 Mae'r next item of business is a debate on motion 11053, in the name of Jenny Minto on Early Childhood Development Transformational Change programme. To invite members wishing to participate in the debate, to press the request-to-speak buttons now or as soon as possible. I call on Jenny Minto to speak to and move the motion. Minister, around 10 minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It is a great privilege to open this debate on our Early Child Development Transformational Change programme. I believe that this will create the opportunity and momentum for us to come together to help build the healthier, fairer and more successful nation that we want to see by creating the conditions for future generations to thrive. Children only get one chance at childhood, so it is for us to ensure whether we are parents, practitioners or politicians to do what we can to get it right for every child. There is nothing more important than giving our children the best start in life. The period of a child's life from before, they are born and through the very early years, is a unique and critical period of development. It is when lives are shaped, laying the foundations for future health and wellbeing. As a nation, we must collectively do all that we can to support, help and nurture their growth. The World Health Organization is clear that all children need nurturing care during this early period. That means that care that they get needs to be sensitive and responsive to their needs, providing the right nutrition, opportunities to play and learn and grow up healthy and safe from all types of harm. That is why, within this year's programme for government, we included a clear commitment to continue to invest in primary prevention from pre-birth through the earliest years to ensure that children have the nurturing care that they need to improve their outcomes, ensuring that we provide enhanced support for speech and language development during the critical window in the early years. I am so proud that—yes, of course. Oliver Mundell, I appreciate and agree with much of what she is saying, but does she not recognise that, at the moment, the waits for speech and language across much of the country are just unacceptable? What we are doing within this programme is gathering the evidence to ensure that we improve what is going on across the country, and I think that we are working hard to deliver that. I am so proud of the work that is already going on across Scotland, and I am so grateful to the volunteers, practitioners and support networks who make that happen. The power to do this is in our communities and is reflected in the African proverb, which is that it takes a village to raise a child. However, I know that families now are experiencing challenges like never before. With the impact of the pandemic and the cost of living pressures, caregivers' wellbeing and capacity is a major factor in providing nurturing care, so we must ensure that they get the support that they need. I am pleased that partners are already working on this across Scotland through the whole family wellbeing fund. In Scotland, our families have the support of the health visitor pathway, and that means that we get an early indication of concerns about early child development. Covid has pushed those concerns up, and we are determined to turn this around. I particularly want to see the children in our most deprived areas thrive. Our early child development programme will ensure that more children do develop to meet their potential. By working together, I would like to make some progress. By working together, we will create a culture, environment and society that enhances early child development. I saw this in action when I attended picnic at the Parliament as part of Scottish breastfeeding week. Meeting staff and volunteers, as well as parents and babies, demonstrated the dedication and enthusiasm for that important work. The right support at the right time for mums makes a world of difference. I know that there is fantastic work across Scotland looking at how we create a more positive culture around breastfeeding, and that involves everyone, not just mums. We are building on the foundations of so much excellent work in Scotland. For example, we have our brilliant baby box, which has reached over a quarter of a million families since 2017, ensuring that every family with a newborn has the essential items needed in the first six months of a child's life. It helps our health visitors to support parents to help their children's development using the contents of the box to have conversations on areas such as home safety, safe sleep and promoting actions to support aspects of child health, such as toothbrushing. I am very grateful to Jenny Minter to give way on that point, but it is also right that the Scottish Government's own research with regard to the baby box showed questions being raised by professionals about how—and you mentioned breastfeeding—how that can be improved through the access of the box. What is the Scottish Government doing about improving the content and information for that? I think that that is a fair question from Mr Whithfield. The work that we are doing is gathering that information so that we can understand the different requirements. We have a really strong process that we are working through, gaining information from people who have been lucky enough to receive the box and think about how things can change. We know that things are hard for a lot of parents and that they need support. This week, the Queen's Institute nurse told me how she can see the positive impacts on babies and their family when a wee bit of extra support can be given. For over 12,000 young parents, we have delivered the internationally recognised family nurse partnership programme across Scotland, making a real difference to them and their babies. Our best art maternity and neonatal programme, with the introduction of neonatal—if I can make just a bit of progress, I will give way in a minute— with the introduction of our neonatal transition care, keeps mothers and babies together, crucial for bonding and attachment. I was very fortunate to open the best art learning event in the summer, where midwives and maternity teams from our health boards came together to learn from each other and recognise the success of continuity of carer, improving outcomes for women and their babies. The introduction of our young patients family fund provides essential financial support for meals, travel and accommodation, supporting families to stay with their babies and children when they are in hospital. I will give way. I thank the minister for giving way. A leaked document from staff at Lanarkshire hospital has shown that senior medics fear for the safety of babies if the specialised centre at Wishaw neonatal is downgraded. Does the minister share my concerns that medics in the actual facility in Wishaw are concerned about those proposals and therefore should be reviewed? We are currently speaking to medics in the neonatal unit in Wishaw. However, I want to take this opportunity to emphasise the evidence-driven important changes that we are making in neonatal intensive care. Due to pioneering advances in medicines, babies born at the extremes of prematureties stand a much better chance of healthy survival. Evidence tells us that complex care is safest in units that treat a higher number of babies with co-located specialist services so that they can get the best chance in life. We need to join up our policies and services by building a more strategic approach centred around the needs of children and families. That will build on so many examples of great collaboration from the wonderfully fun book bug sessions to the valuable and crucial care that we provide through our universal health services. The transformational change programme will build on the significant approaches that we are already delivering with a shared aim of improving early child development and clearly reducing the level of child development concerns. Without intervention to support those babies, young children and adults affected by adversity, we hold back our nation both in terms of long-term consequences on jobs and income and in the health and wellbeing of our citizens. We need to act. We need to act collectively. We need to act now. We need to act to support all the children, parents and carers who need help. Healthy and positive early child development requires family-friendly environments, services and supports that are focused on the needs and rights of babies and young families. Delivering that requires action across government with the support of health boards, local authorities and the third sector. By working together, we will achieve outcomes that are greater than the sum of their parts. With the right action, I believe that we could see the level of early child development concerns reduced by a quarter by 2030. Presiding Officer, I am sure that we can all agree across this chamber that creating a culture and an environment that fully supports every child development is of utmost importance. Children are the adults of tomorrow. Providing those future adults with the best life chances, highest quality of life and opportunity to contribute positively to the economy and society must start before they are even born. I hope that members across the chamber can recognise the excellent progress that we have made but agree that more is needed if we are to truly make Scotland the best place in the world to grow up. I would like to highlight a quote from the World Bank that says, investing in the early years is one of the smartest investments a country can make to break the cycle of poverty, address inequality and boost productivity later in life. I wholeheartedly recognise that position. I and my ministerial colleagues are focused on ensuring that Scotland is a nation where children can develop, grow and reach their full potential. I commend this motion to Parliament and thank all our members here today for their continued support of measures to promote early child development for our youngest children of today and future generations of tomorrow. Thank you Minister. Can I just ask you to move the motion? Thank you and I now call on Ross McCall to speak to and move amendment 11 053.2. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am pleased to open this debate today on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives and I move the amendment in my name. We'll get that over and done with up front. As much as I understand, the Scottish Government recognises a need for an early child development transformational change programme. It's difficult to welcome and even debate a programme that's nothing more than a voice of intent. I also understand a motion that affords SNP members the opportunity over the course of an hour and a half to enjoy a round of self-congratulatory pats on the back, prosperating the UK Government. One would be forgiven to think that there was an election on the horizon. What I can say and I'm more than happy to talk about is the commitment to focusing collective efforts on giving all babies and children in Scotland the best possible start. There's so much to say and I know that colleagues will expand on many of these points during the debate. I wanted to pick out three main points from our amendment and to ensure that we're getting it right for every child. Start with pre-birth. More and more evidence is coming forward about the importance of pre-birth support and effects on the fetus from environmental and detrimental health of the mother. We know that negative effects of cigarettes and alcohol on a baby's development within the womb, and we can physically see how fetal alcohol syndrome causes brain damage and growth problems, and we know that those effects are irreversible. However, there's also new natal abstinence syndrome. Recent evidence on NES states that babies born with opioid addiction within the first few weeks after birth are likely to suffer from tremors and convulsions, excess crying, poor suckling or slow weight gain, breathing problems, sweating and lack of sleep, to name but a few. This is nothing compared to the long-term problems which can drastically hinder a person throughout their life. Neo natal abstinence syndrome will result in brain developmental delays, motor problems due to poor bone, muscle and movement growth, behaviour and learning problems, speech and language problems in somnia, ear infections and even reduced vision, and early detection is imperative. Anti natal and neonatal services are therefore so important. Literally no number of baby boxes or child payments will ever make a difference if children are born with completely avoidable syndroms. Education Scotland figures showing that 3 to 5 per cent of learners have FASD and recent information that over 1,000 children have been born in Scotland with NES within the last five years is disappointing that the SNP has downgraded neonatal services and that we still have almost 6,000 midwifery posts still unfulfilled. My second point is access to child mental health services. The Scottish Government likes to talk about getting it right for every child and they have done so again today in the motion. However, it is so often the case that rhetoric rarely meets reality. There is a mental health crisis among children and young people whom this Government has failed to get close to dealing with. On the SNP's watch, Scots across the country are waiting far too long for mental health treatment and none more so than in CAMHS. We should remember that the SNP has never met its CAMHS target for 90 per cent of children and young people to start treatment within 18 weeks. In 2022, almost 9,000 children were refused mental health treatment and between January and June of this year 4,640 referrals to CAMHS were rejected. In my region of Mid Scotland in Fife, in the quarter ending March 2023 alone, NHS Forth Valley rejected 225 CAMHS referrals. Long delays in accessing treatment can lead to more entrenched difficulties by the time a child or young person is able to access a service. Time and time again, we stand in this chamber and we voice our collective will to the promise but this is impossible if we don't recognise the connection to mental health of the young people here in Scotland. Let's again look at the statistics for Forth Valley in my region with regards to CAMHS. Recent figures show that NHS Forth Valley has missed a key child mental health waiting time target. 42 per cent begin treatment within 18 weeks between January and March of 2023 this year, which is absolutely disgusting when you consider that the target is 90 per cent. Less than half of our young people are being seen within the allocated time frame and over two thirds are waiting over a year to begin treatment in the first place, so failing to solve the CAMHS crisis today will lead to poor mental health outcomes for future generations. The third point that I wanted to raise was on early years. The proposal for the 1140 hours was well discussed when I was a councillor and we were constantly reassured that the only way to ensure this provision was to work actively and proactively with childminders and the private nursery sector. It was also highly stressed that it was to facilitate a blended approach allowing parents to plan and utilise the correct variables and choices of childcare that was right for their child's needs. It was always going to be impossible to meet the targets without their support, so I wonder what happened. Why now do we have private nurseries closing, fewer centres providing funded early learning and childcare than in 2021, with fewer than four-year-olds registered than in 2021? Why have a third of childminders quit the profession since 2016 and why are we advised that the number will increase to 64 per cent? Almost two thirds of child numbers will be gone within the next three years. Audit Scotland found that the Scottish Government's previous flagship policy for reducing child poverty—the 1140 hours of childcare for early years—was now fragile due to budget pressures and risks around workforce and sustainability of funded providers, which is important to achieving the attended policy outcomes. Surely, child poverty is still high on the agenda, and I would look forward to the Scottish Government sorting that out as a matter of urgency. In conclusion, it is impossible for the SNP to get it right for every child and to achieve a transformational change to which the minister refers when they are right now failing young children across Scotland with their policies. When we eventually get some detail on the early childhood development transformational change programme, I hope that it stands up and recognises the implications on the promise and that it finally makes tangible inroads on the outcomes for all of Scotland's children. I am very grateful, Presiding Officer. It is a pleasure to take part in this debate this afternoon, because, to echo Jenny Minters' contribution, those are the most important people in Scotland. They are, perhaps, unfairly on accountants, the most important asset we have, but most importantly, our young people are our future. We owe it to them to move heaven, earth, stone, water to make sure that they have the best life. We have heard for a number of years the echo that Scotland should be the best place to grow up in, and I absolutely agree with that, but I do think that this afternoon was a missed opportunity to actually discuss the very complex nature that the very question that's posed in this debate is talking about, because it's not a simple answer of getting one part of this jigsaw correct. Unless we can put all of the pieces in place, we are going to fail, no matter how successful certain elements are. I am concerned slightly, and this is in no way a criticism aimed at Jenny Minters, but, with regard to the data, we had a short exchange over the baby box. In August 2021, the Scottish Government undertook a review of the baby box, and much of it was rightly successful. However, within that objective evidence, it turned out that 26 per cent of the parents who were interviewed and discussed said that they needed additional support, specifically with breastfeeding. The data is within the Government. Of the 72 per cent of professionals who had received training with regard to the baby box, 37 per cent said that it was insufficient. With respect, the data is there. What we are missing is the conclusions that are drawn from it, the strategy to take it forward and improve these percentages, and then the policy that we should be debating about how we can change it. Then we can have an exchange about where that training should be and where the numbers of professionals should be. It is important to recognise that the Government has invested an additional £9 million into breastfeeding, and breastfeeding rates at 68 weeks are now at 46 per cent, which is the highest. We have a far wider recognition and understanding that mothers can breastfeed across in various different locations in Scotland. I am very grateful for that intervention. I am now concerned