Chamber and committees

I will take this one. Obviously, a commitment was made in relation to whole-family wellbeing, but I believe that the priority of prevention has been growing ever further since then, and I think that we are now going further than that.

I am happy to get back to Mr Mason with the specific detail about the 5 per cent of health and social care spend, because, he will understand, that does not sit with me, but I would like to give a more general response on the Government’s priorities.

Preventive budgeting is a central element of the public service reform strategy. It is essential to improving outcomes, addressing root causes of demand and ensuring long-term fiscal sustainability. It fits in quite well with the discussions that we were just having about the decisions that local authorities can make on preventative spend and the money that can be saved as a result later down the line. That is a key point to highlight.

The strategy specifically includes a workstream on preventative budgeting, and commits the Scottish Government to redesigning budget processes to track and monitor preventative spend, guide decisions on resource allocation, reform budget rules to allow funding to move across portfolios and services and expand our invest-to-save approach to finance transition costs and kick-start prevention.

For me and my portfolio, that is really important. Members will be aware that delivery of the Promise is not a one-portfolio shop—it has to be a cross-Government priority. As I say, the move towards prevention and that prioritisation of prevention is positive for our tackling poverty agenda, our whole-family support agenda and our delivery of the Promise.

I would argue that much of the spend in my portfolio is preventative, whether it is ELC, which can have huge impacts on early child development, or the various strands of the Promise that not only ensure that children in care are supported the way they should be but that we are supporting families in a preventative way so that children are not entering care.

We are also doing work on secure care and rehabilitation. I believe that the majority of what we are doing in my portfolio prioritises preventative spend with the aims of keeping families together, growing connections and promoting attachment.

It is also key to highlight the joint approaches that we are taking on these matters. There is a cross-Government approach to early child development, and I have worked very closely with health ministers on that. Also, in relation to the investment that we are putting into bairns’ hoose, we have worked very closely over the past few years with justice and health to ensure that we are supporting that on a cross-portfolio basis.

I think that it is easy to split spend into what is preventative and what is reactive. The difficulty comes in trying to understand how much will be saved from the decisions that you are making at the time. For example, for a three-year-old child, the interventions that we are making now in relation to ELC and our play strategy will have positive impacts, but we cannot necessarily measure what would have happened to that child should those impacts not have taken place. For example, there could be issues with behaviour, health issues or justice issues, and it is hard to quantify that.

On the work that I have already put forward in relation to the strategy, we are getting better at that, and it is improving. That will continue to be a priority for the Government.

12:00

There are quite a lot of points in there, so remind me if I do not manage to cover everything.

As I have already set out to Mr Rennie, we have protected £1 billion in the budget to ensure that we can continue that 1,140 ELC offer, and Mr McLennan is right that that saves families more than £6,000 a year.

I have already spoken about the additionalities of the breakfast clubs and wraparound school care, but we continue to expand childcare in a number of ways, as well as taking the necessary time to understand what families need. That takes us directly to the work that is under way in the childcare early adopter communities, which support more than 20 communities. Different approaches are being taken in those areas, depending on locality, because we know that those local areas know what their families need most. For example, some areas are taking an approach that focuses on providing childcare for younger children, and some are taking an approach that is trying to increase benefit maximisation. We know that the universal credit childcare element and the tax-free childcare element are extremely underutilised. In some of those areas, there has been a real focus on trying to get more families signed up to the money that they are entitled to receive. It is important to look to that wider childcare offer and, as I said, a number of different approaches are under way in the early adopter communities,.

Mr McLennan will be aware that we have ensured another £50 million in the budget for whole family wellbeing funding, in addition to £50 million for whole family support. That relates the First Minister’s priority of providing wraparound support for families in their local areas. I am confident that it all comes back to the prevention agenda that we have been discussing all morning; I am confident, too, that we are investing in the right ways. The ELC policy is a preventative move to provide young children with the early learning that they need and ensure that families can take up employment opportunities.

There are a number of other aspects to whole family wellbeing, such as the investment of more than £100 million, which is a really positive move.

I cannot comment on individual cases. However, a child might have family or friends in Scotland, or they might need to be away from a certain area or certain people. I cannot account for all the different reasons why a child might be placed—

Work is being undertaken in England to ensure the capacity of their own sector. For example, I met the relevant minister yesterday to discuss cross-border placements, among other things. He told me about several initiatives that are being carried out in England. One of those is the regional care partnerships—sorry, I might need to come back to the committee with the official term for that—which is a new initiative to try to ensure capacity in England. As Mr Rennie will remember from when I have been in committee to talk about placements into secure care, the number of those placements has reduced over time. That is a result of a lot of the cross-border work that is going on.

No such issue been brought to my attention. I am not sure whether officials could elaborate on that.

Yes. It would be the placing authority’s responsibility, but, through the planning and discussions that would take place in advance, such an arrangement could be worked out. There would be conversations around what would be best suited to the individual child’s circumstances. Perhaps Louisa Brown can help with that.

The timeframe of six-weekly visits is in place, but there may be legitimate reasons why it might not be possible to adhere to that. That is not to allow authorities to say, “Oh, we just didn’t have time to do that.” It could be down to, for example, a social worker being off ill that week or something else having come about to prevent that visit. However, the regulations require that, if the visit cannot go ahead, it must be arranged as soon as possible after the six-week mark.

There was an update. With regard to the timeframe for that child going without education, I would have to pass that to my officials.

The draft regulations specify the information that is to be contained in the notification and the people who must receive it, including key partners such as those in health and education departments, residential or fostering contacts, the chief social work officer and the Care Inspectorate.

When notification takes place, because it has not previously happened, I would expect conversations to happen around what will be required for that child. The purpose of bringing forward the draft regulations is entirely to enable us to understand the needs of children who are placed in Scotland and how we can best support them.

Although I appreciate that there is no duty there, the fact that all those partners are involved in the child’s care and support services should bring about confidence in relation to how that child will be supported.