The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. While it will continue to meet, the Committee has agreed it will not consider petitions submitted after 10 October. This is to ensure all petitions currently in the system can be considered before the next Scottish Parliament election. It is also unlikely that the Committee would be able to schedule and meaningfully progress petitions submitted after 10 October before the election. Contact the Committee team at petitions.committee@parliament.scot for more information about the petitions process.
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Closed petition PE1882: Remand anyone charged with a sexual offence against a child
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to ensure that any person charged with a sexual offence against a child is remanded in custody.
Previous action taken
We have already written to the First Minister and several MSPs. We received a response from Child Protection policy officials from the Scottish Government who advised to make a petition to the Parliament.
Background information
I believe that far too often, people who have been charged with a sexual offence against a child in Scotland are being given bail and released back into the community amongst innocent children.
There have been stories recently in the media about individuals that have taken their own lives while on bail awaiting court dates after being charged with sexual offences against children.
We have a duty of care to protect or children in Scotland as does the Scottish Government.
We ask for our petition to please be considered to keep our children safe.
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
597 signatures