that we are having a debate where we are being told that we are going out to try and find holistic data about this when the data exists. Could we not have had a debate about the expenditure of that money and how and where it is being spent, and is it being reached out to those families who are most in need? As we heard from Ross McCall's very powerful opening, if I may say, there are significant numbers of young people who are coming into life with challenges that we are not addressing. I think that, for respect for the people of Scotland, but particularly for respect for our younger people, this was an opportunity to actually be debating those facts. I look forward to the next debate. I thank the member for giving way. Does he agree with me that it would also be helpful if Opposition parties were privy to what the programme would actually mean for young people before we enter the debate today? Absolutely. Information is all. We will go around in the cul-de-sac here. Of course, information is for all. We need to know what the ideas are. People across this chamber, people across Scotland, both professionals and parents, but our young people have a lot to contribute to how to bring about the exceptional life that they truly deserve from us, and I think that we could have been having that debate. It might have been the start of the debate with ideas, but certainly we will have to return to this, but one of the challenges that I find, and I raise it with regard to evidence of the UNCRC, so much time elapses, which actually perhaps as an adult is less important than you are as a child. When indeed, as we heard even in FMQs today, you may well have left high school before a transition is in place for you. We are letting down generation after generation, and that's unfair on them because they are looking to us and expecting more. I realise time is particularly tight this afternoon, Presiding Officer, so I'm going to finish with a great point which will no doubt cause utter controversy across the chamber here, but I think it is worth remembering that the last Labour government reduced by 2 million the children who were growing up in poverty. That's 200,000 children here in Scotland, and we are in a worse position now with all of the offerings from the SNP green government to improve it. We are in a worse position now than we were then, and that disappoints. I'm grateful, Presiding Officer. I want to start with a quote from one of my favourite Nobel Prize winners, the economist Professor James Heckman. Some kids, he said, win the lottery at birth. Far too many don't, and most people have a hard time catching up over the rest of their lives. He went on to say, early investment in the lives of disadvantaged children will help to reduce inequality in both the short and the long run. I don't think that anybody would disagree with that in this chamber today. So there is a common understanding about what we are trying to do, and I accept that some of the work that the Government has done has been positive. I think that the expansion of to the 1140 hours for three and four-year-olds and some two-year-olds is a good thing, and I think that it's made a difference to many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. I would take credit, some credit for the expansion to the disadvantaged. Two-year-olds, which I eventually persuaded Alex Salmond to adopt after considerable and repeated badgering in this Parliament over many, many months. To get the support for those two-year-olds on disadvantaged backgrounds is an important part of raising the life chances for this important group, but it is about odd today that we've got a debate, which is broadly about rhetoric rather than a plan. I like the rhetoric—I could talk about rhetoric all day—but we do need a plan if we're going to have a meaningful discussion about what's next. We've got into some of the detail today. I think that the Government on family nurse partnerships is a good thing. I think that breastfeeding is equally so. I think that the steps on minimum prisen on alcohol, which I think is dealing with some of the points that Ross McCall was talking about—alcohol and drugs—is helpful, but there are big midwife shortages. There are huge CAMHS weights. We've got real problems around the issues that Oliver Mundell was raising with speech and language therapists, but it could have a plan about how we're going to tackle those issues so that we could really examine what's going forward. I want to get some clarity from the minister today on a really important point that he'll not be surprised to hear me say, which is about the PVI sector, because we have had promises for a long time, including from the First Minister during the leadership hustings for his party, that he was going to solve this problem. I welcome the £12 an hour, the living wage increase. I think that that's a good thing, but the minister knows that that's not going to solve the problem on its own. The problem is that experienced staff are leaving the PVI sector because they can earn more elsewhere. That's threatening the quality of the education and care provided by those facilities. We may face in future years some really negative education and care inspectorate reports. We need to deal with the problem now, so we can avoid that in the future. I want to give you an example. I received a report from Cambus Barn Village Nursery near Stirling, who has been recruiting for a new member of staff. They found that starting salary for early years practitioners in the local council was £16.2 an hour. The Government promised to fund £12 per hour starting salaries for the PVI sector, leaving that nursery to fill the gap if they have a hope of getting anybody to work in that post. A third extra that they're expected to cover from God knows where they're going to get the money from, because the money isn't rolling in this sector, and the Government, somehow, is built on a discrimination that means that the nursery worker in Cambus Barn Village Nursery will be expected to provide exactly the same quality service as the worker in the council nursery for all that money less—£4 an hour less. Who's going to do that job? But the Government has built that in by design into its funding of the PVI sector. That's going to change. If we're going to have a hope of getting good quality flexible private nursery, which is a major part of the Government's offer, the Government really needs to solve this problem and, ideally, very soon and in the next budget. Scotland is leading the way in giving children the best start in life. I'm proud to say that this is internationally recognised and evidenced through the groundbreaking baby box, the Scottish child payment and so much more. Across the country, over 250,000 baby boxes have been delivered since the start of the scheme in August 2017. The Scottish Government has delivered at least 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare from August 2021 for all eligible three-and-four-year-olds, saving families £4,900 per year. Children living in poverty can never flourish or have the best start in life. That's why the Scottish Government has invested £1.3 billion in the game-changing Scottish child payment, which has forecasted this financial year to lift 50,000 children out of poverty and 90,000 when combined with other benefits. Currently, at £25 per week, it's been increased by 150 per cent since its inception and is available for all children up to the age of 16 years old. The payment is unique to Scotland and it's one of the most ambitious policy interventions to reduce child poverty in recent history. That's despite the financial challenges emanating from the UK Government's callous cuts and the abhorrent two-child benefit cap, which affects almost 81,000 children across Scotland. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation believes that Scottish child payment is significantly reducing child poverty. In addition to many other measures to promote wellbeing among children and families, the best start grant package has put more money in the pockets of 2,284,495 low-income families in Scotland. We aim to go further on access to funded childcare, which is a game changer for families and for expanding our workforce. It will be expanded from nine months through to the end of primary school in early adopter communities within six councils. Fife and Shetland will join the existing councils of Glasgow, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee. That means that 13,000 additional children stand to benefit by the end of the parliamentary term. As our motion says, the unique and critical period of child development is from pre-pregnancy to age 3 when experiences and the environment shape the foundations for life and the early child development policy recognises that. Childhood development is fascinating and complex. One size never fits all for every child, as each develop at different rates and different ways. However, the one thing that they all have in common is the need for attachment, love and care. Attachment is crucial in the early years for healthy development. I have seen children at first hand who have not been lucky enough to experience that and it often leads to a variety of problems during the course of their lives. Nothing is more important than attachment and a stable loving start in life, and that is why all measures taken by this Government aim to provide that to support families often struggling in the most difficult circumstances, particularly now during a Tory-made cost of living crisis. I am aware that my contribution