Chamber and committees

Parents of additional support needs pupils protested outside North Lanarkshire Council last year. They said that teachers and pupils are being failed by an education system that does not recognise the specialised skills that are needed for children with additional support needs. Many school-age children end up, due to the lack of ASN schools available, being placed in mainstream education schools, despite meeting the criteria for an ASN school.

What is the cabinet secretary’s response to the many families in North Lanarkshire who are being failed by the education system due to the lack of specialised schools and facilities for ASN pupils?

The minister might be aware that in North Lanarkshire, 1,170 disabled people, many of whom are children, are currently stuck on social housing waiting lists. Instead of taking the issue seriously, the Scottish National Party Government has chosen to slash the housing budget by more than £200 million in the past year. How does the minister expect to cut those lists when social house building is being discouraged by his own Government’s cuts?

Will the minister give way on that point?

The problem is that the legislation that was created in this Parliament by this SNP Scottish Government is not watertight. There are 32 councils doing 32 different things across all local authorities. [Interruption.] We have a system in which councils are the competitor and the banker. The buck stops with the SNP and its legislation, which is not watertight.

Does the minister agree that the cost of childcare is also contributing to that? Will she give an update on where the Government is with its expansion of free childcare?

Will Miles Briggs give way?

I am going to start with an incredibly cheesy line. My mum and dad are my heroes. They taught me so many important life skills when I was growing up, but especially they taught me that hard work pays off. That has always stuck with me. Working hard, getting a job and getting yourself into a position where you are financially secure is what most people want in life.

Becoming a parent in 2022 gave me the most important job that I will ever have. However, with the joy of watching your children grow up comes the realisation that you will need to work to provide for them. Parents right across Scotland understand that. There is no other way.

We are living in a completely different world from what generations before me and others experienced. Traditionally, the mum would stay at home and look after the kids while the dad went out to work, but, with the global cost of living crisis, most parents do not have the option to choose that sort of lifestyle any more. That is why work has become integral to tackling child poverty.

Parents should inspire not just their children but themselves. Getting yourself a good, well-paid job with opportunities is the best way to give your child the best possible start in life. That is the ethos that my parents taught me, and that will be the ethos that I pass on to my daughter should she ever wish to start a family.

There are many areas that we could touch on in this debate, as the topic is so broad and it crosses so many portfolios. Unsurprisingly, however, given the interactions that I have already had, I will focus on childcare. I am passionate about that, not just because I am a new mum who is navigating the childcare sector, but because parents need this Government to give them the tools that they need to succeed. That is why I back the roll-out of expanded free childcare here, in Scotland, and in the rest of the UK. It is staggering how much parents pay for childcare in Scotland. At one point, I was paying well over £500 a month, but my eyes watered when I was told first hand by parents that some have to pay well over £1,000 per child per month. That is a whole whack of a parent’s salary gone.

There are then the added costs of gas, electricity, council tax, food shopping, phone and internet bills and all the other cost pressures that an average household faces. It is no wonder that some parents decide not to work or to reduce their hours to balance childcare and family income. Parents have told me that, after their first child, they might not be able to afford a second. With the number of babies that are expected to be born over the next decade in freefall, we need to make it easier for mums and dads to raise a family.

I was hoping that the debate would not descend into politicking, but we are descending into politicking. It is a shame that the Scottish Government is doing that when we are trying to encourage parents into work so that we can try to eradicate child poverty.

Some members in the chamber this afternoon will tell me that the current childcare expansion is a huge success, that there are no problems and that parents love being able to access 1,140 hours of free childcare. However, Willie Rennie made the important point that, although parents enjoy the childcare affordability just now, there are serious problems coming down the track.

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce social housing waiting lists for disabled people. (S6O-03202)

Through its childcare expansion programme, the Government has created a system in which, when it comes to setting the rates, councils are both banker and competitor. Private, voluntary and independent nurseries are closing their doors. How on earth can the minister talk about the expansion of childcare and the importance of childcare when the Government does not have the right policy for it?