Chamber and committees

Of course, I welcome that—it is happening in our community in East Renfrewshire as well. However, the point that I am trying to make is that we need to listen to all those ideas and put money into everyone’s pockets so that they can spend it in communities. That is vital if we are to encourage people to go into town centres and spend more money. I hope that the minister will listen to what we are suggesting, as we make the suggestion in a spirit of collaboration and, indeed, consensus.

We have mentioned having 50 per cent business rates. I think that that would give businesses the breathing room that they require to survive as we go into next year. Furthermore, as I mentioned, our proposal to give a £50 voucher to everyone aged 16 and over to spend in non-grocery businesses with physical premises in Scotland would give businesses the boost that they need to thrive. These are our communities. They are important to all of us and to our constituents, and we need to help businesses to be at the heart of them.

The member mentions headlines. Does she accept that Northern Ireland’s experience of its voucher scheme, which has been supported by chambers of commerce, is that it has worked exceptionally well?

We have heard about the work that is being done and the huge support that is being provided by the third sector, and I am keen to hear your thoughts about the sustainability of third sector organisations. The perinatal and infant mental health fund, which was launched in May 2020, has provided £665,000 to support 16 organisations. Is that fund providing the sustainability that is needed, or do we need to go further and find other ways of mainlining that funding? I direct that to Clea Harmer, and to Cat Berry, if we have time.

I thank the members who are here for the valuable contributions to the debate that we have heard so far. It is an honour for me to follow my colleagues Pauline McNeill and Carol Mochan. I thank many members for their work in raising awareness of gender-based violence, but particularly Paul McLennan for bringing this vital debate to Parliament and for his encouragement of male MSPs to participate in it and to show a willingness to lead by example and take action.

What we have heard already about the murders of women and girls is shocking. Circumstances have been articulated particularly powerfully by colleagues. That day-to-day experience of violence and the fear of violence is harrowing, and it should shock us all.

I pay tribute to the work that is done by many organisations, such as Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland, as we have heard, to take action and to support women and girls year after year.

As we gather again to mark another 16 days of activism, we have once more seen instances of domestic violence and abuse go up. That pattern increases year on year. It should be abundantly clear to us all that much more needs to be done. Women and girls should not have to go about their day-to-day lives in fear of what might happen to them. They should not have to change their behaviour. Our mothers, daughters, sisters, cousins and friends should not have to think about their route home, where they run or where they go for a night out. We can do more, and we must do more. Men can do more, and must do more.

As we know, we are marking the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. That campaign is important because it helps to shine a spotlight on what can be done to begin to stop the horrific violence that happens in our communities. We are marking 30 years of the 16 days campaign, and I was three years old when it began. I have been reflecting on the fact that, during all my time growing up and going to school, I was not aware of the 16 days of activism—I was struck by Pauline McNeill’s contribution in that regard. I was not aware of the need for men and teenage boys at school to take account of their actions and to think about their attitudes. There was very little in the way of educating, involving or helping young men to think about their role in all of this. As Pauline McNeill articulated clearly, we must do more in our schools so that young men in particular reflect on their behaviours. The Police Scotland campaign is a start in relation to making young men in particular think about not being “that guy” in what they do and say.

I will highlight the work of White Ribbon Scotland. I had the great honour of getting to know that campaign well through my work at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, as I am sure that Paul McLennan also did. That campaign asks men to make a pledge to call out inappropriate behaviour when they hear it and see it, and to be clear that they will never walk on by when they see that behaviour and never condone violence against women or excuse it as just a joke or just par for the course.

The reality is, however, that that pledge is a starting point. It will never be an end in itself, but it is about all men in Scotland being able to take that pledge to make a contribution. It is about all men saying that, in their own sphere of influence—whether that be in their workplace, their home, the pub or wherever they socialise—they have a duty to call out those around them and to ensure that they take action so that we can begin to make clear that violence against women and girls is never acceptable, and that we all have a role in ensuring that we put an end to it.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out an equality impact assessment following reports that it plans to cease funding for the schools programme as part of the Scottish attainment challenge. (S6O-00475)

I am pleased to contribute to the debate as convener of the cross-party group on learning disability. I thank my colleague and friend Pam Duncan-Glancy for securing the debate as we mark the international day of persons with disabilities. I also pay a wider tribute to Ms Duncan-Glancy for all the work that she has done over many years and for what she has already done in the short time that we have both served in this Parliament.

