Given that we have moved to the debate on the motion, I ask you to read your statement and move the motion, please.

I remind members that they should not put questions to the minister during the formal debate and that officials may not speak in the debate.

I have had no indication that any member wishes to make a further contribution. Minister, do you wish to sum up?

That concludes consideration of the document.

Our meeting next week will be held fully in private to continue consideration of a draft stage 1 report on the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill. At our meeting on 6 February, we will take evidence from stakeholders as part of our post-legislative scrutiny of the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012.

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, in that I hold a bank nurse contract with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Every child should get the best nutritional start in life, and families should be able to make fully informed choices on how they feed their baby. Understandably, during the debate, we have encouraged women to breastfeed and we have discussed a range of policy initiatives to drive up breastfeeding rates. However, I put on record, as some of my colleagues have done, that we should be mindful that some women find breastfeeding challenging, or cannot breastfeed even if they want to do so.

For some women, breastfeeding is contraindicated due to the medication that they are prescribed for any of a variety of physical and mental illnesses. In my experience of working for more than a decade in perinatal mental health, some of my most difficult conversations with mums have been about the choice between medication for their illness or the continuation of breastfeeding—in particular, in cases in which mums were very depressed and felt that breastfeeding was the only thing that they were doing right.

However, no matter how someone feeds their baby, midwives and health visitors are there to help parents with lots of good advice, which is also online, including on the parentclub.scot website, in addition to the wealth of support that we have heard about during the debate—for example, through peer supporters and volunteers.

Breastfeeding provides the best nutrition for babies and young children and supports children’s health in the short and longer term. According to the World Health Organization:

“Protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding will save more lives of babies and children than any other single preventive intervention. Globally, exclusive and continued breastfeeding could help prevent 13% of deaths among children under five years old.”

There is strong evidence that breastfeeding reduces children’s risk of gut, chest, and ear infections and leads to a small but significant improvement in brain development and IQ.

Breastfeeding also benefits mothers’ health. It lowers the risk of developing breast cancer—particularly in mothers who had their children when they were younger—and, the longer mothers breastfeed, the more the risk is reduced.

A US study in 2019, which UNICEF cited on its website, found that, compared with never breastfeeding, breastfeeding a baby was associated with a 30 per cent reduction in epithelial ovarian cancer risk. In addition, there is some evidence that breastfeeding may promote maternal healthy weight and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

As the motion by the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health states, breastfeeding rates have risen in the past few years. That is to be welcomed. Infant feeding statistics that were published in November 2023 found that two out of three babies born in Scotland in 2022-23 were breastfed for at least some time after their birth; and that, over the same time period, 57 per cent of babies were being breastfed at 10-14 days of age—an increase from 44 per cent in 2022-23.

However, in the UK, we have some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. Although many new mums start breastfeeding, some stop within a few months. Often, that is because they feel that there is a lack of support, particularly when they want to feed their baby outside of the home, or because they deem breastfeeding to be unnecessary, because formula milk is seen as a close second best.

There is therefore an understandable desire to increase breastfeeding rates through a number of interventions, some of which have been mentioned. They include interventions through education, peer support and within the health service itself, to ensure the availability and quality of breastfeeding support for new mums.

Part of ensuring that breastfeeding rates increase involves normalising breastfeeding in our public spaces and influencing public attitudes to it. The Scottish infant feeding survey in 2017 identified that mums understood that they could breastfeed in public areas, but almost half lacked the confidence to do so.

The Scottish Government launched the breastfeeding friendly Scotland scheme, which is implemented locally by NHS boards and aims to support families in a number of ways. The scheme helps to provide mums with positive experiences of breastfeeding when out and about to allow them to feel confident and supported. It raises awareness of the Breastfeeding etc (Scotland) Act 2005, which many colleagues have referred to in their speeches, and the Equality Act 2010, which protects mums who feed infants in public places or establishments that allow children access. The scheme also ensures that organisations are aware of their responsibilities under that legislation.

I am proud to say that, according to the online map that shows breastfeeding friendly Scotland scheme venues, around 40 venues in my Rutherglen constituency have signed up to the scheme. They include schools, pubs, pharmacies, community and third sector facilities and shops. I was delighted to sign up to the scheme in 2020. Finding a place to feel comfortable breastfeeding their baby can often make parents—particularly new parents—feel anxious. Signing up to the scheme is a small but simple way to support them on their breastfeeding journey. I want to ensure that my constituency office is an inclusive space for all staff, constituents and visitors, so it is important that that extends to babies who are being breastfed as well.

When I was the Minister for Children and Young People, having Scotland’s baby box as part of my portfolio was a highlight. In order to support parents with breastfeeding, the baby box contains nursing pads and information on breastfeeding. In 2021, Ipsos MORI undertook an evaluation to assess the impact of the baby box scheme in Scotland in respect of its short-term and medium-term outcomes. The study found that a quarter of parents felt that the box had helped to support breastfeeding, and 21 per cent said that it had informed them about breastfeeding. Higher numbers of respondents were positive about the inclusion of the leaflet on breastfeeding. Sixty-six per cent stated that they found it very or fairly useful.

