointed that, in October 2021, the Supreme Court found that section 6 was outwith the Scottish Parliament's legislative competence. While I am disappointed that the scope of the compatibility duty is far less than we had originally hoped it could be, I am pleased to now bring forward amendments to the bill to be reconsidered. I urge members across Parliament to give the amendments the same support as they did during the original bill. The principle remaining is that we want Scotland to be the best country in the world for children to grow up. Those amendments are a result of many months of analysis of our options and engagement with stakeholders and with UK Government lawyers to ensure that they protect children's rights to the maximum effect possible, minimise the risk of another Supreme Court referral and make the law as accessible as possible for users. The UK Government will consider the bill in the usual way once it has completed its parliamentary passage and cannot give us reassurance that will guarantee that there will be no other referral to the Supreme Court. However, those amendments have been shared with UK Government lawyers and no concerns have been communicated in relation to legislative competence. I am confident that there are no grounds for the bill to be challenged again by UK law officers. I will now explain the effects of the amendments 1, 2, 3 and 45 to the section 6 compatibility duty. The amendments to the compatibility duty address the Supreme Court judgment by making clear that the duty applies only to a relevant function. In defining relevant function in a new subsection 1A, the compatibility duty is now restricted to the delivery of functions that could competently be conferred by the Scottish Parliament. That means that reserve functions are explicitly removed from the duty. The amendment also makes clear that functions conferred by legislation originating from the UK Parliament are not subject to the compatibility duty. That has the effect that the vol functions created by or under the authority of the UK Parliament are also removed. As proposed to be amended, the compatibility duty does not apply to the amendments to UK acts that are made by acts of the Scottish Parliament. To try and achieve that coverage would have been especially complex for users. That means that the scope of section 6 is much narrower than originally intended. An example of provision that would not be in scope for the compatibility duty is the requirement for a public body to promote sibling relationships between looked after children. That is conferred by section 13 of the Children's Scotland Act 2020, a Scottish Act of Parliament, which amended the Children's Scotland Act 1995, a UK act. The compatibility duty will still apply to functions conferred by amendments to acts of the Scottish Parliament that have been made by acts of the UK Parliament. The rationale for that approach is to prevent unnecessary, disproportionate exclusion from the compatibility duty of functions that have been subject to minor changes by a subsequent UK act. To ensure that those do not condition UK Parliament's law-making powers, the amendments make clear in a new subsection 1C that the public authority cannot be found to have acted unlawfully by acting incompatibly that were required or entitled to do so by legislation originating from the UK Parliament. In summary, the compatibility duty would apply when a public authority is delivering devolved functions compared by or under acts of the Scottish Parliament or common law powers. I accept that there is a degree of complexity about how the scope of the compatibility duty is defined. That is a result of the way that we have had to navigate legislative competency following the findings of the Supreme Court. However, public bodies... I am very grateful to the cabinet secretary for giving way, and I do not envy how the next few minutes of dealing with those amendments, but in particular with regard to the compatibility, one of the things that has been raised is a seeking of guidance from local authorities about how that would affect. Will the cabinet secretary give an explanation about how local authorities will be supported as a result of this amendment? I am very keen, as we discussed committee, to ensure that we are supporting local authorities and, indeed, public bodies on the subject. Despite the fact that compatibility duty has reduced in scope, we would certainly expect and very proactively encourage all public bodies to ensure that they are ensuring that everything that they do is compatible with UNCRC, whether it has the compatibility duty scope or not. We will seek to assist public authorities, but I would hate to have a situation where public bodies are treating children's rights differently whether they are in scope of compatibility duty or not. If I continue, public authorities should not need to stop and ask themselves if their powers are in scope for the compatibility duty before seeking to deliver their service in a way that respects and protects the UNCRC requirements, as I have just stated. They should already be taking a children's rights approach in the delivery of all their services, regardless. By simply saying that UK Government is already a signatory to the UNCRC, albeit it has not incorporated it into domestic law. Regardless of the scope of the legal duties of this bill, the UNCRC is at the heart of Gerfek and the Scottish Government's commitment to ensuring that all children and young people have the best possible start in life. We would encourage public authorities to take a children's rights approach as far as they can in delivering all of their services and a move amendment 1. I note that no other member has sought to speak, and therefore I ask the cabinet secretary if she has anything that she wishes to add by way of wind-up. The question is therefore that amendment 1 be agreed to. Are we all agreed? All would be agreed. amendment 1 amendment 2 Y cwestiwn y cymdeinig yn ddepthu am yr ydynt, yn dydd, oedd wrth adrys? Y cwestiwn i'w dalych i'w dalych, yn dtezio am yr ydynt, rhyw i'w dalych i'w dalych, rhodd yn yn d Corat振ll gwasanaethau Gweithgwladau, i'w dalych i'w dalych i'w dalych i'w gweithgwladau, i'w dalych i'w dalych i'w gweithgwladau, i'w dalych i'w dalych iddynt i'w dalych i'w dalych i'w dalych i'w dalych i'w dalych i'w dalych? reporting duty of listed authorities, first reporting period, I call amendment 44, in the name of the cabinet secretary in a group on its own, cabinet secretary to move and to speak to amendment 44. This amendment requires little by way of explanation, it simply changes the date in section 154 to make the first reporting date workable in practice. The bill will repeal part 1 of the Children and Young People Scotland Act 2014, which places a requirement on certain public authorities to report every three years on what steps it has taken in that period to secure better or further effect children's rights. Section 15 of the UNCRC bill will replace this with a similar requirement for listed authorities to report every three years on what they have done to comply with the section 6 compatibility duty, as well as the actions that they have taken to ensure better or further effect of the rights of children generally, regardless of the legal source of their powers. I'm very grateful to the cabinet secretary giving way, and in essence this is the mechanism that allows the monitoring, the evaluation and ensuring the compliance with the UNCRC under the incorporation bill. The member just got me just before I sat down, so I'm happy to take that amendment and move on with confirmation. This amendment ensures clarity about when the three-year reporting cycle will commence and I'll move the amendment. Section 15 refers to the reporting duties of listed authorities whereby listed authorities must report on the action they had taken or intend to take to secure or further effect the rights of children. The bill is passed, labelled as the reporting period as the period beginning with the day in which this section comes into force and ending on 31 March 2023 and each subsequent period of three years. However, due to the Government's incompetence to get this legislation right on the first time, the cabinet secretary has been forced to move this date forward to 2026, and that's three years later than originally planned. Had the SNP gotten things right almost three years ago, we would have already... Ms Gallagher, could you please resume music for a second? I don't want all the seven tree participation. If members have something to say, they know how to do it, and we have to have the courtesy of listening to the member who has the floor at Meghan Gallagher. Thank you, Presiding Officer. They don't want to hear it, but it is a fact. We've already known what listed authorities we're doing and are planning to do, and that's to improve the rights of children. We don't have any amendments here, Presiding Officer, but I think it's important to highlight this point. Thank you. Cabinet Secretary, to wind up. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I'm conscious that there are a number of children and young people in the interested parties in the gallery that have long campaigned for this bill, so I would certainly hope that we can all rise to the occasion. I appreciate that there will be political points that will be made to keep in perspective the wider picture that we have, and I will simply point out that the bill that the member refers to, the Conservatives voted for at that time. Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. The question is that amendment 44 be agreed to. Are we all agreed? We are all agreed. We now move to group 3, interpretation, duty and strike down and incompatibility declarators. I call amendment 4, in the name of the cabinet secretary, grouped with amendments as shown in the groupings. Cabinet secretary, to move amendment 4 and to speak to all amendments in the group. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. This grouping of amendments provides that the interpretive duty, the power to strike down legislation and the power to declare legislation incompatible, apply only in relation to words enacted by the Scottish Parliament or enacted by virtue of the Scottish Parliament delegating its power to make legislation. The duty and powers no longer apply to legislation originating from the UK Parliament even in devolved areas. There are also some minor consequential changes made in sections 24, 25 and 35 as a result of the amendments to sections 20 and 21. The two new sections inserted after section 23 make clear that sections 19 to 21 apply only to words that are in an act of the Scottish Parliament or are in a Scottish statutory instrument made wholly or partly under a power conferred by the Scottish Parliament. The duties and powers in these sections do not apply to amendments to UK acts made by acts of the Scottish Parliament or vice versa. Those are necessary amendments and address the judgment of the Supreme Court and I move amendment 4. I see that no member has sought to speak and I would ask the cabinet secretary if she has anything to add by way of wind-up. No. The question is that amendment 4 be agreed to. Are we all agreed? Yes. We are all agreed and I will now call sequentially all the subsequent amendments, which I must do in turn. I call amendments 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 and 45, all in the name of the cabinet secretary and all previously debated. I invite the cabinet secretary to move amendments 5 to 43 and amendment 45 on block. Does any member object to a single question being put on amendments 5 to 43 and amendment 45? No. Therefore, as no member objects, the question is that amendments 5 to 43 and amendment 45 are agreed to. Are we all agreed? Yes. We are all agreed. That ends consideration of amendments. I now am required to make a determination, as members will be aware at this point in the proceedings. The Presiding Officer is required understanding orders to decide whether or not, in her view, any provision of the bill relates to a protected subject matter, that is, whether it modifies the electoral system and franchise for Scottish parliamentary elections. In the case of the bill, in the Presiding Officer's view, no provision of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Incorporation, Scotland Bill relates to a protected subject matter. Therefore, the bill does not require a supermajority to be approved at reconsideration stage. The next item of business is a debate on motion 11573, in the name of Shirley-Anne Somerville, on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Incorporation, Scotland Bill at reconsideration stage. I would invite those members who wish to speak in the debate to please press the request-to-speak buttons and I call on Cabinet Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville to speak to and to move the motion. I am delighted to open the debate on the amended UNCRC incorporation, Scotland Bill. I begin by welcoming the children and young people and their representatives to the gallery who have come here to listen to our debate today. I start by expressing also my thanks to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee for its careful and thorough scrutiny of the amendments to the bill and to everyone who engaged with the committee in providing evidence, including children and young people who provided their evidence via video. The intent behind the UNCRC bill is to deliver a proactive culture of everyday accountability for children's rights across public services in Scotland. The bill introduces a compatibility duty that would make it unlawful for public authorities, including the Scottish Government, to act incompatibly with the UNCRC requirements as set out in the bill. Children, young people and their representatives would have a new ability to use the courts to enforce their rights. The bill would also require that, so far as possible, legislation is interpreted and given effect to in a way that is compatible with UNCRC requirements and would give powers to the courts to make a strike down or incompatibility declarators in respect of incompatible legislation of the Scottish Parliament. The UNCRC bill was passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament in 2021 but could not receive royal assent due to a referral to the Supreme Court by the UK law officers. That referral meant that we were constitutionally prohibited from enacting legislation that the Parliament unanimously decided was necessary to enshine and fully protect the rights of our children. However, we have fully respected and carefully considered the implications of that judgment. The key challenge in amending the bill has been deciding, in light of that judgment, when the compatibility duty, interpretive obligation and the strike down and incompatibility declarator should apply. I want to thank the Scottish Government's bill team for its commitment to providing a solution and for its close working and engagement with UK Government lawyers in doing so, and I would also pay tribute to them too. I am very grateful to the cabinet secretary for giving way on that point. Indeed, the vehicle of amendment for the reconsideration today has been presented and, later on, there was engagement outwith the tight circle of Scottish Government. What other vehicles for rectifying the bill were considered and whether any outreach work was done by the Government to the third sector and beyond as to whether those vehicles may have been better suited than the one that has been presented today? I will push back slightly on the fact that we did not consult with stakeholders until late on. We very much did try and endeavour to do so during the process to find what solutions there were, but also, as I will go on to talk about some of the challenges about making sure that this was as wide as possible but not over-complicating it to the point that it was virtually unusable. Those are the types of discussions and alternatives that we suggested, and clearly we then looked to draft the amendments accordingly once the decision was taken to move, as we have, in terms of the scope laid for Parliament today. Indeed, the committee recognised the challenges that the Scottish Government faced in amending the bill to address the Supreme Court judgment. I very much welcome the committee's strong support in its conclusions and recommendations for the principle of UNCRC incorporation and for its confirmation that it is content that we explored all realistic alternatives to amending the bill and that there are the circumstances that we arrived at the best possible solution. In amending the bill, the Scottish Government has tried to balance three considerations that deal with the point that Martin Whitfield has just mentioned. That was protecting children's rights to the maximum effect extent possible, minimising the risk of another Supreme Court referral and making the law as accessible as possible for users. In balancing those considerations, I reached the conclusion that the maximum effective coverage for children's rights in the present devolved context is for the compatibility duty to apply only when a public authority is delivering devolved functions conferred under acts of the Scottish Parliament or common law powers. That means that the duty will not apply when a public authority's functions are delivered under acts of the UK Parliament even in devolved areas. The duty to read and give effect to legislation in a way that is compatible with the UNCRC requirements and the power to strike down in compatible legislation or to issue an incompatibility declarator will only apply in relation to legislation originating from the Scottish Parliament. The Supreme Court judgment means that this Parliament's power to give the courts remedial powers is limited when existing statutory provision happens to be in an act of the Westminster Parliament, even when that provision concerns matters on which the Scottish Parliament could and frequently does legislate. The reason for this distinction, the rise from Westminster's continued claim of sovereignty over all matters, including those devolved to this Parliament, has resulted in a disappointing loss of coverage for children's rights compared with what we originally had hoped to achieve. While we have tried to minimise complexity in the approach that we have taken, the Supreme Court judgment means that the duties will not be as straightforward to understand as they were in the bill that was originally passed. It is clear that the Supreme Court judgment has significantly impacted our ability to legislate for human rights in Scotland. However, I do want to emphasise