Chamber and committees

: There are a lot of places where we want to see progress. I know that a few people have said that not enough progress has been made. The cabinet secretary and I are very much focused on ensuring that we deliver the Promise by 2030. I am sure that Mr Dunlop and I will be having lots of discussions about that.

That joint working culminated in the comprehensive Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Act 2026, which was unanimously supported by members across the Parliament.

I say to all members that my door is wide open to sharing ideas and experience so that, together, we can ensure that the 2030 target is a reality. This is a time not for politics but for collaboration through which we can support the delivery of the change that our care-experienced communities require.

Central to the Promise has been our continuing commitment to improve holistic, whole family support. Our whole family wellbeing funding programme has been a key enabler of that system change since 2022. Part of the role of creating and enabling conditions for change is continuing to simplify and streamline our national policy as much as possible. Our delivery partners across the whole family support system have received positively the commitment in “Bringing Hope, Building Futures: Tackling child poverty delivery plan 2026-2031” to integrate the whole family wellbeing programme, the fairer future partnerships and whole family support early adopter areas from 2027.

Literacy plays a foundational and lifelong role in learning, wellbeing and tackling poverty. That is why the Scottish Government has a long-standing commitment to sustaining and enhancing literacy from children’s earliest years and throughout their school education.

I know that time is up, so I close by saying that, despite the challenges that we currently face, the Scottish Government’s action is already making a real difference to families across Scotland. Relative poverty in Scotland is 6 per cent lower than in the rest of the UK. We will do what we need to do to ensure that child poverty is eradicated in Scotland.

Here I was, thinking that the member had a genuine concern and a query about UK Government funding being ceased for places of worship. As I said, Historic Environment Scotland is doing what it can, given that the UK Government will not give any further funding. We will continue to do that.

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.

We have delivered sustainable increases in the rates that have been paid to funded ELC providers in the private, third and childminder sectors since 2017. I know that, historically, the issue is one that Mr Rennie raised with a previous minister. Over that period, rates have increased by nearly 88 per cent. This year alone, we are making available a further £13.4 million to enable childcare staff who deliver funded ELC in private and third sector services to continue to be paid at least the real living wage. That is on top of the additional £25.7 million of recurring funding that we have delivered.

We recognise that the gap to which Mr Rennie referred is an issue, which is why the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities are continuing to progress the longer-term reforms that are set out in the joint sustainable rates review, including greater standardisation in the rates-setting process and improving the evidence that is available on the costs of delivery.

As the cabinet secretary said at the start of the debate, there are few things that are more important than ensuring that every child grows up loved, safe and respected and is able to reach their full potential, which is why eradicating child poverty is the defining mission of this Government. The contributions that we have heard underline the fact that members across the Parliament share the Government’s ambition of tackling child poverty. I welcome the healthy debate that we have had today.

Our programme for government builds on the actions that we set out in the third tackling child poverty delivery plan, which was published in March, and it sets out our plans to invest in young people and their families so that they can reach their full potential. Those plans include action to support people to learn new skills, to find good, fair work and to increase their earnings, as well as action to transform Scotland’s childcare offer to provide support for families with children from the age of nine months through to the end of primary school.

Costs should not determine the choices that our young people make and the education that they receive, so we will continue to ensure that pupils—

I am slightly confused by the question, but what we are doing is working quite closely with childminders, nurseries and the private sector on how we transform childcare. It will really be up to parental choice. Not every parent will want to put their child into childcare at nine months. It is about giving families the choice of the childcare that they want.

To continue to ensure that pupils and their families do not have to meet the costs of materials for practical lessons in schools—the so-called core curriculum costs—we will provide a further £8 million towards that policy in 2026-27. We also want to ensure that eligible families continue to receive support with the cost of school uniform, and we will continue to uprate funding for the school clothing grant in line with inflation.

Currently, our free school meal programme provides universal provision from primary 1 to 5 and to eligible pupils from P6 to S6, saving those families who take up the offer every day £450 per child annually. I can confirm that, over the course of this parliamentary session, we will expand access to free school meals to all children in primary school.

We are also aware that many families continue to face hardship and difficulties in paying for school meals. While we work towards delivering our expanded offer, we will take steps to address the issue of school meal debt with local authorities, and we will be writing to them shortly to seek information on the school meal debt in their areas.

I want to say a little bit more about our plans for childcare and to address some of the points that have been raised in the debate.

We will publish and consult on a blueprint for a transformed childcare offer, which is focused on what matters most to families. Our ambition is to create a more flexible childcare system that recognises that access to high-quality childcare is not only essential for children’s development but critical in tackling child poverty, supporting household incomes, advancing gender equality and supporting economic growth. In the year ahead, we will continue to fund a range of targeted childcare support for low-income families. Earlier today, we confirmed the first £8.2 million of childcare support funding, which will help almost 5,000 low-income families with the cost of childcare at times of challenge or change.

