Chamber and committees

I thank those in the public gallery along with those members who have stayed on tonight to take part in a wider discussion about maternity services in Scotland. It is greatly appreciated.

I am shocked, however, not to see Collette Stevenson in the chamber. She said in the debate on neonatal services earlier today that she wanted “more time” to debate the issue, and participating in this debate would have been the ideal opportunity for her to do so. Having not one but two debates on the same issue shows how strongly MSPs feel about maternity services being removed or scaled back.

As I mentioned earlier, the Scottish National Party does not have a good track record on maternity services. Since 2016, this Government has downgraded or closed maternity or neonatal services at Caithness general hospital in Wick; Dr Gray’s in Moray; University hospital Wishaw; Ninewells in Dundee; and Victoria hospital in Fife. Expectant mums and newborn babies up and down the country have been impacted by those decisions, and many have started campaign groups to voice their anger and frustration.

Members have heard previously in the chamber about the issues that rural mums face when travelling more than 100 miles to give birth in hospital, especially during the harsh winter months. There have been many debates on the subject, but we have yet to see maternity services fully reinstated at either Caithness or Dr Gray’s. I find it staggering that more than 90 per cent of children born in the Caithness area were delivered at Raigmore hospital in Inverness, despite there being a maternity ward in Caithness general.

The process for a mother who goes into labour in those areas is even more questionable. The general instruction is to get in the car—that is no easy task when you are having contractions—with your partner, if they happen to be with you at the time, and travel 105 miles down the one and only road to Inverness: the A9. That is the exact road that this Government has failed to dual, and it seems to think that it is safe for mums to give birth at the side of that road.

Once the expectant mother arrives at the hospital, they should admit themselves to the maternity ward at Raigmore—that is, if it is time to be admitted. As mums will understand, having contractions does not automatically mean admission to hospital, and any false alarm would result in a 210-mile round trip. Does the Government seriously think that that is a comfortable and acceptable journey for women who suspect that they are in labour to make? No expectant mum should ever have to face a journey like that, yet it still happens.

Campaign groups in the Highlands have rightly been angered by that, and it appears that they have been given no support by this Government to provide them with better maternity care. They have been forgotten about by this Government, and the SNP should feel ashamed of the journey that rural mums need to make in order to give birth in a maternity ward.

The reason that I brought this members’ business debate to the chamber is because I am a mum. When the news broke about Wishaw general hospital neonatal department being downgraded, I could not sit back and let it happen, because I gave birth to my daughter there just over a year ago. I met the wonderful midwifery team at the hospital; the care and support that they give to families and newborn babies are second to none.

I could not, and still do not, understand why Wishaw general or any of the other areas were selected for downgrading, but that is part of the problem. The plan to reduce the number of maternity services in Scotland has been shrouded in secrecy, and many questions have been left unanswered.

In the case of Wishaw neonatal department, babies who need specialised care could be transferred to Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen—the three major cities—instead of being closer to home. For the benefit of those who say that Glasgow is close by to Wishaw general, I say that the transfer could be to Aberdeen, which is roughly 150 miles away from Wishaw.

What message does it send to mums, who are already going through an exceptionally stressful time, to say that they will need to make a substantial journey in order to access specialised care, when they could receive care in the hospital that they are due to go to? The decision makes absolutely no sense—to go back to what Monica Lennon said in the earlier debate, the Government must make sense.

The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health spoke earlier about a fund that parents can access to help with costs for travel and food, but I must say that £8.50 will not go far if they have to travel to Aberdeen.

The decision is centralisation for centralisation’s sake at the expense of vulnerable mothers and babies. Has the Government thought about how traumatising it could be for a new mum and her baby to be put in an ambulance and told that they need to go to another hospital because the one that they are currently in can no longer help them?

I get that the minister said that journeys would happen before labour started, but babies do not always work that way. As we heard in the case of Mark Griffin and his family, there are cases in which it would not be safe to move a mother or baby. I thank Mark Griffin for sharing his story, and I understand why he is not able to take part in the debate this evening.

We should not forget that we are talking about giving support to babies who need it most. Surely that should be delivered as close to home as possible.

There are also the logistics. Will the midwives be required to work across several different health boards? If a mother and baby need to be transferred, will the midwife have to accompany them? That would result in less resource in Wishaw general, which is already stretched to breaking point.

