Barnardo's
The final item of business is a members' business debate on motion S2M-2504, in the name of Robert Brown, on the centenary of Barnardo's. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes the centenary of the death of Dr Thomas Barnardo in 1905; recognises that, although it no longer runs orphanages, the charity he founded has grown and developed over the years, and congratulates the modern-day Barnardo's for its work, which includes the management of 60 services that support almost 10,000 of Scotland's most vulnerable and disadvantaged children and families to overcome challenges including sexual abuse, exclusion from school, HIV/AIDS, leaving care, substance misuse, disabilities, mental health issues and social exclusion.
Since 1999, the Scottish Parliament has devoted a considerable amount of its time to issues to do with children and young people. It has devoted a considerable amount of time to improving schools and the school experience, to truancy, discipline, the curriculum, early years provision, child abuse, child protection, fostering, adoption, motivating young people, and to children from fractured families, not least those who are brought up in care. Our purpose—the noblest purpose that there can be—is to ensure that every young person reaches their potential in life and is nurtured in a secure and stimulating environment.
Many of the principles of that work—some of which we take for granted and some of which we are discovering anew—were known to and pioneered by Dr Thomas Barnardo, who died 100 years ago this year. In the 21st century, it is difficult to realise how revolutionary and modern his ideas were in the second part of the 19th century, which was the age of the poor law, the workhouse and Oliver Twist. It was an age in which poverty was the fault of the poor—and probably hereditary, to boot—and in which consciences were eased by the philosophy of Thomas Malthus, who asserted that poverty is an inevitable result of iron economic laws.
Dr Barnardo would have none of that. He believed—as his organisation believes today—that every child, whatever their background, deserves the best possible start in life and that families are the best place to bring up children. His homes equipped young people with skills and crafts so that they could make their own way in life. He established the first fostering schemes and carried out what would now be described as street work in going out into the slums of London to find destitute boys.
I am glad to have the opportunity to recognise the contribution that has been made by Dr Barnardo and Barnardo's to the welfare of children over almost 140 years. The debate also gives me an opportunity to speak a little about the role and value of voluntary sector organisations in general in providing children's services.
In earlier days, the central need was to provide physical shelter for children, combined with what would now be seen as an excessive dose of moral guidance. Around 350,000 children were cared for in Barnardo's homes over the years, but from the 1960s, Barnardo's moved into more specialist support work with disabled children and those with social, emotional and behavioural problems. Indeed, the last traditional Barnardo's home closed in 1989. Unfortunately, the homes were not entirely immune in earlier generations from the abuse and neglect that happened in other residential care homes—that issue was the subject of a painful debate in the Parliament only a few weeks ago. Barnardo's deeply regrets the treatment that some children suffered all those years ago.
Scotland still wrestles with how to give young people in care a better start in life, but Barnardo's went back to the inspiration of its founder to pioneer new schemes for disabled children. The organisation is still extremely active in youth homelessness and is heavily involved in working with substance abuse issues. Those are some of the issues with which it has been involved.
In Scotland, there are around 60 services, which support almost 10,000 vulnerable and disadvantaged children and families. In Glasgow, the street-work team is funded partly by Barnardo's and partly through the rough sleepers initiative. Last year, the team dealt with 279 young people and it is very much at the sharp end. Apna provides support for Asian families with disabled children and the Barnardo's Glasgow 16+ project provides support—including supported lodgings—for over-16s who are coming out of care. That is very much an issue that the Parliament and the Education Committee have considered. Resilience in north Glasgow—RING—provides befriending and individual counselling for children and young people who are involved in the children's hearings system or the criminal courts, and the shield fostering service offers placements for children who are under 13 and have emotional or behavioural difficulties, together with support to enable children to stay in their families.
The Dundee family support team has been active for more than 20 years, and in Aberdeen, the home from home service provides respite breaks and foster care services for disabled children and their families. Barnardo's family placement services in Edinburgh provide similar services to children who need to spend time apart from their families. The services range from short breaks to post-adoption services, and referrals are often received when councils have been unable to make successful placements. The range of services that exists speaks volumes about the contribution that Barnardo's makes to our society.
