Chamber and committees

I am sure that the minister will agree that seven months is already too long for those safety concerns to remain unresolved. Will he work with me to bring the Educational Institute of Scotland and college management together, including through a joint visit to the college while the strike action is ongoing, to establish what needs to happen to resolve the issue—because it is not resolved—and to make sure that the students and lecturers have confidence about their safety and health?

Constituents have been in touch with me because they are concerned that that expansion will not be included in the forthcoming framework that I mentioned. We know from the results of the Government’s own work, released in response to a freedom of information request, that around 763 additional children from multiple births could benefit, and that that has been costed by the Government. Will the minister meet me and the parents that I have mentioned to ensure that their concerns can be fairly considered?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to including the expansion of 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare to all twins and other multiple-birth children from age two in its forthcoming Early Learning and Childcare Strategic Framework. (S7O-00340)

To ask the Scottish Government what urgent action it is taking in response to reported warnings from the governor of HMP Barlinnie about overcrowding and the risk of critical failure arising from the prison’s ageing infrastructure. (S7O-00338)

The Prison Officers Association Scotland published “Crisis Point Reached”, which contained 41 recommendations to tackle the wider prison crisis. One year on from its publication, is the cabinet secretary able to tell us how many of those recommendations have been implemented? Barlinnie’s governor is warning that Scotland’s largest prison “hangs by a thread” right now. Given the risks to the prison staff and the prisoners in that estate, will the cabinet secretary visit Barlinnie to witness the conditions at first hand and meet staff, trade union, prisoner and family representatives?

On the point about giving communities more say, is the Government prepared to look again at its position on equal rights of appeal for the planning system?

The cabinet secretary opened the debate by underlining the critical importance of empowering communities across Scotland. I think that we can all agree on that aspiration. He then rhymed off almost a wish list of what he wants for communities—that they are strengthened and empowered, have more say, and are sustainable and more resilient—I may have missed out a few things. Again, I think that we can all agree that those things are important.

However, today’s conversation is about how we map the route—how we get there. I do not say that we all have the same vision, because I am not sure that we have. However, I think that there is a lot of agreement across parties that we all want the best for our communities. That is a good place to start in any discussion.

It is also really important that we make sure that the good intentions that we have heard about today are not lost in the process. I have heard colleagues including Katie Hagmann say that it has to be about people before structures, and my colleague Joe Fagan opened the debate for Scottish Labour by talking about changing services to change lives. If we want the process to be truly person centred—which was also on Ivan McKee’s wish list—we have to make sure that as many people as possible can be part of the conversation.

That is why I tried to intervene on George Adam, although he was very excited and in full flow—because he touched on something really important about his constituents who are going about their business, living busy lives, being worried about their children and having a lot of stress.

It is a genuine question: how do we make sure that people can genuinely participate in the process? As Murdo Fraser said, we have only nine weeks left, and I imagine that people will start to prepare for Christmas. How do we make sure that we are not just an elite bunch of serving and former councillors who are all very passionate about this? I include myself in that exclusive club.

How do we ensure that our constituents hear about those conversations and can be part of them? It will not be any surprise to colleagues that, for Scottish Labour, it is about ensuring that there is the correct funding and investment in our communities. We want to improve lives, we want fair work for all our workers across local government and public services and we want vibrant communities.

However, genuine concerns have been raised. Alexander Burnett warned against a tick-box exercise, while we heard from David Green that our communities are all very different, so we have to ensure that we do not end up with a one-size-fits-all approach. I was going to intervene on Mr Green and ask if we are going to get a referendum for Inverness, but maybe I will just not bother asking about that.

What does modern local democracy look like? We are hearing that, in many of our communities, people feel disillusioned and frustrated. Karen Adam touched on that. I wrote it down somewhere—perhaps Karen Adam will remind me, but I think that her question was, “Does it make it better where I live?” That is the fundamental question. I see that the minister agrees, so perhaps we will hear more about that in the closing speech. We can debate structures, process and who gets to decide, but, at the end of the day, there is a lot that we need to improve for people where they live.

I will set out one of my frustrations since leaving local government. Initially, I worked for the council, then I became a local councillor. I was in Parliament for 10 years—although I have had a break—and, when I sat in committees, I often heard about excellent practice and good achievements, but when other MSPs and I asked councillors and council officials, “Why is that not happening elsewhere?”, the response was often that they did not have time to share it. There was no capacity to cascade that learning. How, then, do we build capacity and more resilient communities?