Finally, there has been a shocking lack of consultation. The announcement came out of the blue, and that is why a large group of concerned women are in the public gallery this evening: because they will not stand for it, and nor should they.

I have enough time left to thank those who have contacted a wide spread of MSPs about the issue. I especially thank Lynne, who is at the forefront of the campaign to stop the neonatal department at Wishaw general from being downgraded. Lynne has her own story about her son Innes. I have loved seeing photos of him since he appeared on a BBC documentary that highlighted the wonderful support that he received during his stay at Wishaw general while receiving specialised neonatal care.

It is because of Innes and other babies that we will fight this decision every step of the way. Moray mums fought a downgrade and Caithness mums are still fighting the downgrades. What about Lanarkshire mums? We are the feisty type, and we will fight this decision every step of the way.

Will the minister take an intervention?

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the greater use of farm-to-fork methods to encourage domestic food production. (S6O-02492)

I agree that the issue is an important one. Given that the European Commission has softened its approach to gene-editing technology over the summer, will the cabinet secretary not recognise, as the Scottish Conservatives do, that the use of gene-editing technology would provide the best security for domestic food production in Scotland?

I thank the minister for giving way, and I will not take up too much of her time.

Can I just clarify that no money went to swimming pools from the block grant? Is that what the minister is confirming to us this afternoon?

I am not quite sure that the cabinet secretary understands the damage that her Government is doing to local authorities across Scotland—to community centres, vital services and swimming pools. If the cabinet secretary would like to stay for the debate that is taking part after this one, she might see the damage that her Government is inflicting.

I have learned, too, during my short time as an MSP that, to have stronger communities, we need better infrastructure. As we have seen during the SNP’s time in government, fewer GP surgeries and appointments are available, our high streets and town centres are about to collapse and no real investment has been made into our rural communities.

While I am on the point about infrastructure, what about the A9 or the A96? Humza Yousaf’s announcement fell flat yesterday because he committed to dualling the roads but could not tell us when they would be completed. I am not a betting woman, but I bet anything that, if the Greens were not in government, those roads would be further along than they are now. The Greens are anti-growth and anti-roads.

Finally, on tackling child poverty, the SNP promised to deliver free school meals by August 2022. Now it has announced the work with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to expand free school meal provision to primary 6 and 7, but that provision does not even include breakfast, which we know is a proven way to set up kids for the day and improve their learning and behaviours in the classroom. Is the Government incompetent or incapable? Either way, it is trying to hoodwink the public into thinking that it is delivering for Scotland when, in fact, it is not.

The SNP will spend this debate praising its record on equality and saying that the programme will continue those achievements. It will be a session of ritual back patting and Nicola Sturgeon defending her legacy. However, beyond the spin, the poorest people in Scotland are being failed by the Government. Drug deaths remain the highest in Europe, alcohol deaths are the highest since 2008 and homelessness has reached an all-time high, with children being placed in temporary accommodation. All the while, women and girls are being failed by the Government, which is hellbent on introducing a gender recognition reform bill, and by not having the correct public health messaging around contraception. Those are the facts that the SNP wants to ignore, but that is the reality that is being faced by people across Scotland.

The programme was a chance to tackle those big challenges. Instead, we have the same reheated promises from a Government that has quite clearly run out of ideas.

I move amendment S6M-10343.2, to leave out from “to build” to end and insert:

“; welcomes the announcement to improve miscarriage care, so that women do not wait until a third miscarriage to receive support; further welcomes the Scottish Government’s intention to bring childcare policy in line with UK Government proposals of providing funded childcare from the age of nine months but calls, however, on the Scottish Government to do more to resolve outstanding concerns, including recruitment, retention and support for private, voluntary and third sector organisations; notes that the Scottish Government has failed to close the attainment gap and roll out free school meals by 2022 as originally promised in 2021, tackle violence in classrooms, or bring forward a new meaningful deal for teachers; further notes that the percentage of children in poverty is equal to that in 2007, and expresses concern over the record-breaking number of children in temporary accommodation; calls on the Scottish Government to declare a homelessness emergency and to find a new approach to children being placed in temporary accommodation; is dismayed that the Scottish Government has missed its deadline for transferring all benefits to Social Security Scotland and that certain benefits could be transferred as late as 2026; welcomes the UK Government’s £94 billion to help households navigate the global cost of living crisis, throughout 2022-23 and 2023-24, and the UK Government’s uprate to benefits by 10.1%; notes that, during the Scottish National Party’s time in government, health inequalities have worsened, with record numbers on NHS waiting lists, high A&E waiting times, unacceptable drug and alcohol death rates and a mental health crisis, and agrees that a health and wellbeing strategy must be at the forefront of the Scottish Government’s plan to tackle inequality.”

