Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that families can access the support they need, including those living in rural and deprived communities, and recognise how vital childcare and family support services are in rural and island areas, both in relation to giving children the best start in life and supporting families to work.

Through our Whole Family Support and the Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) approaches, the Scottish Government seeks to create the conditions for partners to deliver person-centred services that interact seamlessly so that children and families across Scotland can get the right support, at the right time, in the right place, for as long as they need it, whether those needs are simple or complex.

The Scottish Government’s Third Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan, Bringing Hope, Building Futures, sets out a range of actions that we will be delivering to ensure families have access to the services and support that they require, including:

• investing £20 million in a new Whole Family Support Third Sector Delivery Fund, allowing third sector organisations to provide more support that wraps around families in their communities, with specific consideration given to the extent to which applications to the Fund include a focus on rural or island communities.
• continuing to invest £50 million through the Whole Family Wellbeing Funding Programme .
• continuing to invest over £1 billion in 2026-27 in funded ELC, providing 1140 hours of funded childcare for all three and four year olds and eligible two year olds
• delivering a national breakfast club offer for primary school aged children with provision in all primary and special schools by August 2027
• investing £15 million in a Childcare Support Fund to help address childcare cost barriers for families most at risk of living in poverty across Scotland
• investing an additional £2.5 million to increase wrap-around activity clubs for primary school age children.

Since the publication of the plan, the Scottish Government has gone further, committing to expanding childcare support to children from nine months through to the end of primary school over the course of this Parliament. As this work progresses, we will take into account the needs of families across Scotland, including the challenges of delivering childcare in rural and island settings, and the needs of priority family groups at risk of, or living in, poverty.

It will be the defining mission of this government to support families with the cost of living and to eradicate child poverty.

Economic modelling published in March 2026 assesses the cumulative impact of our policies on child poverty. It estimates that action in ‘Bringing Hope, Building Futures’, our Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan for 2026-31, will keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty this year. The impact is proportionately greater for families on the very lowest incomes, with our policies estimated to keep 70,000 children out of deep poverty this year.

Compared to elsewhere in the UK, our Five Family Payments – inclusive of our Scottish Child Payment, three Best Start Grants, and Best Start Foods – are providing unparalleled financial support to families. Our Five Family Payments could be worth over £11,000 by the time an eligible child turns six and around £26,000 by the time an eligible child turns 16. This compares to less than £2,000 for families in England and Wales, where support ends when an eligible child turns four.?

This is part of much wider support for families, including our continued investment in the provision of 1,140 hours of high-quality funded early learning and childcare to all three and four year olds and eligible two year olds. If families paid for this offer themselves, it would cost them around £6,400 per eligible child per year.

Our action is making a real difference to families, with the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimating some of the lowest income households with children are around £2,760 per year better off compared to England as a result of our approach to income tax and benefits.

We know that we must continue to go further to tackle child poverty and support families with the cost of living. That is why we have committed to taking forward plans to ensure essential food items in supermarkets are affordable, to expand support for childcare to all children from nine-months to the end of primary school, and to introducing a £2 nationwide cap on bus fares to lower the cost of people’s commute.

Coastguard Rescue Officers do a vital job in keeping people safe, and responding to incidents and casualties in some of the most demanding environments. Shipping safety, including coastguard cover, is a matter reserved to the UK Government. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is responsible for establishing maritime safety protocol and legislation, and providing an effective response to maritime incidents in UK waters.

My officials have liaised with the MCA on this issue. I am advised that changing the Coastguard Rescue Service operating model is a consequence of the Court of Appeal ruling. I have been assured that public safety remains the priority and careful consideration was given to the options for a revised operating model.

The Scottish Government expects the highest shipping safety and crew welfare standards, and for these to be applied in the case of those vessels and crews accessing Scotland’s waters, including for the Coastguard Rescue Officers protecting our seas. My officials will continue to liaise closely with the MCA as this issue progresses.

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) keeps arrangements relating to parliamentary passes, access permissions and personnel security requirements under regular review. A specific review of security passes, vetting requirements and access permissions is currently underway to ensure that arrangements are proportionate and appropriate to the threat and risk faced by the Parliament and reflect national security advice provided by security partners. The review will also take account of the recommendations of the Inclusive Parliament Review and the SPCB’s commitment to fostering a safe, inclusive and respectful working environment through its zero-tolerance approach to all forms of unacceptable behaviour. The outcome of that review will inform any future changes to pass eligibility, access permissions and personnel security requirements.

There are no plans at present to extend pass eligibility to additional family members of Members, as there is no security rationale to do so. Existing arrangements recognise the special status of spouses or partners only in limited circumstances, including accompanying Members to official events and functions. The SPCB also keeps under review the arrangements for Members’ staff. Following approval by the previous SPCB of a revised Personnel Security Policy, Members’ local office staff were brought within the scope of the Parliament’s personnel security framework. Accordingly, any staff working for a Member, whether in a paid or voluntary capacity, must be security cleared before they can become passholders or be given access to parliamentary assets.

The SPCB’s approach is based on the principle that access to the parliamentary estate should be granted only where there is a clear business need to enter the building. Parliamentary passes are therefore issued to individuals whose role or function requires regular access to the estate. The minimum baseline for most parliamentary passholders is currently Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) security clearance. This reflects UK Government personnel security guidance that CTC clearance is appropriate for individuals whose role involves proximity to public figures who may be at particular risk from terrorist attack, access to information or material which may be of value to terrorists, or unescorted access to locations assessed to be at particular risk from terrorist attack. Members of the Scottish Parliament are public figures and, as elected representatives, may be subject to threats and risks which require appropriate protective security measures. The requirement for a clear business need, together with proportionate personnel security measures, helps protect Members, their staff, parliamentary information and the wider parliamentary community. It also supports the Parliament’s ability to maintain appropriate controls over access to the estate and helps safeguard against improper influence, lobbying activity or other misuse of parliamentary assets.