Chamber and committees

I do not think that it would be appropriate to negotiate. I certainly would not class that as appropriate for either myself or the member in charge. However, as I have said in my correspondence with Ms Smith, it is appropriate for her to engage with COSLA and trade unions so that she has more of an understanding of some of the bill’s implications and is able to relay that to the Government. However, I do not think that it would be appropriate to negotiate.

Sorry, Andrew, I was going to bring you in on childminding; I was too busy chatting.

I do not think that I am going to say anything that I have not said before to Ms Smith, but she raises a valid point. I am very much in favour of leveraging private finance to support or supplement public finance; as far as I am concerned—and I believe that my colleagues will feel the same—it is definitely a possibility, especially in relation to outdoor education. There are private financiers who would welcome the opportunity to invest in that sort of thing.

If we are talking about putting in place, say, a public trust model or some other approach that we have looked at before to directly finance something that has been put on a statutory footing, where that funding would have to be guaranteed on a year-by-year basis, that will pose some difficulties. That said, as my colleagues and I have alluded to, there are definitely opportunities in that respect in relation to outdoor education.

Very productive conversations about the bill are on-going with Ms Smith, and I will arrange another meeting with her—as long as she is happy with that—prior to the summer recess.

I assure Mr Mason that we have been working at pace, because I am aware that recess is a long period during which we might be more limited in what we can do. I have been trying to be as proactive as possible before recess.

That is a really important point. I do not want to do local authorities a disservice; there are difficulties. As Mr Adam has stated, challenges arise from the different demographics in our range of 32 local authorities, so it is correct to say that different approaches are being taken. Some local authorities are perhaps further forward in some areas and others in different ones. That is why it is so important that we are able to track progress in relation to the Promise progress framework.

I also want to mention a point that I tend to labour, which is about the importance of sharing best practice. In recent years, I have been to a number of conferences and events where local authorities come together with third sector partners and Government to understand what others are doing and the different approaches that are being taken. Having such opportunities to come together, engage and understand the various approaches is extremely important. Achieving that, in itself, is really good progress.

As I said in reply to Mr Adam’s original point, there are a number of ways to track delivery of the Promise. We are making good progress in ensuring that transformational change is happening through the various approaches being taken at local authority level.

I think so. The fact that we have increased our investment in the programme and extended it proves that there are positive outcomes from it, and it could be further extended. As I have alluded to, the evaluation will be key to our understanding and our consideration of a future school-age childcare system. I agree with Mr Adam’s point.

Of course. Our six early adopter communities are backed by £16 million of Scottish Government investment. That goes back to what I said earlier about the extra time projects, which are providing really valuable insights into what families require. Our early adopter community projects are involved in a number of things over and above childcare in order to support families, and that will be key to the learning that we will take forward.

In relation to Joe Fitzpatrick’s constituency, I know that Dundee City Council is working in partnership with local providers such as the Yard to deliver services that are designed to respond to local needs and to support families who have children with additional support needs—something that has been much discussed at the committee today.

The Yard not only provides activities during the school days and holidays but also supports families through weekend sessions, which provide opportunities for families to come together and play with their children and to meet other families and gain a form of peer support. Such opportunities to come together and garner support from peers—and to share information, although that sounds too formal—are really key for families, especially in our post-pandemic world. Equally, there are opportunities for children’s development and for them to play. The Yard is doing fundamental work, which stretches over and above the services that it carries out—indeed, I know that it has helped to provide additional training to other school-age childcare projects in Dundee, so it has a much further reach than it would appear to have on paper.

The early adopters work has been really positive, and the learning that we will get and the outcomes that we will be able to evaluate from it will be instrumental in improving school-age childcare more generally.

The work is under way, and officials will seek input into the process from stakeholders over the summer. That will be the next stage of the process.

Absolutely. As Ms Dunbar has stated, I am unable to go into a huge amount of detail on the Promise bill. As I stated in the previous committee session, however, it was my intention to introduce a bill to the Parliament to address some of the legislative aspects of keeping the Promise, and that is still the case. I will be introducing the bill in June, and I am very grateful for the committee’s patience with it. I look forward to discussing the bill further with the committee once you have seen the full details.

Regardless of our waiting for the introduction of the bill, and as I am sure Ms Dunbar and other members will be aware, there has been a range of activity on delivering the ambitions of the Promise. Ms Dunbar mentioned foster and kinship care, and a number of actions have been taken there. We announced the Scottish recommended allowance in August 2023, and it has made an impact for foster and kinship carers. That was backed with £16 million of Government funding. As a result of the cost of living pressures, we uplifted that in this budgetary year, which will provide further financial support for foster and kinship carers.

The committee will be aware of the range of consultations that we have undertaken in relation to the Promise bill, which I discussed the last time that I was here. One of them was specifically on the future vision of foster and kinship care and on the children’s hearings system, moving on from care and the definition of care experience. All of that has included a huge level of engagement with children and young people with care experience, and with relevant stakeholders. I will be able to go into more detail on some of that once the bill is introduced.

Going back to foster and kinship carers, and aside from the Scottish recommended allowance, we know that the issue is not just one of financial asks. A level of support is required to allow foster and kinship carers to play their role in caring for our children and young people. There has been a range of engagement sessions and consultations with those carers. I personally attended one to listen and to understand some of the issues that those carers are facing. I hope to be able to support kinship and foster carers with that. We will launch a new vision for kinship care later in the year, and there will be further progress in relation to foster care. I believe that that will speak to many of the asks and concerns that have been raised.

I hope that that answers Ms Dunbar’s question.

Absolutely. As the member is aware, we have committed to introducing Scotland’s first national transitions to adulthood strategy to ensure that a joined-up approach is taken so that young disabled people who are transitioning to adulthood get the support that they require. I wrote to Ms Duncan-Glancy on that recently. The strategy will be published before summer recess.