I know that a lot of thought and work go into the items that are included in the baby box, but maybe the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health could liaise with the Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise to see whether there is scope to further help mums to breastfeed through the contents of the baby box. Perhaps the minister could mention that in her summing up.

Positively, increases in breastfeeding over the past 10 years have been greatest among groups with historically lower rates, such as young women and those who live in more deprived areas. That could be a sign that interventions are working, but we should not ease up.

It is clear from the tone of the debate that we all share the commitment to give children the best possible start in life. We can help to realise that aim by giving mothers the cross-sectoral support that they require in their early days of parenthood.

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to encourage more people to use bus and rail services in the Rutherglen constituency. (S6O-02975)

Getting more people to use public transport will help to tackle two of the most significant challenges facing us today: the cost of living crisis and the climate emergency. By bringing Scotland’s rail into public hands, along with the pilot to scrap peak rail fares, as well as by enabling free bus travel for the over-60s, people with disabilities and young people under the age of 22, the Scottish National Party Government is taking decisive action to promote public transport usage.

Another way in which I believe that we could increase the number of people using public transport is through publicly controlled bus services. Will the minister outline how local authorities such as South Lanarkshire Council can now do that through the new powers that have been given to them under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019?

Does Scottish Labour support Wes Streeting in his calls to privatise the NHS?

Will the member give way?

I ask the member to please clarify some things relating to a couple of points that I raised in my speech. The Welsh health minister said that Covid has had an impact on NHS waiting times. Does the member disagree with that? Does Scottish Labour support Wes Streeting—[Interruption.]

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which shows that I hold a bank nurse contract with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

As someone who proudly continues to work in our NHS, I am under no illusions about the challenges that it currently faces. In the years ahead, those challenges will become more pronounced as a result of demographic changes and the expected increase in disease burden. It is therefore abundantly clear that significant investment in our NHS and, indeed, reform of the delivery of care are of paramount importance.

In the face of Tory austerity, the Tories’ shameful autumn statement and their mishandling of the economy, which has caused inflation to run rampant, the SNP Scottish Government is taking the necessary decisions to ensure that there is continued investment in health and social care services. In the draft budget, the Deputy First Minister announced an increase of more than £550 million to front-line NHS boards, which is a 4.3 per cent uplift that takes the total investment to more than £13.2 billion. Scottish Government funding of the NHS has ensured record high staffing levels. The funding will drive forward work to increase health service capacity, including through a network of national treatment centres, and it will reduce backlogs, delivering year-on-year reductions in waiting lists.

On that point, yes, of course too many people have waited too long for treatment. However, I welcome the fact that we have seen a significant reduction in the longest waits since the targets were announced, last July. That includes a 69 per cent reduction in patients waiting over two years for a new out-patient appointment from the end of June 2022. There has also been a 26 per cent reduction in patients waiting longer than two years for in-patient or day-case treatment since the targets were announced. That is welcome progress, but we know that there is still more to be done.

Scottish Labour never wants to talk about the significant and on-going impact that Covid has on our health service, notably in the area of planned care, as well as other external factors. It should listen to the Welsh Government’s Minister for Health and Social Services, who said only in the past week:

“The pressures on the NHS are unrelenting in every part of the UK.”

Over the past 13 years, the NHS, like other public services, has had to contend with austerity, the impact of a botched Brexit, the pandemic, record levels of inflation and rising demand. It is not difficult to work out why it is so challenged across the whole UK.

It is also worth noting that, while we are sitting in the chamber, junior doctors are striking in Wales, where Labour is in power. The NHS is nothing without its dedicated workforce, and I am proud that, due to the value that the SNP Government places on our health staff, Scotland remains the only country in the UK to have been successful in averting NHS strikes. In doing so, we have avoided the knock-on effect that that would have had on capacity, through postponed operations and on out-patient appointments.

That was looking at Wales, where Labour is in power. Even at Westminster, where it is in opposition, it is clear that Labour does not have the plans or ambition to tackle the challenges that health services across the UK face. Labour’s shadow health secretary has said that a UK Labour Government would

“hold the door wide open”

to private sector involvement in the NHS. He has also stated that he does not think that it is good enough that the NHS uses every winter crisis and every challenge that it faces as an excuse to ask for more money. That is hardly supportive of the hard-working staff for whom we hear faint praise from Opposition members.

Labour’s only plan for our NHS seems to be opening it up to the private sector’s involvement, starving it of much-needed investment, supporting a Brexit that impacts on the recruitment of health and social care staff, and undervaluing NHS staff, which leads to strikes. The Scottish Government remains committed to driving down waiting times, particularly for the people who wait the longest for treatment. We are resolute in doing what we can to support our workforce through ensuring record levels of staff, promoting their wellbeing and protecting and providing proper pay increases. We are absolutely committed to keeping our NHS publicly owned, with no private sector involvement, and free at the point of need.