Meeting of the Parliament 14 March 2024
I am happy to close the debate on the committee’s report on addressing child poverty through parental employment, on behalf of my party. I am proud of the work that the committee has done over the past year or so. I thank everyone who contributed to our report, all who engaged with us as we gathered evidence, and our clerks for their help in drafting the report. Sadly, I am the last member standing in that I am the only member who was on the committee at the beginning of the inquiry and is still on the committee today.
I will pick up on an interesting point that Maggie Chapman made. It would be worth checking, but I estimate that around 90 per cent of the people we took evidence from and who told us about their experiences were women. Although we did not deliberately take that approach, the report therefore reflects many of the views held by women in Scotland today.
Child poverty in any form is absolutely unacceptable. It is a shame on all of us that, in 21st century Scotland, children are still going to bed hungry. I hope that our report can be part of a conversation that will move us towards eradicating poverty in this country.
The report is long, but a number of excellent speakers were able to outline its key findings. Miles Briggs and other members mentioned data. Paul O’Kane and others spoke about achieving change further and faster. Undoubtedly, the debate has concentrated on two factors: childcare and transport. I will spend the short time that is available to me by highlighting a couple of the findings that have already been picked up. Everyone has identified those two issues, but we have to start working together on finding solutions to them.
If we are to get people into work, we have to ensure that they can get there in the first place. We no longer live in the world of the last century, in which our local communities provided ample working opportunities. Instead, we live in a society in which the majority of people have to undertake some form of commute before they get to their place of work. If someone is unable to drive because of financial restraints or disability, their only option is to use public transport. Unfortunately, there can be a lack of such services, especially for people who do not live in cities. For example, a few years ago, before I came to the Parliament, I considered applying for a job in the Highlands. There was one bus per day from the centre of the place where I would be working to the place where I might live, and one bus per day back again, which meant that it was never going to be possible for me to do that job.
The report highlights the major issue of people who work shifts or who need to travel outside office hours, when the frequency of transport services can be much reduced or even non-existent. During our evidence gathering, several respondents raised concerns about the recent cancellation of vital bus routes across the country. That underlines the findings of the report that the Parliament’s cross-party group on disability produced on the experience of disabled people across the country. Over and over again, we heard that there is a lack of bus services for people who live in more remote areas, which makes it near impossible for people without cars to get around easily there. The problem is even worse for people with disabilities, because much of our public transport is not accessible. We have heard about train stations with no lifts or ramps and buses that have space for only one wheelchair or buggy to be on board at a time.
If we are hoping to address child poverty by encouraging parents into employment, we must ensure that they can get to their place of work. For that reason, I strongly underline the committee’s recommendations to the Scottish Government on considering how public transport services can be designed and better supported to provide more affordable, frequent and direct services for young people and for parents.
I will finish by talking briefly about employability services. The support that they can provide to those who aspire to be in work can be truly life changing. Over the past year I have met representatives of Fedcap, which is a provider of such services here in my Lothian region, but also works across the country. Some of the stories that I heard were inspiring, and they showed the difference that investment in people can make to their lives. As we say in the committee report, it is very important that the Government makes it clear how it will scale up employability services, especially following the end of the fair start Scotland contract this year, and how, specifically, it will allocate funds to employability for parents.
I whole-heartedly endorse the committee’s report and I hope that, in her closing speech, the minister can shed some light on how the Government will address some of our recommendations.
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