Chamber and committees

The UK Government has suggested that it is thinking of introducing a right to buy housing association homes for the tenants who are renting them. Shelter has quite correctly condemned that. If that policy were reintroduced in Scotland, what impact could it have on the ability to meet the need for affordable homes? I will just pop that question out to everyone.

The UK Government’s move from the building safety fund to a pledge letter in England clearly has impacts in Scotland. Did the Scottish Government have advance sight of the April announcement? Can the cabinet secretary advise whether the work on the accord that she outlined, which has been carried out since the UK Government’s announcement, will cause any issues for the planned roll-out of the cladding remediation programme?

I thank Jackie Baillie and Emma Harper for their opening contributions. The nursing experience that Emma Harper brings to the debate is extremely welcome, and it was underlined in her contribution and in the amendment in her name. That has helped to ensure that the full objective that has been set out for international nurses day is achieved and supported by the Parliament.

International nurses day is overseen by the International Council of Nurses, and 12 May is the chosen date because it is Florence Nightingale’s birthday. The lady of the lamp is possibly one of the most famous nurses in the world and, although her best known achievements are associated with her work with soldiers in the aftermath of the Crimean war, she was also a pioneering medical educator. As Emma Harper pointed out, we also take inspiration from Louisa Jordan, a Scottish nurse who showed compassion and bravery while caring for soldiers during the first world war, and who lost her life while doing so at only 36 years of age.

International nurses day is a chance to celebrate the best of nursing and to thank staff who work in health and social care for all that they do. This year’s theme is “Nurses: A Voice to Lead—Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health”. That could not be more pertinent, in the face of the on-going global pandemic of Covid-19. Nurses have been at the front line across the world, fighting against a relentless, invisible foe that has tragically killed more than 6 million people. Nurses are the backbone of the NHS and social care. We know how dedicated, caring and compassionate the profession was when we especially needed them. In some cases, they were the only human contact available to people who tragically lost their lives to the pandemic.

The pandemic must have been, among many other things, an emotionally draining time for nurses. I can relate to that enormously difficult situation from my time as part of the nursing team at the St Margaret of Scotland Hospice in Clydebank. To nurse someone at the end of their life is a privilege, but it is also challenging and can impact on a nurse’s health and wellbeing. On international nurses day, as well as celebrating the work of nurses across Scotland on behalf of those whom I represent, I pay tribute to every single one of the nursing team at the St Margaret of Scotland Hospice, in the heart of my constituency. I know how much love, support and care those nurses have given to my constituents and families. I have experienced it myself with the death of my mother at the hospice. It is a time of greatest need. I am proud to have worked there and proud to have such a centre of excellence and compassion in my constituency.

I also thank the Royal College of Nursing Scotland for its briefings. I agree with it that the debate is a chance to celebrate the best of nursing and show our appreciation. I also agree that saying thanks is not enough. We must continue to work hard to provide the best possible terms and conditions for our nurses. We must also support efforts to ensure that more progress is made on nurse vacancies. I am pleased that the Royal College of Nursing is using international nurses day to launch its nurse of the year awards, which is an excellent way to recognise and celebrate the dedication and outstanding professional care of nurses across Scotland.

The debate is a very welcome one that allows the Parliament to further acknowledge the importance of our nurses and to highlight their sacrifices when working through such a turbulent time in modern medicine. We must also rejoice in the dedication of our nurses, who have been so determined to play their part in administering more than 12 million Covid-19 vaccines across Scotland. I thank all the nurses in my constituency and across the world for everything that they have done and continue to do—we owe them so much.

My next question, which is about the insurance industry, is for Laura Hughes. Do home owners whose properties are wrapped in potentially combustible cladding have access to affordable building insurance? What is the insurance industry doing to assist that?

Good morning. Are home owners still being prevented from moving or obtaining mortgages as a result of flats that are covered with potentially combustible cladding being valued at zero? If so, what impact is that having on people? I pose that to Chris Ashurst.

I will certainly look at that.

I also welcome the decision to mitigate the benefit cap. That Westminster policy deliberately deprives families with children of the basic subsistence levels in the UK social security system. Our commitment to free school meals is also massively important in reducing the cost of school, while providing nutritional meals to our young people. Important, too, is the continuation of the education maintenance allowance when it was scrapped in other parts of the UK. Also, one of our best start grants is paid when a child starts school, in recognition that that is a time that puts more financial pressure on families with children. It is no surprise, then, that the Child Poverty Action Group points out in its report, “The cost of a child in Scotland”, that the combined value of Scottish Government policies and lower childcare costs will

“reduce the net cost of bringing up a child by up to 31 per cent (nearly £24,000) for low-income families”.

There is a wide financial package available to reduce the cost of the school day and support families in a wider setting, but it is not enough. We must maximise take-up of that approach through access to advice, and innovative approaches that minimise bureaucracy. As the Child Poverty Action Group points out, that support is one of the positive things achieved from the cost of the school day approach. I welcome the continued commitment to that by the Scottish Government, and local actions across Clydebank and Milngavie.

I whole-heartedly welcome the Scottish Government’s support for a cost of the school day approach and pay tribute to all schools across my constituency—our teachers, all staff in our schools and our senior education officers—for their commitment and compassion, and their determination to ensure that unnecessary costs are removed from the school curriculum and that financial barriers are removed, so that access to education is not shaped by people’s ability to pay.

I am pleased to speak in this debate about what can be done to assist with the cost of the school day, especially at a time when families across Scotland are struggling with the cost of living crisis, which has seen the biggest fall in living standards since records began.