that, even with those changes, the bill remains an important step forward. It will provide legal protection for children's rights that is not currently available in Scotland or any other part of the UK. We should also remember that, although the sections of the bill that are impacted by the Supreme Court judgment are powerful provisions, there are other important provisions in the bill that will mean that children's rights are respected in the first place, and that will help to ensure that our statute book is fully compliant with the UNCRC requirements. The bill requires Scottish ministers to set out a report on how they are giving further and better effect to children's rights, regardless of whether the compatibility duty applies, and for the listed authorities to prepare and publish similar reports. The bill requires the Scottish Government, when bringing forward any new Scottish legislation, to make a statement about its compatibility with the UNCRC requirements and to carry out a children's rights and wellbeing impact assessment for decisions of our strategic nature. The more limited scope of the compatibility duty means that it is even more important to create a lasting cultural change about children's rights. I am confident that we can deliver that as a result of the wider support that we are putting in place. That includes a model child-friendly complaints process that can be used regardless of whether the compatibility duty applies and the wide range of support training and guidance for public authorities on how to take a child's rights approach. I am very grateful for the cabinet secretary for taking my intervention. I was pleased to hear her use the words, a cultural change in the way in which we regard children's rights, because incorporating the UNCRC should not just be a kite mark that we adopt and then move on from. The UNCRC is an ever-changing, evolving document and treaties of rights. I point to, as I always do, the age of criminal responsibility, which has moved in the time that we first considered children's rights in this Parliament. I wonder if the cabinet secretary might speak to the Government's progress on that, in either this or closing remarks. I appreciate Mr Cole-Hamlin's continued work on the issue. He is right to point to the fact that the UNCRC, and indeed all treaties such as those on rights, are changing, are evolving, and that is why it is very important that we continue to look at that, not just in the one issue that he has mentioned, but to ensure that we have a continuous updating of our legislation, where that is required. Of course, the Government has committed to coming back on the issue that Mr Cole-Hamlin raises directly in due course. I have also asked my officials to commission a review of UK acts in the vault areas. The purpose of that review is to identify provisions in acts of the UK Parliament that might benefit from being re-enacted into acts of the Scottish Parliament so that they can be brought into the scope of the compatibility duty in the future. That review will be commissioned as soon as it is practical after the bill receives royal assent, and any new legislation that is required to re-enact provisions in acts of the UK Parliament would be prioritised and pasted in a way that recognises the need to progress that alongside the Government's wider legislative programme. It does remain the fact, Presiding Officer, and we must stress this point once again that the most straightforward way to give children and young people the human rights protection that they deserve is for the UK Government to incorporate UNCRC into UK law. The bill is a milestone. It is a substantial step forward, but it is limited in so far as this Parliament has its powers. I will continue to press the UK Government on that, and I hope that other colleagues in the chamber will do the same. However, in the meantime, we have an important opportunity to lead by example in passing the bill. I am very confident that the amendments that we have discussed today and have now passed address the Supreme Court's judgment, and it is now our understanding of our legislative competence. This Parliament has an opportunity today to take that step forward once again to make that very, very important declaration to the children and young people, not just in the gallery today, but those that will benefit from the rights that we will be protected. We are there for them today and in the future, and this is an important recognition of their rights and our responsibility about those rights that we can move forward with in the chamber this afternoon. The reconsideration of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child Bill has been too long years in the making. Before I get into the cutting thrust of this important bill, it is important to draw members' attention to the progress that has been made to improve children's rights across our United Kingdom. Although the UNCRC was introduced in Scotland on 1 September 2020, its original journey began in 1991 before the creation of the Scottish Parliament and without trying to make anyone in the chamber feel old before I was born, and before any of the young people in the public gallery were born. If I could make a brief address to the wonderful young representatives that we have here in the chamber this afternoon, today is for you. If the bill passes, it will incorporate children's rights into devolved Scottish law. It is a milestone on Scotland's journey towards making rights real in practical terms, and it will add to the existing protections that are already in place. This momentous occasion has not been an easy process, and this is where I will be critical of the Scottish Government, because the SNP ignored several warnings from the Scottish Conservatives that the original bill would not be lawful. However, the Scottish Government did not heed those warnings, and we found ourselves having to go through the courts to bring legislation through this Parliament within its devolved competency. Cabinet Secretary, I appreciate the opportunity to take the invention. Can I just check, as a statement of fact, that did the Conservatives vote for that bill or not? We voted for the principle of the bill, but we also warned the Scottish Government on more than one occasion, Cabinet Secretary, that you did not heed those warnings, so that is on the Scottish Government. I am very grateful to the Government to give way on that point, and it is right. As with today, we have had a series of amendments that the chamber has rightly supported, not without seeking indications of changes and steps that are going to be taken to ensure it, and much as happened in the last session with the greeting of this bill, which was rightly unanimous, because without doubt the rights of our children are crucially important. However, warnings were given. Is it not right that perhaps, had the Government heeded the warnings, we would not be three years, three months down the line, trying to put this right? I think that the SNP must reflect on this today, because we are two years behind where we should be with this really important bill. Some of the young people who were involved with the UNCRC process in 2018 will probably no longer consider themselves to be young, because it has taken so long for us to get this bill back to the Scottish Parliament. However, that has been said, the Scottish Conservatives will be supporting the bill at stage 3 today. We know how much it means to children and young people across Scotland, because it incorporates into Scots law the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, including political, economic, social and cultural rights. It places a legal duty on public authorities to act within UNCRC requirements, and it allows children, young people and their representatives to use the legal system to enforce their rights. However, the bill, even if it is passed today, will probably not come without its challenges, and there are still some outstanding questions. What happens next being the key one? Together, Scotland has urged the Scottish Government to answer key questions that are still outstanding, and one of those relates to the continuation of the UNCRC implementation programme. The three-year UNCRC implementation programme is set to conclude in March 2024. Together, Scotland, alongside other organisations, has asked for this timeframe to be extended, and that would allow time to include resources for children and young people, and for adults to support them to understand their rights and other measures to ensure a holistic approach that aligns with the existing policies and structures such as the promise and GERFEC. If the cabinet secretary could expand on that in her closing statement, it would put organisations' minds at rest as there is more to come following this bill today. It is not just about the intent of the UNCRC, the practical elements or the practical elements that will enforce legislation, because they also must be upheld. That brings me on to the final point that I wish to make today. We have heard time and time again that this legislation will be transformational, and it will be. As a member of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, I heard the story of Shirley-Anne Spider, the cabinet secretary who created the web for the UNCRC to be built on. I am not sure that the cabinet secretary, Ori, would