Meeting of the Parliament 02 November 2023
Scotland is leading the way in giving children the best start in life. I am proud to say that that is internationally recognised and evidenced through the groundbreaking baby box, the Scottish child payment and so much more.
Across the country, more than 250,000 baby boxes have been delivered since the start of the scheme in August 2017. Since August 2021, the Scottish Government has delivered at least 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare for all eligible three and four-year-olds, saving families £4,900 per year.
Children living in poverty can never flourish or have the best start in life. That is why the Scottish Government has invested £1.3 billion in the game-changing Scottish child payment, which is forecast this financial year to lift 50,000 children out of poverty—the figure is 90,000 when the payment is combined with other benefits. Currently at £25 per week, the payment has been increased by 150 per cent since its inception, and it is available for all children up to the age of 16.
The Scottish child payment is unique to Scotland, and it is one of the most ambitious policy interventions to reduce child poverty in recent history. That is despite the financial challenges emanating from the UK Government’s callous cuts and the abhorrent two-child benefit cap, which affects almost 81,000 children across Scotland.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation believes that the Scottish child payment is significantly reducing child poverty. In addition to many other measures to promote wellbeing among children and families, the best start grant package has put more money in the pockets of 284,495 low-income families in Scotland.
We aim to go further on access to funded childcare, which is a game changer for families and for expanding our workforce. It will be expanded from nine months through to the end of primary school in early-adopter communities in six council areas. Fife and Shetland Islands will join the existing councils of Glasgow, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee City. That means that 13,000 additional children stand to benefit by the end of the parliamentary session.
As our motion says,
“the unique and critical period of child development”
is
“from pre-pregnancy to age three, when experiences and the environment shape the foundations for life”.
The early child development policy recognises that, because childhood development is fascinating and complex. One size never fits every child, as they each develop at different rates in different ways. The one thing that they all have in common is the need for attachment, love and care. Attachment is crucial in the early years for healthy development. I have seen children at first hand who have not been lucky enough to experience that, and it often leads to a variety of problems during the course of their lives.
Nothing is more important than attachment and a stable, loving start in life. That is why all measures taken by this Government aim to provide that to support families that are often struggling in the most difficult circumstances, particularly now, during a Tory-made cost of living crisis.
I am aware that my contribution is highlighting the achievements and aspirations of this Government to get it right for every child. I am very proud of them. I am sorry if they sound self-congratulatory, but I think that they are worth repeating at any opportunity. However, it cannot be overlooked that, over the past six years, the Scottish Government has spent £733 million to mitigate the worst impacts of UK Government policy, such as the bedroom tax and benefit cap, with £127 million being invested this financial year alone.
It is plain to see that, if we could use that money to promote our wellbeing policies, reduce poverty, build more schools and create a climate-friendly environment, we must have the power to use our resources—our taxpayers’ money—to do that, rather than spend them mitigating the UK Government’s wrecking policies. The only way to do that is for Scotland to be independent.
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