Like other independent and charitable sector bodies, Barnardo's Scotland often works in partnership with councils to provide services, complement statutory services, fill in gaps and reach the most disadvantaged children and young people. Voluntary organisations such as Barnardo's have many advantages. They are more accessible, informal and person centred. They bring in additional funding—some £3 million to children's services in Scotland in the case of Barnardo's—and they are flexible and adaptable in dealing with new issues and demands. They can develop specialised skills and, above all, they have the human touch, which is often missing from the lives of vulnerable young people and is not always there across all services that are provided in other ways.
When the minister responds, I hope that she will give us an update on the progress that has been made by the working party that is operating with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations on full cost recovery. Barnardo's estimates that its management and administration costs average about 15 per cent, although councils seem typically to pay only about half that. I hope, too, that the minister might help—as the Executive has been trying to do since 1999—to ensure stability of funding for the voluntary sector. A decision on whether the Barnardo's Glasgow street-work team would receive one-year project funding through the rough sleepers initiative was due in March, but that decision was not taken until July, which caused job uncertainty for staff and uncertainty for a project that affects many desperately vulnerable young people. In the relationship between government in its various manifestations and the voluntary sector, this is an old tune, but stable core funding, adequate recompense for management costs, timeousness in decision making and longer-term funding arrangements are still vital.
Barnardo's vision is that the lives of children and young people should be free from poverty, abuse and discrimination, and its purpose is to help the most vulnerable children and young people to transform their lives and fulfil their potential. Barnardo's is still—140 years on—helping disadvantaged children to reach their full potential. Barnardo's calls it giving children back their future. To borrow a phase from elsewhere, I like that.
I congratulate Robert Brown on securing this evening's debate, which marks 100 years since the death of Dr Thomas Barnardo. Although the past 100 years have brought hugely welcome changes in attitudes to child poverty and homelessness, those social evils are still with us, if not in the extreme form of Victorian times. Thankfully, the orphanages that were synonymous with the Barnardo's name, which were life-saving but hardly life-enhancing institutions, are also consigned to the past.
Given the social and economic advances of the past 100 years, one might have hoped that the services of charities such as Barnardo's would no longer be necessary. Sadly, that is not the case. Barnardo's still plays a highly relevant and responsible role in our communities, dealing with deprivation and homelessness through the medium of family support services. I pay tribute to the work of Barnardo's in that regard, especially in the South Ayrshire Council area. There, Barnardo's works in close partnership with the education, health and housing services, among others. For the past 12 years or more, it has played a key role in co-ordinating services for homeless families with children or families that are becoming homeless. In 2003-04, Barnardo's helped 117 families with 212 children to resettle and reconnect with the community when all the normal linkages that we take for granted had been badly disrupted. For example, if someone is living in temporary accommodation in January, where do they go to register a child for school in August?
The Barnardo's service has also been instrumental in reducing placements into unsuitable accommodation that is unsustainable in terms of affordability or size. Recent improvements include a dramatic increase in the number of families that maintain their tenancies after resettlement. In South Ayrshire, 90 per cent of tenancies are now maintained after a year, compared with a rate just a few years ago of a little over half. Given the shortage of affordable and appropriate local accommodation and recent changes to the housing benefit rules, which have hindered the smooth transition from temporary to permanent accommodation, those are remarkable figures and a testament to the effectiveness of the interagency working that is being achieved in that area.
I am aware of a Barnardo's children's rights and advocacy service in the north Ayr social inclusion partnership area that aims to raise awareness and develop confidence among children in what services are and should be available locally, and to recruit young advocates, who play an important role in dealing with mental health issues among young people and with the forthcoming implementation of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.
In short, Barnardo's provides an invaluable service to the people of South Ayrshire and I thank it for that.
I, too, thank Robert Brown for the debate. As all members here tonight will know, it does not reflect a transient interest in the subject; as convener of the Education Committee, Robert Brown always stands up powerfully for the interests of the voluntary sector.
