I thank Sarah Boyack for securing this evening’s members’ business debate, which pays tribute to the Commonwealth and keeps it alive in the Scottish Parliament.

Our debate is especially appropriate today, as Her Majesty the Queen celebrates the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne as head of the state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the crown dependencies and the British overseas territories and as head of the Commonwealth.

On 14 March, the Commonwealth day theme of delivering a common future came to the fore. The vision is to highlight how the member countries of the Commonwealth family are collectively invoking, connecting and transforming. To achieve common goals, the ambitious boosting of trade, essential promotion of good governance and grasping of the nettle when it comes to climate change are all being actively promoted by the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth day theme works perfectly hand in hand with Her Majesty’s simplified jubilee message of hope closer to home to bring families, friends, neighbours and communities closer together. Although the Commonwealth family is incredibly diverse, its members have many common ties and a shared history. The Commonwealth helps to strengthen those bonds, and its member states work together as a global force for good around the world.

The values of the Commonwealth charter, which we share as member states of the Commonwealth, are values that we can all adhere to and share. Human rights, the rule of law and democracy are the fundamental building blocks of a free and tolerant society.

I concur with many of my colleagues today in paying tribute to the work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. I have regularly been impressed by the collective effort to act as a voice for parliamentary democracy across the Commonwealth nations. That is in addition to the CPA’s endeavours to ensure that we play a more active role in developing member states.

I concur with the CPA’s desire to share experiences and best practice in how parliamentary work should take place by effectively and rightly holding governments and administrations to account on behalf of the people who they serve. With my background in local government prior to becoming an MSP, I know only too well the importance of looking for examples of best practice in local authorities, and I feel passionately that the desire for scrutiny must exist at parliamentary and international levels. The enhancement of information and sharing of experiences among members from different legislatures in the Commonwealth can have a profoundly positive impact on parliamentary democracies.

Each day, the work of Commonwealth nations truly enriches our lives and promotes stability in these times of great uncertainty that we face at present. Following this year’s Commonwealth day, I am sure that members across the chamber will welcome the massive contributions that the entire Commonwealth and the CPA have achieved over time, especially having heard, in recent days, a clue about how the royal family wants to go forward, when His Royal Highness, Prince William said, “Relationships evolve. Friendship endures.”

The broad shoulders of financial support from the UK Government have gone miles towards ensuring that funding continues to come to Scotland. That will trickle down to ensure that everyone across Scotland is given funding to support them.

Other measures, such as the introduction of universal free school meals in primary schools, will also help in that process. It is, however, regrettable that the Scottish Government will not be implementing the policy in full by August this year, as was originally planned.

Despite such measures, analysis suggests that, by 2023-24, relative child poverty will still be as much as 4 per cent higher than the interim target of 18 per cent. So, although we may see a certain amount of progress on the issue in the coming years, it is unlikely that that progress will be completely satisfactory. I therefore urge the SNP-Green Government to leave no stone unturned in attempting to meet both the interim and primary targets of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017.

Doing that will include listening to recommendations from the Poverty and Inequality Commission, which has called for the Government to reduce barriers to employment and to ensure that a job guarantee is provided for families. Higher rates of employment are associated with lower rates of child poverty and higher levels of educational attainment. However, the Scottish Government’s record in that area is not something to be proud of. Last year, Audit Scotland reported that there is still much more work to do to close the poverty-related attainment gap.

Recent reforms to pupil equity funding have massive implications for local authorities and are unlikely to close the attainment gap. It may even be widened. Those reforms include the removal of £800,000 of funding from Clackmannanshire, in my region. The Government needs to go back to the drawing board on that issue to ensure that every child is given the chance to succeed, regardless of their background.

In conclusion, there might well be some way to go before the 2030 targets that are set out in the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 are due to be met, but that fact does not make the need to meet them any less urgent. Action is required to meet those targets, and, over the coming years, Conservatives will work actively to ensure that any issues are raised. We will also constructively support measures that take things forward. I will ensure that we scrutinise what happens in relation to need, because it is vital that we support every child to reach their full potential, come out of poverty and break that cycle.

I am pleased to contribute to a debate about an issue that is of fundamental importance. I welcome the publication of the “Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26”, and I look forward to closely scrutinising its content and the progress that is made on it over the years.

Few issues in politics will attract as much agreement on their importance as tackling child poverty. The issue of poverty more generally is frequently discussed, but we know that child poverty carries with it a set of particular concerns. The unfortunate truth is that a child who grows up in poverty is more likely to suffer problems with their emotional and cognitive development, and those problems may continue into adulthood.

The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 received unanimous support in this Parliament and enshrined in law a number of child poverty targets. That was clearly considered a priority in 2017, but the events of the past two years have shone an entirely different light on this important issue. We know that the pandemic has created further challenges in tackling child poverty, but analysis by the Fraser of Allander Institute suggests that we will not know the full extent of the damage for a number of years. Consequently, there has perhaps never been more uncertainty about how we can make progress in tackling child poverty.

Unfortunately, the most recent figures suggest that absolute child poverty is 17 per cent higher than the target and that it continues to rise. We also know that, before the pandemic, the number of children involved in homelessness applications was increasing. Shelter Scotland recently described the number of children in temporary accommodation as “a national disgrace”.

I am hopeful that the measures that have been put in place will be effective in driving down child poverty. We acknowledge the doubling of the Scottish child payment, which we repeatedly called for, and I was delighted to see that in this year’s budget.

Childcare provision is another important component in fighting and challenging child poverty. Conservatives supported the decision to introduce 30 hours per week of free childcare across all local authorities, and it was a positive step to see that policy finally put in place in August 2021. There is still much more to do to ensure that those childcare hours are available and that parents can depend on them. The “funding follows the child” approach was the correct one to base the policy on, but there are still some parents who find it difficult to access that. I therefore urge the SNP-Green Government to do more to ensure that the policy is finally able to realise its potential to drive down child poverty.

Many children live with adults who have disabilities. What is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that the disability employment gap is tackled? That is a major issue for many households.

There were difficulties across my region for individuals who were struggling to get paper copies. What assessment has been done to ensure that they received their paper copies on time? If they did not, what outcomes are expected from that?

As you have indicated, convener, the Scottish Government has said that it does not intend to change the voting system for MSPs. I am not aware that we can, in reality, take any further action on the petition, so we should thank the petitioner and close it under rule 15.7 of the standing orders.

The partnership working that is already taking place in some areas has been pioneering, but that is not the case across the piece in Scotland. Things are working well in some locations, but other communities have a long way to go to catch up. Do you feel that some communities are being left behind?

Given the timescales, are many of the existing policies that the Government has already advanced now at the stage at which they need to be reassessed? You spoke about resource. To make things happen, there perhaps needs to be a refresh as to what can be achieved. The situation becomes worse year on year. Given the amount of resource and staffing that are required, as well as the implementation, some of the policies that you put in place are just not fit for purpose in today’s society and in today’s market, when we are considering how we manage woodland. There has been an erosion in that area, and those policies might have had an impact on that.

Thank you for your testimony in response to questions so far. How disappointed are you that the Scottish Government is not prepared to extend the inquiry? The First Minister and Deputy First Minister made comments about that in the chamber. How do you feel about the fact that they do not see the need to progress it any further?

You touched on the idea that other authorities are perceived as not being supportive, or that people are brought up in that regime to believe that they are “the devil”. Do you feel that you have been listened to by other authorities and other organisations and individuals?