Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 05 February 2025
05 Feb 2025 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Addressing Child Poverty through Education
I will start where Ross Greer finished off. He talked about the roles of schools and the social worker role that they have in addition to the role of education worker. It has always been the case, to some degree, that schools have played an important role in the fabric of the community and the family, but there is no doubt that the balance has shifted in recent years. We now place a significant burden on schools and teachers. We expect them to perform miracles—and sometimes they do perform miracles; they do an outstanding job—but there is now a pressure-cooker atmosphere in some schools, with issues around behaviour, absences, more than 40 per cent of pupils having additional support needs, and family breakdowns. The reach of the school is so much greater now; therefore, the responsibility is great. I worry about our expectations of teachers, and I worry that the balance sometimes shifts too far away from the core of what schools do, which is about education.
To some extent, I disagree with Ross Greer, as I think that education is the great leveller. It gives opportunities, and I have seen it give many families great opportunities for them to succeed in life. We should not lose sight of that important role.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Annabelle Ewing)
SNP
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-16330, in the name of Jenny Gilruth, on addressing child poverty through education. 15:18
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (Jenny Gilruth)
SNP
The number 1 priority for the Government is the eradication of child poverty. It is an aspiration that I would hope that every MSP shares, and it is why the ...
Jeremy Balfour (Lothian) (Con)
Con
We have reached a 20-year high for the number of children who are in temporary accommodation. What will the cabinet secretary say to those children about the...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
The member raises an important point about temporary accommodation. I know that the matter is being taken forward by the Minister for Housing and the Cabinet...
Martin Whitfield (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for taking an intervention. Does she know when the Scottish Government will be in a position to publish the analysis o...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I outlined that we will be sharing the learning in spring, so we would seek to publish the data at that time. I invite the member, and members across the cha...
Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Is the cabinet secretary able to say whether such work will include looking at the school uniform grant rising in line with inflation?
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
My understanding is that we have already looked at increasing the school clothing grant in line with inflation. I am happy to write to Monica Lennon to confi...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
I call Miles Briggs to speak to and move amendment S6M-16330.4. 15:30
Miles Briggs (Lothian) (Con)
Con
I welcome this debate, which is being held in Government time, and I will take the opportunity to do something that is unusual when debating education—I can ...
Martin Whitfield
Lab
I am grateful to Miles Briggs for taking my intervention. I do not disagree in any way, shape or form with his very eloquent description of the challenges th...
Miles Briggs
Con
I absolutely agree. The issue transcends the debate and affects the whole pupil population. That is why, for some time and especially following the pandemic,...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
I call Pam Duncan-Glancy to speak to and move amendment S6M-16330.3. 15:37
Pam Duncan-Glancy (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
I am pleased to open the debate on behalf of Scottish Labour. As I have said in the Parliament before, education is a great leveller and can determine a pers...
Ross Greer (West Scotland) (Green)
Green
I am grateful to the Government for bringing this debate to the chamber. It would be wrong to suggest that we can end child poverty through education. We can...
Pam Duncan-Glancy
Lab
The member makes a really good case for the roles that education can and cannot provide. Does he welcome the fact that 200,000 Scots will get a pay rise as a...
Ross Greer
Green
I absolutely do welcome the rise in the minimum wage. I would welcome it far more if the UK Government would commit to keeping the national minimum wage at l...
Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD)
LD
I will start where Ross Greer finished off. He talked about the roles of schools and the social worker role that they have in addition to the role of educati...
Martin Whitfield
Lab
Is it not the case that, at the moment, schools seem to be dealing with the very bottom layers of the hierarchy of needs—housing, food and safety—rather than...
Willie Rennie
LD
Yes, I agree. That is not to say that the social role that the schools provide is not important, because it is incredibly important and schools do it well. T...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
We now move to the open debate. I advise members that we have a bit of time in hand, should members wish to take interventions. I call Clare Haughey, who wil...
Clare Haughey (Rutherglen) (SNP)
SNP
The First Minister declared that tackling child poverty is the national mission of this Scottish parliamentary session. Our education system, as a universal ...
Martin Whitfield
Lab
The advice that we received from Save the Children, which Clare Haughey referenced, talks about the importance of a child’s first two years, but what support...
Clare Haughey
SNP
I am not sure whether Martin Whitfield is aware of my background, but I spent about 15 years working in perinatal mental health before I came to the Parliame...
Jeremy Balfour (Lothian) (Con)
Con
I agree with the cabinet secretary and Mr Rennie that education is a vital tool in tackling poverty. Giving our young people the best education possible give...
Jenny Gilruth
SNP
I remind Mr Balfour that the OECD described the 2022 version of the PISA statistics as the “pandemic edition” when it was published. Does he recognise that t...
Jeremy Balfour
Con
I accept it, but does the cabinet secretary accept that the OECD also tells us that the issues were there before Covid? Those underlying issues were there be...
Bill Kidd (Glasgow Anniesland) (SNP)
SNP
The motion notes the report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which predicts that child poverty rates in Scotland will decline by 2029 while rates in the ...
Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Presiding Officer, “Growing up in one of Scotland’s most deprived communities is likely to put a person at the bottom of the class and, in too many instance...
Collette Stevenson (East Kilbride) (SNP)
SNP
We know that children and young people do not exist in isolation. They are directly and indirectly affected by their parents or carers and by economic stabil...