The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-13954, in the name of George Adam, on the national third sector getting it right for every child project. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes the role of the public social partnership, the National Third Sector GIRFEC Project, which includes Barnardo’s Scotland, Voluntary Action Scotland and Improvement Service, in supporting third sector organisations in Paisley and across Scotland to be full partners in the commissioning and planning of children’s services; recognises the role that it considers organisations, large and small, have in providing vital services to children, young people and their families; expresses concern that further reductions to the welfare budget and social security at UK level could mean that public services will be required to support increasing numbers of children and families in need; welcomes the role that the third sector has in working hand-in-hand with the public sector to reduce growing inequalities, and recognises the importance of having a well-resourced and supported third sector that is able to be involved at the strategic level.
12:33
I am only too glad to bring this debate to the chamber and to discuss the many good third sector projects that are working in all our communities. Tonight, we will celebrate that work at an event in the Parliament, but this afternoon I want to speak in support of the national third sector GIRFEC project, which is a public social partnership involving Barnardo’s Scotland, the Improvement Service and Voluntary Action Scotland.
The project’s aim is to reduce inequalities for children, young people and their families by creating, nurturing and enabling partnerships within the third sector and between the third sector and the statutory sector to ensure the best use of resources. There are many examples of these organisations making a difference in all our constituencies; indeed, I have been profoundly affected by the work of a number of third sector organisations. For example, the Barnardo’s threads family support project offers young mothers throughout Paisley, the rest of Renfrewshire and Inverclyde help and support, including for simple things such as housing forms or health and nutrition for mum and baby, and many young women have gained from that.
Third sector organisations are able to do that sort of thing because, unlike statutory organisations, they are seen as friends to individuals and as part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Local authorities can find it extremely challenging to have that type of relationship not just with a young mum but with anyone who is in that position.
The threads project offers services such as one-to-one pre-tenancy and tenancy support, prenatal groupwork and new baby groupwork. Pre-tenancy groupwork is particularly good, because the issue is not just about ensuring that we can get young families into houses but about ensuring that they stay in those homes and have an opportunity to thrive in them. The project’s support is immediate and available for emergencies or other inquiries.
When the minister and I visited the project in Paisley, we heard how it has managed to include all the family, including young fathers and grans and grandpas. I recently became a grandpa and I remember being a young parent—you can tell that I am a young grandparent. I remember that that time was difficult, even with the support that I had, and I remember the decisions that I had to make as a young parent. I constantly questioned whether I was doing the right job, so I see the value of the project in our area.
We know that our first influences are those of a family member, so we must ensure that family units stay strong. That is where the third sector comes in and supports families. My own confidence derives from my parents telling me from an early age how wonderful I was. Of course, in my married life I have been told regularly that I am not quite as perfect as mum and dad told me. My parents provided me with the support to be all that I could be and they gave me the confidence to move forward. In projects such as threads, the third sector is trying to do that with families throughout Renfrewshire.
I am a great believer in seeing what is happening with projects. Barnardo’s asked me to its outside in project at Polmont and Cornton Vale, where I saw at first hand the work that it does to give young men and women there opportunities to do things under the curriculum for excellence, to engage with youth work and to change the way they look at life and move forward.
I heard some of the stories of the young people involved. If they had had third sector interventions or other interventions earlier, they might not have ended up in those institutions. One young man was in Polmont on a serious assault charge. His colleague had wound up his girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time. He attacked the person and regretted it. He ended up in a tragic situation. He had been in there for about seven years. His girlfriend was not his girlfriend any more, and she had had a miscarriage, so he had no child either. He was locked up because of the decision that he had made and he saw the value of the project and said that he would make different decisions when was in the outside world, although that is not to say that he would engage with such a programme in the outside world. However, if we had got that young man at the right stage, he might not have made that tragic decision.
I heard the story of a young woman who went off the rails after her mum died. She attacked another young woman, because she could not deal with her mum dying so young. She had nowhere to go and no support. If there had been the possibility of an intervention outwith the institution, it could have made a difference to that young woman’s life.
The project gives those men and women the opportunity that they either never had or did not engage with on the outside. It enhances social skills and personal development and it improves the prospects of young men and women on their release into the community.
At Polmont and Cornton Vale, there have been 1,599 youth work interventions. I have mentioned that the outside in project works with the curriculum for excellence. Other interventions that have worked particularly well are linked to specific aims of other Scottish Government strategies such as getting it right for every child, and to the Scottish Prison Service’s offender outcomes.
