Chamber and committees

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My laptop froze, so I am unsure whether my vote has been recorded. Can I please confirm whether it has been?

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I am concerned by the scheduling of business in this Parliament. As a new mum, I already struggle to find childcare during regular work hours, let alone until late at night. Last week’s business proposal said that we would be here until 11:30 tonight, so I made the best arrangement I possibly could. Today’s revision could mean that we will be here until late tonight and also tomorrow.

First, in line with my colleague Jeremy Balfour’s point of order, I ask whether any existing parliamentary processes include impact assessments of the effect of the scheduling of business on new parents. I ask that because, at the end of the previous session of Parliament, several members stood down citing the impossibility of working here while raising a young family. I fear that matters are becoming worse.

Secondly, is it your understanding that it would be possible within parliamentary processes for this week’s consideration of stage 3 amendments to have been split into three sessions, with the final debate on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill being moved into the first week of work in January, which currently has a blank business slot on Tuesday 10?

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I seek your guidance once more. In the run-up to the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, much was made of its proposed family-friendly principles. As it stands, the Parliament has today spent almost 10 hours debating the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. Many MSPs, including me, have young families and they will have had to make last-minute arrangements for childcare. If the Parliament is to conduct itself in such a way, Holyrood can no longer define itself as a family-friendly Parliament. My fear, as referenced earlier, is that I will not be the last MSP to state that late-night sittings are incompatible with working here while raising a young family.

Can the Presiding Officer advise whether late-night sittings are now standard, or whether amendments can be voted on over multiple dates, with the final debate taking place in January to better accommodate sitting hours?

It is a yes/no answer, Presiding Officer.

I said that I would take the minister in a little while.

A business will not survive if it is not able to identify and correct issues relating to its model, and I do not see why the Scottish Government should be exempt from acknowledging the problems that the PVI sector experiences daily. It is not as if the issue is not reported time and again in the press. As recently as this week, The Herald reported a case study of a childminder losing their income because of the need to complete paperwork, as the sector is in crisis. She revealed that she is losing in excess of £600 a month as she has to commit a full day each week to complete paperwork—time that she is not paid for. The childminder blamed the excessive level of lost income on the bureaucracy that I mentioned earlier, and said that it is having a huge impact on her business. She said:

“We can’t do paperwork when we’ve got children in our care ... I absolutely love the job I do. I love watching the children develop and being a key part of that but what I am in effect doing is paperwork for a job I love, but I’m not being paid for it.”

That childminder is not alone.

What has become clear to me is that—as we heard from Liz Smith, who gave the timeline of failings—the Scottish Government has been in power for so long that it has lost the will and desire to fix its failing policies.

The SNP often tells Opposition politicians that we do not come to the table with any solutions. Therefore, for the benefit of the cabinet secretary and others, I will offer solutions that will make the 1,140 policy fair for local authorities and the PVI sector. I am happy to give way to the minister on this point, with regard to the fixing of the funding formula. Will she commit to a review of the funding formula to make it fair for the PVI sector and local authority nurseries?

I will take that as a no.

I understand that I must conclude my remarks, so I will just say that today we have heard damning reports from members across the chamber. It is about time that this SNP Government got a grip of our education system for the benefit of our children in Scotland.

Earlier this year, life as I knew it changed forever when I became a first-time mum. I will never forget the moment that I met my daughter or how she instantly became the most important person to me and my immediate family. It has to be said that being part of the parent club is genuinely one of the best feelings in the world.

I have been so fortunate to be able to spend the last few months learning how to become a mum. As we know, there is no step-by-step manual because every baby has a different personality and milestones, but I am looking to return fully to my MSP role in January 2023.

Before I get into the premise of today’s debate, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their well wishes; my constituents, who have been understanding of my maternity leave; and, of course, my fantastic office team, who have gone above and beyond to keep my office running smoothly.

Every child in Scotland should have the same opportunities in life, regardless of their postcode or family dynamic. As we have heard this afternoon, every MSP in the chamber agrees with that, although there are stark differences in policies and in how we believe Scotland is performing compared with other countries.

My colleague Stephen Kerr correctly outlined the importance of giving every child a golden ticket to a first-class education. He also raised serious concerns about the violence and threats that our teachers face daily in their classrooms. Those concerns were echoed by Murdo Fraser but not by the cabinet secretary until other members prompted her.

When we discuss education issues, it does not help that we have a Scottish Government that refuses to listen to experts, academics, parents and Opposition politicians when they raise genuine concerns about the state of the education system. Therefore, it will come as no surprise that most of my contribution will focus on the Scottish Government’s flagship policy of providing every child in Scotland with 1,140 hours of free childcare. I feel like a broken record when it comes to that policy, but, if I did not have a vested interest in childcare before, I certainly do now.

When the Government introduced the expansion of the existing childcare policy, the SNP said that it would deliver three main benefits. First, children’s development would improve and the poverty-related attainment gap would narrow. Secondly, more parents would have the opportunity to be in work, or to be training or studying. Thirdly, the policy would increase family resilience through the improved health and wellbeing of parents and children.

I will start on a positive note: in principle, 1,140 hours is a good policy. The First Minister hailed it as transformative, and it has the potential to give children the best possible start in life because it removes the financial burden on parents, who often struggle with the cost of childcare. That is especially true for working mums, as many choose to pause or stop their career progression to start a family. I do not believe that, in 2022, a woman should have to choose between her career or having children. The onus is on the Parliament to give them the tools so that they can do both successfully.

As it stands, the early learning and childcare policy is not working. It is my view and, indeed, the view of many in the early years industry that the policy’s aims will never be achieved should the Government continue to ignore the crisis that has emerged in the early learning and childcare sector. It is not enough to simply have a good policy idea without having the willpower and determination to see it through.

As Brian Whittle said, we have an opportunity to reset Scotland’s education system. Since my election to the Scottish Parliament and during my time as a councillor in North Lanarkshire, I have been in direct contact with nurseries in the private, voluntary and independent sector. They have told me on several occasions about the deep-rooted problems with the 1,140 hours policy. Those include the financial inequality that exists between PVI and local authority nurseries; a staffing crisis and the loss of childminders; parents not obtaining their first, second or third choice of nursery setting for their children; and PVI settings closing as people cannot afford to run their business—

Absolutely. I will touch on that point later in my contribution. Levels of bureaucracy are created through the mountains of paperwork, and there are cross-boundary issues due to councils not working collegiately to deliver funded childcare.

I would like to continue. I will take an intervention from the minister later, if that is okay.

What used to be a healthy, competitive market between PVI nurseries and local authorities has now resulted in councils being the kingmaker, leaving many PVI nurseries in a checkmate position. The PVI sector has fought tooth and nail to try to make the rate process fair, but when the funding structure that is set by the Scottish Government and COSLA allows local authorities to pay ELC staff 30 to 50 per cent more than staff in funded PVI settings receive, with 65 per cent of PVI nursery fees being controlled by the 1,140 hours policy, we can see exactly where the problem lies.

The National Day Nurseries Association has said that low or static rates principally mean a real-time cut in funding for settings and threaten the existence of some nurseries.

I am very grateful, Presiding Officer.

The NDNA has also said:

“the rates that are given are not sustainable since they are not keeping up with inflation, but also with rising economic and living costs. Nurseries are finding it more and more difficult to meet the cost of delivery, which could result in the potential loss of smaller settings.”

The issue with the 1,140 hours policy that really gets me angry is that, under it, a child in a private sector nursery appears to be worth less than a child in a local authority setting. No child should ever be worth less or more when it comes to getting the best possible start in life.

The SNP Government is fully aware of the problems, but there is yet to be any update provided to Parliament on how it intends to fix the policy or make it fair for all partners. While the SNP remains silent on the issue, nurseries will continue to close.