Chamber and committees

The member raises some issues that I have been very familiar with since coming into post, because they have been raised with me. That is why it will be vital to have these discussions with providers across the sector, including childminders and other private providers, as well as with families and children.

Cross-boundary ELC places have become an issue in recent years. I do not think that we anticipated that issue when we rolled out the 1,140 hours. As we move forward, we have to learn lessons so that the provision is fit for purpose for all families.

In our programme for government, we have committed to transforming the childcare offer to provide support for children from nine months through to the end of primary school over the course of this parliamentary session. We will publish and consult on a blueprint for a transformed childcare offer in 2027, focusing on what matters most to families.

We are already preparing to roll out free breakfast clubs for children in primary school areas from August 2027, giving children access to a nutritious breakfast and making it easier for parents to get to work, while also reducing costs.

Across Scotland, there is a take-up rate of 96 per cent for the roll-out of 1,140 hours for all three and four-year-olds, and the policy was very welcome when it was introduced, in 2021. However, the Scottish Government is listening and we know that there are challenges, especially in rural areas. That is why we have made the commitment to roll out childcare from nine months to the end of primary school by the end of this parliamentary session. We have been speaking to nurseries, childminders and the ELC sector, and they do not want this to happen quickly, because we have to do it right. I will be engaging with them, and we will be rolling it out throughout this parliamentary session.

The member highlights an important issue that has been raised with me several times since I came into post. I assure him that our approach to transformation will be informed by the lived experience of parents and carers, including those whose children have additional support needs. We recognise that understanding the experiences of families is essential to ensuring that future childcare provision is accessible, inclusive and responsive to children’s individual needs and supports families to access the services that they require. We will work closely with delivery partners and the sector to ensure that workforce requirements are understood and addressed and that they have the knowledge, skills and support required to meet the needs of children with additional support needs.

I do not think that Willie Rennie is being rude. He is right to challenge the Scottish Government with the issues that his constituents raise.

I am in discussions with the private sector about the issues there. The Scottish Government has supported the sector with an extra £13 million in this financial year, and we will continue those discussions, because the sector will be vital in this transformation and the childcare that we aspire to roll out in this parliamentary session. We need to get it right.

I thank Steven Bonnar for securing this important debate, and I thank members who are present in the chamber for their contributions. We have heard personal stories about the impact on families and on children of a system that is failing.

We have heard only a few stories this evening, but I know that failures have impacted thousands and thousands of families for many, many years—as I, personally, have been failed through the system.

In his opening speech, Steven Bonnar mentioned the failures of the CMS, and I am really sorry to hear about the experience of his constituent, Gerry. That is totally unacceptable. Going through the system can be extremely stressful for families; it is a long and emotionally draining process. As all the members who have spoken have mentioned, the question is about who is accountable. No one ever seems to be accountable for what happens.

Members have called for the CMS to be devolved to Scotland, as its functions are reserved to Westminster. The First Minister has previously said in the chamber that there are currently no plans to establish a Scottish child maintenance service. In saying that, the Scottish Government does recognise arguments in favour of an integrated approach to family support, and we acknowledge that the question regarding future devolution merits consideration.

From Carol Mochan’s speech, it was good to hear that the current UK Government has recognised that the system is failing. It is positive to hear that members from across the parties are willing to work together to ensure that any changes deliver for the families and children of Scotland.

It was interesting to hear about Dawn Black’s experience in the Netherlands—about shared parenting and things being done in a totally different way there, and about how beneficial that is for families and for children. There are so many ways in which we can learn from other nations.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of a child maintenance system that works for the families who need it. Sadly, as we have heard tonight, that is simply not the case for too many. The reality of the current service is highlighted in the important work conducted by One Parent Families Scotland, in partnership with Fife Gingerbread and the Institute for Public Policy Research Scotland. Those organisations engaged with parents with lived experience to understand the challenges that they faced, and their final report, which was published in October last year, sets out recommendations for transformational change that could help improve the financial security of children and lone-parent families.

The scale of what can be achieved is clear. IPPR Scotland estimates that 20,000 Scottish children could be lifted out of relative poverty if families were properly supported to navigate the child maintenance system and to access the money that they are owed.