One project is the big man peer education anti-violence programme, through which the young men whom I have spoken about speak to some of the younger people in the institution about the mistakes that they have made. They have the conversation that they had with me with the young people as well.
The interventions are all to do with peer support. Mind yer heid is an emotional health and wellbeing programme that explores physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and enables young men and women to adopt strategies to cope with stress. In some of the cases that I have mentioned, that would have helped the people to make the right decision at the right time.
The challenges that exist include the Westminster Government’s welfare reforms, which are having a dramatic effect on a lot of young families throughout Scotland, and Barnardo’s and the wider third sector are concerned about the effects of the lack of financial support. We all know that, if someone is struggling to make sure that their family has the financial backing that it needs, things can go wrong.
I welcome all the work that the third sector does. We live in difficult times and we need it to continue to work with both local and national Government and the rest of the public sector to help and support the many families in Scotland who, through no fault of their own, need that type of support.
12:40
I thank George Adam for securing this debate on what is an important topic, and I join him in commending the national third sector GIRFEC project for the work that it has already undertaken towards reducing inequalities for children, young people and their families through the creation of vital links between sectors. I recognise the extremely impressive examples that Mr Adam gave from his constituency. As he said, due to the increasing budget pressures on the public sector, particularly at local government level in Scotland, it is vital that we work towards supporting third sector organisations as full partners in the delivery, commissioning and planning of children’s services.
In my constituency of East Lothian, Strive is the lead partner in voluntary action and is the third sector interface for the county. It provides support and learning and development opportunities for both individuals and organisations through its volunteering, organisational support, youth, adventure and wellbeing teams.
Members will know from similar projects in their constituencies just how important third sector organisations are to the building of empowered and resilient communities and families. Many promote informal learning and leadership development and help to build community capacity across projects.
The project that is mentioned in the motion demonstrates that partnership working has a positive impact. Evaluation has shown that there is a positive impact on how services are delivered in local areas where the third sector is strong, and the project demonstrates the importance of partnership working, which should not be something unusual or remarkable but should be standard practice between the third sector and statutory bodies.
It is vital that we continue to support the development of interfaces across Scotland. Use of the resources and expertise that are available throughout the third sector will become increasingly important as we see the dual pressures of increasing legislation and sweeping cuts in welfare, public sector budgets and local budgets through the council tax freeze. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations has said that the impact of those cuts is affecting the work of many third sector organisations, with 63 per cent of charities and third sector bodies in Scotland forecasting that they will face cuts and 81 per cent of third sector organisations expecting the financial situation for the sector to worsen in the coming months.
All of that is set against the sector’s expectation of increased demand, which is worrying not only for the sector but for the families and communities that rely on third sector projects such as the ones that Mr Adam mentioned. Demand for support is expected to increase in the coming years as GIRFEC is further rolled out and the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 comes into force, so it is increasingly important that the Scottish Government does everything that it can to support the role of the third sector across Scotland.
It is clear that third sector organisations have significant challenges ahead of them, but it is also clear that there are better outcomes in areas where empowered, professional and adequately resourced third sector organisations are working in an effective partnership with councils and the national health service. They must be supported as they develop those robust and efficient partnerships. The third sector must be involved on the basis of a level playing field in the delivery of children’s services, albeit that that is an ambitious aspiration, given the challenges facing the sector. However, I am sure that the whole Parliament will support that, because it is an important strand for us in delivering the best outcomes for young people, families and communities across Scotland.
12:45
I start my comments with something of a confession, which is that when I was elected in 2011 to the Parliament I, like many people, had never heard of GIRFEC. To be honest, as a journalist, I am always quite suspicious of acronyms. However, I had not been here for very long when I became a convert to GIRFEC, which was due to the work of the Education and Culture Committee, particularly our inquiry into the educational attainment of looked-after children and our work in scrutinising the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill.
It became clear to me that getting it right for every child was a touchstone to which people could refer and that it really meant something, particularly to young care leavers for whom it had not gone right. The principle of GIRFEC is that we should want the outcomes for every child to be the same as those that we want for our own children; it is important that policy makers and everybody who is involved with children understand what that means. I have to say that I even became persuaded by SHANARRI, the eight indicators of wellbeing: safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included. It is important that people have those touchstones to refer to when considering whether their policies or how they do things will deliver the outcomes for children.
