Chamber and committees

I have one last question. We do not have COSLA here today, so we will maybe put these questions to it separately. For a lot of councils, given where we are with the funding formula, there will be questions about how they reprioritise potential building replacements, which they will have to bring forward more quickly. We have heard about replacement schools here in Edinburgh, for example. Are ministers having conversations with COSLA about the fact that some councils might be facing a far bigger challenge to fund those replacements? What will it look like for COSLA to be in negotiations over potential changes to that capital funding in the future?

I, too, am pleased to speak in this members’ business debate and to give my support to the campaign, which recognises the importance of funding for disabled children in Scotland. I thank Claire Baker for lodging the motion, and I welcome the families to the public gallery.

As others have done, I pay tribute to The Yard for the wonderful work that it does to support children with disabilities and their families. As the briefing says, it has always been

“a place of pure joy”

for anyone who has ever visited. Since my election, I have had the pleasure of visiting The Yard on several occasions. I think that the first time that I visited, within minutes, I was dressed as a wizard and being pushed around in a tricycle or race car. It was a fantastic visit, and it gave me a sense of the value that The Yard brings not just to children but to their whole family and support network. It is important to recognise that in the debate today.

Anyone who has ever used The Yard will know that it is a very special place, as many families have told me. However, it is also a lifeline, with a varied programme of drop-ins, respite sessions, transition youth clubs, early years sessions, specialist sessions with schools, family play sessions and inclusive play and disability training. It also provides parents with an opportunity to have conversations with other parents about the daily struggles that they are facing. It is really important for any family to be able to have that space to have those conversations.

Improving support for disabled children across Scotland and providing support for families is important, and I think that ministers and members across parties all recognise that. Investing in charities such as The Yard can help families and children and can contribute to reducing some of the financial burden that sometimes disadvantages those families. In 2022, the Scottish Government decided to roll forward the children, young people and families early interventions fund grant, and that had major implications for charities such as The Yard, which were struggling to meet demand. As Claire Baker has already outlined, in the seven years since funding was delivered, the Scottish Government’s contribution to each family has reduced in real terms by 76 per cent. That is a remarkable statistic: it has gone from £163 per family in 2016 to just £39 per family now. I think that all of us, across the parties, understand the need to recognise that, and I think that it is important that ministers are aware of it. It is an astonishing fall in funding that will clearly present challenges in the future.

We know that The Yard wants to expand into the west of Scotland, and I think that we would all want to support that work. With additional funding, those ambitions can be realised, and that will represent value for all of us.

As Ben Macpherson said, charities such as The Yard are invaluable, but they do not come free, and we cannot take for granted those organisations or the facilities and services that they provide. Most of us in the chamber will have a friend or family member with a disabled child, and it is important that we recognise the need for bespoke funding for those services in Scotland.

I will conclude, as others have, by thanking Eilish Cowan for her campaigning. I also thank her whole family and all the families who use the yard for their tremendous campaign to date. I hope that today’s debate presents an opportunity for ministers to think again and look to provide a better deal. The Yard has received just £90,000 since 2016, and that has been enough to support 550 children. However, seven years on, the charity’s reach has grown fourfold, delivering family support to more than 2,300 children in its three centres in the east of Scotland. Demand for a wide range of services is growing, and the Scottish Government needs to recognise that and rethink its position. The Yard will not be able to continue to meet demand if it does not receive that additional funding, so I sincerely hope that the minister has heard the case this evening for providing a better funding deal for The Yard and that she will undertake a review urgently to improve the funding model and make sure that The Yard can continue to go from strength to strength.

I understand that the minister is outlining a range of policies. Carers centres, which councils are struggling to fund, and places such as The Yard are key in providing holistic support, so have ministers considered what needs to happen to ensure that such services are sustainable into the future and where additional funding for them can be found? That is really important because, when people look for support in accessing the new benefits that the minister has outlined, those conversations often take place in carers centres or places such as The Yard.

I am disappointed to hear that. People across Edinburgh and the Lothians and the south of Scotland will really want to know when those recommendations will be given to ministers and how fast we can see this progress. We need the A720 Sheriffhall roundabout to be upgraded. It has now been five years since it was included in the Edinburgh and south-east Scotland city region deal.

Will the minister agree to meet me and campaigners at the junction at the earliest opportunity to see the real need for this to be progressed and the junction upgraded as soon as possible?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received any recommendations from the independent reporter to consider any outstanding objections to the development of the A720 Sheriffhall roundabout in light of the public local inquiry, which took place at the beginning of February 2023. (S6O-02573)

I thank members from across the Parliament for their support for the motion, which has allowed this debate to take place, and I warmly welcome to the public gallery campaigners and those who have shared their letters to loved ones.

