Chamber and committees

Will the cabinet secretary outline how the Scottish Government will engage with the hospitality industry in particular, and ensure that support is put in place to recover from the effects of Covid and the loss of business?

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I could not get my app to work. I would have voted yes.

Please accept my apologies for my lack of understanding of protocols at the beginning of this debate, Presiding Officer.

As Scotland and the wider world continue to tackle Covid-19 and the many varied challenges that it presents, I welcome the fact that the Scottish Government has started this parliamentary session on the front foot and is focused on the delivery of its manifesto commitments. In only 100 days, the Government has already taken significant strides to improve the lives of people throughout Scotland. My fellow members have already mentioned several of those.

The SNP made a clear commitment that, if it was re-elected, the people of Scotland would have chosen a First Minister and a Cabinet that would prioritise their safety in moving towards the relaxation of restrictions and recovery. The success of our vaccination programme, which has been administered by the incredible NHS, was critical to that. The success of the vaccination programme has taken hard work and determination. First doses for all over-18s who attended their scheduled appointments by mid-July have been completed, we are well on track to offer second doses to all adults by mid-September, and 16 and 17-year-olds have begun to be vaccinated. That puts Scotland significantly ahead of the majority of other world nations.

With many of our everyday activities restored, it has been an incredibly emotional time for constituents everywhere, and for constituents in Glasgow Kelvin in particular. They—notably the service users of the Annexe healthy living centre in Partick—have reached out to share their thanks. That community resource rallied round during lockdowns, and it has been heartwarming to see that its programme of activities is back up and running, with classes every week.

The move beyond level 0 has been hard earned, and the sacrifices that everyone has made over the past year and a half can never be overstated. However, the increasing case numbers should make us all pause for thought. That is why I continue to be grateful to the Government for being measured and ensuring that public health remains central to its decision making during an on-going and complex challenge.

Of the many achievements so far, it will come as no surprise that I welcome the announcement of the additional support that is being offered to children and families. The additional £50 million that has been targeted to fund the recruitment of new teachers and pupil support assistants has been warmly welcomed across the teaching profession in its efforts to support—[Interruption.] No, I will not give way. The profession welcomes the funding for its efforts to support the education recovery. That honours yet another Government commitment.

In addition, the £65.5 million of annual funding that has been permanently allocated to councils from 2022-23 will help remove barriers to councils employing additional staff on permanent contracts and meet the local needs of children and young people.

At this moment, I am taking the opportunity to talk about the funding in teaching and education, and I will continue in that vein. The funding has gone a considerable way to reassuring those teachers in Glasgow Kelvin who have corresponded with me, who were quite rightly concerned about their employment status, which they wanted to make permanent.

It is welcome news to hear the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills announce that the Scottish Government and local authority leaders have agreed to increase the national school clothing grant to a minimum of £120 per eligible primary school pupil and £150 per eligible secondary school pupil. That will be supported by almost £12 million of additional funding to local authorities, which will go a significant way to removing an often hidden but substantial burden to families. The Government’s efforts on clothing grants, along with the expansion of the provision of good-quality free school meals should be warmly welcomed by all in the chamber.

As the MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, I was delighted to receive confirmation from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care that hospital parking charges are finally set to end permanently in Scotland. At long last, the remaining sites will come into public hands, which will help to phase out the legacy of the private finance initiative in hospital car parks across the country.

Lastly, I will take a moment to celebrate our creative industries in Glasgow Kelvin, particularly the musicians who call the constituency that I represent their home and place of work. The Government’s recently launched touring fund for live music will make a marked difference to the lives of many in Kelvin. Musicians, bands, artists and venues will be able to apply to the fund to bring new and additional concerts to venues and festivals in Scotland next year. As musicians are one of the groups hit hardest by the pandemic due to the nature of live performance, I am sure that they will support further efforts from the Government in that area.

Having tried to take interventions, I see that my time is up. This first 100 days has reiterated to me, as a new MSP, what the Parliament can achieve. It has also left me excited for our nation at the scope that the Parliament could have with full powers, once we achieve our independence. One thing for certain is that—this has been evident throughout the pandemic—the Government has never taken its eye off the day job. I warmly welcome the Government’s motion.

Although I am not required to declare it, I am still a registered member of the General Teaching Council for Scotland. I was a teacher, and I was previously a member of the NASUWT. I, too, am a member of the PVG scheme.

Thank you to the convener and the rest of the committee. This is a dream come true for a teacher of 30 years’ experience who has worked across two local authorities and across all demographics. I hope that I can bring that experience to bear in some way. My ears will listen widely. Like the convener, I look forward to getting to know my colleagues so that we can take on together the serious work that is ahead of us.