ever have expected this type of imagery to be used, but it does send an important message. Meghan Gallacher is concluding, thank you. I, being convener of that committee, I just wanted to give Meghan Gallacher the opportunity to correct that, that the spokes of that web were the rights and the flies were the threats to that, and that in no way was it mentioned that Shirley-Anne Somerville was... I think we've got the gist, minister. Ms Gallacher, I think you need to start concluding your remarks. I'm not sure that was the intent that was taken. It was the cabinet secretary who was referred to as the spider who was holding the web together. That was no way meant as an insult or anything. It was meant to be complementary of the evidence that was taken during the committee, so if it was taken out with, I think you're stretching to be perfectly honest. But it brings me back to the point that I was trying to make. The Government holds the web strings for this bill to be a success, but everybody needs to pull together for the bill to be a success, and it can only be a success if the Government ensures that young people understand their rights and know how to exercise them, because local authorities and others have done a power of work already behind the scenes to get ready for the changes that this bill will bring, because we need to utilise everyone, not just those who specialise in children's rights, not just local authorities, but our third private and charitable organisations who work day in and day out improving the lives of our young people. Our youth work organisations who will be pillars when upholding children's rights as part of UNCRC, but also parents who are integral to this journey. I'm not sure we've brought everyone into the UNCRC web yet, but I think it's something that the Government and others can work on to do so. But we do need to go back to the mess that they created at the start of this legislation, because we're not at the stage— What's the member doing? No, the member is about to conclude to her remarks, thank you. Okay, to conclude, Presiding Officer, the Scottish Conservatives will be voting in favour of the bill at decision time. And, as I said from the start, this is for Scotland's children and young people, and I look forward to voting in favour of the bill at stage 3. Thank you. Thank you, Ms Gallacher. I now call on Martin Whitfield, Mr Whitfield. I'm very grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer, and it is a great pleasure to speak on behalf of Scottish Labour on this day. The UNCRC Incorporation Scotland Bill introduced on 1 September 2020, and here we are 1,193 days later, or just shy of three years, three months, voting on a motion of reconsideration. And I welcome this debate and hopefully the positive vote that support for the reconsideration bill will return it to our statute book. So today we vote on a reconsideration bill, a first for this session, and indeed a first for the Scottish Parliament. And that takes me to what I would like to be the main part of my speech. The hope that this bill will pass, but that this Government, and indeed this Parliament, must look at the experience of the journey of this bill and ask itself, could we do it better? I welcome the offer from the Government through the Minister for Parliamentary Business for an opportunity to discuss the journey of how bills travel through reconsideration, and I very much welcome that. But there is also the question about why it was this bill that seemed to find itself in so much trouble. We can look back at debates, statements, questions that have happened over the three years, three months, which are illuminating as to why we are here. And it is perhaps rightly on this day, because I was reminded by someone that you grasp the victories when you can, and to take the pleasure, and even in the small points, that we look back to see if we could have done better. And today's amendments that were proposed and now voted through on behalf of the cabinet secretary and the Scottish Government came as they take it or leave it package, because that was how it had to be constructed to get past the challenges the Scottish Government have told us about, with regard to discussions with other places and with cognisance of what the Supreme Court could still, if invited, look at again. But this bill was built on the expectation of our young people that their rights would be enshrined in Scottish law to have the ability to have their country stand by them and say you have rights, they must be upheld, and however uncomfortable sometimes for vested interests, for the status quo, or indeed their elders, the right to be part of the decisions that are made about their lives. Time is short in this debate, which is in itself an irony, but then the period of being a child is also viewed when looked at in hindsight. But for the young people who have been on this journey with this bill, time has passed slowly, but they can now look forward to opportunities to fight and fight hard for those rights to be respected. And I, like others, thank all of the young people for their patience, their wisdom, their tenacity over this, and also those adults who stood alongside to support, facilitate and on occasions fight for the young people to be part of the decisions for this solution. There are asks of the Government and I hope that the cabinet Secretary can deal with them and confirm the commitments to a timeline for the review of legislation after the undertaking on the review. To commit to the continuation of the UNCRC implementation programme, which was discussed in the financial memorandum, which in itself is quite an old document now, but that the three years that are about to expire in March 2024 will be carried forward, because without that, we will find ourselves in another challenging position. To commit to using specific legislation opportunities to expand the scope of the UNCRC bill, and to commit to minimising future Scottish Parliament amendments to UK acts so that it can be all brought in. I would like to quote Olivia Brown, MSP, I hope deeply to her embarrassment, but she asks that if she could tell the Government one thing, I tell them that it's important to remember that if this bill is passed, your work doesn't end here. In fact, the real work is only just beginning and she is right and that is an absolute call to the Government, to politicians, to our local authorities, to anyone who works with young people that this is not the end but the very beginning of what we can take forward to which has been described a cultural shift in the attitude towards our young people, so that we can have them round the table when violence in school is discussed, so we can have them around the table when decisions are made about their lives, not just as bystanders, but as an integral part of how we reach there. Maybe I will leave the final quote to a wonderful group of Preston Lodge High School in Preston Pansyslothian, who I met last Friday, who, when they did that marvellous thing that children occasionally do, which is fail to ask an adult a question fast enough, the adult can get the question in. Will the UNCRC make your future better? And she said, maybe. This place, Scotland's Government, have a responsibility to turn that maybe into a yes. I'm grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. It's with no small degree of emotion that I stand here today on behalf of my party, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, to speak in favour of the Bill at stage 3. Before I commence the substance of my remarks, I want to recognise some friends, it's rare I get so many friends in the gallery at one point, but those people who started out on the journey towards this date with me and many others, some 11 years ago. There's too many to name all of them individually, but I do see former Children's Commissioner Bruce Adamson, I see Nick Hobbs, I see Selwyn McCausland, Chloe Riddle and Juliet Harris. There are many others, but also the children who started out on that journey with us back in 2011 have all by and large grown up and moved on with their lives, but they have been joined by other children and young people in the gallery today, and I salute them being here because this is about them and those who will follow them. Nine years ago, I told the Education and Culture Committee on behalf of the children's voluntary sector, of which I was a member at the time, that the most elegant solution against the international standard for upholding children's rights was to incorporate the UNCRC into Scotslaw. I said that until we did something like that or built its provisions in a way in which we could make policy, we would forever be behind the countries in the world that had already incorporated the UNCRC. This journey started back in 2011 when the SNP manifesto talked about the rights of children and young people bill. That was then conflated into the Children and Young People Act of 2014. It has been a long road and with many setbacks, but here we are today. It was a proud day when this in March 21 passed legislation to do exactly that, but, as we have heard many times today, it was deeply regrettable that it has taken so long for us to come back here and to correct the competence issues that were raised by the Supreme Court. Some of those competence issues were already known to the