I start with the special contribution of pioneering voluntary organisations. It is not just Barnardo's that has been ahead of the game for 100 years. We benefit from the same pattern of voluntary organisations being ahead of Governments in a number of fields besides children's services. Leonard Cheshire has led in the field of disability for the past 50 years, as have other organisations in the hospice movement for the past 20 years and in debt relief for the past 10 years.
As this is a members' business debate, I will focus on the modern contribution of Barnardo's in my constituency. Members will not be aware of the Paisley threads project, which was established five or six years ago. It is a Barnardo's project that provides a support service for young parents and tenants. It is run on a voluntary basis and the voluntary ethos is at the heart of the very positive relationship between the staff and young people and of how they feel about the threads projects.
I will touch on a couple of the projects that are run under the auspices of the threads project, all of which I have had the opportunity to visit in recent years. The first is a pre-natal drop-in. It is increasingly clear that the health and welfare of a baby are determined in the nine months prior to its being born. A very effective partnership has been set up with the Royal Alexandra hospital involving midwives and local health visitors working with young mums before their baby is born. After the baby is born, there is the opportunity to graduate from the pre-natal class to the baby drop-in. That has become a mutual support group for young mothers.
A lot of work is also done on pre-tenancy, which is a way of helping young people to decide whether they are ready to set up their own tenancy and whether that is the right thing to do. Young tenants are helped with all the paperwork that is involved in ensuring that all the bills are paid. They are also helped to manage their doors so that they do not have an overly large number of unwelcome visitors and so that they can network positively with their community. The whole community gives very encouraging reports about what Barnardo's has done to make young tenancies sustainable in the way that a housing association or council might find more difficult.
The greatest success of the threads project has been the Paisley youthbuild project. That is run along with local housing associations to train young unemployed builders. As a result of that project, 21 youngsters have got qualifications and 11 young builders have gone on to gain full-time employment. Those are people who had no qualifications and who had experienced long-term unemployment. Perhaps I should end with the words of one of those young builders, who told me that he was glad that he went to work with youthbuild as a result of Barnardo's work. He thought that it was a great opportunity and he recommended it to others. Recommendations do not often come higher than that.
All that would not be possible without the commitment of dedicated staff, who often work under some pretty unattractive employment conditions on relatively temporary and insecure contracts. I know that the minister knows that that has always been a challenge to our support for the voluntary sector. However, in the spirit of members' business debates, I will simply record the modern and appropriate contribution that Barnardo's makes in my part of the world.
I apologise to members that I will not be able to stay until the very end of the debate.
I warmly welcome Robert Brown's motion, which does not seek to avoid the reality that Barnardo's works in close co-operation with other voluntary bodies and charities. I am glad to be able to say a few words about the pioneering role and outstanding work of Barnardo's over the past 100 years. It has made an invaluable contribution to transforming the lives of countless children.
I should perhaps mention an interest, in that I helped to take the Children (Scotland) Bill through the House of Commons. I am also chairman of the Edinburgh support group of the charity Hope and Homes for Children, which helps orphans in Africa and eastern Europe.
Thomas John Barnardo carried out an incomparable role in helping children in Britain. In 1867, he opened a ragged school, as it was called, in London's east end to allow children from deprived areas to get a basic education. That was followed by the opening of many orphanages.
As Robert Brown and Adam Ingram wisely said, some Victorians—quite wrongly—viewed poverty as being shameful. Sadly, although Britain was the most powerful country in the world at that time, not all Victorians had insight. However, Thomas Barnardo had a most enlightened view, as his philosophy was that every child deserves the best possible start in life, whatever their background. That philosophy not only remains strong in Barnardo's today but echoes the views of members of this Parliament.
Barnardo's no longer runs orphanages, as it was felt that bringing up children in a family environment rather than in an institution would give them the best chance of growing into healthy and well-adjusted adults. Today, Barnardo's offers more than 360 services United Kingdom-wide—of which 60 are in Scotland—which are dedicated to helping disadvantaged children. Those services range from working with young people who have been sexually abused to supporting young people who have special educational needs or disabilities. They also include providing counselling to children who have experienced domestic violence, steering children away from crime and placing children into stable and well-balanced family homes through fostering and adoption. That is to mention but a few of Barnardo's services.
