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Could another approach be to look at reforming SAAB? Any potential transition period raises concerns, and some of the things that you suggest could be included and taken forward by reforming SAAB, rather than almost throwing the baby out with the bath water as we transition. I take on board what you say about the economic opportunities that are coming, but we know about those and we see that different sub-committees have been working on some of that already. Those concerns, which I think that we are all hearing about, are taken forward without a completely new organisation having to set up the expertise.

Amendment 168 would expand the list of matters that the chief inspector must have regard to when exercising their functions. As I have outlined in regard to previous amendments, those include safeguarding children’s rights and welfare, specifically in relation to issues raised by the children’s commissioner and in relation to the views and satisfaction levels of “relevant persons”.

My amendment 171 provides the definition of “relevant persons”. Given the previous conversation on child protection and, I hope, constructive discussion going forward, I will not move amendments 168 or 171.

Why would it then take until September for the reports to be published? That is the question that most of us would ask. Once you have received those forecasts, the work will have been done on that.

So “very soon” is June.

Colleagues will remember that the committee recently completed our evidence sessions on my colleague Liz Smith MSP’s Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill, which has now completed stage 1. The general principles of that bill have been supported by the Parliament. Amendment 25, in the name of Liz Smith, is designed to ensure that, where a relevant educational establishment provides outdoor education as part of its curricular or extracurricular programme, that provision will be part of the inspection process.

My amendment 176 seeks to improve how recommendations are made to a school and how that establishment can respond. My colleague Sue Webber eloquently outlined that it is about what we do with an inspection when it is delivered and what quality it provides. The bill presents an opportunity for teachers and the wider school community to have more understanding of where they can take recommendations forward as well as responding to them, so that we do not see inspections left hanging. I hope that that is a positive step forward.

For the many teachers and others who work in our schools that I have spoken to, an inspection could be a career-defining moment, but in some cases inspections are not providing that detail in what they offer parents, guardians and carers. My amendment therefore specifies what would be expected, how the independent inspections may be responded to, and a more constructive way of taking them forward.

I also support Sue Webber’s amendments in the group.

As with my amendment 176, amendment 181 seeks to improve inspection reports by requiring the chief inspector’s annual report not only to describe inspections and other activities but to cover any recommendations made as a result of those inspections. Allowing the public to see the wider role that the inspectorate plays would, as other members have outlined, add value, and such an approach would ensure that we highlight not just the inspectorate’s role but what is covered in an inspection. I should say, too, that amendment 181 complements amendments that have already been agreed to.

I move amendment 181.

I appreciate what the cabinet secretary has said and look forward to hearing about those conversations.

I put on record my hope that the petition will be heard—we will see how the Government responds to it. More importantly, some timescale for that is needed because, given the pace at which the Government wants the bill to be voted on and passed, the petition will not be part of that process. The petition has been sitting unaddressed for the duration of this parliamentary session, but I hope that it is progressed before the election so that a new organisation can be created or further inspection changes can take place.

I will not press amendment 157 or move my other amendments in the group.

Amendment 157, by agreement, withdrawn.

Amendments 306 and 307 not moved.

On a point of order, convener. My colleague Stephen Kerr had a lot to say on this amendment. I do not know whether it would be appropriate—[Laughter.]

Good evening, cabinet secretary and colleagues. I will speak to amendments 157, 166 and 178. As we have heard throughout the committee’s deliberations, culture change is not easy to legislate for. In the area of child protection, we need to look to strengthen the specific safeguarding child protection responsibilities and place those into inspections. I have lodged these probing amendments to consider how we can provide for the complaints function and improve HMIE’s inspection plans in relation to it.

I have developed the set of amendments as part of an ask that is contained in the on-going public petition PE1979, on whistleblowing and safeguarding. I pay tribute to the petitioners Alison Dickie, Bill Cook, Christine Scott and Neil McLennan for their on-going campaigns and important work in that area. The petition, in short—as the committee will be pleased to hear—calls for the establishment of an independent national whistleblowing officer for education and children’s services. Although the proposal does not sit comfortably as part of the bill, I want to probe how the new inspectorate could take forward a new function or, indeed, how Parliament could create such a role at stage 3.

I welcome the amendments in the name of my colleague Stephen Kerr in this group, too. I believe that there is a clear gap in safeguarding and child protection responsibilities as part of a school inspection, and that is what has motivated the amendments. If we are to ensure that safeguarding and child protection are at the heart of any educational establishment, we need to look towards how that is being measured and taken into account. Specifically, establishing a complaint function would allow for a mechanism whereby the chief inspector could have confidence and means to hear from parents, carers, teachers and other persons who want to report concerns about any relevant educational establishment. Those concerns would be recorded and then used to inform HMIE’s inspection plans.

As members know, I have tried throughout the stage 2 process to embed parent and carer voices in the matter of school inspections and in the bill. I believe that we need additional measures to take those voices into account.

On amendment 169, our preference was for an independent inspectorate, and the amendment outlines our expectation in the form of a requirement on the inspectorate to have regard to

“the statutory roles and responsibilities of any persons or bodies”

that it works with. We heard from Pam Duncan-Glancy that it is important to include a range of stakeholders—I hope that that answers the question in that regard.

Amendment 169 is my only amendment in the group, and in the interests of getting something out of tonight’s session, I will be moving it.