During the course of the committee’s inquiry and our scrutiny of the bill, it became clear to me that third sector organisations were some of the most powerful advocates for GIRFEC. One such organisation is Barnardo’s, whose briefing for today’s debate is very useful. It is clear that third sector organisations have become far more central to designing and delivering policy. In my area, the third sector interface for Dumfries and Galloway now has a shop-front project on Dumfries High Street, which is very accessible and is becoming recognised as central to the delivery of services.
As I understand it, that is what the GIRFEC project is about. It is a pilot project to encourage the third sector to be involved in designing services that deliver GIRFEC across Scotland. It is obvious that integrating services—not just for children, but we are talking about them today—is a very complex affair. The top-down approach of old, whereby the local authority or the health board made all the decisions on the design and delivery of services, had the benefit of simplicity. However, that approach is not flexible, and if we want a person-centred approach, in which services are tailored to the needs of the individual, the third sector has to be at the heart of that. George Adam outlined what a transformative experience that can be on the ground for young people.
The pilot looks at how all the different parties involved can improve delivery of GIRFEC and their communication. That strikes me as an excellent way to deliver good practice in the area. As I understand it, 10 community planning projects are working on the GIRFEC project and are looking at ways of strengthening their partnerships with the third sector. They have a self-evaluation checklist that ensures that GIRFEC informs the collaborative working that they do every step of the way. That self-evaluation, perhaps not surprisingly, throws up challenges, not least the pressure on resources caused by austerity, as Iain Gray outlined, and the increasing pressure on third sector interfaces to co-ordinate with the many very different third sector organisations, both large and small.
I understand that we are halfway through the project, and the last part of it will be to discuss with service users how it is working and how they would improve matters. Again, my experience on the Education and Culture Committee told me that one of the most important aspects of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and of our inquiries around it was that we sat down and spoke to looked-after children, got their views and used them to help us influence and shape policy, because it is service users—children and young people themselves—who are at the heart of GIRFEC. That is why I am very pleased that the project is, in its next stage, going to listen to them and share their views right around Scotland.
12:50
I congratulate George Adam on securing today’s debate. I also apologise for not being able to stay after my speech, as I am sponsoring an event on behalf of a constituent at 1 o’clock.
George Adam has already highlighted the aim of the national third sector getting it right for every child project, which is to reduce inequalities for children, young people and their families by creating, nurturing and enabling a partnership approach between the third and statutory sector. In Dunfermline and right across Scotland, this innovative approach is already delivering results and is playing a real life-changing role for many families.
In Fife, we have seen the development of the south west Fife family nurture hub, which brings together third sector agencies to design and deliver services for parents and families of zero to three-year-olds, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable families. Key to the project is a focus on developing early language skills, improving attachment and providing support, information and advice to mums and dads—including one-to-one specialist family support and intensive interventions—all of which is geared towards breaking the cycle of disadvantage in our communities, which too many kids are caught up in.
The hub involves Barnardo’s, Fife Council, Aberlour, Fife Gingerbread, Early Years Scotland and Homestart, which all work in partnership to provide early, targeted and intensive support and to ensure that families with extra needs can access the right intervention and support services in a non-stigmatised way and receive as little or as much support as they need.
I had the pleasure of visiting the Barnardo’s project in Kirkcaldy to meet partners involved in the nurture hub and to find out more about the key services that it offers, such as the family carer service, which provides extra support to vulnerable women in pregnancy and after birth by helping to build parents’ practical knowledge of nutrition, communication and attachment, with direct input from the speech and language service and the dietician service. I have also had the pleasure of visiting the fantastic Barnardo’s threads project in Paisley, which George Adam highlighted. The benefits of a public-social partnership approach are clear, with an increased focus on tackling inequalities and a genuine shift in focus to early intervention and prevention. It is always good to see at first hand how the policy aspirations that we debate here in the chamber are translated into real action on the ground and to see the barriers between organisations and sectors broken down.
That is why it is absolutely vital that both the Scottish Government and local authorities continue to provide the support and the resources to make that happen. Barnardo’s has highlighted its concern that a great deal more work and support are needed to help third sector interfaces to be full and effective partners in the delivery of children’s services. There is currently quite a big variation in its ability to be a representative voice for the third sector in community planning partnerships. Given the requirements of both the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, more work needs to be done to ensure a better support network. That is especially the case for smaller organisations, which have a key role to play in implementing GIRFEC and designing children’s services.
The reality is that, unless the third sector is really involved in the planning of children’s services, it will be extremely hard to ensure that those services are designed in a way that meets people’s needs. That is especially the case for those who face the greatest difficulties.