Thomas Barnardo's last words were:
"There's still so much to do."
That is why Barnardo's today continues to develop new schemes and initiatives in response to issues such as homelessness and substance abuse. Recently, Barnardo's has also been in the forefront of tackling the exploitation of children and in raising awareness of how advances in technology, such as the internet and mobile phones, can lead to new forms of exploitation.
You have one minute.
I am on my last two sentences.
Barnardo's work is both extremely extensive and highly varied, with countless schemes and projects in place. Tonight, we cannot do full justice to the organisation's selfless dedication in so many fields but, at the very least, we who are fortunate enough to be in the Scottish Parliament can recognise with admiration and gratitude the tremendous efforts and collective hard work of Barnardo's over the past 100 years.
As often happens, Robert Brown made a good speech on a good subject. I am happy to follow him.
I think that the Victorians had a lot more going for them than is realised by most modern people who have not studied Victorian history. I will set aside Barnardo's just for the moment, because I want to mention two places that I have visited that dealt with similar activities. The first is Wellington School just outside Edinburgh. In Victorian days, the simple philosophy was that children who were on the streets—because their dad was in jail and their mother was a prostitute or a drunk or in some other difficulty—were sent off to such schools, where they were boarded and cleaned up a bit. They were taught agricultural skills before being sent off to Australia—life was simpler in those days—where, in future generations, they obviously supplied the muscle power of the Australian rugby team, the skill of the cricket team and so on.
What is now the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh, housing the artwork of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, used to be the Dean orphanage. I was amazed to learn that, as well as being an orphanage, it had in its basement a working brewery. Young people were taught brewing, which was a big industry in Edinburgh in those days. When they left the orphanage, they were fully equipped to go out and take a job. That seems to me to be really bright stuff.
In the present day, the Barnardo's work that I am best acquainted with is the work that goes on at the freagarrach project near Falkirk. The project, which I have visited several times, has had huge success in reducing reoffending among young people who are having problems at school and with the law. It works very well, especially because it involves families. We sometimes break up problems into little sections, but if we work with the family as a whole we can achieve much more improvement than if we work just with individuals. Freagarrach is a particularly good project.
In our briefing for the debate, I was interested to read that Barnardo's has young carers support teams. Like other members, I became involved in that subject some years ago. Young carers do a huge job and need all the support that we can give them.
As Wendy Alexander said, sustaining people in tenancies and giving them advice and support are very important. It sends shivers down my spine to think about how badly I would have coped if, as a 16-year-old, I had had to set up on my own. However, we expect young people to do just that. They, too, need all the support that we can give them.
I strongly endorse Robert Brown's point about funding. In a recent debate, we got slightly hung up on semantics, in worrying whether "core funding" was the right phrase. Whether or not it is the right phrase, it is the right concept. If Government thinks up good projects and people apply for money to take part in them, that is fair enough. However, there are hundreds of organisations like Barnardo's that do really good voluntary work and provide vital public services; they should be funded just for what they are doing. If that does not happen, there is an error in Government thinking. As long as organisations carry on doing good work, they should be funded for it. There must be continuing funding for good voluntary organisations.
I wish Barnardo's the best of luck in the future and look forward to more visits.
I, too, thank Robert Brown for securing this debate today. The diversity of the work of Barnardo's is amazing. It is also amazing how the organisation has changed as the years have passed. It now offers much-needed help and support to children, young people and families in our modern society. Its projects are diverse: it provides advocacy for vulnerable young people in key areas of child protection; it provides family group conferences to support young people; it supports young people leaving care; and it helps young people whose lives have been affected by substance misuse.
Barnardo's participates in many parliamentary consultations. I am sure that it made several submissions during the passage of the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Bill. In that and other cases, we have had lots of excellent input that has helped to guide us in the direction that we needed to take in legislation. I mention that particularly because it is crucial that we have our eye on what the voluntary sector thinks and does and on what it believes is right.
