Chamber and committees

Does the cabinet secretary agree that the United Kingdom Tory Government’s paltry rise in the minimum wage of 59p per hour will not offset the national insurance rise that it has imposed or the £20 per week cut to universal credit, nor will it help people facing record petrol prices, energy and food price increases and the general rise in inflation, and that it highlights that the Tories are no friends of working-class Scots?

It is with great pleasure that I welcome the announcement that Sistema Scotland’s big noise project will open next spring in the Wester Hailes area of my constituency. I thank colleagues from across the chamber for supporting my motion and enabling the debate to take place.

The Parliament is not yet open to the public due to the on-going pandemic, but I am aware that many of the young people who enjoy being part of the big noise orchestra are watching at home along with their tutors, volunteers and staff. I welcome them to the Scottish Parliament, albeit on a virtual basis via Holyrood television.

Sistema Scotland is a national charity. It was established in 2007 and launched the first big noise programme in the Raploch area of Stirling in 2008. The charity is on a mission to create permanent social change in some of the most deprived communities in Scotland.

The big noise orchestra aims to change lives through the medium of music by fostering confidence, discipline, teamwork, pride and aspiration in the children and young people who take part. We all want Scotland’s young people to reach their full potential and to lead successful and fulfilled lives. Sistema Scotland provides nurturing support so that they can do so.

A briefing from Sistema Scotland explains:

“The big noise programmes give children and young people invaluable life skills and experiences. Big noise provides a place of safety and wellbeing and a nurturing community in which children are supported to realise their full potential. Through their participation in the programme, the children develop confidence and learn to work together and be kind to each other. They build resilience, pride and aspiration and are supported to lead successful and fulfilled lives.

The programme works intensively with the children and young people, and inclusively with families and the broader community, to achieve permanent social change. Key to this are the long-term, trusting relationships which the children develop with big noise staff musicians. The unique design of the big noise programme allows this relationship to develop based on consistent daily contact over many years, free at the point of delivery, with the musicians acting not only as educators, but also as compassionate mentors and inspirational role models, supporting positive behaviours and life choices.”

The Glasgow Centre for Population Health study of the existing big noise projects found that, in relation to addressing health inequalities, the

“evidence is clear that the types of impacts big noise is achieving at present act upon important determinants of health and wellbeing in adulthood. Because big noise is targeted to disadvantaged communities, it therefore has the potential to reduce health inequalities in later life. This evaluation also includes an economic analysis which concludes with the long-term projection that for every £1 spent on big noise delivery; around £9 of social benefit is generated.”

Another benefit of the big noise programme is that young people have had the opportunity to take part in a variety of high-profile performances. Those have ranged from the big concert that was staged in 2012 to mark the opening of the Olympics to a performance in 2019 as part of the Edinburgh international festival with the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, which is another project that supports, nurtures and inspires young people through music. Incidentally, those performances were led by world-famous Venezuelan conductor and patron of big noise, Gustavo Dudamel.

The big noise programme is already established in Stirling, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen. Prior to the pandemic, 2,800 children and young people were taking part. The new Edinburgh big noise orchestra will be the fifth to be established in Scotland over the past 14 years. Establishing the big noise programme in Wester Hailes will require an investment of £2.6 million over the first five years, and the good news is that the charity has already raised 60 per cent of the funding required. Sistema Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council are in discussions about funding beyond the initial five years and what in-kind support the council could provide at present, including office space, practice halls and instrument storage.

It is estimated that the investment in the Wester Hailes community will benefit about 500 children and young people. Since 2012, the Scottish Government has invested £4.8 million in the charity and its contribution in 2021-22 represents 18 per cent of Sistema Scotland’s funding.

Discussions have already taken place with the headteachers of Canal View, Clovenstone and Sighthill primary schools to begin the programme from spring 2022, and the after-school club will begin in early autumn 2022. Big noise Wester Hailes will work initially with children in primaries 1 and 2. Over the course of its first year, the programme will expand to reach all nursery to primary 3-age children.

Big noise will grow year on year. A child in the big noise programme, once it is established, will move from baby and carer classes to nursery sessions, and then they will take part in orchestra initiation involving a percussion band and a paper orchestra before moving into the primary 3 string orchestra. Children can then opt to join the after-school orchestra, which involves rehearsing intensively up to three afternoons per week during school terms and attending holiday clubs for eight weeks of the year. There is no charge for the tuition, instruments, healthy snacks, trips or T-shirts.

The programme is an incredible opportunity not only for children and young people across Wester Hailes but for the local community as a whole. Through its big noise programme, Sistema Scotland has an outstanding record of delivering positive outcomes for participants, including increased confidence, better school attendance and encouraging and supporting aspiration. Those are just a few of the programme’s benefits since it began in 2008.

The programme has a fantastic track record in improving lives, and I have no doubt that big noise Wester Hailes will prove to be a great opportunity for children and young people across the local area. I wish the staff, tutors and volunteers of Sistema Scotland well as they embark on their newest project in my Edinburgh Pentlands constituency, and I look forward to my invitation to the first Wester Hailes big noise orchestra concert.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the discussions it has had with the United Kingdom Government regarding the £20 reduction to universal credit. (S6O-00213)

Around 8,000 families and individuals in my constituency are on universal credit and they were already struggling before the pandemic. With the end of the furlough scheme looming, price increases across the retail sector and massive energy price hikes, cutting the £20 uplift in universal credit without carrying out an impact assessment is a complete dereliction of duty. Will the cabinet secretary continue to push the UK Government on that matter and seek a reversal of such a punitive decision?

The First Minister said that the Scottish Government is funding nine research projects on long Covid and that that will help to build the services that will be needed to deal with the implications of long Covid. What steps is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that sufferers can share their experiences with the specialists who are working on the country’s long Covid strategy?

Long Covid has impacted on around 80,000 people in Scotland and on more than 1 million people in the UK. It is a condition that can cause debilitating respiratory, cardiological and neurological symptoms. What consideration does the Scottish Government give to the risks of long Covid—in particular, its potential impact on young people—when making decisions about lifting restrictions?

Many people have been shielding for a very long time and are experiencing anxiety as restrictions ease. Their anxiety levels can only have further increased following yesterday’s announcement in England about halting the lifting of restrictions and because it is possible that the current Covid levels in Scotland may remain in place for a further three weeks. What advice can the First Minister provide for my constituents who were previously required to shield?

made a solemn affirmation.