As the First Minister announced earlier this week, we will work in partnership with local governments to deliver a national breakfast club offer. This year, we will invest £15 million in local authorities to expand and enhance breakfast clubs in schools, and from this time next year, we will invest £44 million annually to deliver free breakfast clubs in primary schools across Scotland. From August 2029, we will provide an after-school and holiday childcare offering for families, which will reduce the cost of childcare at times that we know cause challenge for families. We will prioritise funding within our budget to ensure that that transformation can be delivered.

Eradicating child poverty will require a range of support and action. We must ensure that parents and carers are able to learn, grow and become equipped with the skills that they need to secure and sustain meaningful, well-paid employment. The Government cannot achieve that ambition in isolation. We need to work closely with our partners who are on the front line of our economies and our communities. That is why, during this academic year, we are investing £22 million in the college sector to help parents and carers gain skills that will support them to progress in work and boost their earning potential. That investment of £10 million in the raising income through skills and education—RISE—programme, £2 million in the training access fund and £10 million in the new flexible workforce development fund will support families at risk of poverty by providing essential support, including for childcare and travel, to get into training that fits around family life.

As we begin this new session of Parliament, our commitment to keeping the Promise is as strong as it was in 2020, and a significant amount of progress has been made on that nationally and locally. I am honoured to have inherited the brief to improve outcomes for children and young people who have experience of care. In so doing, I want to continue the excellent collaborative work across the chamber that my predecessor, Ms Don-Innes, so ably led.

I thank all members for their contributions today. There have been really good contributions from some members because eradicating child poverty should be an emotive issue for us all.

I will touch on a few of those contributions. Mark Griffin asked whether the Scottish Government is going to meet its poverty targets. We know that that is challenging, but we will meet our targets. He also raised the issue of children living in poverty in temporary accommodation. Our programme for government sets out our plans to go further and to deliver on our intention to end homelessness for good, including through record public sector investment in the supply of affordable homes, by spending £4.9 billion over the next four years to support affordable housing, with at least 70 per cent of that being for social rent and 10 per cent of it for rural and island communities.

Holly Bruce called for an uplift in the Scottish child payment. Our Scottish child payment already provides unparalleled financial help to families, and we are looking at increasing support to £40 a week for children under the age of one. I agree with Holly Bruce, Jack Middleton and Stuart McMillan—if we were an independent country, we would do things very differently. However, as a Government, we have to live within our pocket money from Westminster. This year alone, we are investing £159 million in mitigating the worst impacts of UK Government welfare policy.

Morven-May MacCallum raised the issue of childcare workforce shortages, especially in rural areas. I have been acutely aware of that ever since coming into post and have been having discussions on the matter for the past couple of months. As part of our work to consult on the blueprint for a transformed childcare offer, we will focus on what matters most. It is vital that we reflect the views and needs of rural and island communities. I am grateful to all the stakeholders and childcare regulatory bodies that took part in the rural and island childcare round-table event in Ullapool in March this year.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic is in Dundee today to visit the university and meet senior leadership and trade unions, having engaged with both parties in recent months. Although the university is autonomous and responsible for its own decisions, ministers have emphasised that fair work principles and meaningful engagement with staff and students are essential to compliance with the Scottish Funding Council’s conditions. The education secretary most recently met the SFC on 25 August to seek assurances on the university’s collective consultation and confirmation that the SFC would advise ministers on the university’s compliance before any further funding decisions.

I fully appreciate the concerns that have been raised regarding the university’s cost reduction measures, and I sympathise with those who are affected. It is imperative that the SFC continues to monitor the university’s compliance with all conditions, which apply throughout the funding period. The university has stated that the Scottish Government support has staved off the threat of insolvency and has protected jobs, and we remain committed to supporting the university towards a sustainable future.

Following the chief social work officers’ joint statement, I immediately convened a meeting with them to discuss all the concerns that were raised. After that, on 7 August, I jointly convened a multi-agency round table with Councillor Buchanan from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to identify practical actions that can be taken at local and national levels.

Through that collaborative work, partners have agreed a range of measures to be taken forward urgently to help to address the immediate pressures in the system, alongside longer-term actions that are aimed at increasing capacity. Although there is no single solution to these really complex challenges, all partners are committed to working together to deliver meaningful and sustained improvements.

As I said, the Scottish Government is very concerned about the challenges in securing suitable care placements for children and young people who are unable to remain with their families and about the pressures that that is placing on children, carers, families and the workforce. As I said, we are working very closely with COSLA and social work, which will incorporate work across portfolios, including housing.