Meeting of the Parliament 27 November 2013
The Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs is briefing the consular corps today. I will arrange for Fiona Hyslop to give Mr Rennie a full briefing to put his mind at rest.
There was some sadly predictable reaction from the better together camp. Within an hour of the white paper’s publication, Alistair Darling described it as being totally ridiculous and not of any worth whatsoever, which amazed me. I congratulate that man on his speed reading, because by my estimation he had managed to assimilate 3,000 words a minute before giving his carefully considered reaction to the white paper on Scotland’s future. The reality for all the better together parties is that the ball is now firmly in the unionists’ court. They now need to provide answers to fundamental questions about what will happen if Scotland remains in the union.
Yesterday’s debate brought us to a very important issue regarding Scotland’s future. This morning, Aileen Campbell and I visited the Cowgate under-fives centre, which is situated a few hundred metres up the road from here. It provides a fabulous service to more than 50 children of all ages from six weeks old to five years old.
The Cowgate under-fives centre was established in 2002 when all three and four-year-olds became entitled to pre-school education and care. At that time, the entitlement was 412 hours per year, but it increased to 475 hours in 2007, when the Scottish National Party Government came to office, and will rise to 600 hours next year. However, the Government’s ambitions are much greater than that.
As was outlined in the white paper, in the first budget after independence we will commit an extra £100 million a year to extend that 600 hours to almost half of Scotland’s two-year-olds. By the end of the first independent Parliament, we will invest a further £600 million, enabling all those two-year-olds, as well as all three and four-year-olds, to receive 1,140 hours of care and education each year.
In the longer term, our ambition as a country is to make those levels of care available to all children from the age of one. That step will benefit more than 200,000 families throughout Scotland, giving families a total saving of up to £4,600 per child per year.