Scottish Government. The incorporation of the UNCRC will ensure not just that the rights of our nation's children are respected and protected in the law of our land, but that the public authorities are legally required to bake the consideration of those rights into all of the work that they do. I am pleased that, after today, that will at long last now happen. This Parliament has a duty to improve our children's future and everything we do by making sure that their rights are embedded across all of our considerations of all policy areas, with a policy focus on direct engagement with children and young people, making that real—their article 12 rights. Martin Whitfield is absolutely right that we are talking about violence at schools. In schools, we need children at the table. It says a lot that, when I was in the voluntary sector, I was the youngest member of a panel tasked by the minister to look at child sexual exploitation. We haven't been good at it in the past. We need to learn from others, but we can be good at it in the future. It will be a relief to have this bill in law, but it is not enough just to write legislation. We have to live it year in, year out, day by day. It must be delivered in a meaningful way, and we must weave the spirit of its words into all of our actions. To that end, I hope that ministers will commit to reporting to Parliament on the evidence of rights transgressions in our communities and, indeed, our public bodies. That must be a living document. As I said in my intervention to the cabinet secretary, it can't just be a kite mark. It can't just be a rubber stamp and say, great for us, we've got this, we need to live it and breathe it. It's why I raised the age of criminal responsibility, because members will remember that, as we were considering the age of criminal responsibility bill before this Parliament, the UN Committee raised the international floor from 12 to 14. We took a shot at children's rights and missed. We are still behind the pack in terms of that vital piece of legislation. I will, perhaps for the last time, tell the story of Lindsay Hanbridge, because she came and gave evidence to our committee. Lindsay was taken into the care—the night she was taken into care was arrested for punching a police officer that was trying to separate her from her sibling. She spent a night in adult cells at the age of just 13 years old. The state, on that occasion, compounded one adverse childhood experience of being separated from her family with another, arguably a breach of her article 37 rights under the UNCRC about being housed in adult accommodation. She was failed by our system and had no recourse to justice and still has no recourse to justice, because she is above the age of criminal responsibility. Presiding Officer, the issue of children's rights is an urgent one. Every day that has gone without their rights being enshrined in law, including the many days that has taken us to bring this bill back to Parliament—the delay, I do not know why—has exposed our children to many risks. I am glad that we are finally moving towards the bill's implementation. I am grateful to colleagues across this chamber for their dedication to this bill and once again to my friends in the gallery. There can be no keener reflection of a society's soul than the way it treats its children—not my words, the words of Nelson Mandela. With this bill, we are finally realising the promise in those words. That is why the Scottish Liberal Democrats will take great pride in voting for it tonight. Thank you, Mr Cole-Hamilton. We will now move to the open debate, speeches of up to four minutes. I call Cookab Stewart to be followed by Paul O'Kane. As someone who spent almost their entire life dedicated to children, I am delighted to see this bill return with amendments for reconsideration stage. Today, upon my birthday, I feel genuinely blessed that, in this place to pass this legislation today and therefore enshrine children's rights into Scots law, my colleagues have that power in them today, and our children and young people are watching with open hearts, as am I. The general principles of the UNCRC state non-discrimination, acting in the best interests of the child and the rights not only to survival but development and the right to be heard. The old expression of children being seen and not heard should finally be confined to the dustbin as we look to the future. Educator and author Jess Lair put it, children are not things to be moulded, but they are people to be unfolded. As convener of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, I was very fortunate to be involved in the scrutiny of the amended bill. We heard compelling evidence directly from children and young people, some of whom are in the gallery right now. I welcome representatives from Together Scotland, the Children's Parliament, members of the Scottish Youth Parliament and many other tireless campaigners. We cannot forget that today is about each and every one of them. It is not about us. The previous children and campaigners that once sat there, that they sit now, will finally see life breathed into the rights that they fought so hard for, and it is my privilege to have played even just a tiny part of that journey. Juliet Harris, who is with us today from Together Scotland, did use an analogy on the day that she appeared in front of my committee as it was Halloween and the children wanted to make it fun for us. She told our committee that this legislation is indeed like a spider's web. The threads of that web represent the legislative protections and the flies being the threat. The children wanted to explain that, and I quote, with no web to protect us, flies might go everywhere. They might think that they can do as they please, but with this legislation we build up a layer of protection and we build our own spider's web. It might not be perfectly said, but the fact that it exists at all will be enough to scare off the many troublesome flies and will only get stronger as that web continues to grow. For many of us, including myself, this process has taken longer than we would have liked or anticipated, but nevertheless I am hopeful that this place can once again pass this bill unanimously, albeit in an amended form. I note that this legislation will be subject to wider consultation if pass once it receives royal assent. I would be grateful if the Cabinet Secretary could comment on the length of the consultation and who will be consulted. I welcome the UNCRC innovation fund to assist eight local authorities, develop a children's rights approach. Will this be expanded to all local authorities over time? On funding of a Scottish public sector ombasman complaints process for children, can the cabinet secretary offer more information on how this model will be shared more widely and with whom? In conclusion, once a teacher, always a teacher and in true primary school teacher style, I have penned and dedicated a wee poem for the children that are here today and listening elsewhere. Laws are like rules that keep things right, but they are sometimes slow to take flight. We say with our voices loud to make sure rights reach every crowd. New plans will come to make things good in every home and neighbourhood, and it is people that make our country tick, and empowering children will do that trick. We owe children so much, but most of all we owe them a childhood, and that is what this bill helps to enshrine into the very law of our land. I am delighted to be able to speak in this debate today as we consider the stage three reconsideration of this very important bill. It is a pleasure, as always, to follow other speakers, but I want to pay tribute to everyone in this chamber who has held with forbearance and campaigned strenuously for this day to come, particularly my own front bench in Martin Whitfield and Pam Duncan Glancy, who have consistently challenged the Government where that has been needed, who have worked with the Government constructively in order to try to bring the debate forward. It is tribute to them and everyone else around the chamber who has worked very hard. It is also right for us to think today about teachers, social workers, children's rights organisations and workers from across that sector and the work that they have done in order to drive us forward to keep our focus on the bill and the reconsideration to get us to this stage. However, we are enough about the adults because they are not the people who really matter today in this debate and they are not the people who have mattered in this debate from the very beginning. It is the children and young people of Scotland who matter most when we are having these debates, these discussions and these considerations. I think that we have heard already very powerfully in the debate today about the voices of children and young people and what they have told us repeatedly in this Parliament. I suppose that I was always aware of the importance of this bill and of this work, but I came to it perhaps lately in terms of the committee work that I was able to do in the reconsideration phase and has been mentioned by Megan Gallacher and Cogab Stewart. We heard in very innovative and interesting ways that young people presented their views about how their rights should be protected through this bill. Although, in their view, very often, it is still imperfect, it was