Hansard

We are consulting on that matter, which will be considered in anticipation of the bill.

In August 2023, I was very proud to introduce the Scottish recommended allowance for kinship and foster carers, which benefits more than 9,000 families and ensures that, for the first time, every eligible foster and kinship carer receives at least a standard national allowance. Last week, we launched a new kinship care assessment framework, which is intended to assist social work practitioners to assess kinship carers and their needs.

I recently met foster carers and their families in Perth, where I launched the next stage of our work to set out a vision for the future of foster care in Scotland—a vision that prioritises children’s experiences in order to best meet their varied needs. It is vital that Scotland has enough capacity to provide loving care, so, in 2025, we will prioritise a national campaign to recruit more foster carers.

Scotland’s children’s hearings system continues to play a pivotal role in our support and decision making. I am grateful to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration and to Scotland’s diverse pool of panel members, who continue to support children, young people and families who attend hearings. I am also grateful to Sheriff Mackie for the work that he has undertaken with those with lived experience of the children’s hearings system to lay the foundations for a redesign of that system that best meets the needs of our children and young people. The next stage of development in advance of the legislative and non-legislative change that is required is under way.

In May 2024, I was honoured to support the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024 into law. That has already facilitated an end to the placement of children in young offenders institutions in Scotland. For our children and young people who are engaged with the justice system, we have taken a significant step forward with the bairns’ hoose pathfinders and affiliate test sites under way, backed by an investment of £10 million.

I recognise that young people who are transitioning out of children’s services might still need access to financial, practical and emotional support at that stage in life. We continue to work closely with corporate parents and our partners to better co-ordinate and make available the support that is required by those who are leaving care. We will continue to make improvements in the year ahead, including through the development of the care leaver payment, which will be co-designed with care-experienced people and those who support them.

We will also take action in response to what we have heard in the recent moving on from care into adulthood consultation and the Care Inspectorate thematic review of transitions for care-experienced young people.

As minister, I have had the privilege visiting a broad range of projects and meeting some incredible care-experienced children and young people along the way. I am encouraged by the quality of work that is under way throughout Scotland. In education, we have provided more than £60 million to local authorities through the care-experienced children and young people fund. We have also seen real successes in schools across Scotland through the virtual headteacher network and other supports that aim to increase attendance, improve attainment and reduce exclusion.

In housing, I have met staff and young people who are involved in the Midlothian house project and heard about the real impact that the team has had on their lives. The project won the outstanding corporate parent award at the first corporate parenting award ceremony that was held last August.

Through the Promise partnership fund, we have supported projects such as the Aberlour perinatal befriending service, which is an early intervention approach for mothers and mothers-to-be with mild to moderate perinatal mental health illnesses. I also recently visited Young Scot and spoke to young people about their experiences of transitioning out of care. I heard about the difference that the Promise is making and how those young people can see that changes are happening.

I know that good things are happening in every corner of Scotland on the Promise, and I encourage local systems to challenge themselves, to learn from each other and to continue to build a culture where the best of practice is the reality for all children and their families. Understanding the progress that has been made so far is essential in ensuring that we remain on track, but also so that we can flex and direct that attention where it is required, informing the oversight board for the Promise, as it holds all of Scotland to account on progress.

I also know that statistics alone are not enough. We will continue to ensure that the voices of our care-experienced children and young people remain at the heart of our story of change. For example, our joint work with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and The Promise Scotland to develop the Promise stories of progress project will launch by the end of this year.

As I have set out, implementing change requires partnership across the board. To help enable that, the Government is committed to introducing a Promise bill during the current parliamentary session and I hope that we will be able to pass it with cross-party support. Again, in the spirit of collaboration and keeping in mind the collective promise that all of us have made to care-experienced children and young people, I hope that all parties will commit to working constructively together on that legislation when it is introduced.

I lodged the motion to acknowledge the commitment that this Parliament made to keep the Promise to care-experienced people by 2030. The Government’s focus is on action that will help children, young people and families across Scotland. Keeping the Promise will have benefits for everyone in Scotland. That is why the legislation that we will introduce by the end of the current parliamentary session will provide the further direction that we need.

By voting in favour of the motion, members will send a message to the children, young people, adults and families across Scotland with care experience that their voice matters. They will be supported in the years ahead and the Promise that we made as a Parliament four years ago will not be broken.

I move,

That the Parliament reaffirms its collective commitment to Keep The Promise by 2030.