Hansard

I thank Gordon MacDonald for bringing this positive debate to the chamber. Like other members, I congratulate Dads Rock and pay tribute to all that it has achieved in the past year. It is good to see the representatives of Dads Rock in the public gallery. I am pleased that, following a debate on the Dads Rock Twitter account, David Marshall has chosen to wear his Dads Rock T-shirt rather than the suit that he thought might be more appropriate. It is a good T-shirt.

Encouraging and supporting fathers to play an active role in their child’s upbringing is key if we are to improve the health, wellbeing and life chances of Scotland’s children and young people. Through the national parenting strategy, which we published in October, we are determined to ensure that parents get the support that they need when they need it, so that they can do their very best for their children.

The Scottish Government’s aspiration for children and young people is simple but ambitious: we want Scotland to be the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up in. We want Scotland to be a more child-friendly country and to have a culture that supports all parents and carers. We want a country that recognises that dads do indeed rock.

No parent should feel isolated or alone. Alison Johnstone rightly pointed out that families need to feel supported not only by public services but by their families and communities. Groups such as Dads Rock play a crucial role in offering fun activities for dads and their children, but they also provide a place for dads to speak to others about being a dad. That kind of local peer support is empowering and will benefit fathers and their children in many healthy and positive ways.

It is right for us to focus on fathers, because dads are often cut out of the picture, albeit sometimes unintentionally, and that needs to change. In a modern, successful Scotland, we want to encourage and support both parents to play an active role in their children’s upbringing. As Gordon MacDonald and Gavin Brown noted, with Dads Rock, two dads found that there was little support in their area and decided to do something about it, so they set up their own fun musical playgroup for dads and their children in Sighthill in Edinburgh. I admire and applaud their work and achievement, and the work of the volunteers who help to deliver the playgroups. Without their passion, many of the dads who attend would feel isolated. I agree with Gavin Brown that many lessons can be learned from the group’s proactive approach.

Last year, along with my husband and our wee boy, I had the pleasure of visiting Dads Rock when it opened its new musical group in Granton. My son enjoyed playing the drum kit and my husband, who is a stay-at-home dad, also enjoyed the experience and got a lot out of meeting other fathers. He liked singing in a key that he could reach at the end of the night, rather than some of the keys that he sings in at mother and toddler groups. I promise Gavin Brown that my speech will not feature me singing “We Will Rock You”, for which members should be thankful. Visiting Dads Rock was a great experience, and I hope that many more dads and their children will take part in and enjoy it. I thoroughly recommend it to Malcolm Chisholm and I encourage him to take his grandchildren along and prove that granddads can rock, too.

I am delighted to hear about the plans that Gordon MacDonald and Malcolm Chisholm outlined to open a new playgroup in Dunfermline and to hear that the group is looking to establish a Dads Rock academy that aims to provide a year’s free music tuition to children and dads in the Sighthill area.

The Government’s aspiration is to make this country the best place in the world to grow up in. The Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill, which was introduced in Parliament last month, is a step on the journey towards fulfilling our ambition. However, legislation is only part of the answer.

We know that the early years of a child’s life are crucial and set the pattern for their future development. We need to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities for all babies, children, mothers, fathers and families across Scotland to ensure that all children have the very best start in life and are ready to succeed. That is the ambition of our early years collaborative, which is a multi-agency local quality improvement programme that is delivered at a national scale and is taking forward the vision and priorities of the early years task force.

A second learning session will take place at the end of this month. It will provide an opportunity for teaching improvement methodology and for community planning partnerships to share learning. I am really pleased to hear about that work and I want to highlight it, because Dads Rock will speak at the learning session. That shows the high regard in which Government and our partners hold the organisation.

Last year, I launched the parenting strategy, which is an articulation of the importance of parenting that aims to strengthen the help and support that are on offer to parents. Dads Rock assisted with our engagement with parents in developing the strategy, and I thank it sincerely for that. Last year, we engaged with more than 1,500 parents and carers. About 500 of them were dads, and many of them told us that they feel that mums get offered support but dads are expected just to get on with things. Gordon MacDonald and David Torrance articulated some of those feelings.

Many of those dads referred to mother and toddler groups. That shows that, as Graeme Dey noted, even the turns of phrase that are used can often make dads feel unwelcome. As a working mum whose wee boy is cared for by her husband, I and my family are really careful to call the local groups baby and toddler groups.

The views that we received from all parents and carers were critical in shaping our national parenting strategy and really helped to identify the kind of commitments that we needed to include. We have now set up a fathers national advisory panel to help us to consider how our policies, services and communities can become much more dad friendly. I hope that that move will reassure David Torrance and Gordon MacDonald.

In September, the First Minister announced the early years task force commitment of £18 million over three years to improve the provision of family support throughout Scotland. The fathers national advisory panel will help to ensure that that family support also addresses fathers’ needs.

We recognise the range of important work that the third sector does to support families. That is why we are investing £20 million through the third sector early intervention fund plus directing an additional £10 million towards third sector strategic funding partnerships. I am delighted to say that Families Need Fathers Scotland and Fathers Network Scotland are two of the strategic funding partnerships that, along with the successful organisations that will receive funding through the third sector early intervention fund, will help us to improve the support for fathers throughout Scotland.

Investing in parents is good not only for children and young people but for our communities and for the cohesion and productivity of our country. Working hard to remove the barriers that prevent dads from playing their part can only be good for ensuring positive outcomes for our children and young people.

We have made a good start, which we are determined to build on, and we look forward to working with colleagues across the chamber, Dads Rock and other partners to help us to achieve that. I thank Gordon MacDonald for bringing the debate to the chamber and congratulate Dads Rock, the volunteers and all the other dads who take part. I wish them well and wish them every success for the future.

Meeting closed at 17:37.