an opportunity to have the safeguard and the threat of the protections to be able to scare away those who would seek to misuse, abuse and deny them of their rights. I think that Martin Whitfield spoke very powerfully when he referenced some of the MSYPs that he spoke to about what they desire to see. Parliamentary moments like this are important, of course they are, and they are a moment in time and we do something very formal when we pass a piece of legislation. However, the reality is that what comes next is the most important part. We need to see now a very considered and clear plan around how we seek to protect those rights, to make them a reality in every part of Scotland and to ensure that young people have the opportunity for redress whether rights have been breached or abused. I think that those are the key questions that I would seek to put to the Government today in terms of their summing up of this debate. How will we ensure that children's perspectives and lived experience remain at the forefront of decision making processes? Could the Government commit to regular transparent reporting to the Parliament and the public on the progress and outcomes achieved post-enactment of the bill? Will they detail the allocated resources and support for the implementation of the bill across Scotland? What efforts will they take to assess the potential consequences of the delay that we have heard about already in enacting the bill and bringing those rights to the fore? Indeed, we know that there are myriad of other considerations around how we will ensure that Scots law can be assessed as to whether it can be brought into competence or not. There is a huge degree of work for the Government to do and to reflect on, because this cannot just be another moment in time. It has to be the start of a broader piece of work that ensures that all children and young people across Scotland have their rights realised. Fundamentally, that is why we are here today. Fundamentally, it is our job as lawmakers to give voice to those who do not always have a voice to stand up for them, ensure that we uphold and protect their rights. I am very grateful. Mr Cain, I now call Maggie Chapman to be followed by Fulton MacGregor. I am so pleased to speak in this debate on behalf of the Scottish Greens today. I am grateful to my colleagues on the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, the committee clerks and all those who gave evidence to and supported our reconsideration work in recent weeks. I am especially grateful to those organisations that work directly with children and young people and were able to bring their voices into our reconsideration work. The stage 3 debate on the bill in the last parliamentary session was a model of co-operation, rightly described by John Swinney as, and I quote, a landmark moment in the Scottish Parliament's history. We might not quite have managed that again today, but I think we share a serious commitment to making this bill as robust and comprehensive as possible. The Supreme Court judgment was, of course, deeply disappointing, and the attitude of the Westminster Government, both intransigent and petty, sadly, is something we have come to expect. If there were one issue, just one about which they could resist playing their constitutional culture war games, you would think it would be the welfare of children, but no. So it is going to be more difficult than it would have been, but that does not lessen the significance of what we are doing today. Fortunately, children themselves can set us a good example of making the best of what we have. No one on the committee will, I think, forget the vivid image which Juliet Harris of Together passed on to us from the children she works with and others have already mentioned it, but it is worth repeating. In that metaphor, a Halloween web represented protections for children's rights with buzzing flies as potential breaches. The cabinet secretary is, I hope, as delighted to be designated Shirley-Anne Spider in charge of the web, as I am to be one of the Spider MSPs. The original web, as the children expressed it, made it really tough for any of those flies to get through. Juliette continued, and I quote, we now have a looser web where children's rights might not always be so well protected. Although it catches some flies, other flies might sneak through. Even though that web is not so neat, children and young people say it is critical. The very fact that a web exists scares away the flies. For even where this bill is not directly applicable, the provisions of the UNCRC itself are. With the confidence, awareness and cultural change that this bill enables, the children of Scotland and those who support them will have tools to call the UK Government to account for the ways in which their actions, especially on immigration, breach those solemn commitments. When we think of children's rights, we think first perhaps of protection from harm. Of course, that is crucial, but other aspects are equally important. A child has the right to prevention of harm in the first place, including the deep abiding harms of poverty and destitution. They have the right to provision for their wellbeing, including space to grow and develop, a space to deny to babies and toddlers in home office institutional accommodation, and children and young people have the right to participate in decisions about their own lives, extending in scope as they grow older. We, in the Scottish Greens, are proud of our role in promoting the rights of children, especially the work of John Finnie in this Parliament. He led the legal protection of children against assault at a time when that was a radical and widely derided position. So we support this bill now, as we have done throughout its passage, both through calm and stormy seas. Today's proceedings send a message to the UK Government. You may delay our democracy with your slaps and your sulks, but you will not deter us from our duty. And more importantly, we send a message to the children of Scotland, those born here and those who have travelled here, with or without your families, sometimes from places and situations of incredible danger and suffering. You are welcome here, you matter to us, and our most important job is to stand up for your rights. Today is for you. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Like others, I am incredibly proud to be speaking today, as I believe that this is one of the most significant pieces of legislation introduced to this chamber since the devolution. The UNCRC has often been referred to as the gold standard for children's rights, and the unanimous passing of the UNCRC bill in 2021 was a historic moment for our Parliament. I thank the many individuals and organisations who made today possible, including the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland, past and present, the cross-party group on children and young people, Together Scotland, Amnesty International and many, many more. My colleagues have made reference to others. I also want to give a special mention to a young person, Ryan McShane, who is a constituent of mine. I know who is in the gallery today, and, according to his Twitter, he might well be getting very emotional right now, to you, Ryan, and to all the young people who have made this possible. Well done. Although I do not have much time in this debate, Presiding Officer, it is important to stress that the passing of this bill in 2021 was a significant step forward for a future based on tolerance, equality, shared values and respect the worth and human dignity for all people. Unfortunately, as we have already heard and Maggie Chapman put out very eloquently, the UK Government's legal challenge and the Supreme Court ruling made the clear constraints and the ability of this Scottish Parliament to legislate and to protect children's rights. There is recognition across the sector in Scotland that, although the revised legislation will not provide the same protection for children's rights as initially envisaged, it is still a very positive step on the journey towards full incorporation of children's rights, and the fact that it is supported by the many organisations who have fought for this, should say it all. In revisiting this bill, the amendments proposed to balance ensuring that the bill still protects children's rights to the maximum possible extent, while also avoiding any potential further legal challenges from the UK Government. I was pleased to be a member of the committee that scrutinised these amendments in what is a Parliament first. Although it is quite technical and the minister has already went through those at the earlier stage, I am confident that the amendments proposed will allow the bill to be compatible with both Scottish and UK law, and thus we will all be able to progress with building children's rights into the fabric of decision making in Scotland. In its amended forum, the bill will ensure that public authorities take proactive steps to ensure compliance with children's rights and their decision making and service delivery. The bill will still enshrine the rights of children, young people and their representatives to use the courts to enforce their rights. The bill will still contain measures to remove barriers that children and young people may face in realising their rights under the bill and accessing justice. Ultimately, the