is highlighting the achievements and aspirations that this Government has introduced to get it right for every child. I am very proud of them. I am sorry if it sounds self-congratulatory, but I think that they are worth us repeating at any opportunity. However, it cannot be overlooked that, over the past six years, the Scottish Government has spent £733 million to mitigate the worst impacts of UK Government policy, such as the bedroom tax and benefit cap, with £127 million being invested this financial year alone. Surely it is plain to see that if we could use that money to promote our well-being policies, reduce poverty, build more schools and create a climate-friendly environment, we must have the power to use our resources, our taxpayers' money to do that, rather than spend it mitigating the UK Government's wrecking policies. The only way to do that is for Scotland to be independent. I welcome the opportunity to speak in today's debate. It is something that is personal to me, having two relatively young daughters and many family and friends who have children in this age bracket. I am always exceptionally grateful to those individuals who have supported my own family, but there is no doubt, having been through the system recently, that it is under great pressure and huge stress. That leads to many people experiencing patchy delivery and poor outcomes. There is a growing sense that our health and social care system is now in a position where it is good at responding to emergencies, but it is not always there to meet the care needs, particularly of mums and their babies. I think that that is something that should make us pretty sad. I have spoken previously in a debate about support to the whole family. I think that we can even get to that point because we are failing at the first hurdle when it comes to that pre-birth and post-birth support. We know that when families get off to a bad start, it makes everything more difficult and can have lasting impacts for children. The wider quality of services and support on offer for mothers and young children, both clinical and in the community, is now something that causes me serious concern. I say that based on my experience in my constituency and listening to colleagues in recent debates right around the country. You cannot fault this Government when it comes to ambitious rhetoric and, again, because I do not aim this at Jenny Minto, I have a great deal of respect for it and believe her to be a very hardworking minister, but we are doing families and young people a disservice if we do not own up to the reality that we often fall a long way short when it comes to delivering a Scotland that is the best country to be born in and grow up in. I do not want to fall into the trap of getting bogged down in some petty debate about the baby box, but equally I think that we have to be grown up enough to say that, although it is nice and, for many people, it is helpful, it does not fundamentally shift the dial for many of our most vulnerable families and, after 16 years, if that is the best thing to get, we need to be asking serious questions. Thanks for taking the intervention. Does the member recognise any good policies that the Scottish Government has brought forward, some of the ones that I have just listed? Do you recognise that they are helping families? I recognise them and I am saying exactly that, but I cannot understand how the member can come here this afternoon and trot off all this political spiel without recognising that we have a national shortage of midwifes, that neonatal services in this country are being cut, that they are struggling to provide the level of service that many dedicated and hardworking staff members would like to offer, that we are seeing parents in my constituency fundraising for key hospital equipment, that families are struggling to access NHS services that are near enough for their home, that they are having to travel for hours in order to access those, struggling to find accommodation, struggling to keep their family together. We have seen promises of flexibility, the point that Willie Rennie makes in relation to childcare, which is a really positive policy, but it means nothing if you cannot actually access it. Those sort of policies get announced here, but they evaporate the minute they leave this chamber when they cannot be delivered on the ground. What about trying to find a dentist for your child, getting them the chance to see a doctor quickly, or the pressure that health visitors are under? The health visitors are great, but if you are looking after more children than you can personally manage and cope with and support, they often find themselves overburdened, stressed, stretched and completely disheartened. They are unable to provide the bespoke support that families who most need that help and intervention are trying to access. Never mind speech and language, mental health services, I do not think that members across this chamber need new evidence to know that those services are in crisis. The Government has the power to do something about that now, and they really should. I welcome the opportunity to discuss our shared ambition for making Scotland the best place in the world to grow up. Before beginning, I want to acknowledge that I understand and believe everyone who is contributing in the chamber to doing so in good faith and with that aim in their hearts and heads. Pre-pregnancy to 3 is a unique and critical period of child development when experience and environment shape foundations for life and health, for future physical and mental health and wellbeing, life expectancy, educational attainment and participation in the economy and community are all impacted by those early experiences. Our understanding of that should ensure our continued commitment and focus in that area. Every child, regardless of their circumstances, should get the best start in life. Now, pre-pregnancy to 3 and the importance of that covers a simply massive range of issues and policies. Today, I would like to focus my remarks on play. I have spoken about this before and I feel that it is a really important area for our children. Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Shrines are right to play and play in meaningful interaction between a child and their parent or carer, at essential for that early mental and social development. Initiatives such as Play Talk Read and the Bookbug programme are intended to facilitate play, learning and connection during a child's early years. There is clear and compelling robust evidence that playtime at school and around the school day is very important. Play is not something that is just nice to have and it is not simply a shame that children don't play outdoors as much as they used to. It is a bit more serious than that. Through playing outdoors, our children can improve their physical health. Children are two and a half times more active when they are outdoors than when they are inside and they sustain physical activity for longer. Another important benefit is to mental health, something that I know that we are all concerned about. I think that we may instinctively know that being outdoors makes us happier. We can think about how we feel when the sun shines on our face. Multiple research studies from around the world have shown that whatever the weather, as long as we are dressed right, children and adults feel less stressed, more relaxed and happier if they have been outdoors. Being outdoors regularly often helps a child to identify safe, quiet space where they can reflect. Being outdoors and away from screens helps children to build positive relationships, to make and sustain friendships and develop the social skills that they will need throughout life. Outdoor play can also improve academic progress. Children need time to assimilate learning. After playtime outdoors, children are more attentive to lessons, more on task and behave better. In a study of more than 2,500 children in Spain, exposure to total surrounding greenness was associated with a 5 per cent increase in progress in working memory, a 6 per cent increase in progress in superior working memory and a 1 per cent reduction in inattentiveness. Importantly, outdoor play also helps children to connect to the places that they live in and to the planet around them. We love only what we know. Playing outdoors for sustained periods of time regularly and often leads to greater care and concern for the environment, and having more green space in urban neighbourhoods in Scotland is linked to lower levels of perceived stress and physiological stress. I ask that Scottish Government include play in their thinking around children and child development, and do what it can to support and increase opportunities for our children to play. The early years are pivotal for children's future development and opportunity. Experiences and the environment at that stage of their life shape the foundations of their future. It is therefore critical that every child in Scotland has the opportunity to thrive. There should be no glass or glass ceiling and we must work tirelessly to smash it in the earliest of years. To do that, we need a laser focus on improving childcare, early education, health and family support that reaches beyond the child and wider into their parents' families and communities in which they live. But recognition of the challenges that hold too many children back is not alone enough. We also have to find and then implement solutions to address them. And the ways in which we can do this have been demonstrated before. In 1997, a