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Meeting of the Parliament 15 March 2012

15 Mar 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Childcare

McDonald, Mark SNP North East Scotland Watch on SPTV

It takes a brass neck for the Lib Dems to come to the chamber to complain about the affordability of childcare while they vote in coalition with the Tories at Westminster to remove tax credits from more than 73,000 families in Scotland and, as Malcolm Chisholm rightly pointed out, to decrease the amount that can be received for childcare costs from 80 to 70 per cent. That will have a detrimental impact on working families and single-parent families in Scotland.

Liz Smith said in reply to the cabinet secretary’s intervention that it is better to be in work than on benefits. These people are in work: they receive tax credits because they are in work. The policy that is being pursued by Liz Smith’s party—the Conservative Party—and the Liberal Democrats in government at Westminster is harming working families. These are not well-off working families; there is often a misconception that only the well-off will be affected by the changes. We are talking about any lone-parent family that earns more than £26,000 per year, and any two-parent family that earns more than £32,000 per year, which would be two people earning around £16,500 each—that is well below the national average. Those are the people who will be harmed by that policy and who will find it all the more difficult to afford childcare as a result.

I class myself as a parent first and a politician second, and the issue of affordable childcare is close to my heart. I have often spoken to other parents about it when I have been picking my son up from nursery or playgroup. I am well aware of the pressures that people face in finding affordable childcare. The difficulty is often not with the childcare that councils provide but with private sector childcare, and I think that the Government recognises that that must be addressed. We have to try to work with private sector partners wherever possible to ensure that they are delivering affordable and accessible childcare.

Although no one will deny that we need to consider such issues, I think that it is excellent news that the Scottish Government is increasing funded nursery provision for three and four-year olds and looked-after two-year-olds to 600 hours per week. I am pleased that Mr Bibby welcomed the announcement in his usual charitable fashion, neglecting to mention that, in the previous session, this Government increased provision 20 per cent and in doing so benefited 100,000 children in Scotland.

That is not the only area in which we have a positive story to tell. We have not only delivered increased provision in free nursery education but invested £10 million in the early years early action fund and the child poverty strategy, which sets out how we will tackle child poverty; developed the BA course in childhood practice, which 1,000 students are taking; and supported local implementation of the early years framework. In my home city of Aberdeen, through the 3Rs—or reorganise, renovate, rebuild—schools project, we have developed state-of-the-art facilities, including the fantastic developmental nursery at Seaton, which is delivering for some of the most vulnerable youngsters in our city. That is a positive story that we can tell.

Mr McArthur should not stand up and say, “All you get from the SNP is negative, negative, negative.” We have an extremely positive story to tell and we will continue to tell it to the people of Scotland, who have recognised as much. After all, we have 68 MSPs and the Liberal Democrats five—or should I say four? Clearly, having to stay for the entire debate and hear exactly what his party is delivering was just a little bit too much for Mr Scott.

We have a positive story to tell, which we will continue to tell, and the people of Scotland will respect that.

09:56

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Meeting of the Parliament 15 March 2012

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