bill still provides more legal protection for children's rights than in any other part of the UK. I have been proud to support the Scottish Government and its diligence in delivering for children and young people in Scotland. Getting it right for every child, the promise and bringing this bill to the chamber are just some of the world-leading policy decisions that the Scottish Government has brought forward. Today, I want to make a particular mention of youth work. This morning, with some other colleagues across the chamber, I attended a youth-linked Scotland event this morning, which is a panel member, and it was entitled the right to youth work. We all know how important youth work is to supporting our young people up and down the country. I hope that the implementation of the UNCRC can secure children and young people's right to youth work in the future, and I hope that that will be reflected in future funding decisions, particularly around the budget. I urge the UK Government to follow the Scottish Government and to incorporate the UNCRC into UK law. Without the commitment of the UK Government to protect children's rights across the whole of the UK, we in Scotland are unfortunately quite limited in what we can achieve. However, I have to say that I am not confident that the same UK Government that is currently attempting to circumvent and undermine human rights laws in international refugee convention has the political commitment to incorporate the UNCRC into UK law. However, today is a day for all the campaigners and young people who have fought for this to become a reality. This historic day is now an opportunity for our country to be the best place in the world to grow up as we all want. So let's all of us go out and make that a reality. I now move to closing speeches. I call on Pam Duncan-Glancy to close on behalf of Scottish Labour. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. This Sunday, 10 December, is the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a pivotal moment for a generation. Today, as we prepare to celebrate that, I want to thank and celebrate the incredible movement of young people and their organisations that we see in the gallery here today for joining us in another one. You led the charge to get us here where we are this afternoon. You fought so hard, put in years of graft and ultimately convinced us all why incorporation of your rights matter. You did that because you knew that it was key to making Scotland the land of opportunity that young people deserve and need it to be, a place where they can grow up loved with opportunities in their path, unobstructed by class, glass or step ceilings, and, crucially, a place where young people are able to challenge contraventions on their rights and hold public authorities to account. When the bill originally passed back in 2021, young people were elated. They celebrated and rejoiced, yet it has taken well over two years now for this legislation to officially make it on to the statute books. And whilst I do not want to dwell on that today, I do think that it is important to acknowledge it and to learn from the disappointment and delay. That delay, I believe, must teach us and this Government that working together, collaboratively, is crucial and that warnings of overreach are not moments to hunker down and do battle, but should be moments to discuss, negotiate and work together to realise ambitions. Every day of delay was a failure to do that and to properly respect, protect and fulfil the rights of Scotland's children and young people. Presiding Officer, as colleagues have acknowledged, the bill before us today does fall short of full incorporation and instead has been narrowed only to cover post-devolution legislation. And this is, of course, disappointing, as we have heard. But it would have less of a negative impact if we had also spent time focused on bold legislative reform bringing more laws into compatibility in recent years instead of small changes to existing legislation or framework bills relying on regulation or less parliamentary scrutiny. As a result, key areas such as the provision of education, including standards and ASN provision and services being delivered in relation to looked after children will not be protected by the compatibility duty. But the good news is that there is a solution and that is to never again miss the opportunity to legislate in areas that make a real difference to young people's lives. Children and young people need wider legislative change to ensure that their rights are protected and fulfilled. Policy and practice and one law will not be enough and I spoke in great detail about this during the debate on my own member's bill on transitions just a few weeks ago. And of course it will be unsurprising to many to hear that I do remain disappointed that the Government did not choose to vote for it. And I say this today to highlight it as just one concrete example of where words on human rights could have been turned into real action. There are examples elsewhere in education too and I hope that the Government after passing the UNCRC today will take forward at pace action in these areas so that it can give effect to the rights of children and young people in Scotland. We will need strength in laws and duties in swathes of other areas too, culture change on the ground and resources to underpin it. That will include seeing action on education reform, safety in schools and on standards. I hope that this will usher in today a new era of action rather than words. And I make these points to highlight that being serious about incorporation must mean acting on issues like these, issues close to home. Rights are not just theoretical or rhetorical, they are duties and responsibilities that must be real, from home to the Parliament and everywhere in between. We need Governments to be serious about human rights, both of them, everywhere, in every law and in every street, to be serious not just on this paper or this particular statute but in all rights. That means taking decisions, bold ones at times, on the issues facing young people in Scotland today, particularly in education, and I hope that the Government will take the opportunity to do that. We on these benches always welcome the opportunity to vote on laws that will protect human rights, and we will do that proudly for the amendments at decision time today, because in so doing we will vote not just to protect children and young people this afternoon but for the next generation. That is our job today, but the job of realising rights does not end today. It starts, and I look forward to working for a Scotland where we smash glass, glass and step ceiling so that every young person has access to the opportunities they deserve, opportunities they have a right to as a result of this legislation. I would like to begin by just saying how delighted I am to have the ability to speak in today's debate on the reconsideration of the UNCRC Bill. While the UNCRC Bill is much closer to becoming law within this Parliament's devolved competence, a very welcome development, adoption must be done the right way. As we heard, the bill originally passed in 2021 and we've heard that it fell outside the competence of this Parliament. It's been nearly two years since the outcome of the case. Scotland's young people, some of whom are joining us in the chamber, have watched and waited for the bill to move forward. And rightly so, and as Martin Wipfield said as well, it's like we need to learn from the mistakes of this legislation, and he said, I think, could we do it better, and I think we do have to look at that. Megan Gallacher said something that was quite powerful, and she said, this bill is for you, it's for every single Scottish children and young person in those in the gallery. Alex Cole-Hamilton, I know, is a huge, passionate supporter of making this happen, and every debate I've been in, you've been there. And we heard from fellow committee members as well about how some children and young people compared this bill to a spider's web. And Colcab Stewart, I cannot mention your poem, I think he did, so that was excellent as well. And Paul Cain asked, how is the Government going to report on this, going forward? Maggie Chapman quite rightly recognised the great work of organisations in the third sector groups that work with children and young people. In Fulton MacGregor, recognised the great work of the young constituent Ryan, and the importance of youth work to our young people. However, there have been some criticisms of the SNP Government as well. The former Children's Commissioner said that former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon absolutely failed young people, but that the current First Minister, Humza Yousaf, has promised big things for young Scots, but I had the hijacked to be realised. It's not just fellow members that will have been critical of the Government's lack of action over the almost past two years, but outside organisations as well. The Scottish Youth Parliament this year stated that this long wait for reconsideration has been hugely disappointing for Scotland's children and young people. This sentiment was echoed by Promise Oversight Board, which criticised the Scottish Government for what it perceived as its failure to improve vulnerable children's lives. Now is the time to set things right, so