In my time as an MSP, I have opened and spoken in many members’ business debates, but this one is very different and very personal. I know that it will be the same for other members who will speak today. At the outset, I thank everyone who will speak in the debate, and I pay specific tribute to Monica Lennon, because, if it was not for her and her brave decision to speak about her dad, Gerard, in 2017, I do not think that I would be leading this debate today or have shared my story.

I think that I speak for all of us as elected representatives when I say that our first instinct, quite rightly, is to protect our families and loved ones from public scrutiny. After all, they have not put themselves forward for the scrutiny that we rightly should face. Perhaps most critically, we all want to protect our loved ones from what will often seem to be the negative prism of social media and strangers commenting on our family members. Therefore, when I agreed to speak about my dad, Jim, and my experiences growing up, it concerned me how people would judge him, judge me and judge my family. That is exactly why I felt that I needed to tell my dad’s story.

The stigma that many individuals and families face when they are supporting someone who is battling addiction is very real, and the stigma and judgment that people often face need to be addressed if we are to break down the barriers to people accessing help and support, and for our loved ones to have the confidence and self-worth to come forward.

I have genuinely been overwhelmed by the number of constituents, colleagues, journalists and people in different countries who have reached out since I wrote my letter and we launched the campaign.

For many people who experience problematic alcohol or drug use, there will often be a life event or trigger to that behaviour and any problematic addictions and issues that go on to develop. I can only imagine how difficult it was for my dad to lose my mum to breast cancer and to be left as a single parent with three children between the ages of seven and 14. My dad was a dreamer. He would often speak about his lifelong dream of moving the whole family to live in a wooden hut in the forests of the great Canadian wilderness. To be honest, I suppose that I am lucky that he made it only as far as Perthshire. My dad was entertaining and charismatic; arguably, he was at his best socially in the pub or at the races. As in many cases, that is probably where a problem with alcohol developed.

The message behind the campaign “See Beyond—See the Lives—Scotland” is that everyone knows someone. As the debate will demonstrate, everyone does know someone.

The campaign was launched in May by the University of Stirling, Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems and the Salvation Army. Alongside Monica Lennon, I was pleased to help to launch the campaign in the Parliament, with 14 other people who have shared their letters to their loved ones.

When I spoke to families after that event, it was telling that many of their experiences were the same as mine and my family’s. Stigma is still attached to our loved ones speaking about problematic alcohol and drug use, not only from how people talk about that but from the judgments that they bring to it.

The notion that someone has done this to themselves and the labels that society often attaches to people are harmful. When they seek treatment and support, our loved ones face conscious and unconscious bias, sometimes even from overworked medical professionals.

In its briefing for the debate, Crisis said:

“Stigma Kills!

Stigma impacts on a person’s self-esteem, their mental wellbeing, limits their willingness and ability to engage with support services and ability to sustain changes in their lives.

People can change—but stigma holds them back.”

I hope that today’s debate will present an opportunity to change the conversation about alcohol and drug issues and to address the devastating impact that the loss of a loved one to alcohol or drugs has on their family and friends. I hope that people will visit the “See Beyond” website and support the campaign by agreeing to sign the pledge. I ask people to

“pledge to be respectful and compassionate towards those affected by substance use, including the families and friends of those who have died from alcohol or drugs”

and to pledge to

“show respect by using kind and non-judgmental language about those affected”—

our friends in the media in particular need to consider that when reporting stories. I also ask people to pledge to

“show compassion by reaching out to someone who has lost a loved one to alcohol or drugs”.

Many of us in Scotland have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, and the role that alcohol plays in our culture and our society is often at the heart of that—from wetting the baby’s head and giving a good send-off at a wake to drowning our sorrows when times are tough and having alcohol at the heart of all our community, sporting and social lives.

Over the past 10 years, Scotland has lost more than 20,000 people to alcohol and drugs. I lost my dad. I know that we can make a difference, and that starts with ending stigma.

Thank you for that. Last week, the Withers report was mentioned, and we heard about what still seems to be a lack of connection between workforce planning in our college sector and local authorities, and a missed opportunity to look at different pathways into different jobs. That leads me to my next question on reports that often highlight the fact that most local authority staff are women, and the inequalities around pay and progression in councils. What actions have been taken around that issue and the gender pay gap? Is that improving? Which councils are not managing to make progress on that?

Does anyone want to add to what has been said?

Thank you for that. On future budgeting, do you know what equal pay claims settlement issues are outstanding across local government? Some councils have moved to do it, but what financial level are we are talking about for authorities that have not done it to date?

I have a couple of questions about what the workforce in local government looks like. Our predecessor committee looked at workforce planning in 2018 and noted that local authority workforces tend not to reflect the communities that they serve. What progress has been made towards making our workforce more representative, specifically at senior local government levels? What work has COSLA or the Scottish Government done on that? I will bring in Councillor Hagmann to start.