Hansard

I am pleased to open the debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives.

As much as I understand that the Scottish Government recognises a need for an early child development transformational change programme, it is difficult to welcome, and even to debate, a programme that is nothing more than a voice of intent. I also understand that the motion affords Scottish National Party members the opportunity, over the course of an hour and a half, to enjoy a round of self-congratulatory pats on the back while berating the United Kingdom Government. One would be forgiven for thinking that there was an election on the horizon.

However, I am happy to talk about the commitment to focusing collective efforts on giving all babies and children in Scotland the best possible start. There is so much to say, and I know that my colleagues will expand on many of these points during the debate, but I will pick out three main points from the Conservative amendment to ensure that we are getting it right for every child, starting with pre-birth.

More and more evidence is coming forward about the importance of pre-birth support and the effects on the fetus from the environment and the detrimental health of the mother. We know about the negative effects of cigarettes and alcohol on a baby’s development within the womb; we can physically see how fetal alcohol syndrome causes brain damage and growth problems, and we know that those effects are irreversible.

There is also neonatal abstinence syndrome. Recent evidence on NAS states that babies born with opioid addiction, within the first few weeks after birth, are likely to suffer from tremors and convulsions, excessive crying, poor suckling or slow weight gain, breathing problems, sweating and lack of sleep, to name but a few.

That is nothing compared to the long-term problems that can drastically hinder a person throughout their life. Neonatal abstinence syndrome will result in brain developmental delays, motor problems due to poor bone, muscle and movement growth, behavioural and learning problems, speech and language problems, insomnia, ear infections and even reduced vision. Early detection is imperative. Antenatal and neonatal services are, therefore, so important.

Literally no number of baby boxes or child payments will ever be able to make a difference if children are born with completely avoidable syndromes. With Education Scotland’s figures showing that between 3 and 5 per cent of learners have fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and recent information that more than 1,000 children have been born with NAS within the past five years, it is disappointing that the SNP has downgraded neonatal services, and that there are still almost 6,000 midwifery posts that have not been filled.

My second point is about access to child mental health services. The Scottish Government likes to talk about getting it right for every child, and it has done so again in its motion today. However, as is so often the case, the rhetoric very rarely meets reality. There is a mental health crisis among children and young people, which the Government has failed to get close to dealing with. On the SNP’s watch, Scots across the country are waiting far too long for mental health treatment, and none more so than in child and adolescent mental health services. We should remember that the SNP has never met its CAMHS target for 90 per cent of children and young people to start treatment within 18 weeks.

In 2022, almost 9,000 children were refused mental health treatment. Between January and June this year, 4,640 referrals to CAMHS were rejected. In my region of Mid Scotland and Fife, in the quarter ending March 2023 alone, NHS Forth Valley rejected 225 CAMHS referrals. Long delays in accessing treatment can lead to more entrenched difficulties by the time a child or young person is able to access a service. Time and time again, we stand in the chamber and voice our collective will to keep the Promise, but that is impossible if we do not recognise the connection to the mental health of the young people in Scotland.

Let us again look at the CAMHS statistics for Forth Valley in my region. Recent figures showed that NHS Forth Valley has missed a key child mental health waiting time target. Between January and March 2023, 42 per cent began treatment within 18 weeks, which is absolutely disgusting considering that the target is 90 per cent. Less than half of our young people are being seen within the allocated timeframe. More than two thirds are waiting over a year to begin treatment in the first place. Failing to solve the CAMHS crisis will lead to poor mental health outcomes for future generations.

My third point is about the early years. The proposal for the 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare was well discussed when I was a councillor, and we were constantly reassured that the only way to ensure the provision was to work actively and proactively with childminders and the private nursery sector. It was also highly stressed that the aim was to facilitate a blended approach, allowing parents to plan and utilise the correct variables and choices of childcare that were right for their child’s needs.

It was always going to be impossible to meet the targets without the support of childminders and the private nursery sector. Therefore, I wonder what has happened. Why do we now have private nurseries closing, fewer centres providing funded early learning and childcare than in 2021, and fewer three and four-year-olds registered than in 2021? Why have a third of childminders quit the profession since 2016, and why are we being advised that the number will increase to 64 per cent, which means that almost two thirds of childminders will be gone within the next three years?

Audit Scotland found that the Scottish Government’s previous flagship policy to reduce child poverty—the 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare—was now “fragile” due to

“budget pressures and risks around workforce and the sustainability of funded providers ... which are important to achieving the intended policy outcomes.”

Surely, child poverty is still high on the agenda. I look forward to the Scottish Government sorting out that situation as a matter of urgency.

It is impossible for the SNP to get it right for every child and to achieve the transformational change to which the minister refers when its policies are failing young children across Scotland right now. When we eventually get some detail about the early childhood development transformational change programme, I hope that the SNP will stand up, recognise the implications for the Promise and finally make tangible inroads on the outcomes for all Scotland’s children.

I move amendment S6M-11053.2, to leave out from “the need” to end and insert:

“that work must be done to act on the unique and critical period of child development from pre-pregnancy to age three, when experiences and the environment shape the foundations for life and population health, including physical and mental health and wellbeing, life expectancy, educational attainment and participation in the economy and community; is committed to focussing collective efforts on giving all babies and children in Scotland the best possible start; regrets, however, that it cannot welcome an Early Child Development Transformational Change programme without the detail of what this programme entails; believes that there must be a new Early Years Framework, which was last updated in 2009; notes that, under the Scottish National Party administration, Scotland does not have an excellent and world-leading practice; understands that the Scottish Government has downgraded neonatal services across Scotland and is failing to support children and families pre-birth; acknowledges that the childminding workforce has declined by a third since 2016 and that an Audit Scotland report concluded that the early years and childcare sector is fragile due to budget pressures and risks around workforce sustainability; recognises the mental health crisis among children and young people, which can lead to significant problems later in life; is concerned that the Scottish Government failed to meet its target to clear Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) waiting lists, and calls on the Scottish Government to meet its target for 90% of children and young people to start treatment within 18 weeks, which it has never done before.”