Hansard

However, those opportunities and powers are not at our disposal today, so we must take forward our priorities in the current economic and fiscal context.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government will update Parliament on our expectations of the financial position, but I can say to Parliament that the cumulative effect of the high inflation that we have experienced, austerity and Brexit is placing enormous financial pressure on the resources that are available to the Government, and that will have an effect on the priorities that we can deliver.

With that important context, I will outline the four priorities that will guide my Government’s decisions on policy and budget—the four priorities around which I will work to secure cross-party support for the good of the people of Scotland.

My first priority is to eradicate child poverty—not tackle or reduce child poverty, but eradicate it. That will be the single most important objective of my Government and my Cabinet, because child poverty stunts the progress of any nation, and it stands in the way of social justice and economic growth. My Cabinet will do everything in our power—including listening to and working with members across the chamber—to achieve our aim.

The Scottish child payment is a significant step forward. It is one of the most impactful measures in the effort to eradicate child poverty. However, I recognise that we need to do more. Last week, I confirmed the opening of a £1.5 million fund to support councils in removing school meal debt from families across the country. That will help to ensure that no child is penalised because their family struggled to pay for school meals during a cost of living crisis.

The Government recognises that one of the most effective ways of tackling child poverty is by enabling parents and carers to enter sustainable employment. We will look to deliver further measures that will support families to enter the labour market through training and educational opportunities, employability support, access to childcare, and access to other public services that can assist in that effort.

The second of my priorities is to grow Scotland’s economy. From tourism to finance and technology to food and drink exports, we will work to create growth and jobs and to maximise the huge economic opportunities that lie ahead.

Scotland’s creative industries are another vital contributor to the economic growth of the country. That is why we are growing investment in culture and screen by £100 million over the coming years. That will ensure that there are more opportunities not only to participate in the arts but for Scotland to reap the economic rewards of the creativity of our nation.

We will work with partners to remove obstacles to the delivery of economic opportunities in Scotland, and we will go all out to encourage investment in Scotland and in the huge potential that we have here—including in renewable energy, on which we can lead the world.

We will strengthen the support for innovation that has been anchored by the investment in the Techscaler programme and in the package of entrepreneurship measures that were set out by the Deputy First Minister on Monday.

Partnership working will be key to helping our businesses boost profitability and create jobs, which will, in turn, help our people to live happier and healthier lives, with higher living standards. The Government will also encourage close alignment between the work of our universities and business to maximise the economic possibilities from the outstanding research base in Scotland.

In modern Scotland, it should not be a struggle to find fair work or to raise a family. For me and for my Government, eradicating child poverty and boosting economic growth go hand in hand. I am therefore pleased to announce the next steps that we are taking in our drive to eradicate child poverty.

Over the next two years, we will invest £16 million to tackle poverty and help families by expanding access to childcare services within six early adopter community projects. That investment will support low-income families to enter and sustain employment, with funding targeted at those who are most at risk of living in poverty. The investment will enable us to work with local authorities and communities to better understand what it takes to design and deliver local childcare systems that support families with children, from nine months to the end of primary school.

We are already delivering innovative school-age childcare services through our early adopter projects in Glasgow, Inverclyde, Clackmannanshire and Dundee, and families are already seeing the benefits of those services. Today, I am announcing that that new funding will be available to expand that work and to learn more about what childcare should look like for younger children, including in new early adopter communities in Fife and Shetland. That will ensure that children, parents and providers play an important role in designing childcare services that work for them. It will contribute to the eradication of child poverty, and it will support economic growth by helping parents and carers to move into or stay in work through access to affordable childcare.

Growing the economy will also be achieved through the third of my key priorities: tackling the climate emergency by investing in green energy and infrastructure. The threat posed by the climate emergency—and the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss—is real and present, but so is the opportunity to successfully reach net zero and beyond.

The recent significant investments made by Sumitomo and Haventus are illustrations of the type of investments that the Government is determined to attract to Scotland. We will align the capacity generated by our vibrant entrepreneurial nation with our world-leading academic and research institutions, our valuable natural resources and our businesses and communities in a shared agenda to deliver net zero.

According to Office for National Statistics estimates, in 2022, Scotland’s renewable energy sector generated £13 billion in turnover and supported more than 25,000 full-time equivalent jobs across Scotland. Analysis shows that, with the right support, the number of low-carbon energy production jobs is estimated to rise to 77,000 by 2050, and supply chain development statements forecast that £25 billion of investment is possible across the supply chain from ScotWind projects alone.

In a modern, prosperous Scotland, we must invest in tackling the climate emergency in a way that creates jobs and brings local businesses and communities with us on that journey.

Eradicating child poverty, growing the economy and tackling the climate emergency all link together to support my fourth key priority: to improve Scotland’s public services—not as a cost, but as a vital investment in our future health, equality and prosperity.

The Government will focus on supporting the national health service to recover from the significant disruption due to Covid. We will work with our local authority partners through the Verity house agreement across a range of policy areas, including to continue to improve educational performance and to deliver sustainable social care by reducing delayed discharge.

We will work with partners to improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system to deliver better for victims, and we will engage constructively to expand housing supply to meet the needs of the population and tackle homelessness.

I will set out how my Government and my Cabinet will take practical steps to deliver in those four priority areas when I present my programme for government before the summer recess. Cross-Government work on my four priorities has been under way since I took office, and the actions that my Cabinet will take to deliver on those priorities will be submitted to Parliament for debate before the summer recess.

The programme for government will be central to a wider range of decision making that will happen before the summer on key issues relating to energy, oil and gas, reform of the health service and taxation. Action will be set out on each, to tackle the challenges facing Scotland today.

As set out to the Finance and Public Administration Committee, in June, we will also publish the medium-term financial strategy—alongside a revised tax strategy and infrastructure investment plan pipeline, setting out the position on the public finances—which will contain critical information on the challenges that we face in public finances and the actions that the Government is taking to address them.

That timing ensures that our programme for government and our fiscal strategy are developed in lockstep, with strategies and approaches aligned. It also ensures that we respect and give time to the vital role of the Scottish Fiscal Commission in developing its fiscal forecasts. Quite simply, that is good governance.

There are many strengths in our country today. We have a talented population, abundant natural resources and dedicated public servants working hard to support our communities. However, we are also operating in a very challenging financial and economic context. It is in that reality that my Government will offer leadership to the country and a willingness to work collaboratively in Parliament to chart a way forward.

My Government does not command a majority in the Parliament. We will be able to tackle the challenges that we face only if we can win the support of others. On this first occasion when I am setting out the priorities of my Government, I set out my willingness to co-operate beyond the Government with other parties to deliver for our people.

I want my country to do well. I know that others in the chamber across all parties want Scotland to do well, too. I offer to bring Parliament together on a shared agenda to make our country better. I invite Parliament to work with me on that journey.