Labour Government took office with the objective of giving every child the best start in life. The legacy that it left behind, as Martin Whitfield has highlighted, was one of great success, sadly progress that has since been squandered. In Government, Labour introduced sure start centres because we recognised that parents needed a source of support that was truly wraparound, integrated and connected. We engaged in listening to parents and carers and designed our policies to meet the needs that they identified and on a basis of continuous involvement from them, as well as co-operation from all the sectors that impact on the crucial early years of a child's life. We listened when they told us that they needed better access to support and advice on parents and information about services available in their area and access to specialist targeted services, and we ensured that those sure start centres delivered them. We recognised that alongside that they needed easy access to child and family health services, and we made sure that that was there too. When parents told us that they wanted help to get into training and employment, we made sure that centres had strong links to the job centre plus. We understood that people in the most disadvantaged areas faced greater struggles in accessing appropriate childcare, so we guaranteed provision of childcare in those centres too. This Government's current childcare offer is not delivering for those families. They need more flexible system to work around their life, but because of the approach of the Government, the private and voluntary sector needed to give some of that flexibility a struggling. They must address this if we are to give young people a fighting start in the life that they need. By listening to parents and then putting all of the services that they need in one place, Labour broke down barriers and removed the need to jump through hoops just to get the support needed. In contrast, we know that right now in Scotland education can be disconnected and health and social care is far from integrated. Too many families fall between the cracks. Earlier this week, I met a group of parents representing different backgrounds and circumstances who told me how hard it can be to find the information that they need or to even know what information they are looking for. This, they said, leaves them disengaged, lost and overburdened. That is why the one-stop shop of a sure start centre was so successful. We have to again see children in the wider context of their family and community. They need healthy, happy, empowered parents and carers and both need support of encouraging and inclusive communities. I recently met Govan Help, an organisation that supports people to learn, volunteer, access support and get advice, guidance and counselling all under one roof. They are providing hope and opportunity for people who have been left behind. A Labour Government would support and nourish organisations like that, knowing that, in so doing, we would also be supporting the families who use them too. Yet, in Glasgow, the SNP is still sitting on some tools to do that. 18 months into a four-year pilot, not a penny of the whole family wellbeing fund has been commissioned yet. The success of sure start is one that we should aspire to with any future reform to early years development. Policies with results that saw children get physically healthier and living in more stimulating, less chaotic home environments. That is the sort of success that we have to replicate now. To do it well, as well as ensuring childcare is flexible and services are connected, we have to fully understand the problems that we are trying to solve. We need robust, comprehensive data and empowering parents and carers to tell us what it is like to be them. Neither of those things is happening enough just now. Until we fix that, the goal of giving every child the best start in life will be harder to achieve. I urge the Government to reach out to children and their families, empower them to share their stories and solutions, listen to them and most importantly act on what they hear. Then and only then will we build a system needed for the challenges ahead that will once again spread opportunity for everyone. I am pleased to be taking part in this debate and I am hoping that my previous experience can sort of add to the conversation. I would like to start by acknowledging some of the good stuff and the positive impacts and then I will go on to maybe suggestions that I could make as a critical friend. I would like to pay tribute to the best start grants, the food payments, the baby box and the Scottish child payment, which has inevitably made significant differences and I welcome the expansion in childcare. We know that an investment in early childhood but also around families, prenatal care and that crucial stage of bonding in the early stages of early birth makes a huge difference. In the words of the Dalai Lama, the foundations of our lives are laid in our childhood so it is really important that we get it right. From that point of view, I would like to touch on attachment. We have a motion that is put in front of us that talks about child development but it does not mention anything about attachment theory and we know that that is really important. I want to link that in with staff training for instance. While I welcome the expansion in childcare, what I would like to see is that the early years staff that we have are fully trained in attachment theory and that has a significant impact at the moment because we know that our children have suffered during Covid and that has had an impact on their speech and language. I speak to teachers regularly, I was in a nursery last week and the challenges around that are absolutely immense. If kids can't, I will give way. I'm grateful to the member for bringing this up because I ran out of time. Does she think that the response to that crisis has been sufficient or does she feel that there's more resource needed in speech and language? I'm going to push for an additional response to investment in speech and language. I have to do that. My conscience tells me to ask for that because the knock-on effect of that is communication obviously but also children's ability to self-regulate. We've had a bit of a debate about the impact on children's behaviour so if children are not able to communicate properly and staff are not trained in that, they don't have enough exposure to the right materials to support the whole family, then that will have a knock-on effect on behaviour. It's really important that we invest in speech and language therapy to reduce the levels of stress of children that can't communicate and parents. I know that there's brilliant work that's been done by children first for instance and they have a parent line that parents who are struggling can go and take advantage of. I'll touch a wee bit. I won't go too much into play. I could talk about that but I would echo the remarks made by my colleague Ruth Maguire on the importance especially of outdoor play and I'll give a wee shout out to the investment in our playgrounds which I can see the result of that that's going on. One thing that we haven't talked about is also the impact of adult behaviour on children and I came across the study recently published at the beginning of October on the impact of verbal abuse on children from adults and it was by Professor Peter Fonagay and it discovered that over 40 per cent of children are exposed to verbal aggression or hostility from adults. Half of those get that on a weekly basis and 10 per cent are basically getting screamed and yelled at on a daily basis. So I suppose from that what we know is that children will grow up to actually have increased levels of anxiety and stress that takes us back to the attachment theory which then leads to separation anxiety and we know that that is coming through in our schools. So what can we do about that? What can the Scottish Government do about that? Well one I have suggested investment in our staff training so that it is attachment theory led and they are fully au fait with that, more investment in speech and language, psychological support services and early intervention. So what I'm asking for this programme when we get more flesh on the bones of this is to actually get more detail around that and I know that the Scottish Government will absolutely be able to do that. I'll leave it there. Thank you very much and I call Evelyn Tweed to be followed by Jamie Greene. Thank you Presiding Officer. As the minister has said, experiences and the environment in early childhood shape the foundations for life. The Government has made a number of positive interventions to reduce inequalities at this stage and this is to be welcomed. However, if we are to create a culture, environment, economy and society that prioritises and enhances early childhood development, we must not forget rural areas. Collin, in my constituency, sits at the south-west end of Loch Tay and it has a population of just over 700 and the amenities serve many other communities nearby. Collin nursery was until recently one of the few council nurseries providing care for zero to two-year-olds in the whole of Stirling and this was to be much applauded. However, in March's council budget, this provision was cut by the local administration. There was no prior consultation with the community and families only found out when they were trying to apply. The nearest council nursery is an hour away by car and hard to access by public transport. Private alternatives, as