Over the coming weeks and, hopefully, months, I want to hear more from the Government about how reform will reduce child poverty. How will it reduce inequality and tackle the housing emergency? How will it combat drug and alcohol deaths and make our communities safer? Those are the things that people really care about.

What we have heard today from MSPs is a real connection with our communities—we all have that passion. I was surprised to learn that SNP colleagues are very excited about this agenda. I would gently say to them, “Where is the excitement about council tax reform?”, because that comes up on the doorsteps and was a flagship policy of the SNP almost 20 years ago. It would be good to channel the excitement that we have heard today into discussions about council tax reform, because, for too many years, that issue has been in the “too difficult” box. A few colleagues at the back are looking at me in disbelief. If they want to intervene, I am happy to take an intervention.

Katie Hagmann has made important points about putting people before structures. Given the timescales that the Government has suggested, and knowing the barriers that many of our communities face, does she agree that more might have to be done to make sure that people can participate and have their say? The timescale sounds quite short.

The minister will have heard today that people want reassurance that communities will be able to participate. Some experience more barriers than others, so the issue is not so much about how many weeks the consultation lasts for, but about how we open the doors to everyone. If this is a starting point, will those further conversations be part of the formal consultation? COSLA is saying that it wants us to follow the evidence.

I wish that I had brought some tissues to the chamber, because the contributions have been so personal and powerful. That is the way that Christina would have wanted it, and it has got all of us thinking about our radical hope for the future.

Today is about hope. We have had briefings from Breast Cancer Now, and we have had a chance to chat with visitors and colleagues today. A lot of progress has been made, but there is still a lot more to do, and I think that today is about making sure that those in the public gallery and those who have come to Parliament today feel that something will change as a result of this debate.

Like others, I also want to pay tribute to our much-missed colleague and friend Christina McKelvie, who thrived on days like today, particularly when we could wear lots of pink and enjoy all the props. That willingness to have a bit of fun and lighten the mood is important, but there has always been a serious message underlying that. We have learned over the past 25 years of the wear it pink campaign that the visibility and awareness that it brings are really important. They help to raise funds and they help women to remember to check themselves, but they also make sure that Governments, health boards and others act.

Today, I want to take a moment to put on record my thanks to our extremely committed health professionals who support patients every day. Sometimes they give hugs too, which is important. What I am hearing from colleagues is the importance of compassion and of understanding that people come at this issue from different places.

The hope is that, by 2050, everyone with breast cancer will live and will live well. As we have heard from Keith Brown, there is a range of organisations, including Maggie’s, that do a great deal to help people who are living with breast cancer. It is important that all MSPs know that we can signpost our constituents to those fantastic organisations.

I turn to the briefing from Breast Cancer Now, which colleagues have mentioned. Clearly, there is a need to do more to support those who are living with secondary breast cancer. I know that the cabinet secretary will address that in closing, but the points that have been made on data collection are important, because the Government has made some important commitments that have not yet been fully delivered.

I will also mention health inequalities, because we know that breast cancer can affect anyone but does not affect everyone equally. I have a real concern for women who live in our most deprived communities, because they have the poorest survival outcomes and are less likely to access the important screening programmes that Karen Adam mentioned. It would therefore be good to hear what additional work the Government is doing to improve on that.

Like Karen Adam, I have had my own health scares in recent times. Maybe that is why I was so emotional when I got to my feet. I have learned a lot over the past year about the importance of supporting the workforce, because without them we cannot provide that fantastic care to everyone. They have more time to care and to truly listen to people. That is how we get patient-centred care. Again, I would love to hear in the cabinet secretary’s closing contribution what more will be done on that. There are important commitments in the Scottish cancer action plan, not just on data collection, albeit that that is clearly a big ask by Breast Cancer Now for this debate; unless we empower the workforce to do the job that they love, the improvements and outcomes that we want will not happen.

I pay tribute to everyone who has been raising funds, raising their voices and raising awareness. However, for me, it is about how we ensure that we have more compassion in our health service, build in time for more hugs and—all of us—have real hope, because breast cancer will touch someone that we know and love, and it is important that we have the right support and the right hope in our hearts for them.