Responsibility for the child maintenance service rests solely with the UK Government at the moment, and the failings that have been highlighted are that Government’s alone. While the Scottish Government has welcomed the UK Government’s recognition of the need for reform, as set out in the child poverty strategy, the actions that have been committed to fall short of the transformation that stakeholders have called for.

We are not content to sit idly by and point fingers at the failings of Westminster, so the Scottish Government is taking action. This year we are investing more than £270,000 in a new child maintenance project, led by One Parent Families Scotland and Fife Gingerbread. That project is helping to provide information and advice nationally to train front-line advice workers and to deliver specialist advice for families with complex circumstances, including those experiencing domestic abuse.

We are also investing more than £99,000 over the next two years, through the child poverty practice accelerator fund, to build on the innovative work taken forward by Fife Council and Fife Gingerbread. Our investment is enabling learning from that project to be expanded into Edinburgh, which will help to improve the support that is available to families, including by training more financial inclusion and family support workers to feel more confident about discussing child maintenance.

In addition to mitigating the failings of the child maintenance service, we are investing £159 million this year to mitigate the effect of UK Government welfare policies, including the benefit cap, the bedroom tax and the freeze on local housing allowance rates. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to scrap those cruel policies, and we have again urged the chancellor to take action at the budget next month.

This mitigation forms part of the much broader action that we are taking to drive progress on our defining mission of eradicating child poverty. The “Bringing Hope, Building Futures: Tackling child poverty delivery plan 2026-2031” sets out concrete action to increase families’ incomes, reduce the cost of living, and support children and their families to thrive. That includes investing £40 million to deliver new transport and skills support for parents to help boost their earnings. It includes continued investment in our five family payments, which provide unparalleled financial support to families, and it strengthens them by increasing our Scottish child payment to £40 for children under the age of one. The plan also includes action to tackle the cost of living crisis, including through continued investment in funded early learning and childcare and free school meals.

Our action is making a real difference and is estimated to be keeping 100,000 children out of relative poverty this year. The Scottish Government recognises the significant challenges and failings in the current child maintenance service and the impact that transformational change could have on families across the country. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to raise its ambition and deliver the change that is needed.

I really welcome this debate. I assure members that we will ensure that learning is shared from the projects that we are funding and that we will work constructively with the UK Government to reflect the experiences of families in Scotland.

Meeting closed at 18:12.

The Scottish Government totally recognises how vital early learning and childcare is in rural and island areas, in relation to both giving children the best start in life and supporting families to work. We recognise that the provision of childcare is a key factor in allowing people in rural and island communities to enter and sustain training or employment and to start a business.

As members know, next year, a blueprint consultation will be launched on how to roll out the expansion of childcare from nine months to the end of primary school by the end of this parliamentary session.

We are committed to families in rural areas accessing high-quality childcare that meets their needs, with near-universal take-up of our existing offer of funded early learning and childcare for three-year-olds and four-year-olds.

As we set out in our programme for government, we will transform our childcare offer to provide a flexible system of support for children from nine months to the end of primary school. As we develop our plans, we will continue to engage closely with families, childcare providers, stakeholders and partners to ensure that the transformation delivers for families in rural and island communities.

I saw at first hand the benefits of outdoor play for young children during a visit to Little Bugs nursery in South Queensferry earlier this month. It was impressive to see so many kids thriving in an outdoor environment.

The national standard for funded early learning and childcare ensures that outdoor play is a part of children’s everyday experience of funded ELC, and we have worked with the sector to develop the “Out to Play” guidance, which supports high-quality outdoor experiences. The latest data shows that children in ELC settings across Scotland spend, on average, 39 per cent of their time outdoors. We will continue to work with the ELC sector to support and promote outdoor play.

Officials in the agency have led our response to the issue, working closely with the sector and chief social work officers. The agency has worked at pace to gather data on the scale of the issue and to put forward options for consideration by stakeholders with a role in securing suitable care placements for children and young people who are unable to remain with their families.

We now have an agreed set of actions that can support the immediate retention of capacity and options that will support longer-term improvements to capacity. The agency will oversee the delivery of those actions and report directly to me, to ensure that I am updated on progress.