Hansard

As colleagues have done, I congratulate Jamie Hepburn on securing this valuable debating time for an issue that is of great importance to many families throughout Scotland. I also thank Save the Children for producing an excellent report in “The Childcare Trap”.

The scourge that is child poverty is a source of great shame to our society. The thought of a child being born into poverty, not receiving the opportunities that many of us take for granted and suffering—on some occasions—from malnutrition and illness is truly distressing.



All members of the Parliament can agree on that and we should do all that we can together to eradicate a problem that should belong in a bygone era. Save the Children’s research shows that 90,000 children in Scotland live in severe poverty.

In the past few days, there has been much talk of boosting our economy, creating jobs, attracting investment and getting Scots back to work. It is difficult to argue that those are not vital to Scotland’s prosperity. Most people would concede that the Scottish Government is doing a good job in achieving that, despite the economic difficulties. However, people must be able to go to work.

Short of winning the lottery, the simplest way to eradicate poverty is to boost household budgets, which is best achieved by securing productive employment. Kezia Dugdale made a good point when she talked about quality employment rather than just employment, as such. For many, the cost of childcare is simply too high, and there is a genuine disincentive to go out and work. Jamie Hepburn discussed that in some detail.

Childcare costs in the UK are among the highest in the world, and parents in Scotland face costs that are higher than the UK average. The Daycare Trust’s 2011 survey showed that parents in Scotland pay on average £100 per week for 25 hours of care and there has been an 8.3 per cent increase in the past year alone—a time when fuel and food prices have also been on the rise and many parents have had their wages frozen. Matters have not been helped by the coalition Government’s decision to reduce the amount that low-income families can claim towards the cost of formal childcare from 80 per cent to 70 per cent. I make no apology for repeating that extremely important point. That reduction means an average loss of more than £500 per year for the 44,500 families in Scotland who receive the support.

Research has consistently shown that the inability to secure or afford childcare remains the most significant of all the barriers to gaining employment. Indeed, the growing up in Scotland study found that 55 per cent of unemployed parents would work or study if they could find quality, reliable and convenient childcare.

Only last week, one of my constituents contacted my office because she was unable to secure adequate childcare so that she could attend James Watt College. She currently has to miss days at college to care for her child and may have to drop out of her course altogether, thus limiting her chances of gaining the type of employment that she wishes for and, of course, stunting not only her life chances but, ultimately, her child’s.

Despite the additional funding that the Scottish Government provided for childcare support in the previous session of the Parliament, such situations continue to arise. However, despite budgetary constraints, there is a will to develop support for families to meet childcare needs. That support will include a new generation of family centres, in addition to flexible childcare options, which will include asking local authorities to provide their statutory hours of childcare in more flexible ways in order to support parents into employment.

Of course, I argue that the simplest way to address child poverty would be if we had access to our own substantial resources or control of our own tax and benefits system, which would enable us to do far more in Scotland to resolve such matters. One does not have to look far to see how much better things could be: Children in Scotland pointed out that, across the North Sea, Norway has the fourth-highest level of child wellbeing in Europe while the UK sits shamefully in 24th place, behind Slovenia. Furthermore, the child poverty level in Norway stands at 6.7 per cent, which is a quarter of the UK figure.

I am sure that the Scottish Government will continue to do all that it can with the resources that it has to improve the life chances of all Scotland’s children. The early years strategy and sure start fund will offer real benefits to thousands of young Scots. However, I agree with Jamie Hepburn that we must also study Save the Children’s report and consider what more can be done to help parents to get back to work and tackle child poverty.

17:28