Meeting of the Parliament 02 November 2023
It is a pleasure to take part in this debate because, to echo what Jenni Minto said in her contribution, children are the most important people in Scotland. I hope that accountants will not think it unfair of me to say that children are the most important asset that we have. Most importantly, our young people are our future and we owe it to them to move heaven, earth, stone and water to ensure that they have the best life.
For a number of years, we have heard that Scotland should be the best place in the world to grow up. I absolutely agree with that, but I think today’s debate is a missed opportunity to discuss the complex issue behind the question that it poses. The answer is not simply to get one part of the jigsaw correct: unless we put all the pieces in place, we are going to fail, no matter how successful certain elements are.
This is in no way a criticism of Jenni Minto, but I am slightly concerned about data. We had a short exchange about the baby box. In August 2021, the Scottish Government undertook a review of the baby box scheme. Much of that is rightly successful, but the objective evidence showed that 26 per cent of the parents who were interviewed said that they needed additional support, specifically with breastfeeding. The Government has that data. Of the 72 per cent of professionals who had received training regarding the baby box, 37 per cent said that that was insufficient. With respect, the data is there. What is missing is the conclusions that might be drawn from that data, the strategies to improve those percentages and the policies that would make changes, which we should be debating here. After that, we can have an exchange about where training is needed.