Chamber and committees

I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. What engagement has the cabinet secretary had with the Secretary of State for Scotland about the development of a UK-wide child poverty strategy?

That is helpful. Anything further that you can add—you might wish to consider sending in a further written submission—would be helpful to the committee. Tony, do you want to come in on any other aspects?

I share the concerns expressed by my colleague Bob Doris. Authorities need to use their discretionary powers a bit more. I will not rant about that, but I could go on all day about it.

I will direct my questions in the first instance to Mike Callaghan, given that he touched on what I want to ask about, and then I will go to Tony Cain. Are you aware of any good practice that is happening in councils or in any other areas of Government that could be shared with local authorities to assist them to deal with their housing emergencies? What further mitigations and learning could be put in place to prevent other local authorities from declaring a housing emergency?

Mike, in responding to my first question, is there anything that you want to add to what you said earlier? Perhaps you could then respond to my second question.

Absolutely. The housing emergency has shown that local authorities cannot work in silo any more. They have to work with the private sector and with RSLs to get resolutions for tenants.

Does anyone else want to add anything?

It was helpful to get that on the record for the committee.

The Scottish Government has now adopted a carbon budgeting system to measure emission reduction targets alongside the rest of the United Kingdom and international counterparts such as France and Japan. Can the minister say any more about the lessons learned from the use of the carbon budgeting systems in those countries and how they have informed the Scottish Government’s approach?

Violence has no place in Scotland’s schools. I welcome the £2 million additional investment from the Scottish Government to address youth violence and the carrying of weapons in and around schools. It is clear that we continue to see challenges in relation to misogynistic behaviour and gender-based violence in wider society.

Will the cabinet secretary comment further on the Government’s work on the issue and on how the Scottish budget delivers on the priorities of the equally safe strategy?

I am pleased to speak in the debate in support of the Scottish Government’s ambition to establish Scotland as one of Europe’s fastest-growing start-up economies. It is also an opportunity to highlight the fantastic entrepreneurial spirit in my constituency.

Scotland is home to some of the world’s brightest business minds, and we have a proud history of invention—from television to telephone, and from penicillin to colour photographs. Looking ahead, the Scottish Government is committed to empowering entrepreneurs and innovators across our country. In my constituency of Clydebank and Milngavie, I am proud to have met some of our excellent entrepreneurs and innovators. As I have only four minutes, I can mention only a few.

I know that many of my colleagues will agree that caring for a plant can often be challenging. I was therefore really impressed when I met Clydebank’s Happy Leaf, which was founded in 2022 by Amy Roberts and Iain Quinn. In 2023, it received a Scottish EDGE award of £10,000 to develop a smart sensor that is placed in the soil of a plant and it sends messages to a phone app explaining what care the plant needs. That is a novel idea and I am sure that many will make great use of it.

Last year, I met Milngavie’s Andrew Flynn, co-founder of POTR. POTR was also successful in the Scottish EDGE award, securing a £100,000 investment to create what is believed to be the world’s first self-watering origami plant pot. Since that time, it has achieved a life-changing deal to sell the plant pots in Japan, and it has secured momentous deals to sell with Bloom & Wild, Uncommon Goods and John Lewis. Most recently, POTR secured a new partnership with Waterhaul, allowing it to meet increasing demand for its ocean pots, which are built from discarded fishing gear. That is an incredible innovation, with sustainability truly at its heart.

I would like to mention another constituent, Kim Burgess, who also won a Scottish EDGE award and secured £10,000 for her novel personal protection approach for anyone who might feel vulnerable in public. The product comprises a highly visible deterrent that has the potential to revolutionise personal safety and ensure that the most vulnerable groups in society feel safe and confident. When I met Kim, I was so impressed by her invention, and I commend her entrepreneurial talent.

Those are a select few examples of people in my constituency, and I am delighted by each and every one of their achievements. There are so many more that I could mention.

To ensure that we deliver truly meaningful support, it is vital that we continue to listen to and learn from our entrepreneurs and the business community. I am therefore proud that the Scottish Government is taking that approach and is committed to delivering a support network that nurtures talent and helps businesses to thrive.

The SNP is acutely aware of the pressures that businesses across the country face and is taking decisive action to offer support, despite our limited powers and having to work with a challenging budget. Therefore, it is welcome that the Scottish Government will invest up to £34.7 million in entrepreneurship, innovation and social enterprise in 2025-26, which represents a 50 per cent increase compared with the 2024-25 budget. Meanwhile, the UK Labour Government is betraying Scotland’s businesses with a tax on jobs and broken promises on energy bills.

On the world stage, there can be no better investment than investment in Scottish innovation. We have the talent, skills and resources to be a major player, but we are constantly hampered by successive UK Governments. Scotland needs the full powers of an independent nation, within the European Union, to allow us to fully flourish, and we need that now.

Thanks for your comments. I am alert to the time so will hand back to the convener.

Avril Hepner, you have made a lot of helpful points, and the committee will raise those with the Scottish Government. I want to give you the opportunity to highlight anything else that would help to improve outcomes for BSL users across Scotland.