Exclusive:School anti-restraint legislation 'must prompt Scottish Government to act' to protect all children

Beth Morrison and Kate Sanger were this week praised by Douglas Ross MSP for their tireless work to push for a legally mandated limit on restraint and seclusion.

A Holyrood committee has now recommended parliamentary support for a member’s bill, led by Daniel Johnson MSP, to be supported at stage one vote.

READ MORE: Female SNP MSP’s office ‘bugged’ by staff member still involved in the party

While Ms Morrison and Ms Sanger are “proud” of what they have achieved, they said they hope the government will build on the bill to safeguard all young people across Scotland.

Asked if the proposed legislation would apply to non-school education settings, such as secure care, MrJohnson said: “This bill will apply to educational settings, though there are complex environments with overlapping responsibilities.

“Because this is a member’s bill, boundaries had to be drawn.”

He pointed to other areas such as transportation and residential care settings, where restraint is used.

The Labour MSP added: “Ultimately, we would like this to apply to all children in all settings.

“The committee has recommended that too.

“There are limits to what a member’s bill can do, but no such limits for government and we absolutely agree that it must be expanded.

“The government has the capacity to look at these wider areas and should build on this bill to extend those principles.”

Mrs Sanger added: “We know children are sometimes transported in appalling ways, particularly disabled and neurodivergent children.

“This legislation will shine a light on those wrongs. It’s time to act and expand on what this bill starts.”

The pair were driven to campaign for change having seen the damage restraint caused to their now-adult disabled children.

Mrs Morrison is mother to Calum, 27, while Mrs Sanger has a daughter, Laura, 33.

Calum was restrained at school in 2010, leaving him “traumatised” and with more than 60 bruises on his body.

Laura still deals with trauma from being restrained as a schoolgirl.

Mrs Morrison, who has also been diagnosed with cancer in the interim, said: “We’re 10 years older than we were when we first came to the Petitions Committee, and it feels like it’s been a long, long, hard slog.

“I do think it shouldn’t have taken this length of time. But now we have to look forward and hope that this is the start of real change for children.”

READ MORE:SNP minister grilled on how £36 million in missing benefits money will be recovered

Mrs Morrison said, despite guidance being issues to schools, the problem is very much still live, citing figures she and Mrs Sanger had most recently collected.

In the last school term, from August to the Christmas break, local authorities reported 163 cases of children and young people being restrained or isolated.

For the whole of the previous year, that number was 243.

They say these sorts of figures are proof that legislation - rather than improved training and guidance - is necessary.

Mrs Sanger said: “Scotland is supposed to have an ethos where restraint is used only when absolutely necessary, but our data doesn’t reflect that.

“We had guidance as far back as 2017, but it was, frankly, meaningless.

“The cases we saw after the guidance was introduced were horrific - children bruised, battered, injured - and parents going through absolute hell trying to find out what had happened.”

The pair believe the legislation will also be welcome change for staff who need “clarity about what can and can’t be done”.

“No member of staff goes to work thinking they’re going to restrain a child,” Mrs Sanger said.

“Nobody wants that.

READ MORE: SNP government faces £36m black hole over refusal to copy Westminster benefits crackdown

“Staff deserve the tools and the skills to do an incredibly important job.

“Some have told us they went home at the end of the day feeling like failures when restraint had been involved. That affects people deeply.”

The campaigners were hailed by Mr Ross for “changing the thinking of committee members”.

The Scottish Conservative MSP added: “None of us could get our heads around the fact that so many families, far too many families, didn't know about it.

“They weren't informed. They weren't told and had to find out in far more challenging and complex ways.

“And that adds strain and pressure to the individual that the child who's been restrained or secluded in the family as well.

“So these are all issues that we heard loud and clear, and hopefully you can see in our report we have taken on board and why we think this bill is important.

“Is one we unanimously backed.”