Hansard

Thank you, Presiding Officer.

I am happy to work with the member and, of course, with Natalie Don-Innes, the Minister for Children, Young People and the Promise, to resolve the matter that she has raised. However, it is important to note that the provision of 1,140 hours in Scotland is quite a different level from what is available in other parts of the UK and that, further, as a result of the approach of the Conservatives, the provision in other parts of the UK is linked to having parents in work. We do not discriminate on that basis in Scotland—we have a much more equitable offer. As I said, I am happy to work with the member to support that work further.

I mentioned that we are delivering childcare, and I want to talk about wraparound school-age childcare, which is hugely important for parents and which we are providing to support around 600 children from 500 families through the early adopter projects that I mentioned. The programme for government also highlights an example of the difference that that project in Dundee is making to one mum who has been able to get back into work with the right support and funded childcare—that wraparound approach that we know works and helps to support parents into sustained positive destinations.

It is imperative that we continue to drive an increase in the take-up of funded early learning and childcare for eligible two-year-olds. Our local authorities take that very seriously, and we will continue to work with them to focus on boosting take-up among families who are most at risk of poverty.

Over 2024-25, we will continue to support the extra time programme, investing £4 million in a partnership with the Scottish Football Association to deliver before-school, after-school and breakfast clubs through 31 football clubs spread all over the country. That funding is providing 3,000 targeted free places each week for children, who are benefiting from access to food, activities and support while their parents are more easily able to work.

I turn now to school and post-16 education. By investing in children and young people’s education to enable them to begin work or further or higher education when they leave school, we can help to break the poverty-related cycle. Through our continued investment in the Scottish attainment challenge, the poverty-related gap for young people leaving school and going on to a positive destination has reduced by 60 per cent since 2009. Further, there have been record levels of attainment in literacy and numeracy in our primary 7 pupils over the past year. As this year’s exam results show, there has been a 25 per cent increase this year alone in the number of technical and vocational qualifications achieved. That is a true mark of progress, as more young people are able to choose non-traditional routes in their qualifications to exhibit their success.

There has also been extraordinary success with the widening access agenda, in partnership with our universities, with record numbers of students from our poorest communities going on to university, supported by free university tuition. Indeed, the most recent data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, from August, showed a 12 per cent increase this year in acceptances from the 20 per cent most deprived areas of Scotland. That is a record that we, our universities and, most importantly, our students can be proud of.

Our support to young people is not just academic. We understand that families need our support at this time, and we are taking strong action to reduce the cost of the school day for families. That is why we have extended free school meals, saving families £400 per year for every eligible child taking those meals. As was confirmed yesterday, we will focus the next stage in our efforts on free school meal expansion for those children who need it most. That is why, even in the extremely tough, financially circumstances that we face as a result of austerity from the United Kingdom Government, we are investing to deliver free school meal expansion for primary 6 and 7 pupils in receipt of the Scottish child payment. That is real action in our mission to eradicate child poverty, which I hope everyone in the Parliament can support.

Very shortly in the coming weeks, we will publish school clothing and uniform guidance, which will focus on measures to support schools to design and implement affordable policies that recognise the individual needs and identity of our pupils. We will continue to provide funding to all local authorities for the removal of core curriculum charges for all primary and secondary pupils, which is worth £8 million in this financial year alone.

We are investing £1 billion during this parliamentary session through the Scottish attainment challenge, helping schools to fund, for example, income maximisation officers at Braes high school in Falkirk, supporting families to access the benefits that they are entitled to. That investment is also supporting Fair Isle primary school in Fife, which is using some of its pupil equity funding for a family worker to support parents in boosting their household budgets. Elgin high school in Moray is further tackling the cost of the school day by introducing a food-to-go scheme.

Throughout this speech, I have referred to the need for joint working if we are to succeed in our mission to end child poverty: joint working within Government, joint working with councils, joint working with the third sector and working directly with our communities. I now need to touch on the joint working that would be most immediately impactful: genuine joint working with the UK Government. As the Parliament knows, the UK Government has powers at its fingertips right now that could alleviate child poverty. At the stroke of a pen, it could lift hundreds of thousands of children in Scotland out of poverty by taking the obvious step of lifting the two-child cap.

I am again asking the Parliament to come together and call on the UK Government to do exactly that. I am speaking in particular to colleagues on the Labour benches today, because I do not believe that there is a single person on those benches who truly believes that the two-child limit is the right policy. As members of the Parliament, each of us sees the impact of that policy in our constituencies every day. Today we have the opportunity to speak with one voice, and the people who sent us here will expect us to take it. The two-child limit must go, and it must go now.

There are other costs that the Scottish Government incurs, primarily those associated with mitigation. Indeed, it is worth reminding the Parliament that the Government is spending more than £1 billion mitigating the impacts of 14 years of UK Government policy, such as the bedroom tax and the benefit cap. That is action that we are proud to take to protect our people and to protect families in Scotland, but we should not have to take it. The purpose of this Parliament is not to ameliorate bad decision making from Westminster; the purpose of this Parliament should be to govern in the best interests of the people of Scotland. However, we are spending millions of pounds this year alone to mitigate UK Government welfare cuts, including the bedroom tax and the benefit cap. That is money that could and should have been spent on our schools or further ambitious anti-poverty measures.

Rather than those policies being mitigated in Scotland, the new UK Labour Government has the chance to end them at source. Indeed, Labour has some tough decisions fast approaching, because the great responsibility of Government comes with great accountability. I warn Labour colleagues that, if they are not careful, the Tory bedroom tax will become the Labour bedroom tax, the two-child cap will become Labour’s two-child cap and the child poverty to which those reprehensible policies lead will become Labour’s child poverty. There is an opportunity for the new UK Government to change course. It will find a willing partner in the Scottish Government, but emulating Tory austerity will not help Scotland’s children. Things have to get better.

Eradicating child poverty is the golden thread that runs through this year’s programme for government. It is a priority for all our portfolios. Although we have made good progress, we know that there is more to do and we remain resolutely committed to delivering the change that is needed. We will leave no stone unturned across Government as we seek to lift every child out of poverty. I ask each member of every party in the Parliament to work with us on that national mission.

I move,

That the Parliament notes the actions set out in the Programme for Government 2024-25 that focus on eradicating child poverty as the single greatest priority for the Scottish Government; recognises that sustained and cohesive effort is needed across all levels of government and in all parts of society to deliver on this national mission, especially at a time when the public finances are under acute pressure after 14 years of austerity; welcomes continued investment of around £3 billion in 2024-25 to eradicate poverty, mitigate the impacts of the cost of living crisis and invest in prevention to break the cycle of poverty; notes analysis of the Child Poverty Action Group, which estimates that low-income families in Scotland will be around £28,000 better off by the time that their child turns 18 when compared to other families across the UK; further notes modelling that estimates that 100,000 children will be kept out of relative poverty this year as a result of Scottish Government policies such as the Scottish Child Payment; recognises the Scottish Government’s commitment to working constructively with the UK Government to end child poverty once and for all, and agrees that the UK Government has the opportunity to lift thousands of children out of poverty in Scotland by taking action in the Autumn Budget to remove the two-child limit.