Hansard

Presiding Officer,

“We grow up loved, safe and respected so that we realise our full potential.”

No law can achieve such an ambition on its own, but it can create the conditions, the support and the services that make it possible. That is what the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill does.

I thank every child, young person and adult with care experience who has contributed their views, experiences and ideas to shape the bill. I know that some of them planned to be in the gallery for the debate and many more are watching online.

When Fiona Duncan agreed to lead Scotland’s independent care review in 2016, she set in motion the action that was needed to challenge, encourage and transform the system—and that continues to this day. Equally, I recognise the leadership of our former First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, whose commitment to the Promise helped to ensure that the findings of the care review were not only heard but acted on. Her determination to place care-experienced children and young people at the centre of national policy has been instrumental in driving that work forward and setting the direction that we continue to build on today.

I also thank the committed individuals and organisations across Scotland who are working tirelessly every day to implement the Promise and improve lives. It has been a privilege to visit many of them, to see their work at first hand and to witness their passion and determination.

The bill gives effect to the five foundations of the care review. We promised that children would be listened to and meaningfully and appropriately involved in all decisions about their care. Through the bill, children and adults with care experience will have a right to independent advocacy. We are making changes to the children’s hearings system to make it more child centred and rights respecting. By bringing key services within the scope of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, we are putting children’s rights at the heart of the care system.

We promised that, where children are safe, loved and supported in their families, they should stay with them. Through the bill, we are making family group decision making more consistently available and introducing a right to request it. We are strengthening support for kinship carers, and a national register of foster carers will help to protect children and ensure better matching with carers.

We promised that, where living with family is not possible, children should stay with their brothers and sisters where it is safe to do so and belong to a loving home for as long as they need to. The bill commits to annually uprating kinship care and foster care allowances, extends continuing care to the age of 26 and limits the ability to make profit from the provision of children’s care services.

We promised that children would be supported to build and sustain relationships with the workforce and their wider communities. We are creating a new system of aftercare, offering advice, guidance and support during the critical years, and we are strengthening corporate parenting duties.

We also promised that the system would be responsive and that the scaffolding of support would be there when needed. Through the bill, we are promoting greater understanding of care experience. We are strengthening children’s services planning and accountability. Changes to the children’s hearings system will improve timescales, consistency and continuity—something that we heard very strongly from those who had experience of the hearings system.

On that, I want to recognise the amazing work of the young people who were involved in Our Hearings, Our Voice. Their voices and work have been instrumental in transforming the hearing system, and they should be proud of the contribution that they have made to the bill.

Many of those measures have been shaped by members from across the chamber, and I thank them for their thoughtful and constructive engagement, which continued right up to our stage 3 deliberations yesterday. Our willingness to work together sends a clear message to children and young people in care, and to those who have been in care, that this Parliament is determined to keep the Promise by 2030.

I recognise that concerns about deliverability have been raised, and I understand those, but the bill was always intended to be ambitious, because delivering the Promise demands ambition from all of us. The Government is committed to working with partners to ensure that delivery is not only possible but meaningful.

I am not seeking re-election, so there will be a new minister to take the work forward. I want to take a moment to say how much it has meant to me. I have put my heart and soul into the bill and have prioritised it above everything else. I have worked harder on this than on anything I have ever done. I do not say that for recognition; I say it because of how deeply I care.

One of the most meaningful parts of my role has been meeting young people with care experience and I am truly grateful to every one of you who gave me your time. Those conversations kept me focused and determined. You were never afraid to challenge me—ministers might think that committee scrutiny is tough, but it is nothing compared with walking into a room full of young people who have strong views on the Promise. You asked the hard questions and that mattered. Listening to your experiences of loneliness, anxiety, distrust and struggle stayed with me.

At times, I shared parts of my own story because I wanted people to know that I understood their story, too. I remember telling one group that I still feel uneasy when there is an unexpected knock at my door, because, when I was growing up, that rarely meant good news for me. I grew up in a world where distrust in services was normal, yet here I am, in politics, meeting senior officials, police leaders and educators. That journey has not been easy. Overcoming that distrust and the impostor syndrome that comes with it has taken time and those feelings do not disappear—people just learn how to manage them.

This is not about me. I am deeply grateful to have been given the opportunity to lead the work and I thank the First Minister for giving me that opportunity and for his commitment to ensuring that the Promise remains a Government priority.

My background did not set me on a path to become a politician, let alone a Government minister, but I hope that, by stepping into this role, I have shown any child or young person who feels that their future is hopeless, as I once did, that it is not. You have so much to give and I am living proof of that. Do not give up.

I do not have time to say everything that I would like to, so I will close by once again thanking everyone: the children and young people, the organisations, my officials, members from across the chamber and everyone who has contributed to the bill. It has honestly been the honour of my life.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees that the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill be passed.

17:53