Chamber and committees

Before you do, I would just like to come back in. You have mentioned implementation, which can be something of a theme with new work. Was implementation a challenge? Was it understood how much classroom resource and capacity would be required at the time of implementing curriculum for excellence but the resources were simply not there or too tight? Was that not understood?

Good morning, panel. Thanks for being with us.

I want to start off with your reflections on curriculum for excellence. Which parts of it have been a success? Would you have changed anything about it?

We currently have inequality between outcomes for the children from our richest areas and those for children from the poorest areas. With that in mind, what role will the centre for teaching excellence play in reducing the poverty-related attainment gap?

Peace and stability are precarious, and safety and security are about more than the absence of violence and war. The number of conflicts around the globe and the accompanying human suffering are horrific. It is hard to witness, even from our position of comfort and safety. Many of the citizens whom I represent feel entirely helpless watching from afar the violence and destruction unfolding in Yemen, Ukraine and Gaza. The escalation of such hostilities to nuclear warfare is all too real a prospect.

I thank my colleague Bill Kidd for securing this important debate, and I acknowledge his long-standing and unwavering commitment to nuclear disarmament, and to peace and justice.

I also thank my colleague Stephen Kerr. It is not often that we hear a pro-nuclear weapons voice in such debates. I think that it is helpful. I know that it is not always comfortable being the only person who takes a different position—even for a confident young Conservative such as himself—but it is helpful that we talk about and exercise our differences. It is helpful for people to hear them.

Nuclear weapons are a threat to safety and security. That they continue to be considered to be a source of international influence by some is perverse to me. Those who believe that often speak of their being a deterrent, but it is demonstrably not the case that they are a deterrent. Even if it were true, that does not, as Bill Kidd noted in a previous debate, preclude the use of nuclear weapons for evil intent.

Where weapons of mass destruction are used to kill indiscriminately and to wreak environmental carnage, the results are catastrophic and long lasting. Whenever we speak of these matters, we must never forget that the two atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan in 1945 killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of civilians. Their effects are still being felt today. Close to 250,000 civilians met an unimaginable end in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many thousands more have since died from radiation-related illnesses.

There are currently five nuclear weapons-free zones, and the benefits of the treaties are clear. They have helped to strengthen global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament norms against use and testing. They are a testament to what nations can do when they work together, and they represent the first step towards the exclusion of all weapons of mass destruction.

The Middle East Treaty Organization reported that nine out of 28 countries in that region have the capability of creating weapons. Worryingly, four of them have already used chemical weapons during war. The Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons states that, as long as any weapons remain, it “defies credibility” that they will not one day be used, including “by accident or miscalculation”.

The establishment of a nuclear weapons-free zone is a measured and incremental approach to disarmament that slowly and methodically rules out areas from nuclear deployment. It is explicitly endorsed by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, article 7 of which formally defines the right of states to create regional nuclear weapons-free zones

“to assure the total absence of nuclear weapons in their respective territories.”

I wish to see an independent, nuclear-free Scotland. Until then, we must all continue to oppose the presence of nuclear weapons in Scottish waters and support the global fight for nuclear disarmament.

Safety and security are about more than the absence of violence and war; they are about creating a just and equal society in which everyone can achieve their full potential and where no one is left behind. The continued progress towards the establishment of more nuclear weapons-free zones will help to nurture and support those who most need such zones.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss our shared ambition for making Scotland the best place in the world to grow up in. I understand and believe that everyone who is contributing to this debate is doing so in good faith and with that aim in their hearts and heads as they speak.

Pre-pregnancy to three years is a unique and critical period of child development, during which experience and the environment shape the foundations for life and health. Future physical and mental health and wellbeing, life expectancy, educational attainment and participation in the economy and community are all impacted by those early experiences. Our understanding of that should ensure our continued commitment and focus in this area. Every child, regardless of their circumstances, should get the best start in life.

The importance of pre-pregnancy to three years covers a simply massive range of issues and policies. Today, I would like to focus my remarks on play. I have spoken about that before as I feel that it is a really important area for our children. Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child enshrines a right to play, and play and meaningful interaction between a child and their parent or carer are essential for early mental and social development. Initiatives such as PlayTalkRead and the bookbug programme are intended to facilitate play, learning and connection during a child’s early years.

There is clear, compelling and robust evidence that play times at school and around the school day are very important. Play is not just something that is nice to have and it is not simply a shame that children do not play outdoors as much as they used to. It is a bit more serious than that. Through playing outdoors, our children can improve their physical health. Children are two and a half times more active when they are outdoors than when they are inside, and they sustain physical activity for longer.

Another important benefit is to mental health, which we are all concerned about. We instinctively know that being outdoors makes us happier. We can think about how we feel when the sun shines on our face. Multiple research studies from around the world have shown that, whatever the weather, as long as we are dressed right, children and adults feel less stressed, more relaxed and happier if they have been outdoors. Being outdoors regularly often helps children to identify safe, quiet places where they can reflect. Being outdoors and away from screens helps children to build positive relationships, to make and sustain friendships and to develop the social skills that they will need throughout life.

Outdoor play can improve academic progress. Children need time to assimilate learning, and after play time outdoors they are more attentive to lessons and more on task, and they behave better. A study of more than 2,500 children in Spain found that exposure to total surrounding greenness was associated with a 5 per cent increase in progress in working memory, a 6 per cent increase in progress in superior working memory and a 1 per cent reduction in inattentiveness.

Importantly, outdoor play also helps children to connect to the places that they live in and to the planet around them. We love only what we know. Regularly playing outdoors for sustained periods often leads to greater care and concern for the environment, and having more green space in urban neighbourhoods in Scotland is linked to lower levels of perceived stress and physiological stress.

Moving forward, I ask the Scottish Government to include play in its thinking on children and child development and to do what it can to support and increase opportunities for our children to play.

I do not diminish anything that Meghan Gallacher is saying, but does she share my feeling that employers need to do a bit more to support families with children in their workplace in terms of flexibility?

Will the member give way?

Peace is obviously more than the absence of war; it is about justice and safety. Would the money that is spent on these weapons of mass destruction and indiscriminate killing not be better invested in things that truly make people safe in this country?

I understand that quite clearly. In the bill that is in front of us, there is a diminishment of children’s rights if the child is a victim, but you are working to ensure that that will not be the case.

Forgive me—sorry for interrupting, but can you imagine that being appropriate for a child? We talk at quite a high level a lot of the time, but that is a concrete example of a 14-year-old who has been harmed by a 16-year-old. Can you imagine it ever being therapeutically appropriate for them to be securely locked up in the same premises? I cannot—forgive me, but that is why I am pressing you on this.