we've heard today, are costly, they can be far away and most are already full. Opportunities for socialisation are key to the healthy development of babies and children and without any baby groups or soft play areas within a reasonable distance, the Collin nursery provides a crucial space for socialisation. Research from Health Scotland has found that children and quality non-parental childcare have better vocabulary and social development by the age of three and with provision being cut, rural children risk being left behind. Without the opportunities, access to childcare afford parents, entire communities will be left behind too. The comprehensive childcare offering in Collin drew in many young families who contribute to the community and several have told me that decisions to start or grow the family were made on the basis of this childcare being made available. I spoke to a constituent who works remotely from Collin and fulfills a vital role as an on-call firefighter. She is now having to face a very difficult decision whether to sacrifice her career or move away from the community in which she grew up. Staffing of other vital services such as the pharmacy has relied on this childcare being available and is at risk without it. The programme for government promises childcare for two-year-olds from next year. If nothing changes, meantime, there may be neither demand nor staff in Collin by then. That decision therefore seems to me extremely short-sighted. Residents are concerned at the impact on numbers in the primary school in years to come. If the primary school closes, families will move away in droves. Rural communities across Scotland see populations ageing faster than urban ones, and they can face issues in recruitment and retaining key workers across many sectors. I very much welcome the Scottish Government's early childhood development programme, but we have to ensure that the needs of rural communities are heard, understood and embedded in policy. With other key services that are under the purview of the council, such as local bus routes, which are also under threat, we must consider how to work closely with local authorities to ensure that children, living and rural areas also get the best out of their needs in life. I call Jamie Greene to be followed by Fulton MacGregor. Can I begin by thanking members for their contribution thus far? It has been a notably reasonably constructive debate, and I think that that is welcome. I want to start with a note of agreement with the Government, because in its original motion, which I appreciate, we have tried to alter somewhat, it says that the Government wants a society where we look forward to a culture, environment and economy that prioritises and enhances early childhood development, and I think that those three key words—early child development—are what will form the basis of my contribution. I absolutely and wholeheartedly support that aim because of the obvious benefits that early intervention will reap further down the line for society. The Government's motion also promises to build on the excellent and world-leading practice that is already delivered, and I do not disagree with some of that. I accept that good work has taken place, but that is perhaps where I am going to diverge from the consensus for my comments. It has been refreshing to hear from the Government's own backbenches some of their own concerns about some of the live issues that they face in their own communities. The problem that we have is that it is very hard often to get the sort of statistical data that we need to have those frank and honest conversations. I know that they are difficult for Governments to have, but they are conversations that we have to have in this Parliament. I have taken to submitting an awful lot of written questions over the last few weeks, for which I apologise to the civil servants up the back, because I have had a bit more free time in my hands, but it has been interesting as to what information you elicit from those types of questions. We should not really have to go that far to get that information. The Government should be more forthcoming with it. One that I got back last week showed a very interesting, quite a dim light, unfortunately, on children's dental care in this country. I want to point that out, because I do not think that people realise how shocking and precarious the situation is. Last year, there were 43,000 letters sent to parents advising them of the state of their children's mouth after inspection at school. One in 10 of those letters were classed as a grade A letter, which alerts the parent to a urgent and immediate need to see a dentist because of either severe decay or an abscess. One in four of those letters were type A or B letters that equally require medical follow-up due to problems of decay. Tooth decay was found to be three times more prevalent in our most deprived communities than our least deprived. I am sure that that is not a surprise, but it is a monumental increase in the amount of decay that we are seeing. Of course, that is not just dentistry. We all know problems that have been well rehearsed about access to CAMHS, about access to other children's services. One of the things that really struck me this year was the frankness of the comments made by Scotland's former Children's Commissioner Bruce Adamson, who I think did a great job whilst in office. I have to say that, in his parting shots to the Government, he really did not hold back. What was reported often when asked by journalists was whether he believed that, over the period of the last First Minister's administration, whether he believed that the lives of children had truly been improved over that period. He replied, and I see that the clock has gone off. I can just keep speaking forever, Presiding Officer. I will carry on, and I will try to keep to time anyway. I assume that we are still broadcasting, but I hope that the Minister pays attention because he said that he felt that there were real failures of constant broken promises that had been made. His main concern was that actions did not always follow words. In other words, the endless cycle of pressure releases and promises and manifesto commitments and programmes for government did not always follow through to fruition. He really did not hold back for those comments. It is really hard to illustrate that without digging deep. When I dig deep, I discovered another statistic last week. I hope that that should horrify every one of us. The number of children aged 5 to 15 years of age who had been hospitalised last year due to intentional self-harm is four times higher today than it was a decade ago. It is world-leading failure. I am afraid that much of the Government's motion misses out many of the statistics that we should be talking about. We do not talk about the number of children temporary housing and accommodation. It is at its highest ever—over 9,500 children in that situation. We do not talk about the levels of breakfast provision in our schools, which is sitting at 40 per cent of schools, not providing it compared to, say, seven in Wales or, I think, 18 in England and 27 in Northern Ireland. We do not talk about the attainment gap properly in terms of its numeracy levels and how that compares to when this Government took office. The Government is learning the hard way that all those policies cost money. Social security accounts for a quarter of all UK public spend. It is an expensive game to play in. Of course, those one-off payments are welcome, but that is not the solution to the long-term problems. No matter what the Government says in its motion today, we need to have more honest and frank conversations such as the one that we are having today. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It is a very full motion that we are debating today from the Scottish Government. I think that it is summed up in the ambition of the Government. One that we all should have is to make Scotland the best place in the world to grow up. In looking at how this SCP-led Government has helped to bring this ambition closer to reality, I have only got four short minutes, which will not nearly be enough, but I will give it a try. A child's early years are fundamental, as we all know, and how they develop and grow. The early years will have a huge influence on the rest of their lives and individuals' health, wellbeing, social economic metrics and even life expectancy—all of a strong correlation with factors in the early years. From the moment a child is born here in Scotland, regardless of the circumstances, they are eligible for a baby box. Since the start of this ambitious scheme six years ago, over a quarter of a million babies have received the box, containing some of the essentials for the early months of their lives, and I think that there has been a pretty full debate on the baby box already. An even more ambitious scheme, which we have already talked about, has been the Scottish child payment. As of June this year, the families of more than 316,000 under-16s were benefiting from the Scottish child payment, and the Scottish Government is investing £1.3 billion, which was forecast to lift 50,000 more children out of poverty in this financial year alone. Those schemes have helped to give some peace of mind to thousands of parents and guardians and children across Scotland who are concerned about the rising cost of living and the effect that this will have on their health and wellbeing. Personally, I know that those policies have a great impact on many families in Cope Ridge in Christ and across Scotland, and we will continue to do so. I also want to speak briefly about nurseries in the early years sector. The roll-out for 1140 hours has been game changing, and I completely support the First Minister's plans to expand this further. On the back of this, some of the local authority nurseries in my constituency, for example, are excellent, including the brand new riverbank community facility in Cope Ridge, which I had the pleasure of visiting very recently. On this issue, I want to mention the vital role of the PVI sector in achieving our current and future ambitions for the early years sector. The minister will know that I have had on-going meetings with nursery owners in my area, and some of them are part of the 2020 Together campaign, and I know that other members have mentioned that. The minister will also know that I have raised their concerns in here before about the current funding model, and I have recently written to her again. I know that the sector is grateful for the minister's on-going engagement on this matter, but it seems clear that the PVI staff are not as well-paid as local authority staff, and that this is leading to it becoming difficult to retain them in these settings. This is just one issue that is coming from the current model. I have only got four minutes today, but I do believe that we must do more to resolve this situation, as we are going to need the PVI sector to realise our full ambitions, so I would encourage the Government to work with all in this sector to try and find a solution. I also fully welcome the Scottish Government's commitment to free school meals, and I know how much that benefits my constituents and people across Scotland. I also welcome the pledge to roll this out to all in primary school, and it cannot happen soon enough. I also support the roll-out to all pupils in Scotland. Free school meals for secondary pupils could again be yet another game-changing policy of the Government, and I would again encourage the Government to find a way to try and make this happen. I want to speak about other issues. For example, I have upstarted the organisation that was recently in the lobby—I think that it was cocav stewart—that was the host of that. One of its main policies is to raise the school starting age, which is something that I again support. I know that the SNP as a party has taken that and debated that at conference, so I would hope to see more movement in that area as well, because I think that it is very important and links in exactly to Ruth Maguire's talk about discussion around outdoor play. I will conclude by saying that Scotland is well on track to be the best country to grow up in. There is even more testament to this Government when you think of those achievements in the context of Brexit and met again some of the cruelest policies of this UK Government that seem designed to keep people in poverty. We all, across this chamber and across Scotland, must work to make our country the best place to grow up, and I hope that that is something that we can all support. I am pleased to be able to close today's debate for Labour. I believe that it is right that we have been taking the time to debate such topics, and we have had some interest in discussion. However, as has been mentioned, it would be helpful to be able to focus more on actual policy and debate those issues in the chamber. This is an important area of cross-portfolio working, so I do believe that we should be having those discussions in the chamber. The Labour benches when talking about poverty often talk about the proud record of delivering on early years. Government, as has been stated by my colleague Pam Duncan-Glancy, Labour Party lifted millions out of poverty, including many children, through the delivery of the innovative and life-changing policies of Sure Start and the national minimum wage. However, I remember from that time, as a lifelong member of the party, that I was always pleased, but I was never satisfied. I always wanted more for those living in poverty, and I think that we must all drive with that ambition. We recognise on those benches that policies such as the Scottish child payment—that was the one that I had picked out, my colleague, the family wellbeing fund that Willie Rennie mentioned, the hours in childcare—have had successes, and we do want to support them. However, it is our role to call out the Government to address and enhance when we think that Governments can go further. I really welcomed the points from the members—Ruth Maguire and Cocab Stewart—in terms of challenging their own front-benches, because that is how we change outcomes for young people in our society. We all recognise and even we have heard it today for an early child development transformational change programme. However, the path to that being successful has to be about driving our ambitions further and further. There are barriers in front of infants and their families that we know of at the moment. We know that, for early childhood development to work and to have the impact, we—that it can be—other services have to operate at a high level. We do hear from professionals, voluntary groups and families that the reality on the ground is not the reality, as the minister described at her opening remarks. Jamie Greene, when he talked about how the previous commissioner spoke, we have to acknowledge that. Acknowledging something is the first way of being able to move it forward. Early stage educational provision must be equally accessible in rural and urban areas and our deprived communities, as easily accessible as in our affluent areas, to make this early development matter and allow skills to continue to develop throughout a young person's life. We have heard that so many times in the chamber today, so we need to all work to that. If I can say that I want to pick up on the member Evelyn Tweed's contribution, councils need to be funded adequately to provide local facilities and hubs that allow development to flourish and create potential. We need a move towards local government funding and how we do that. The idea is strong and it has our support here in this chamber, but the infrastructure is sorely lacking and it is lacking due to decisions that are being made by the Government at the moment. It feels like a lack of ambition or perhaps just an acceptance that we can go on because we've done a bit better or we've done a bit well. We need more. I reiterate that Scottish Labour recognises the value of early childhood development. It is absolutely crucial, as a jig saw, as my colleague said. I believe that the scale of health inequality in Scotland will continue to restrict development until we see radical change. Just this week, a report from the national records of Scotland highlighted that death rates are almost twice as high in the most deprived areas of Scotland compared to the least deprived areas. Research from the health foundation earlier this year found that input mortality has increased in our most deprived areas since 2014. Indeed, we know that in 2021-22 there was an increase in the proportion of children with a developmental concern at all three-year review points. We have a lot of work to do and we need to acknowledge that. The motion rightly highlights the importance of early years, reiterating that it is from pre-pregnancy, as many members have said, up until the age of three. When experiences and the environment shape the foundations for life, I fully agree. With a dire Tory Government in Westminster and the lack of urgency and boldness from the SNP Government, both Governments have fallen short of the mark for children. I want to mention the contribution from Rona Mackay. It has become clear by the day that Scotland is in desperate need of a fresh start. I move away from two failing Governments and it is a change of government in Westminster that will make a true difference to the delivery of child development in Scotland. Please think about what we can do in this Parliament. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Given children the best possible start in life, words we can all get behind regardless of where we sit in this chamber. However, we have heard all this from the Government before. In 2009, a similar programme was launched and it was the early years framework. It also promised to give all children the best possible start in life. That leads on to the point on rhetoric that Willie Rennie mentioned earlier. It is all well and good that the Government launches documents and programmes that intend to improve the lives of children and young people. What are the aims? What will this Government do in addition to the policies that are already in place to make these improvements? How will success be measured? Key questions I am not sure were answered today. If we can reflect on the Government motion, it states—this was a quote that my colleague Jamie Greene picked out earlier on—that it can build on the targeted investments that is already made in support of families pre-birth to three and that joint working can create a culture, environment, economy and society that prioritises and enhances early child development to realise its ambition of creating a more healthy, fair and equal society. Joint working with who? And how will joint working lead to creating a more healthy, fairer and equal society? Detail is everything if this Government wants people to come with them on their early years journey. The minister mentioned Government policies that are already in place. Some good, some well we will leave that for later on. But when will we