It is important that we take a planned approach and ensure that everything feasible is done to reduce the costs that families face, including the cost of the school day.

The approach that the Scottish Government has set out is welcome and will greatly assist many families in Scotland. It is in tune with our national mission to eradicate child poverty.

I welcome the investment in removing barriers to education, including the removal of core curriculum costs for all primary and secondary pupils, which will ensure that families do not have to meet the costs of resources and materials for practical lessons.

The change in mindset that the cost of the school day approach is bringing about will remove other financial barriers to education. If the approach is to be successful, we must listen to parents and act on the issues that they identify. In schools, we need a mindset whereby headteachers and staff are aware of the potential unintended implications of seeking money to facilitate school activities and events.

I have seen at first hand the effectiveness of such an approach, in my role as a councillor on West Dunbartonshire Council—I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests. In West Dunbartonshire, every headteacher has undertaken training on the impact of poverty and adversity on children and families. All schools have undertaken training on mitigating the costs of the school day. All schools are committed to working with parents and partners to address the challenges of poverty and to reduce the barriers to inclusion that result from poverty.

In addition, a multi-agency group of staff has worked together to produce a resource on the cost of the school day, which reflects surveys of parents’ views. The resource provides support and guidance to establishments. It highlights barriers and ways to overcome them. A short-life working group is leading authority-wide developments to address inequality and support establishments to do so with their school communities.

It is clear to me that our schools are committed to reducing financial and other barriers to education. The step change that such an approach makes should not be underestimated. Parents are being listened to and their concerns have secured necessary change.

We must match that step change by continuing to roll out policy that puts money in families’ pockets and gives them the financial support that they need. That is especially important during the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. It is why, in West Dunbartonshire, we took the decision to double the school clothing grant to £300. It is why the Scottish Government has doubled the Scottish child payment, which will increase to £25. It is why we have uprated Scottish benefits by 6 per cent, when the Westminster Government has uprated benefits by only half that rate. I take this opportunity to call on the UK Government to do the right thing and follow our approach to uprating.

I congratulate David Torrance MSP on securing this important members’ business debate and I pay tribute to the MS Society Scotland for everything that it does in supporting those with MS and its work to raise awareness.

MS is unpredictable and different for everyone, which is why the theme of this year’s MS awareness week is uncertainty. MS is a chronic condition that affects the brain and spinal cord. With MS, the coating that protects the nerves, myelin, is damaged, which causes a range of symptoms and problems with how a person moves, thinks and feels. In MS, the immune system, which normally helps to fight off infections, mistakes myelin for a foreign body and attacks it. That damages the myelin and snips off the nerve fibres, either slightly or completely, leaving scars known as lesions or plaques, which leads to damage and disrupts messages that travel along nerve fibres, causing them to slow down, become distorted or not get through at all.

As well as losing myelin, sometimes there can be damage to the actual nerve fibres too. It is this nerve damage that causes the increase in disability that occurs over time. One of my constituents recently described MS to me as this:

“If you imagine your brain is a big mass of intricate wires that operate the whole body, MS causes the protective sheath around each wire to deteriorate so the wires do not function properly, but because the brain is amazing, it tries to still find a way to send the signals in other ways, sometimes crossing the wires. That is why folk with MS often battle with fatigue because just walking and talking can seem like trying to juggle while treading through a snowdrift or like trying to do complex calculus while reciting the alphabet backwards.”

It is hard to pinpoint the exact symptoms of MS as it can be different for everyone affected. However, the central nervous system links everything the body does, so multiple sclerosis can cause many different types of symptoms. The specific symptoms that appear depend on which part of the central nervous system has been affected and the job of the damaged nerve. Some of the most common symptoms of multiple sclerosis include eye problems, numbness, a tingling feeling sometimes described to be a bit like pins and needles, fatigue and pain.

MS symptoms can also come and go and change over time. They can be mild or more severe. The symptoms of MS are caused by the immune system attacking the nerves in the brain or spinal cord by mistake and those nerves control a lot of different parts of the body. That is why MS symptoms can affect many parts of the body and why everyone’s MS is different.

Scotland has one of the highest rates of MS in the world. Around 15,750 people are living with MS in Scotland. The new figure means that, according to MS Society Scotland, one in 300 people in Scotland are living with a potentially disabling condition that damages the body’s nerves and makes it harder for people to do things such as walking, talking, eating and thinking. Initiatives by the Scottish Government have contributed to an environment that is conducive to research in MS. For example, the Scottish Government has made it compulsory that anyone diagnosed with MS is contacted by a specialist nurse within 10 days.

There is also the rate of people being diagnosed with MS and it is important to keep raising awareness about MS in Scotland, particularly given the high rates of the condition. Research has come on massively in recent years, and the more that people know, the better. It is paramount that we raise awareness to make sure that people know how MS can affect individuals and how varied it can be.

In conclusion, I put on the record my thanks to my constituents for sharing their experience and contributing to my real-life knowledge of the condition. I am honoured to be their voice in the debate, and I welcome the opportunity to help raise awareness.

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to proceed with its commitment to mitigate any impact of the United Kingdom Government benefit cap as much as possible within the scope of its devolved powers. (S6O-00986)

The cabinet secretary will remember that the first conversation that I had with her as a newly elected MSP was about mitigating the benefit cap and I am delighted that we are doing that. It is beyond belief that the Westminster Government is implementing a policy that denies families with children basic levels of subsistence and continues to make things even worse with its two-child policy and its abhorrent rape clause. Will the cabinet secretary join me in condemning that approach and agree that it would have no part in an independent Scotland, which would have dignity, fairness and respect at the heart of its approach to social security policy?