Chamber and committees

If the member will let me make some progress, I will come back to him.

When we consider the expansion of vocational and technical qualifications, we must understand the environment that our young people currently experience. Almost 1,000 schools have not been inspected; there are 140,000 fewer college places; students are worth almost £2,500 less if they go to college instead of university; there is a widening attainment gap between the poorest and richest pupils; and there are 1,699 fewer teachers. Those are the reasons why young people fall through the cracks.

I do not disagree with that at all. There are different career paths and we can all understand that young people face challenges as they grow up. As we have heard from Sue Webber and Pam Gosal, it is still challenging for young people to get into apprenticeships now, and many young people can access an apprenticeship only by reaching out to friends and family. We must look at the overall picture. I talked about my experience as being just one of the many experiences of young people in the education system.

This Government must do more to provide young people with the tools to succeed. The cabinet secretary began her contribution by congratulating young people on their successes, which we all applaud, but she did not say that those achievements were made despite the problems within an education system that this Government has presided over for 15 years.

My colleague Stephen Kerr pointed out the many challenges that Parliament faces in ensuring that our young people flourish. He is right. We need talent, and that must be addressed by attracting people into our education sector to inspire the next generation.

Michael Marra spoke about the broadening of subject choice for young people, saying that the stakes have never been higher for many of the young people who are trying to enter college or university.

As a Scottish Conservative, I believe in aspiration, but aspirations can be met only when Governments provide people with the tools to succeed in life. My own education journey hit speed bump after speed bump and, at some points, I thought about giving up completely. When I was at school, there was no proper support network or careers advice, which resulted in many young people in my home town falling through the cracks in the education system, and I could have been one of them.

For a high school pupil in the mid-2000s, not getting a place at university was a sign of failure. There was never a mention of, or focus on, vocational and technical qualifications—if someone said that they wanted to go to college, it was because they were not intelligent enough to go to university.

The truth is that I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was in sixth year. That, combined with the stigma around non-academic subjects, meant that I lost interest in schooling during my senior years. That resulted in my not obtaining the grades that I should have and becoming one of the few Scots to have repeated their final year at high school. I ended up going to university because that was the done thing, not because it was right for me. Things did turn out okay, but some of the friends that I went to school with dropped out of university. There was no support and no clear pathway for them.

I am therefore pleased to close this debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives not only because I almost fell through the cracks, but because this Government must do more to support our young people. We must keep telling our young people that there is no wrong path and that success should not be measured by the number of degrees someone obtains.

Professor Louise Hayward’s interim report has been referred to several times today, and I welcome the outward thinking about engaging young people in choosing their own future.

I could not agree more with Daniel Johnson. It is incumbent on all of us to challenge the narrative in our universities.

Mr Ewing ruined the punchline of my Labour colleague and has now ruined mine. We absolutely support his cause and will back his mission to ensure that that is seen as a core skill.

I understand that time is ticking away, and I hope that members will forgive me for not taking any more interventions so that I can make a couple more points.

Sue Webber talked about people who choose to enter education later in life and the challenges that they face in looking for a job or career. They need this Government’s support.

Pam Gosal mentioned her son and his experience of finding a pathway that works for him. I am really pleased that he has managed to find an apprenticeship that is right for him, but, as we have spoken about so frequently today, too many people are falling through the cracks because they have not been signposted to the right place for support.

Before I conclude, I want to raise the issue of how positive destinations are recorded. I completely understand why positive destinations are recorded, but—this is a huge but—we record data only within the first three months of young people leaving school and then 12 months after their leaving. In 2020-21, 71 per cent of school leavers who had left within the past year were in a positive follow-up destination, which was down from 86 per cent who were in a positive initial destination. We know that there was a decrease, but we have no idea about the journey of the young people thereafter. As it stands, there is no concrete data. I would be grateful if the minister would expand on that in his closing speech and explain why the Government currently focuses only on the first year after leaving school.