Members have highlighted the environment that we are in and the climate of diminishing resources and increasing need. Both the public and voluntary sectors are increasingly having to deal with children and families in crisis. We can address that issue only in partnership. We must do all that we can to make the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act work, but that will be challenging unless there is a genuine partnership between local authorities and the voluntary sector and not just action that is central Government led.
On the wider context of the motion, George Adam is right to highlight the impact of the Tory welfare cuts on children and families across Scotland and the possible knock-on effects on the third sector. Obviously local authority cuts will have an impact too. We live in a country where not only food banks but clothing banks are springing up in our towns and cities. That is why we must do everything that we can to protect children in Scotland from the Tories’ austerity regime.
We all want to see a Scotland in which every child has the opportunity and the support to fulfil their potential. If we are to achieve that goal and the best outcomes for all our children and young people, partnership working between the third sector and the public sector is vital. The third sector GIRFEC project is a great example of how we are starting to get it right, and all those who are involved in supporting our children must focus on working together effectively to ensure that every child in Scotland has the best start in life and an equal opportunity to succeed.
12:55
I, too, congratulate George Adam on bringing the motion to Parliament.
I consider the national third sector GIRFEC project to be an excellent framework for supporting each and every child and their family. It represents a consistent way for all involved to work with children and young people in Scotland. I particularly welcome it because it recognises not only the support needs but the wishes and interests of children and young people.
What does that mean in practice? The ethos behind the project is to engage with children on the decisions that affect them. It aims to actively involve children in the decision-making process and to help them to understand the reasoning behind decisions that will impact on their lives. That involves listening to their wishes while actively engaging them in the discussions that will affect them most.
Overall, the project seeks to streamline responses from professionals and to improve co-ordination between all stakeholders. In that respect, the named person scheme has been introduced. I particularly welcome that aspect of the project, as it makes sure that every child or parent has a single point of contact to guide them and provide advice when necessary.
Why are those steps important? First, I believe that the measures will enable children and young adults and their families to feel better supported and more confident about the help that they receive. Secondly, by achieving that, we will be able to ensure that all children feel safe, supported and cared for throughout their childhood.
Scotland is a great place to grow up in, but we simply cannot forget that child poverty, social inequalities and deprivation remain core challenges as we seek to achieve a more equal and fairer society. Therefore, getting it right for every child means that we need to focus on a wider range of issues. In that regard, I agree with George Adam that we need a well-resourced and well-supported third sector. Organisations such as Barnardo’s Scotland, Voluntary Action Scotland and the Improvement Service can be a great help in reducing inequalities, as I believe is the case in the context of the GIRFEC project, as those charities have an excellent understanding of the pressing needs that children and families have on a daily basis.
In recognition of that, one of the main aims of the national GIRFEC project is to strengthen the involvement of the third sector in community planning. The project states:
“it is essential that ... the third sector is a full partner in the planning, design and delivery of children’s services.”
As I have said, getting it right for every child requires us to focus on the interests of children and young people, and that focus is facilitated through the public-social partnership between the Government and third sector organisations. In addition, the project promotes co-operation and co-ordination among organisations, and identifies the indicators against which activities in the sector should be measured. I truly support that approach, and I am confident that it will allow us to improve the wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland.
Given the measures that are proposed as part of the United Kingdom Government’s welfare reform process, working with third sector organisations will become an even more important task. We need only think about the tax credit cuts. Nearly 350,000 Scottish children in 200,000 families will be affected. Indeed, research shows that 100,000 more Scottish children will be in poverty by 2020 if we do not succeed in counteracting the UK Government’s welfare reforms.
I am confident that we can make Scotland an even better place to grow up in, but we are at a critical juncture. We need to use our new devolved powers wisely and, in so doing, respect the rights and dignity of all our citizens. I believe that the best way to achieve that is by building strong and mutually beneficial links with the third sector. The GIRFEC project is an exemplar of the creation of such a partnership, and it has undeniably already benefited many children and families in communities across Scotland.
12:59
I welcome the debate and thank George Adam for bringing such an important topic to the chamber for discussion.
At the heart of the motion is getting it right for every child, and GIRFEC is built on partnership. That is how services can work together to better support children and young people and it is the foundation on which professionals should work with families.
Joan McAlpine made the important point that we need to be mindful of jargon and realise what GIRFEC stands for: it is about ensuring that we have an approach that works well for every child every time. The cornerstone of GIRFEC is our belief that we should put our children and young people at the centre of all that we do. As David Torrance highlighted, it is our national approach to ensuring that children and young people get the services that they deserve. It embeds partnership and—importantly—early intervention and prevention to ensure that we avoid crises escalating and secure the best possible outcomes for our children and young people.
