Chamber and committees

As I said earlier in this speech and in my opening speech, the whole family wellbeing fund is a £500 million fund over the current parliamentary session. There is £50 million for next year, which is to help to change how we support families.

Let us be honest and open with one another. As Willie Rennie mentioned, more than 5,500 care-experienced people have told us that change is needed. If that means that we need to have difficult conversations and to make difficult decisions, we must be prepared to do that.

Not all care-experienced people are the same. Not all care-experienced persons think, act, feel or believe the same. They do not all want the same outcomes in their lives, nor do they need the same support, but every care-experienced person should grow up feeling loved and supported to live a happy and healthy life. We might not be able to legislate for love, but together we can create the conditions in which love and relationships are at the centre of the support that we provide. We must all work closely with our children, young people, adults and families to ensure that we are making the difference that they need.

If we work together on the ambition that the Promise has directed us to achieve, by 2030 we will have a Scotland in which families are supported to stay together through whole-family support. We will have significantly reduced the number of children and young people in the care system and our communities will be better supported by the services that are available to them. Being care experienced will not be surrounded by stigma—another issue to which members from across the chamber have referred. Support, if it is required, will be person centred and accessible at the time of need. All transitions will be managed smoothly, and the service that is provided will not be determined by age or geography.

The implementation plan that has been published today takes us a step forward on that journey. Once again, I welcome the opportunity for us to work together to achieve that.

I turn briefly to Martin Whitfield’s and Meghan Gallacher’s amendments for the Labour Party and the Conservatives, respectively. I understand the sentiment behind the amendments from both parties. However, although the Government could agree to some aspects of them, we are unable to support them.

As I am the Minister for Children and Young People, many of the commitments that are set out in the plan fall under my portfolio area. I am committed to driving forward the change that is required to keep the Promise. I look forward to working with all partners to do so.

Will Jamie Greene give way?

I am glad that Mr Rennie welcomes the launch of the consultation today. I take on board what some of the organisations and experts by experience have said to him, but does he also recognise that the Scottish Government set out a number of actions to keep the Promise in the programme for government last September, that the Scottish Government supported and set up the Promise board, including £2 million for the funding of that organisation, and that it launched the Promise partnership fund in 2021—

Yes. We committed £4 million to that fund. Willie Rennie says that there has been no progress, but I can demonstrate that there has.

I thank members for their contributions to the debate. I am delighted that the cross-party support for keeping the Promise remains so strong, and by the opportunity that is presented to work together to make the change that is required to improve the lives of our care-experienced children, young people, adults and families. That is a sentiment that I have heard from all, across the chamber.

Our implementation plan is neither the end of the story nor the whole of it. We are on a journey to change; the plan sets out work that is already under way and work that we will take forward at pace.

The past two years have been unprecedented, and publishing the plan today brings us back on track to deliver the range of actions and commitments that will help us to keep the Promise by 2030.

Will the member take an intervention?

We remain committed to the incorporation of the UNCRC into Scots law to the maximum extent possible as soon as is practicable.

Although the Supreme Court’s judgment means that the bill cannot receive royal assent in its current form, we are urgently and carefully considering the most effective way forward for the legislation, to ensure that incorporation can happen as quickly as possible and with confidence that amendments to the bill will not attract further challenge.

Our preference is to address the Supreme Court’s judgment by returning the bill to Parliament via the reconsideration stage. In parallel with planning for that, we are also exploring options for extending our powers to incorporate the UNCRC beyond those that are available under the current devolution settlement. The Deputy First Minister issued a copy of his exchange with the Secretary of State for Scotland about that in an update to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee.

The Deputy First Minister has committed to keeping Parliament and the committee updated on progress with the bill.

It is important to recognise that the majority of the work in relation to incorporation of the UNCRC is continuing at pace.

As I said in my answer to Pam Duncan-Glancy, the Scottish Government is working at pace on the issue. The Deputy First Minister will write to the relevant committee and inform Parliament.

Scottish Government officials are due to meet North Lanarkshire Council later this month to learn more about that excellent project and to discuss how we can share good practice.

The Scottish Government commissioned Young Scot and Children in Scotland to work with children and young people to develop resources to raise awareness of children’s rights across all sectors. In September 2020, materials were published to coincide with the introduction of the UNCRC incorporation bill to Parliament.

Good work is under way in schools. UNICEF UK’s rights respecting school awards provide a framework for embedding the UNCRC strategically and practically in schools, thereby ensuring awareness of children’s rights among children and young people. In addition, the Children’s Parliament has recently launched a complementary resource, “Dignity in School”, which aims to demonstrate ways in which primary schools can adopt a rights-based approach and help to make rights real for children.