On 2021’s international day of persons with disabilities, it is important to acknowledge that the chamber looks different to how it looked when the previous international day was marked in 2020. Parliament has changed to become more diverse, with an increased number of MSPs identifying as having a disability.

I praise Daniel Johnson, my colleague and friend, for his powerful and personal speech. As someone who knows something of speaking your own truth every day, whether that is in Parliament or anywhere else, I say that it is a brave and important thing to do, not only for oneself but for other people. Jeremy Balfour’s advice on that to him was very solid: speak the truth, even if your voice shakes.

Jeremy Balfour also made a characteristically powerful speech. He was a great help to me in a former role in the secretariat of the cross-party group on learning disability in the previous session of Parliament.

This session, Parliament includes our first permanent wheelchair user in Pam Duncan-Glancy. I will quote from her maiden speech. She said:

“for too long this Parliament—and others like it—has not looked like the people that it is here to represent, but this year is different. The people of Scotland broke glass ceilings and glass staircases, and this room got a bit closer to looking a bit more like the people of Scotland. It is now our chance to turn a little hope into lasting change. This is the room where it happens.”—[Official Report, 27 May 2021; c 50-51.]

Those are powerful words that are worth recalling, because we know that we have much more to do to make our Parliament look like our country and to ensure that the voices of disabled people are heard and listened to.

I certainly agree with Jeremy Balfour on that. All of us in political life have a duty to find ways, within our political parties, to encourage more people from diverse backgrounds to join our political life. Politics is often off-putting for people because there are barriers in respect of how we deal with and respond to one another. Political parties have a bigger role to play. I hope that we all take cognisance of that.

Decisions that we make in Parliament impact on the lives of disabled people every day and on their families and communities. I will focus my remaining time on this year’s theme, which is disabled people’s leadership and participation in fighting for rights in the post-Covid era. For too many disabled people, the past 20 months have been a battle to have their rights upheld, protected and advanced. Too many people have seen care and support being removed with little or no consultation. Too many have been cut off from family, friends and their social lives. Many have been pushed further into poverty. Tragically, six in 10 deaths from Covid-19 have been of people who were disabled.

We know that people have not felt consulted, engaged or involved when Covid-19 regulations have changed. I reflect on my experience of working to support people with learning disabilities and their families in the first lockdown. Regulations did not always fit the many complex and different challenges that those people experience every day. For example, autistic children could not visit the beach that they went to every week, which for them was a haven because it was in a different local authority area, just down the road.

Many people did not feel able to engage with and understand what was being asked of us all because of the lack of accessible formats such as easy read. Far too many people’s lives were viewed as being worth less than those of others, through blanket approaches being taken to “do not resuscitate” orders. I commend my colleague Jackie Baillie, who is a former convener of the cross-party group, and the former vice-convener, Joan McAlpine, for bringing that matter to the fore in the previous session of Parliament. Serious questions remain unanswered.

I conclude by looking forward. A single day of awareness raising and celebration will not solve the problems that are faced by disabled people. We must learn the lessons of the past 20 months and we must do more. We must always ensure that the voices of disabled people ring loud and clear in all our considerations, in Parliament and beyond.

The impact on the 73 schools is significant. Of those affected, 34 are set to lose around or more than £100,000 in direct funding, and 13 schools will lose more than £150,000. Yesterday, the Education, Children and Young People Committee heard what the Scottish attainment challenge funds in schools. It pays for staffing, support for pupils with additional support needs and a vast range of important interventions such as speech and language therapy. What would the cabinet secretary advise headteachers in those schools to cut?

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the report, Towards a Scotland that cares: a new National Outcome on care for the National Performance Framework, by the University of the West of Scotland, which is supported by Oxfam Scotland, Carers Scotland, Scottish Care, the Scottish Women’s Budget Group and One Parent Families Scotland. (S6F-00531)

The past 20 months of the pandemic have highlighted the vital importance of all forms of care, whether paid or unpaid. However, those who look after someone—overwhelmingly, carers are women—remain undervalued and unrewarded, and many are living in poverty as a result. Does the First Minister agree that we must now make a long-lasting and deep commitment to change by locking in a new national outcome that is focused on better valuing and investing in all forms of care and monitoring progress? That would give a real focus to showing how much we value care and carers across Scotland.