The national third sector GIRFEC project was launched in early 2013. It aims to support community planning partnerships to recognise and embed the role of the third sector in implementing GIRFEC, thereby maximising the contribution that the sector can make to enhancing outcomes for children and young people, and to draw together the principles in policy and in good practice.
Partnership is the reason why the project has been so successful at this critical stage, as we prepare for the new duties under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. Partnership is a word that recurs throughout the positive evaluation of the project, which has been an important model of the partnership that should underlie the planning and delivery of all services in future. Along with George Adam and other members in the chamber, I celebrate its value and success, and I look forward to getting the opportunity to do so again later this evening in Parliament.
The role of the third sector is a key plank of the 2014 act, which aims to ensure that we are effective in our planning of children’s services. The 2014 act includes new duties on local authorities and health boards to ensure that third sector organisations have a key role in the planning process.
At the same time, we are introducing a new programme to improve partnership to deliver better services for children and young people in each local area. Public, third sector and private organisations must work more effectively in partnership with communities and with each other to design and deliver excellent public services for local people. [Interruption.] Sorry, Presiding Officer—I thought that Iain Gray was trying to intervene.
The realigning children’s services programme will add value to what is already taking place across community planning partnerships. The programme will support local partners to accelerate the implementation of GIRFEC to help to meet the needs of our vulnerable children much sooner than we currently do as a nation.
Last night in Parliament we celebrated Action for Children’s 60th anniversary, which gave us the chance to recognise the charity’s unstinting determination to do the best for the children in its care. The event also provided a wider opportunity to recognise the fantastic work that has been undertaken by the third sector more generally.
The value of the third sector rests on the fact that organisations are often deeply embedded in the community; understand completely the people that they are trying to help; and are fleet of foot and nimble in adapting to emerging challenges and opportunities to provide the help that people and communities need. They do not expect people to fit around them; instead, they recognise the strengths and assets within a community and build on those to find lasting and sustainable solutions to the challenges that they face.
In the words of our former chief medical officer, Harry Burns, they are moving people from being passive recipients of care to becoming active agents of change in their own lives. That approach, and the value of the third sector in it, has been articulated by members in the debate today. George Adam mentioned the threads project, which builds the confidence of parents by revealing to them what they can do. He also mentioned Barnardo’s outside in project, which highlights why we should be embedding early intervention and prevention. Young men and women are getting help too late, often in the prison service. If we had managed to find earlier solutions for them, they could have avoided trauma or imprisonment. At the violence reduction unit’s 10th anniversary celebration, I heard from a young man who encapsulated beautifully what we need to do to help those young men and women. He said that, if they have to look beyond the end of their kitchen table for a positive role model, they are already disadvantaged. We need to ensure that we can step in to help those people, and the third sector is well placed to do that.
Iain Gray spoke about the importance of the Strive programme in East Lothian in building resilience in the communities that he represents. Likewise, Cara Hilton mentioned the south west Fife family nurture hub, which focuses on vulnerable families, attachment and language development.
George Adam and other members were right to recognise the challenges that the third sector often faces. The third sector is often at the coalface of trying to help families, especially in the face of the harsh welfare reforms from the United Kingdom Government. Sanctions and cuts are hitting the most vulnerable the hardest and the use of food banks is increasing, which is completely and utterly unacceptable in our rich nation.
The challenge is also therefore to the third sector. Partnership sounds easy, but it is absolutely challenging. The third sector is not homogeneous but richly varied, which means that a lot of careful work must be put into ensuring that we have trust, open relationships and positive dialogue between each and every part of the third sector in a community. Cara Hilton was right to acknowledge the challenge of finding a truly representative voice for the third sector at CPP level.
We want to support the third sector, which is why we have committed substantial support through the children, young people and families early intervention fund. More widely, the 2015-16 Scottish Government budget has enabled us to continue investing in the third sector as a key social partner with £24.5 million of funding. We are working closely with the sector to consider what approach might be taken in the period ahead to continue to secure a buoyant and sustainable third sector.
I acknowledge the great work that is being done by the national third sector GIRFEC project and by the third sector more widely. I again thank George Adam as well as the Scottish National Party and Labour Party members who have today united to recognise the fantastic work of the third sector. We are in challenging times, but the sector is nonetheless delivering fantastic results and outcomes for the most vulnerable in our communities.
13:06 Meeting suspended.