Today I would like first to highlight the work that Barnardo's does on substance misuse. I will give some figures to start with. Substance misuse is a key area and it is distressing to find out about the number of young people who are caught up in it, either through misuse in their family or because they misuse substances themselves. Barnardo's leads the field in offering support and help to such people. The figures are for the UK. The Department of Health estimates that 47 per cent of 15-year-olds have drunk alcohol in the past week and that 22 per cent have used an illegal drug. At least a million children in the UK live in a family home in which problematic alcohol use is an issue. Of 11 to 15-year-olds, 27 per cent have used an illicit drug in the past month. Approximately 300,000 children live in a home in which heroin or crack is used—3 per cent of all children. Some 35 per cent of all child protection inquiries feature heroin or crack cocaine and up to 50 per cent of all crime is drug related. We can see that Barnardo's is tackling difficult issues in modern society. It states:
"87% of our work includes work with substance misuse."
It is hard to get a grip on those issues, but Barnardo's is doing a wonderful job.
I take the opportunity to talk about Barnardo's base project in Whitley Bay. It would be nice to see that project being mirrored in Scotland in similar projects to help young people whose lives are affected by drug misuse. A young person who has been through the base project said:
"I feel happy, happier than I have done since I was about 13. It's good! It's really good! Cos yes I've put a lot of hard work in, but the Base has been a really brilliant project."
Often, young people who live in families in which there is drug misuse perpetuate the cycle and go on themselves to misuse drugs. Interventions do not happen quickly or widely enough and not everyone has access to such projects. We should note the good practice in those projects and use it.
I congratulate the staff of Barnardo's on the work that they do throughout the country in all their projects. I wish them luck in the future.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to join other members in congratulating Barnardo's on its work and in thanking Robert Brown for securing tonight's debate.
Earlier this week, I took the chance to visit Barnardo's bridge project in Dundee in connection with the work that the Justice 1 Committee is doing on protection of children. The bridge project is one of three centres in Scotland that help young people who display problematic sexual behaviour. I will concentrate my remarks on that particular section of Barnardo's work.
When we are discussing youth justice, it is essential that we have a clear idea of the work that is done by such projects and the expertise and experience that they have. People often have a negative reaction to children who display inappropriate sexual behaviour, but as the project's family worker put it, the important point is that they are, first of all, children. As such, they should be helped and supported; that is what Barnardo's does.
The bridge project used to deal mainly with older teenagers, but it now concentrates as much—if not more—on the younger age group, including children as young as four. When we consider that younger age group, it is perhaps easier to understand that what those children need is help and advice and not neglect, blame or merely our pointing out the error of their ways. We must find out the background to the child's behaviour and help them and their family to deal with it. It has been found that domestic abuse is often a background factor, and possibly a contributory factor, to the development of problematic behaviour in the first place.
It is essential that there is consistency in how we deal with such children. There is a necessity for knowledge and understanding on the part of the police and the courts as well as that of social workers and education departments, so that staff in all those agencies can work together. It is necessary that procurators fiscal be aware of the work that is being done so that they can make appropriate recommendations in respect of young people who are referred to them.
Like many of us, Barnardo's is convinced that it is important that young people be treated appropriately by the law. Barnardo's places great emphasis on the role of the children's hearings system as the correct route for children, and it stresses the importance of the availability of age-appropriate interventions. We spend a great deal of time and money on decisions on management of offenders and on programmes to stop reoffending, but early intervention works. That is what the bridge centre and similar projects concentrate on. They are proactive in preventing a continuation of inappropriate behaviour.
If adequate permanent funding was given to such projects in a systematic way throughout Scotland, more and more young people would be given the opportunity to benefit from early interventions, which would have positive consequences. I know that the Deputy Minister for Communities cannot give assurances here about funding, but we need to be aware that there is a gap.
I am pleased to add my support to Barnardo's call for us to give children back their future.
