The Scottish Churches Parliamentary Officer summary of issues from the Parliament includes the following:-
'The Scottish Parliament has debated the issues around Kinship Care; with the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party speaking about contact with Kinship Carers at the Faith in Community Scotland supported Poverty Truth Commission. The Minister for Children and Early Years announced the formation of a national forum which will comprise "representatives from kinship carer groups across the country" to enable dialogue between kinship carers and policy-makers.
The Equal Opportunities Committee of the Scottish Parliament has published its report on migration and trafficking which has been well received. Meanwhile in Westminster, Minister for Immigration, Damian Green, announced that the detention of children at Yarl's Wood detention centre would be halted immediately. Campaign groups have welcomed the Government's progress on this issue, but with a degree of caution. End Child Detention Now, a citizen's campaign group, urged the Government to give assurances that "the 'ensured return' procedure does not involve the detention of children under another name."
Prison statistics for Scotland were published this month confirm that Scotland continues to have the thirteenth highest prison population as a proportion of the overall population in the World, with 158 per 100,000 population imprisoned.
This month our prayers are with those who are grappling with the asylum system, both those who are claiming asylum and those who are trying to improve the system. In particular, we think of those who are working to prevent the detention of children in our nation.
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