I welcome the publication of the OECD report and, as an ex-teacher, I thank our current teachers, parents and young people as they prepare to break for the summer holidays. As we know, this has been a particularly challenging year for so many. I have already been contacted by many educators, including in my Kelvin constituency, to whom the recommendation to replace the SQA is particularly significant. I ask the cabinet secretary how she will ensure that the concerns, views and voices from across universities, schools and further education colleges will be heard during the process of creating a new organisation, so that it is informed by personal and professional experiences and is fit for purpose?

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I would have voted yes.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome you to your new role.

It is a privilege to make my first speech as the member for Glasgow Kelvin. Having dedicated 30 years to educating our young people, I am honoured to contribute to today’s education debate.

I congratulate the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on her appointment. She brings a wealth of knowledge from her previous role as Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science.

I also thank her predecessor, John Swinney. Having known the Deputy First Minister for many years, I have no doubt about the extraordinary lengths that he went to for our young people. He is absolutely the right person to head up Scotland’s Covid recovery.

That leads me to thank another inspiring servant of Scotland—Sandra White. She represented the people of Glasgow and Kelvin for the previous 22 years. Few members so resolutely and passionately champion their constituents. Sandra’s parliamentary achievements include proposing legislation—the proposed responsible parking (Scotland) bill—and her efforts on the cross-party group on older people, age and ageing, which resulted in the Scottish Government creating a ministership. Sandra always stood up for those who needed her, whether they were in Partick, Gaza or Catalunya, and she always sought social justice and self-determination for all. Although she might have retired, I fear for Governments elsewhere that she might be just starting. We all wish her a very long and happy retirement.

I thank my family, campaign team and election agent extraordinaire, Councillor Kenny McLean. I offer my eternal thanks to all the activists for their hard work and good humour. I will do my level best to speak up for all the amazing vibrant and diverse communities of Glasgow Kelvin that I have been elected to represent.

Glasgow Kelvin not only voted yes in 2014, but has returned SNP MSPs and MPs in every election since 2011. There can be no denying where the majority of my constituents’ constitutional beliefs lie, so I look forward to putting the question to them formally, in a referendum, once again.

Out of the darkness of the past 18 months of Covid in Glasgow has come generosity of spirit, as communities found ways to support each other. My heartfelt sympathies go to all those who have lost loved ones. I thank all the key workers who continued to work throughout lockdown, and the incredible network of volunteers across Kelvin who mobilised overnight—literally—including the Annexe healthy living centre, the Language Hub, the Central gurdwara and the Glasgow City Mission. Kelvin stepped up and Glasgow stepped up.

Whatever our political colours, I am sure that we all respect the leadership that has been shown by our First Minister, who has steered us through the darkest of times and who has had to make the most difficult of decisions.

I turn to my previous profession—education—and acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of all staff across all sectors, parents and carers. From early years, to primary and secondary schools, to universities and colleges, our educators and support staff had to upskill rapidly and adapt pedagogy to ensure good-quality learning opportunities in the most stressful of times, they had to move to online learning and teaching platforms, and they had to staff school hubs for children of key workers. I ask the minister to join me in recognising the dedication of our education workforce at a time when they were also managing their own health and that of their families.

Remote learning exposed a digital divide. I therefore welcome the Government’s additional investment to provide 40,000 more digital devices and a new digital learning academy. Our Scottish Government has committed to continue within its first 100 days to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap. Prior to the pandemic, progress was being made, so I welcome the first instalment of the additional £1 billion Scottish attainment fund to support and accelerate that progress.

I have every faith that schools have risen to the challenge and will continue to do so. However, they cannot do it alone. Poverty must also be addressed through social, economic and health policies. I ask the minister to ensure that the funds are also used to provide more recovery support to young people who have additional support needs, including those who are neurodiverse.

Government actions, including the special fund of £20 million for a summer support programme, an increase in the school clothing grant, free breakfasts and lunches for children up to primary 4 and the extension of that to all primary children all year round are solid steps towards tackling poverty. Twenty thousand

“hungry weans will testify to that.”

All educational establishments have a duty to provide leadership that listens to the lived experience of our young people—from brash and overt racism to the more subtle, but equally harmful, microtransgressions and indignities that are suffered. As we develop our young workforce, the education profession needs to ensure for underrepresented groups equal opportunities in terms of recruitment, retention and promotion. I call on the minister to offer assurances that recruitment of the new 3,500 teachers and classroom assistants will reflect the communities that they represent and serve. The positive impact and benefits of that would be felt throughout society.

I am delighted to be part of such a diverse Scottish Parliament, but this is just the start; I look forward to helping to deliver. However, as the minister knows, I will not hesitate to push the Government further should I feel that it needs a bit of encouragement. The Government’s bold and exciting education policy agenda will enable this and future generations to be hopeful and aspirational, as we recover.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Sorry, but my app did not work. I would have voted yes.