I, too, congratulate Robert Brown on securing a very important debate that celebrates not only the centenary of Barnardo's but the people who offer their services to voluntary organisations. Many members have mentioned Barnardo's centenary; however, we should also celebrate the fact that the organisation has moved with the times and developed various projects without losing its original ethos of looking after, caring and nurturing impoverished children, who sometimes come from chaotic backgrounds. We—and Barnardo's—should be very proud of that fact.
All too often, the kids who come from chaotic backgrounds go on to have chaotic lifestyles. In many cases, the kids themselves are blamed; however, we should blame neither the children nor the parents. Instead, we should help them. In this modern world, it is too easy to lay the blame at the doorsteps of families and children when in fact all they need is some support and help, and I congratulate Barnardo's on providing such support. We should be very pleased that such organisations continue to carry out such work after 100 years; after all, as Lord James Douglas-Hamilton said, even though our society is more affluent, there is still poverty among us. I am glad that people are willing enough to help with these matters.
I want to concentrate on a number of initiatives that Barnardo's has introduced. Rosemary Byrne highlighted alcohol and substance abuse. To deal with that major problem, the organisation has established 361 projects throughout Great Britain, many of which work with parents who misuse alcohol. As a result of that work, Barnardo's has called for programmes that are designed specifically to help affected families and children. It is easy to say that we will spend money on that issue; however, if we do not know a particular family's circumstances, such money is not necessarily wasted but it does not always reach the proper areas. Perhaps we need a more inclusive approach in that respect. In any case, as Marlyn Glen, Robert Brown and Donald Gorrie have pointed out, money has to come into it somewhere—which, I am afraid to say, is where the minister herself comes into it. I realise that the Scottish Parliament supports the voluntary sector very well, but perhaps we should consider tailoring such projects to families' needs.
Marlyn Glen touched on domestic violence, on which I know that she has done a lot of work in the Equal Opportunities Committee. I find it worrying that, despite campaigns by us and by Barnardo's, the incidence of such violence is increasing. We must examine the matter, because it badly affects young people and parents. I know that Barnardo's is certainly looking into it.
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton mentioned that times have moved on—for example, we now have the internet—and Barnardo's runs 13 projects that work with young children under 14 and 15 who have suffered child abuse through prostitution.
We should continue to support Barnardo's excellent work in any way that we can. I realise that funding is always a problem, but we must ensure that it is available for the fantastic projects that I have highlighted.
I thank Robert Brown again for securing this debate.
I congratulate Robert Brown on securing the debate. Three strong themes run through it: funding; the excellence of Barnardo's services; and the breadth of those services. Members have covered the last two themes very well.
I am very glad to say that, in my halcyon youth 30 years ago, I helped Barnardo's finances. For several Christmases, I braved the draughty expanses of Waverley station and, in rotation with a brass band and a choir, busked with my guitar to raise money for the organisation. The project was quite successful. It was designed not simply to raise money for Barnardo's—that was almost incidental—but to draw attention to the excellent work that it carries out at a time when people are thinking of children.
As for the organisation's huge range of services, it is clear that Barnardo's has evolved, is evolving and will continue to evolve. It is a very alive organisation that adapts to the needs of society. It is not static in any way whatsoever.
Like other members, I have personal experience of Barnardo's through the cross-party group on children and young people, and I would like to draw specific attention to the work that Barnardo's does with young carers. That is an important issue that has only recently come to light in a big way. We now realise that there are thousands of children in Scotland who are caring for their families in one way or another. I recall hearing about a child of 14 or 15 who had been looking after her mother—who, for one reason or another, was not really able to take care of the family effectively—and two younger children, all completely unbeknown to the school that she attended or to local services. There may be many more children like her, so the work that Barnardo's is doing is extremely important.
Barnardo's works on disability and inclusion, supporting young people with special educational needs and those with learning difficulties. Tomorrow's members' business debate at 5 o'clock will draw attention to the good work that is being done by a variety of organisations for people with learning difficulties. Again, Barnardo's is helping in that important area.