As always with education-related debates, it has been a lively afternoon with many passionate speeches. However, the reality is that, although we talk about the expansion of vocational and technical qualifications in Scotland’s secondary schools, there will be young people who are facing an uncertain future as they approach their final exams. I challenge the next Government to back our young people by making sure that they have the tools to succeed in life and by putting their priorities first and proving to them that, regardless of what they want to do in life, the Government will support them.

Yesterday, the chancellor announced the introduction of 30 hours of free childcare from nine months old, which has the potential to truly transform childcare by supporting parents and giving their children the best possible start in life. Mums across Scotland have contacted me to say that they think that that is a wonderful policy. Does the First Minister agree that the Scottish Government should match that major commitment by extending its current childcare policy?

Local councils have had to cut subsidies for bus travel because of the SNP Scottish Government’s woeful local government settlement. The fact of the matter is that, outside the major cities, public transport is unreliable and infrequent, particularly across the central region. Will the minister explain how the policy can be deemed a success, given the lack of bus services for our young people to enjoy?

I congratulate my friend and colleague Roz McCall on securing this important debate and on making an excellent speech in which she brought first-hand experience to the chamber and spoke from the heart.

I want to start my remarks on a positive note. I believe in the Promise. I want all children and young people, no matter what start they have had in life, to receive the same opportunities. However, I have learned in my short time in this Parliament that believing is not enough. We have to want to make it work, and to make it work requires diligence in education—and buy-in, not from MSPs, but from the children and young people whose lives we are seeking to improve.

The fifth of February marked the three-year anniversary of the Promise. When we signed up to the legislation as corporate parents, we promised care-experienced young people that we would improve their lives in care and provide them with opportunities when they left the care sector. I have taken part in previous debates relating to the Promise and improving outcomes for care-experienced young people. The previous debate on the topic took place a year ago, and in that debate I criticised the Government for its lack of progress. Let me be clear that we are still in the same position. We need, collectively, to do much more when implementing the Promise.

During that debate, I raised the concerns of Jamie Kinlochan—a long-term campaigner who has raised the subject of the number of young people who have, tragically, died shortly after moving out of care. A freedom of information request had revealed at that time that 24 young people in care died in 2020, compared with 21 the year before. In total, between January 2014 and September 2021, 111 children and young people died. The chair of The Promise Scotland, Fiona Duncan, admitted that the young people who had, sadly, died had been let down by the policy. I would be grateful if the minister, during her speech, could update the Parliament on the work that has been done in that area.

Another huge concern for me is that council funding levels may threaten the commitment to the Promise. Many care-related services depend on local government funding to survive, including council care providers, respite services, services to support mental health and social wellbeing and services that work alongside third-party organisations to promote and retain foster carers. Should the Scottish Government continue to underfund councils, I fear that those services may be scrapped.

I would be grateful if the minister could confirm whether she has considered the millions of pounds-worth of cuts that are scheduled for local government over the next three years and the impact that they could have on our care-experienced young people.

Four minutes is not enough time for us to properly discuss the Promise. There are many areas that require proper dialogue, and many of those areas have been covered collectively in the contributions that we heard so far.

I will finish by discussing the introduction of a national care allowance for foster care. At present, Scotland remains the only part of the United Kingdom that does not have a national allowance for foster carers. I am sure that everyone in the chamber agrees that foster carers are selfless, caring and wonderful people who provide young people with a fresh start in life. Foster carers have waited too long for the Government to back them as they have backed our care-experienced young people. Therefore, I have another request for the minister: will she confirm that the national minimum allowance will be introduced soon?

We are still a long way from achieving the Promise, but my colleague Roz McCall clearly articulated how it can be achieved. We often talk about lived experience in the chamber, so I call on the Government to continue to listen to our foster carers, care organisations and care-experienced young people—only then will we be able to achieve the Promise.

Last weekend, I joined the First Minister and MSP colleagues as we gathered in the chamber to celebrate international women’s day. The event was organised by the Scottish Women’s Convention, and I put on record my thanks for such an enjoyable afternoon. A personal highlight of the day were the contributions from Grace and Zara from Our Lady’s high school in Cumbernauld. The quality of their speeches was outstanding. Grace and Zara are an asset to their school and fantastic role models for other young women. It made me proud, as a Central Scotland MSP, to see the next generation of talent afforded the opportunity to speak in this chamber. I hope that we will see them elected, perhaps to the Scottish Parliament or another chamber, in the future.

