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Is it better? We need to go back to what happened. Dundee university—

Officials can correct me if I am wrong on this, but the bill was introduced in March, I think—

I read Pauline Stephen’s evidence. She made the point about child protection services, which I think that I mentioned previously, because that would create a situation in which this guidance was on a statutory footing and then, behind that, there would be a child protection service and systems that are not provided for in the same way. She raised a very important point.

If we were to do what Pauline suggested—what I think that she said that she would do if she ran the world—the bill would become something that it is not currently. It would be a far more extensive piece of legislation. We talk about legislative timescales, and we are all aware of how close we are to dissolution now, so I suspect that that might become a much more unwieldy piece of legislation. That is not to say that it is not important, because, in principle, I agree that there is an opportunity to look across the piste, but the bill is quite focused.

I am sure that you will want to put these points to Mr Johnson to get his views. My view is that we should look at it, but I am not necessarily convinced that the focus of the bill currently lends itself to that approach. However, if the Parliament decides that that is where it wants to go, that is, of course, in the gift of the Parliament.

I have said to Mr Johnson that we will work with him on his member’s bill. I am not going to be more definitive than that today, Mr Rennie, because these are discussions that we would have at stage 2. However, I have said that we will work with him, and we have had a very positive working relationship thus far. I hope that that provides the member with some reassurance.

I think that part of the issue—this does not apply only to restraint—is that there might be reticence on the part of teachers to report, as they might be concerned about or fearful of doing so. We hear that quite often in relation to behaviour in schools, and we have debated some of those issues. In my time as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, I have been clear in calling for better and more consistent reporting, which I think has helped to shift the dial a bit.

However, fundamentally, teachers are often scared to report. The committee heard evidence from the NASUWT to that end—I spoke to Mike Corbett about that last week—and the Educational Institute of Scotland. Committees therefore need to be mindful of that and provide reassurance to the teaching profession, because they might be fearful about how reporting comes across.

As I think that the committee has also heard evidence on, local government is fearful that, were we to have greater reporting, that might lead to the creation of league tables, for example, and it is fearful of what that might mean for individual schools. I think that those issues can be dealt with more sensitively in the round. For example, the NASUWT has asked that we do not publish school-based data, which would certainly be a position that I would support. We need to be careful about how that is done.

However, in my experience, there is a reticence, and perhaps a fear, in the profession when it comes to reporting and what the use of restraint says about them. We need better reporting across the board. That is not true only in relation to restraint; I would highlight that we also need much better reporting on and recording of additional support needs.

My view on the bill is that it speaks to the relationship between local government and national Government in carrying out their responsibilities on education. There is an opportunity for us to learn from that experience and provide for better accountability and transparency, which is an issue that the committee has been pursuing in evidence sessions.

Yes, I do, because I have asked the SFC to undertake that work, and it is in train.

That creates challenges for us. We think that those things can be resolved, but I am being honest with the committee, and I have set out in correspondence that those are the issues that we need to resolve with Mr Johnson. He has been very open to doing that, so, to respond to Mr Rennie’s point, I do not think that those issues are insurmountable.

As I think that I mentioned in response to a previous question, the Government is supportive of the approach. The current guidance requires that parents are notified before the end of the school day, I think, and Mr Johnson’s bill says that it should be done within 24 hours. We are supportive of the approach that has been set out.

We also think that there might be an opportunity to deal with some of this in the guidance that will sit alongside the bill.

Can Ms Duncan-Glancy give me an example of what that might look like?

Yes, and that was the point that I was making to Mr Greer when I highlighted the evidence from Barnardo’s. I can say from my experience as a teacher who worked in mainstream education that restraint was not a practice that I was trained in, and nor were the vast majority of my colleagues. If anything, the counter was true.

We need to be mindful that most teachers will not view this as something that sits with them, because they believe that, when it comes to education, their first duty is to educate. Therefore, we need to be careful about that. The fact is that the bill—and, indeed, our guidance—applies to all settings. I have been pushing with officials the question whether we can be a bit clearer about that at stage 2, and we can discuss these points with Mr Johnson as the bill progresses.

I would not want to see an increase in the use of restraint practices; indeed, that is not the purpose of the legislation, as I understand it. However, such practices exist in some settings, and they have to be accompanied by staff who are appropriately trained. Most staff in our education services are not going to find themselves in those circumstances, because they work in mainstream education. As a result, we need to be careful about whom we are talking about.

I am sure that the committee will probe those points with Mr Johnson, but I should say that the trade unions put the same points to me last week when they raised concerns about the message that is being sent.