Barnardo's has reminded us that its common theme is promoting excellence. It wants to be good—to be among the best. I back all the calls that have been made this evening for solid, on-going funding. I know that the Executive has made quite a lot of improvements in funding for charities over the past six years, but there is still room for a lot more improvement and for guarantees for funding over longer periods of time. That would allow organisations to plan, so that they do not have to allocate members of staff—sometimes two, three or four—who are purely dedicated to raising money and finding out where the next penny is going to come from, instead of actually working for the organisation itself and promoting its services. I commend Robert Brown for bringing the debate to the chamber.
It is a privilege for me to reply to the debate, and I congratulate Robert Brown on securing the debate to commend Barnardo's for its work over the past 100 years. There has been clear agreement across the chamber, not just on the proud history of Barnardo's but on the important work that it does now. I am happy to offer congratulations on behalf of the Executive and I pay tribute to the efforts of all Barnardo's staff, who work tirelessly to support some of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged children, young people and families.
Robin Harper talked about going out busking for Barnardo's. When I was a brownie, we got a sheet for Barnardo's at Christmas and we went home and collected money. That was a wonderful way of securing support for needy children and made it stick in my mind, even as a very young child, that there were children who were disadvantaged and that we all had a responsibility to do something about that. Fortunately, times have moved on, but even then Barnardo's was a brand name for an organisation that identified needs and tried to address them.
We have heard already something about the proud history of Barnardo's, dating from 1867, when Thomas Barnardo set up a ragged school. When he died in 1905, almost 100 homes had been established to care for around 8,500 children. During the second world war, Barnardo's played a key role in the evacuation and settlement of children at a difficult time for many young people. By the end of the war, and through the 1950s, it was clear that the focus of Barnardo's activities was shifting towards working with families in home and community environments. In the 1960s, new approaches were developed and, as Robert Brown said, the last traditional Barnardo's children's home closed in 1989. By then, caring for children and their families in their communities had become the key priority.
Barnardo's priorities have expanded to encompass a wide range of activities, which have been identified in Robert Brown's motion and in the speeches that we have heard this evening. Although things have moved on, we know that the vital work in which Barnardo's is involved continues to be challenging for all of us, including those of us in government. If there is a connection with the organisation's proud start in Victorian times, it is the recognition that there can be poverty amidst plenty and that people can suffer disadvantage while others are in comfort. Bardardo's acknowledgement that, for young people, disadvantage comes in many forms is key. Disadvantage might involve living in a family in which there is domestic abuse or being the carer of someone with an addiction problem. Assessing the disadvantage that young people face goes beyond mere consideration of a family's economic circumstances; it involves drilling down into other difficulties.
Over the past year or so, Barnardo's has identified three of its most pressing priorities. Substance misuse and the exploitation of children for sexual purposes must be tackled and children's emotional and mental well-being promoted. Barnardo's aim is to promote innovative and child-centred approaches to reducing harm across those three areas.
It is clear that Barnardo's is an organisation that is well attuned to the changes—both good and bad—in our increasingly diverse society. It has been able to identify and address the changing needs of children, young people and families in Scotland and to react to new threats, such as the use of the internet to groom young people for sexual exploitation, but in spite of its modern outlook, it has never lost sight of its founding vision, which is to free children from poverty, abuse and discrimination.
Barnardo's is to be congratulated on its positive and challenging engagement with the Scottish Executive's agenda. The organisation represents how powerful the voluntary sector is. Funding has been discussed, and the Executive and others have acknowledged the key role that the voluntary sector plays in being innovative, understanding need and expressing what need is. One of the great benefits of devolution has been the understanding that has emerged that the Government does not sort things out on its own, but is extremely powerful when it harnesses bodies that understand how need is expressed in our communities.
