Hansard

Hugh Henry’s closing remarks were certainly quite a challenge—I do not want to disappoint him. I thank all colleagues for their largely helpful contributions. In particular, I congratulate Clare Adamson, who became a stepgranny recently. I assure members that the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all families in Scotland receive appropriate, timely support that is based on their needs.

We all acknowledge that bringing up children is a hugely rewarding job and we heard many people talk about their own first-hand experiences as parents, but we also accept that it can be the hardest job that there is. If we are serious about improving outcomes for our children and young people, we need to ensure that parents and carers get the support that they need, when they need it.

I am disappointed that some speakers felt that having an opportunity to help to shape a national strategy was a negative approach. I imagine that if I had published a strategy that they had not been able to feed into, they would have grumbled about that as well. Nevertheless, we all agree that investing in parents is a good thing—not only for children and young people, but for our communities and for the cohesion and productivity of our country. It is part of building a better future for us all.

We have made a good start. We accept—I accept as Minister for Children and Young People—that we have a lot of ground to make up. We need to do more, but we are determined to build on that good start as we move forward, because supporting parents to be the best that they can be and to do the best that they can is one of the most effective ways of improving the health, wellbeing, opportunities and life chances of children and young people.

We also recognise that supporting parents can help to prevent difficult circumstances from escalating or even arising—by making sure that we listen to parents and act on what they tell us. That is one of the key themes that has come through from some of the discussions that I have had with parents. Parents want to feel valued and they need to feel that their voices are being heard.

If parents are equipped and able to nurture their children and give them the love, support and guidance that they need as they grow up, that can help to reduce a whole range of negative outcomes. For that reason, we see our commitment to support for parents as part of our work on prevention and early intervention.

We have plenty of evidence about the importance of parents in reducing crime and offending behaviour. Parents have a key role in developing self-control, reducing the risk of and building resilience to trauma, building strong social bonds and setting appropriate boundaries for behaviour. By improving our support for parents we expect to see positive impacts across a range of outcomes. Supporting parents is good for Scotland, as we all stand to gain, whether or not we have children ourselves.

I turn to specific comments from members, who made valuable contributions to the debate. Clare Adamson made the important point that there is a need to articulate parents’ value to society. I agree absolutely, and I am determined to ensure that the strategy will do that and make us all value parents’ contribution to society a whole lot more.

In an informed speech, Nanette Milne referred to the growing up in Scotland study and the need to tackle some persistent intergenerational problems. We recognise that we need to make sure that there is much more mixing up of society, so that people experience life alongside older people and so that we break the cycle of poverty. We must make sure that parents who, as children, did not have the best start in life are given more tuition to be responsible parents themselves. They can then go on to be good parents and ensure that the persistent cycle of intergenerational social problems is broken. We have an opportunity to do that with the forthcoming children’s bill and with this parenting strategy. I am glad that Nanette Milne made that important point.

Nanette Milne also mentioned the importance of schools for the strategy. I agree absolutely. I note that the curriculum for excellence covers the responsibilities of parenthood. I take on board her points, but I also recognise that teachers now have much more well-rounded training so that, when they have completed their registration, they are able to identify additional needs.

Maureen Watt spoke about the isolation that many new mums feel. The groups that I have met all note the importance of building up networks, making new friends and finding others with common interest. She also spoke of the need to build resilience, which is essential if we want to enable and equip families and communities to find their own solutions.

Dennis Robertson spoke about being a proud Aberdonian, about getting a two-for-one deal when he had his twins and about being a modern man and helping with the nappies. His serious points about coping and normalising the seeking of help were an important part of the debate.

Mark McDonald raised specific issues about post-natal depression and the importance of early diagnosis. Having gone through childbirth myself, I know how difficult it is to have a newborn child and I can only imagine the difficulties that are faced by women who have post-natal depression. We must ensure that we get things absolutely right. He also made points about parental leave. I will happily discuss those issues with him and will factor the nuanced points that he made about parental leave into the strategy and other pieces of work that I am undertaking.

Liam McArthur noted the need for almost a culture change in the way that we view parents and what we must do to ensure that we value good parenting. Along with Hugh Henry, Jamie McGrigor, Malcolm Chisholm and others, he highlighted the real work that we need to do to make sure that we get things right for looked-after children. I do not think that any of us can look at the current statistics without realising that we need to do a lot more. The Education and Culture Committee and others are undertaking good work to articulate the importance of focusing on that group of children.

Nanette Milne made a related point about looked-after children who have not had a good experience of being looked after by the corporate parent. She said that we must ensure that they are able to be good parents themselves when they have families.

Graeme Dey made an important point when he observed that our value as parents is not who we are or what we have, but what we do. Playing and cuddles do not cost anything, and we must get right some of the simple things that we do.

Malcolm Chisholm noted some specific parenting strategies that are on-going throughout Scotland, including the positive parenting programme, the incredible years programme and family-nurse partnerships. He also highlighted the importance of speeding up adoption placements. I agree with that. We all know that, for that particular group of children, better outcomes can be achieved if we can get permanent placements for them earlier.

We are not starting from scratch. As we have heard, lots of really innovative and effective work is already under way throughout Scotland to support some of our most vulnerable parents. Siobhan McMahon and Neil Bibby cited some good practices in their local areas, and Neil Bibby also mentioned Save the Children’s FAST project. I have seen at first hand some great examples of different agencies working in partnership to support parents through schools and prisons, for example. Many of those projects live in the vibrant and vital third sector, to which I pay tribute for the hugely important role that it plays in supporting families throughout Scotland.

Hugh Henry wanted me to mention play specifically. We have taken forward the hugely successful play talk read campaign. I do not know whether he has had an opportunity to visit the campaign bus, but I recommend that he do so. We have also announced money through go play, and support has been provided through grounds for learning to ensure that children have much more access to play opportunities. Given that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child specifically notes a child’s right to play, a rights-based approach is a fundamental part of how we approach this agenda.

Hugh Henry also wanted me to talk about kinship carers. I gently remind him that no Administration has done more than the current one to recognise kinship carers formally. We will continue to work hard to ensure that they are supported and will continue to lobby Westminster to make sure that it recognises their specific and unique parenting role, just as the Scottish Government has recognised it.

As I said at the start of the debate, it is the Government’s ambition to make Scotland the best place in the world for children to grow up in. I am sure that that ambition is shared by everyone here today. However, it is a journey—we know that we are not there yet and we must create the type of Scotland that we want our children to grow up and flourish in.