The cabinet secretary might have seen some correspondence on social media last night from the private, voluntary and independent sector. People in that sector are not very happy with the Government’s proposals, and they think that businesses in the childcare sector will still close. What is the cabinet secretary’s response to that?

Will the minister give way?

I absolutely acknowledge the points that Fulton MacGregor has made this afternoon. However, the issues with the Bellshill Sharks and the Sir Matt Busby centre arose during the pandemic, when the council was suggesting that the centre might not be able to be reopened, because of the combined effect of the pandemic and budget cuts.

The Bellshill Sharks are just one example of clubs across Scotland that will be worried about their futures should councils be unable to keep their facilities open. That is why I am backing my colleague Liz Smith’s motion tonight and our save our pools campaign.

I welcome the opportunity to debate equality in relation to the programme for government, because yesterday’s programme was nothing short of disappointing. Humza Yousaf promised us that he would be his own man and set out his own plan, but there is not a single word in the programme that could not have come from his predecessor. It is quite telling that Nicola Sturgeon is taking part in today’s debate to defend her prodigy’s plan, because she pretty much wrote every policy in the document. That is why the programme is so disappointing. When Scotland needed a bold, new and ambitious plan to tackle the big challenges that our economy and public services face, the best that Humza Yousaf could do was copy Nicola Sturgeon’s homework and continue her Scottish National Party failures.

Before I continue to highlight the problems with the programme for government, I want to mention two areas of consensus in it, which the Scottish Conservatives have outlined in our amendment. On support for families affected by miscarriage, the First Minister will always have my support when trying to support those who have suffered a terrible loss, and I commend him for speaking so openly about his personal experience. I hope that that gives strength to those who have suffered a miscarriage and I look forward to seeing more detail on that work in the coming months.

On childcare, as a new mum, I know not only how quickly childcare costs can rise but what other financial pressures go along with raising a child. I am pleased that the Scottish Government has finally listened to the Scottish Conservatives’ calls to be bold and ambitious when it comes to the roll-out of free childcare. Empowering parents is something for which I have been calling for some time; simplifying the process for parents and giving them more choice over their child’s care is the right course of action.

That does not take away from the crisis that is currently engulfing the sector. Although I will always welcome increased pay for carers, to judge by the reaction on social media last night, the £12 an hour staff wage went down like a sinking ship. The Government still does not get it—it does not understand the needs of the third and private sectors and of voluntary organisations. Staff wages are not the problem; the problem is that, in effect, local authorities set the rates per child for both themselves and their competition. I have asked this question previously: how can a Government organisation be a competitor and a banker at the same time? I make this plea again: fix the funding formula to create equality for the private, voluntary and independent sectors. They are Scotland’s first educators and the Government must do more to support them.

I turn to the problems with the programme. It takes a lot of action to tackle violence against women and girls, which is of course welcome, but it is completely undermined by the fact that the Government is continuing to push forward with its Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The programme was a chance for the Government to admit that it got it wrong and to drop the bill; instead, it is charging ahead with a costly legal battle to take forward a law that the vast majority of Scots oppose. They oppose it because everyone can see its massive loopholes, which allow predatory men to take advantage of the system. The SNP Government told us that that would never happen. However, last year, mere weeks after the bill was passed, we had the case of Isla Bryson—the double rapist who was initially remanded to a women’s jail after being found guilty. If the SNP truly wants to stand up for the rights and protections of women and girls, it needs to ditch the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. A basic public health issue that the Government could focus on is the misinformation about contraception on social media, which could be contributing to the high abortion figures.

The Government has the message of building better communities. I learned quickly during my time as a councillor that the SNP rips the heart out of communities by ruthlessly cutting councils’ budgets year on year. North Lanarkshire Council alone will need to find £67 million-worth of cuts over the next three years on top of the £228 million-worth of cuts that it had over the past decade.