Chamber and committees

Will the member take an intervention?

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.

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.

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.

Thank you convener. Good morning to you and the committee.

This amending order will increase the income thresholds for families with a two-year-old who is eligible for funded early learning and childcare—ELC—because they get a joint working tax credit and child tax credit or a universal credit award.

The relevant order currently specifies that a two-year-old is eligible for funded ELC if: their parent is in receipt of child tax credit and working tax credits, with an annual income that does not exceed £7,500; or their parent is in receipt of universal credit, with a monthly income that does not exceed £625 per month.

The amending order will increase the income threshold to £7,920 per year for households in receipt of both child tax credit and working tax credit. The universal credit income threshold will increase to £660 per month—the equivalent of £7,920 per year.

We are making the change to reflect changes at the United Kingdom level. The UK Government has increased the national living wage from £8.91 per hour to £9.50 per hour. That means that household income would exceed the current thresholds if they remained the same.

The purpose of the order is to protect eligibility for two-year-olds whom we would expect to be eligible for funded ELC as a result of their parents or carers being in receipt of the affected qualifying benefits. If we choose not to make changes to the income thresholds, we estimate that around 1,000 eligible two-year-olds would no longer be eligible, despite there being no significant difference in their families’ household circumstances.

It is important to be clear that no two-year-old who is currently receiving funded ELC will be affected by the changes. Once a child has met the eligibility criteria, they remain eligible despite any subsequent change in circumstances.

As the purpose of the amendment is to maintain eligibility, we do not anticipate a significant increase in the number of two-year-olds who become newly eligible for the provision, and we do not expect a significant impact on local authorities’ ability to fund the provision within the current financial settlement.

There is no evidence that additional funding is required to support implementation of the amendment. However, the impact on uptake will be closely monitored by the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities through the appropriate mechanism—the ELC finance working group—and appropriate arrangements will be made if uptake is significantly above the level expected and local authority costs increase as a result.

As I mentioned on my previous visit to the committee to amend the thresholds, we will monitor future increases to the national living wage and we will uprate thresholds when required, to keep pace with changes. COSLA agrees that the approach is necessary to maintain a similar profile of eligible children.

I am happy to respond to any questions that the committee has.