I will vote in favour of the bill at decision time. Children and young people like my two grandsons are at the core of why passing this amended legislation is essential for enshrining the rights of our young people into law. The legislation sets out to achieve numerous things for children. Adoption of the UNCRC into Scots law will cover many facets of a child's life, encompassing everything from civil rights to economic and political rights. The bill will also force any new bills to be UNCRC compatible, providing legal remedies to public bodies that failed to act in accordance with it. Aside from creating new obligations for public bodies, the bill will enable children and young people, together with their representatives, to enforce their rights through using Scottish courts. Involvement of children and young people is of utmost importance in safeguarding their rights. Have you taken YMSYP for Glasgow Cuthcart Ellie Craig? She said that this was an exciting chance to create policies that work for everyone, especially children and young people. Those are vital parts of enshrining children's rights into law across our nation. Passage of this bill and adoption of UNCRC into Scots law will not only act as a landmark domestic achievement in protecting children's rights, but Scotland can become a world leader in safeguarding those rights. Today's children and those of future generations will have the ability to grow up in a Scotland where that is the standard that we set. I believe that my fellow MSPs from across the chamber can join me in acknowledging that it has taken longer than we would have liked to get to that point. However, I am also optimistic that this legislation enjoys a cross-party consensus that we must now pass on behalf of all of Scotland's children and young people. They have waited long enough for change to arrive, and I will do my part by voting for this bill as I speak today, not only as an MSP but as a mother and grandmother. Thank you very much. I begin once again by drawing attention to the children and young people that are in the gallery today—the human rights detectives, the members of the children's Parliament, the members of the Scottish Youth Parliament, the Children's Commissioners, young advisers and Team Scotland, the UN Committee. I sincerely thank them and all those who have gone before them because this is about you and this is for you, and this is why we are quite rightly elected to our Parliament to represent you. I would also like to thank some adults in the room as well, particularly the children and young people's representatives who are in the public gallery. However, I would like to pay particular tribute to my bill team and everyone who has been involved in the reconsideration stage. I would also like to pay tribute to my friend and colleague John Swinney, who took this original bill through for his dedication and his commitment to children and young people's rights as his work in Parliament has continued. The Parliament has heard much about me being compared to a spider this afternoon, but it is maybe quite abstract for those who are new to this debate. To be honest, I have been called worse in various discussions, but I take it in the way that it was intended at this point, because I think that I see Juliet in the public gallery today. The analogy was an exceptionally good one that the children and young people put together from that. If people have not caught up with that analogy, I would strongly encourage them to do a little bit more research on the Halloween trick that they pulled at committee. There has also been some discussion today about the lessons that we need to learn about the reconsideration stage. I think that that is all in the rights the first time that this Parliament has had to do a reconsideration stage. I think that it was Martin Whitefield that brought that up. I think that, inevitably, that might be something that people will want to reflect on. That is not necessarily something, of course, for the Government to do. There are also lessons that we need to learn as we move forward with the human rights bill about the limitations that we are working on under this Parliament and the fact that, when the Scottish Government says that they are genuinely finding it hard to stay within legislative competence, we are saying that from bitter experience, and we ask for people's help as we try to move through that, both in this chamber and in our stakeholders to ensure that we get that human rights bill correct first time round. To deal with the UNCRC, this is a historic day for us as parliamentarians, but more importantly for Scotland's children and young people. Indeed, for all of Scotland, as we take a significant step forward in becoming the country that we want to be, a country where children grow up loved, safe and respected, so that they realise that they have full potential and where we respect, protect and fulfil human rights and live free from discrimination. We know that the ambitions of the UNCRC and Corporation Scotland Bill have been dented by the Supreme Court judgment, but there is still much to celebrate in this bill. The Children and Young People's Commissioner asks on her website, is the incorporation of the UNCRC still worth it? She has answered, in fact, that it is. Regardless of the scope of the compatibility duty, this bill will help to change the way we think about children's rights and includes mechanisms for holding ministers and public authorities in Scotland to account for respecting, protecting and enhancing those rights. The 20th of November was World Children's Day, and on that day the Minister for Children and Young People spoke directly to children and young people in Scotland in a blog in which he responded to questions from the Scottish Youth Parliament about the UNCRC bill. She explained not only how the bill will promote cultural change but how it provides extra legal protections for children and young people that are not currently available. This coming Sunday is Human Rights Day, which is celebrated every year to mark the date on which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This declaration ensigns the annulable human rights to which every human is entitled, and this year will mark the 75th anniversary of its adoption by the UN. The importance of respect for human rights is as important now as it was 75 years ago. We see that in the horrific and imaginable conflicts across the world today, but also in the UK with a repugnant illegal migration act, an act which includes a ban on the right to claim asylum, allows for the prolonged detention and removal of children, creates barriers for acquiring nationality and lacks a consideration of the principle of the best interests of the child. The UNCRC incorporation in Scotland Bill is an important step on Scotland's journey to extend and protect human rights by incorporating treaties that have not previously been part of our domestic law. That would be a significant achievement for Scotland indeed, but we are the only devolved nation in the UK to incorporate the convention into our domestic law, and the only devolved country in the world to incorporate it fully and directly, albeit with some carve-outs to reflect devolved competency. What is also unique about our approach to that bill is that it goes far beyond just incorporating the provisions of the convention to include a number of proactive measures of an implementation, such as the requirement for the Scottish Government to produce children's rights and wellbeing impact assessments and to publish an update of children's rights scheme on the regular basis to demonstrate how it is progressing children's rights. UNICEF UK have described the bill and the work surrounding it as an example of best practice globally. We have much to be proud of in the way that Scotland is approaching human rights. The bill is a chance to affirm and advance that approach. The Supreme Court judgment has impacted on our ability to deliver the ambitions of the bill that was unanimously passed in 2021, but the Scottish Government has nonetheless persevered with the bill to deliver as far as possible on Parliament's democratic wishes. Mark Whittlefield quoted from my name, YSP, earlier on when he quite rightly said that this is only just the beginning. I would also put it another way to quote one of the children and young people who were at our cabinet takeover recently when they told us to just get on with it. I humbly suggest that we do and I commend the motion and the bill to Parliament. Thank you cabinet secretary. That concludes the debate on United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Incorporation, Scotland Bill at Reconsideration Stage. It is now time to move on to the next item of business. I am minded to accept a motion without notice under rule 11.2.4 of standing orders that decision time be brought forward to now. I invite George Adam Minister to move the motion. The question is that decision time be brought forward to now. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. There is one question to be put as a result of today's business. The question is that motion 11573, in the name of Shirley-Anne Somerville, on United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Incorporation, Scotland Bill be agreed. There will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system.