Chamber and committees

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.

As you said, training is a step into the profession, so that needs to be addressed. We can certainly raise that issue directly with the Scottish Government by asking how it intends to tackle it.

Finally, on the education aspect, how do we close the generational gap in having parity among schools, to ensure that younger people have a greater understanding of HIV and AIDS, which would help to eliminate stigma as we move forward through the generations? Is that being explored? How do we ensure that we are targeting rural schools so that we can have full parity across Scotland?

Good morning, panel. This has been an interesting and informative session. I thank you all for your contributions so far.

I will pick up on the theme of rural communities that has run throughout our discussion. I am interested in hearing about parity among health boards. It seems as though boards outwith the central belt are struggling, not only on tackling the stigma surrounding HIV but on the education aspect. I will put this question to Dr Howe first. Given your expertise, how would you suggest that we tackle and target health boards effectively, in particular if there are depopulation and recruitment issues?

Thank you. I am not sure whether anyone else is looking to come in, convener, but I am certainly finished with my questions.

I take the opportunity to welcome Kaukab Stewart to her post as Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development. We have worked together on the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, and I look forward to our exchanges in the chamber from now on.

International women’s day is an opportunity to reset our focus on what we can do to improve the lives of women in the United Kingdom and around the world, but why do we need to mark this day in our diaries? UN Women explains that, globally, women are paid less than men. They are less likely to work, and more likely to work in informal and vulnerable employments. They are more likely to take on a higher proportion of unpaid care and to take on the majority of caring responsibilities, and they are more likely to be victims of domestic abuse. In addition, as the minister pointed out, we have less rights than our male counterparts worldwide.

That is why we mark international women’s day: not only to celebrate those who have been leading the charge to improve the lives of women globally, but to raise awareness of the inequalities that women face daily. We heard from the minister about the impact that recent conflicts have had, especially on women, and I am certain that we will hear more, as the debate progresses, on the many issues that women face when they are confronted with the brutality of war.

I have spoken in previous debates in the chamber on the illegal invasion of Ukraine. I will never forget the bombing of a hospital in Mariupol that claimed the life of a pregnant woman and her baby. I have also spoken on the Gaza-Israel conflict. I think that we will all remember 7 October 2023 as the day on which Hamas weaponised sexual violence. We saw videos of naked and bloodied women defiled by Hamas on the day of the attack; it emerged on social media for the whole world to see and watch on in horror.

We have heard witnesses sharing their trauma of seeing women raped before they were dead, with some raped while they were injured and some while they were already dead, when terrorists raped their lifeless bodies. We also saw the video of a pregnant woman who had her womb ripped open while she was still alive and saw her unborn baby stabbed before being murdered herself. Gang rape, mutilation and execution—that is what happened to innocent women who were enjoying a rave that was designed to promote peace.

Now, we have to watch on while the women and children of Gaza are trapped in a state of conflict, with shortages of food, shelter and hope. As the minister highlighted, they are in dire situations, praying that the fighting will stop to prevent further innocent people from dying.

That might be graphic detail to share during a debate on international women’s day, but I believe that it has to be shared to make sure that we are looking at this from a global perspective. Each of those women was someone’s mother, daughter, niece, cousin or friend, but they were also the women who paid a heavy price in war, and women will continue to do so while those conflicts are on-going.

As the Parliament continues to look at the global perspective of international women’s day, we must also look at the other issues that are experienced by women globally. Female genital mutilation became illegal in the UK in 1985. However, on Friday 16 February this year, Amina Noor, who is 40, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for assisting in FGM against a young woman while in Kenya. Metropolitan Police detectives secured the conviction after a complex and sensitive investigation, which began after the victim confided in a teacher about the abuse that had taken place nearly 12 years previously. Since the conviction, the Met has encouraged more victims to come forward to seek support from organisations and the police. I hope that the Scottish Government will echo those calls here, in Scotland, because it shocks me that, in 2024, we still have cases of FGM in the UK.

Amina Noor was the reason for my including the part of my amendment that is on FGM, because those who inflict pain and suffering on innocent people should never be able to get away with those heinous crimes. Those cases might be rare, but I do not think that we know the true extent of FGM or the number of perpetrators of those horrendous crimes against young women and girls. We must make sure that innocent women and girls are protected here in Scotland and, of course, in the rest of the UK.

I move amendment S6M-12416.1, to insert after “profound;”:

“expresses concern over the practice of female genital mutilation, which is still taking place in certain parts of the world; congratulates all parents and carers on raising the next generation of wonderful women;”.