Chamber and committees

Good morning. I come back to STA. Our Scottish Parliament information centre briefing suggests that we ask the Scottish Government about that, but do you agree that it is more a question for the UK Government, if anyone at all?

As my colleague Paul O’Kane said earlier, we need to get the form right. The existing form is 30 pages long; perhaps we could try to adapt that a wee bit.

I will move on. The UK Government has launched a green paper on plans to overhaul the current disability benefits system. A few worrying options have been mentioned, such as one-off grants and vouchers instead of regular payments. I seek your assurance—is that an approach that we will take in Scotland?

I welcome that. I am aware of a joint initiative between Clydebank Asbestos Group, Unite and a retired members branch of Unison to promote the uptake of attendance allowance among their members. Would you or your officials be willing to meet them to hear about their efforts and how the Scottish Government could assist them?

I will move on to uptake. What are the Scottish Government and Social Security Scotland doing to encourage take-up of the pension age disability payment?

I thank Martin Whitfield for bringing the debate to the chamber.

I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests. I was a councillor in West Dunbartonshire from 2003 until 2022.

I speak in the debate as a former councillor who sat on the council’s adoption and fostering panel for over 15 years. That was a real privilege, and it gave me a greater insight into the importance of good foster care. That can have a profound impact on the lives of children and young people and can give them the chance to live in a loving and stable environment.

The annual campaign helps us to shed a positive light on foster care and lets us celebrate the hard work, dedication and commitment of foster carers. As has been said, as of July 2023, there were approximately 3,261 approved fostering families in Scotland and 3,927 children living with foster families.

The theme of #FosteringMoments this year lets us celebrate the big and small moments that create memories and help to transform young people’s lives—the moments that define fostering journeys. Very often, it is the small moments in foster care that have the biggest impact.

I was touched in reading about some of the moments that foster carers told the Adolescent and Children’s Trust about. One that really hit me was this:

“The boys learning to ride bikes will be a memory that stays with me forever. I will never forget their whoops of joy as they shouted, ‘I can ride a bike!’”

Andrew, a young person who was placed in foster care in East Dunbartonshire, said:

“Every day is always good with my foster parents but the thing that I always love is on a Sunday, whether it is warm or rainy, loads of family come up and my foster mum makes a massive steak pie, and everyone is there and we all just eat together and watch TV. It’s not much, but it means a lot to me. I am grateful for the life they have given me. This has been the best life I could have hoped for.”

It is clear that those small moments that some of us might take for granted have the biggest impact and help to transform the lives of young people in care. Whatever the fostering moment is, it is about making a connection with that young person and making them feel cared for. No matter how small the moment, it has a huge impact.

In my constituency, there are many excellent foster carers, and I am grateful to them. The health and social care partnerships in East Dunbartonshire and West Dunbartonshire do amazing work, providing support groups, training and dedicated support workers for foster carers in the area. Supporting foster parents is essential, and I know that many of them would struggle without the support of their supervising social worker. When foster parents are well supported, they are able to offer the best care for the children and young people they look after.

Although we recognise the commitment and the amazing work of current foster carers, this fortnight also gives us a chance to encourage others to take up foster care. Of course, it is not something that someone should rush into. It is challenging, but it is really rewarding. However, there are many caring individuals out there who could change the lives of people in care, so, if someone thinks that this might be a thing that they could do, I ask them to please consider it—we are always looking for more foster carers.

Every child deserves to grow up safe and loved, and good foster care can change a child’s life—it can turn it around and put that child on a path to a brighter future. I celebrate the work of our local foster carers and thank them for everything that they do. I cannot thank them enough.

One of my constituents, who is 32, was diagnosed with mesothelioma at 30 years of age. She believes that that is because she was exposed to asbestos in the built environment and she strongly suspects that it was from the school that she attended in Clydebank. My constituent is a member of the Clydebank Asbestos Group, which supports the phased removal of asbestos from the school estate.

Will the cabinet secretary agree to meet me and campaigners, including the Clydebank Asbestos Group? The meeting will be an opportunity to hear the concerns about the presence of asbestos in schools, and representatives of COSLA should also be invited to attend.

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities regarding the management of asbestos within school buildings. (S6O-03440)

Thank you. I do not want to leave Marilyn Howard out. I thought that my questions were best directed to Adam Stachura and Debbie Horne, but would you like to share anything, Marilyn?

Many thanks.

Thank you. Adam Stachura, do you want to share some thoughts?