I will start my speech by talking about opportunity. After all, the theme of this year’s international women’s day is embrace equity. However, it is crucial that we recognise that we are still living in an unequal country. Despite it being more than 100 years since women first received the vote, we still earn 11 per cent less on average than our male colleagues, run just 4 per cent of Scotland’s top businesses, fill just 13 per cent of senior Police Scotland posts and represent just 6 per cent of Scottish newspaper editors. Our journey towards achieving equality is far from over.

Even with all the progress that has been made by generations of feminists, gender still plays an important role in how we are seen and in the life opportunities that we enjoy in Scotland today. We cannot, in any debate about equality, ignore the inequalities that persist in our society for more than half of the population. It is vital that we continue to strive towards ending those inequalities. As a Parliament, we must be ambitious when looking at the progression of women’s rights and, of course, protecting those rights that have been hard won over the years. We cannot afford to go backwards, and we must continue to ensure that the voices of women are heard and not vilified.

Members on my side of the chamber agree with the premise of the Scottish Government motion, and I associate myself with the First Minister and her calls to end the discrimination, harassment and abuse that women and girls face in our country and around the world.

I will start by looking at some statistics for Scotland. Sexual crimes are at their highest level on record. Domestic abuse incidents are at their second-worst level on record: in 2021-22, there were more than 32,000 charges of domestic abuse in cases that were reported to the Crown Office. Threatening and abusive behaviour offences were recorded as the most common types of offence related to domestic abuse. Only yesterday, we heard of the intimidation and harassment that women receive on public transport. That is not the Scotland that I want my daughter or any young girl to grow up in, and I hope that we can all agree that we can and must do better.

The issue of abuse and discrimination is not isolated to one country. Sadly, it is an all-too-common theme around the world. One newspaper story that I hoped that I would never read was about Mahsa Amini, who was beaten to death by Iranian authorities for not wearing a hijab properly. The Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran claimed that she had a heart attack at a police station, collapsed and fell into a coma before being transferred to a hospital, but eyewitnesses allege that she was severely beaten and died as a result of police brutality. The case shed renewed light on the country’s treatment of women, with a growing number of female Iranians choosing to flout the law to wear the hijab. I applaud the brave women who have stood up against their oppressors, but I worry about the severe consequences that many will face for doing so.

At times like these, we need to be thankful that, throughout our United Kingdom, we have the right to freedom of speech and expression. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have banned women from attending university, leaving future generations of women unable to choose their futures. In Ukraine, the on-going conflict has severely impacted women and girls. From the bombing of maternity hospitals to human trafficking and gender-based violence, the horrors of war are a daily reality for Ukrainian women.

The violation of women’s rights must stop. We must stand together, always, against those who seek to remove basic human rights from women. I lodged the Scottish Conservatives amendment to highlight the violation of women’s rights globally, and I hope that the Government and Opposition parties will support it at decision time.

I hope that, one day, we will be able to use international women’s day as a cause for celebration because we have achieved equity, rather than a reason to talk about progress and the mountains that we still need to climb.

I want to finish on a positive note, as we are celebrating women today. We have achieved many things together, from the roll-out of free period products across the country to support for the introduction of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. We support women best when we work together across political divides and Parliaments. If we are serious about embracing equity, we must continue to do that.

I will finish with this quotation:

“there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

I move amendment S6M-08137.2, to insert, after “maintain equality”:

“; expresses disappointment in the backsliding of women’s rights across the world in the past year, and particularly in Iran and Afghanistan”.

[Applause.]

Yesterday, the results of the controversial school sex survey were released. The total participation rate for children and young people was 58.3 per cent in the local authorities that took part. Of those who were eligible to answer the questions relating to sexual activity, only a tiny fraction of school pupils answered. The data proves what I and other members said all along: our children and young people do not feel comfortable answering such invasive questions. Will the First Minister finally agree that those inappropriate questions should be removed from all future health and wellbeing surveys in our schools?