Hansard

I thank the many organisations that provided useful briefings ahead of the debate.

Yesterday, during the programme for government statement, the First Minister said:

“No child should have their opportunities, development, health and wellbeing and future curtailed by the material wealth of their family—not ever, and certainly not today, in a modern and prosperous society such as Scotland.”

I agree. We all want a Scotland where everyone and every child can realise their potential.

The programme for government was an opportunity to take stock of the Government’s successes and failures. I agree with the First Minister when he says:

“families thrive when they are supported by co-ordinated holistic services that meet their needs and are easy to access.”—[Official Report, 4 September 2024; c 24.]

That is why I am disappointed that health and housing have had such a low priority in the child poverty actions and are not even referenced in the Government motion.

After 17 years of the Scottish National Party being in government and having full control over those policy areas, the facts speak for themselves. The percentage of children in Scotland who are waiting more than 12 weeks for medical care has increased by almost 50 per cent. The total number of children on waiting lists sits at more than 10,000, which is a 114 per cent increase. To borrow from the cabinet secretary, those are SNP waiting lists. The number of children who are homeless and living in temporary accommodation has reached more than 16,000—that is SNP child homelessness.

The Government is not making the progress that it promised. The health and housing situation for children—often the most vulnerable children in our society—is only getting worse. There is a cross-party consensus in the Parliament and, perhaps more importantly, in the charities and public bodies that work in communities across Scotland, that we should take action to make change in that area.

The Government motion states:

“sustained and cohesive effort is needed across all levels of government and in all parts of society to deliver on this national mission”.

I agree with that. However, if ministers are serious about eliminating child poverty and about that being the Government’s number 1 priority, we need a renewed focus on outcomes, not on Government processes, which is all that we have seen to date.

Alongside Jackie Baillie, I recently co-chaired a parliamentary round table that was organised by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health to discuss the recommendations in its report “Worried and Waiting: A review of paediatric waiting times in Scotland 2024”. I have to say that, along with many MSPs who are in the chamber, I was concerned by what the professionals had to say. I make the sincere plea to the First Minister to meet the RCPCH urgently to consider some of its recommendations on the need to make child poverty and child health outcomes go hand in hand. We need action. The waiting times that we see are the next big scandal facing the Government.

I know that, since the pandemic, many MSPs will have started to receive examples in their casework of unacceptable failures to deliver health and mental wellbeing care and support on time. We need to see action on that. I request that the First Minister urgently looks at the recommendations that the royal college has outlined, which it would be fully realistic and affordable for the Scottish Government to take forward. One of those recommendations is to conduct a full review of the child health workforce to ensure that it is sufficiently resourced and funded, and specifically to look at the creation of a bespoke child health workforce strategy. We can all agree that those things would make a difference. I would also ask the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care to consider the challenges and make a statement to Parliament on them, because they are only getting worse on the Government’s watch.

I have been disappointed to date in the limited progress that has been made by Government to end the practice of children and young people being placed in adult mental health services. I have held round-table meetings and we have had meetings all summer, yet ministers have not acted on the challenges and the practice continues. We need leadership. I hope that the health secretary, although he is not here in the chamber, will look at how we act on that.

The housing emergency is one of the key areas that the Government needs to act on. I welcome some of the changes to the Housing (Scotland) Bill outlined in the programme for government and I look forward to meeting the Minister for Housing to discuss them. In many ways, however, the changes that have been proposed are fixing the mess that was created during the period of the SNP-Green coalition Government. During the consideration of the national planning framework, I, alongside industry leaders, warned ministers that without a pipeline of land supply for new homes, we would see housing developments and home completions significantly reducing, which is what has happened.

As the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations points out in its briefing, the pipeline of new social homes is slowing to worrying levels. Housing association starts were just 2,073 homes in 2023, which is the lowest number since 1988. The proposals that the Government is now making look almost identical to what I tried to get into the national planning framework, so I welcome much of that. However, the mid-market rent sector has collapsed in Scotland and the pledge for 2,800 homes is low in comparison with what can, and should be, achieved.

The rent controls policy, although politically well meaning in the short term, has had long-term consequences, which we need to accept. As a result, renters, particularly in the capital, are being priced out of homes—that is especially the case for new tenants who are trying to find a home.

Missing from the actions to tackle the housing crisis are new actions on void and empty properties, and I know that many SNP members who serve on the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee are as frustrated about the issue as I am. In Edinburgh, there are 3,000 council-owned properties that are sitting empty. That is totally unacceptable. That number has remained at that level for years now, including during the housing emergency we are experiencing in the capital. One of my requests to ministers is for them to take forward a joint piece of work with councils to urgently audit and allocate those properties to get them back into use.