We must deal with the nitty-gritty of funding, but although we must fund innovation, we must recognise that there is a need for stability. That is the key underpinning commitment of the strategic review of voluntary sector funding. A powerful partnership of the SCVO, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Executive has formed to make progress on those issues. We have prepared a draft action plan, which is under discussion, and it is planned that we will publish the plan later in the summer. I believe that it will address the concerns that Robert Brown and other members have identified. On the partnership side, we know that the Executive has been committed to providing three-year funding for voluntary organisations, when that is possible. It is certainly my view that using the voluntary sector is not about getting public service on the cheap; it is about obtaining the added value that the sector brings because of its understanding of the problems that people face.
If we consider some of the care that Barnardo's provided in the past, which Robert Brown spoke about, there is no doubt that it reflected a lack of understanding of the risks that were posed to children by the adults who cared for them. Barnardo's has contributed to shaping a new understanding through listening and working with young people, which has helped to bring our society from a position of denial to one in which it is understood that child abuse exists and that we must tackle it. Barnardo's must be commended for the role that it has played.
Members will have realised that many of the aims and aspirations of Barnardo's are identical to the Executive's policy priorities for children, young people and families, which, in many cases, have been underpinned by the legislation that has been debated and passed in our Parliament. It is clear that, if we can work together with both the statutory sector and voluntary organisations, including Barnardo's, to deliver our vision, we can support generations of young people to be successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors to society and responsible citizens.
We have come a long way from the environment and circumstances that persuaded Dr Barnardo to help severely disadvantaged children and families. Employment rates are higher, our health is improving overall, life expectancy is higher, child mortality is decreasing, the educational attainment of children and young people is improving and we have statutory minimum pay and historically low interest rates. We are investing in the things that matter in an effort to tackle Scotland's historical legacy of poverty, deprivation, poor housing, poor health, high unemployment, low attainment and low aspirations.
I would certainly not argue that there is not a long way to go. Even if I were to do so, organisations such as Barnardo's would ensure that I would not get away with it. Too many families continue to live in poor-quality housing and too many people lack the confidence and opportunities to make the move into employment. There are serious health inequalities and, as has been clearly identified, alcohol and drug misuse continue to take a heavy toll on lives, health and happiness for young and old alike. Through our policy priorities such as closing the opportunity gap, investment in affordable homes, the national health service, local government and schools, our three-year programme to reform and strengthen child protection and our policies to tackle substance misuse and mental health, we are striving to improve the lives and livelihoods of current and future generations.
Another of Barnardo's priorities is working in partnership with statutory organisations and other voluntary sector bodies. I am proud and honoured that Barnardo's counts the Executive as one of its partners. Barnardo's has been in the vanguard of the organisations that help to obtain children's views on proposals that affect them and their families and it has played a key role in ensuring that their opinions are heard. A good example is the role that Barnardo's played in the review of the children's hearings system. We are providing direct funding to Barnardo's for work with young sex offenders that includes early intervention work and family and aftercare support. Again, I believe that that work is characterised by the way in which it is both supportive and challenging of those with whom Barnardo's works.
Barnardo's has clearly realised that partnership working across the statutory and voluntary sectors, particularly where children and families may have multiple needs, is the most effective way to deliver care and support when and where it is needed. Co-operation and collaboration may not always be easy for service planners and providers, but they are essential if we are to deliver high-quality integrated services that are built around the needs of the child, young person or family.
The Executive has a Cabinet delivery group on children and young people that co-ordinates policy across a range of areas. We are striving to reduce bureaucracy through the development of joint inspections and we will consult shortly on new proposals for integrated assessment and quality improvement. Work is continuing in the crucial area of improving the sharing of information between services. We are looking at ways to further develop the skills and competences of those who work with children. Like Barnardo's, we are determined to place the child and not the process at the heart of our policies and services.
I recognise the sincerity of the tributes that have been paid to Barnardo's from across the chamber. In that sincerity, I believe that we are making a commitment to and gaining an understanding of the power of the voluntary sector in addressing disadvantage. It is clear that the Executive shares many of Barnardo's hopes and aspirations. I am delighted to support Robert Brown's motion. On behalf of all members, I offer Barnardo's our very best wishes on its centenary. I hope that we can continue to work closely together in the 21st century to improve the lives of children, young people and families in Scotland.
Meeting closed at 18:02.