see the outcomes? Martin Whitfield was spot on when he mentioned data and I am beyond fed up with this Government's lack of data capture, especially across portfolio, and Carol Mocken mentioned that as well during her contribution. Throughout the debate, we have travelled through the stages of raising a child from pregnancy to early years. Policies and ambitions have been mentioned. However, we are, as Oliver Mundell has rightly said, falling at the first hurdle. That was evidence just last week during First Minister's questions when I asked the First Minister about the pregnant then screwed campaign. The First Minister had no answers for parents who have had to reduce their hours or leave the workforce because work in childcare balance is incompatible. He has no answers for the 43 per cent of parents that cannot afford to have any more children. It has already been forecast that the number of births will drop over the next decade and this Government needs to realise that current policies are not working for parents, but against them. I will take Mr Whitfield. I am very grateful to Megan Gallagher for taking my intervention. The question that I asked in that very debate that she is talking about is, does she think that the PVI model in early years actually works? It is a question that I have asked the Government and I have not had a response. However, they are the holders of the information that should know whether economically it is a viable model for going forward. Megan Gallagher? No, it does not work. That was referenced by the pregnant then screwed campaign. I believe and I have got the research in front of me. They cite that it is due to childcare issues that parents are choosing not to have any more children and that they are finding it difficult to manage that work and childcare balance. In fact, if I could just make a little bit of progress. Ruth Maguire? I appreciate Megan Gallagher letting me intervene on her. I do not diminish anything that she is saying there but I wonder if she would share my feeling that employers need to do a bit more to support families with children in their workplace in terms of flexibility. I agree that discussions need to take place surrounding that because it is a whole discussion on early years that we need to have. That is why I go back to the point of detail because a lot of that has not been mentioned today and that is why I think that the Government needs to have more open conversations with the whole of the chamber instead of having debates and not really informing us what they are trying to debate during their Government business. However, moving back to the pregnant then screwed point that I was making in terms of the campaign, Carol Erskine, the head of policy in campaigns mentioned that there is a price on being a parent today and it is brutal. It is truly shocking that almost two-thirds of parents have been forced to reduce their hours or leave the workforce entirely due to the cost and availability of childcare and there is no end in sight. That is not from politicians, that is from parents who are completely fed up that the system is not working for them but working against them and that brings me on to nurseries. Like Willie Rennie, I will raise this issue time and time again until this Government finally gets it and sorts the problems that exist within the 1140-hour policy. When you look at various different issues that were mentioned today around 1140, you can see that there are politicians on the SNP benches that get it, Fulton MacGregor gets it, Evelyn Tweed gets it and I do praise them for their assessment, their honest assessment of childcare issues in their own communities. However, Evelyn Tweed is right that rural communities have been left behind when it comes to nursery provision and they have also been left behind when you look at other issues relating to pregnancy, to bringing up a child and you only need to look at Dr Gray's and Murray's in Caithness General to see how hard it is for rural mums to bring up a family. I realise that time is tight today and I don't have much time left, there was much more that I would have liked to have mentioned today because there was really good conversations Oliver Mundell mentioned speech in therapy languages and how the Government needs to sort those issues out. Jamie Greene rightly mentioned the issues surrounding child dental care, so there are so many more issues that we need to resolve when looking at early years development as a whole, but my goodness, this Government has got a long way to go. Thank you, Ms Gallacher. I now call on the minister to wind up the debate around about eight minutes. I would like to thank my colleague the Minister for Public Health and Women's Health, Jenny Minto, for opening this important debate and the contribution from members on this extremely important topic. While I do not agree with all the points made this afternoon, I really do think that the passion shown in this debate demonstrates the importance that we all place on early child development and getting it right for every child. For members who have not accessed the briefing on the transformational change programme, this can be viewed on the spice section of the internet. In response to Megan Gallacher, the aim of this programme, as set out by Jenny Minto in her opening speech, is to reduce early child development concerns by a quarter by 2030, and that is included in the briefing. In Scotland, we are globally recognised for our work to prioritise early child development and support families. However, I fully recognise the need to do more for our youngest children, and the transformational change programme will do just that. It will strengthen the importance of early child development across Government portfolios. We will work with the services and practitioners to hear what they need and when they need it. We will listen to parents and children and do all that we can to give them the capacity and the agency to have choices and achieve their life goals and aspirations. I am going to try to respond to a lot of points raised by members today, so I will try to get through as many as I can. I want to look at poverty first. We need to continue a relentless focus on reducing child poverty. Many families who are affected by poverty have very young children, and evidence shows that younger parents and single parents are also disproportionately affected. We know that the actions that this Government is taking are making a difference, and I appreciate that that has been raised by members today. I thank the minister for giving way. I try hard to listen to what he said, but, at the start of the debate, we heard about breastfeeding, and there has been a great success here in Scotland that 46 per cent of mothers are breastfeeding. However, when you dig into the statistics and look below the detail, there are twice as many mothers from the most affluent areas of breastfeeding as there are in the most deprived, 63 per cent versus 31. I find it hard to hear those things about deprived communities and deprivation from the Government when we get those statistics covered up in what is presented to us at the start of the debate. I agree with the sentiment. I absolutely agree that we have to increase breastfeeding rates across the board. We are seeing breastfeeding rates increase in areas of low deprivation, and I think that that is something that we are focused on. It is certainly something that I have been focused on. We want to see improvements in that area, and we are working towards that. Sorry, just back in terms of the anti-poverty measures that I was referring to, it is estimated that the Scottish child payment will see an estimated 90,000 fewer children living in poverty this year. The actions that we are taking are making a difference. We are removing the income thresholds from best start foods from February 2024, supporting an additional 20,000 pregnant mothers and children to access healthy food and milk. Our three best start grant payments provide financial support to low-income families at three key transition points in their child's early years. We are doing all that we can with our limited powers to lift people out of poverty. As I say, I am pleased to hear the recognition of that from some contributions this afternoon. Can I ask the minister if she thinks that her Government will hit the child poverty targets? I am very confident that we are doing everything that we can in Scotland. However, this is not helped by decisions that are taken by the UK Government. We have seen austerity, inflation and that adequate benefit system. As I say, I am confident that we are doing everything that we can in this Government. However, I lack confidence in terms of the UK Government. Moving now to infant mental health and perinatal mental health, we recognise the importance of good infant mental health and the impact of poor parental mental health on early child development. Since 2019, we have overseen a significant programme of change to support the mental health needs of parents, infants and families across Scotland. However, I do appreciate the concerns that have been raised around CAMHS, and while I appreciate what we still have work to do, I want to highlight that the last five quarters we have seen each of the five highest figures on record for the number of children starting treatment. We are moving in the right direction, we are seeing better performance and we will continue to consider how we can improve that further. In relation to Ruth Maguire's contribution around play, I have really, really appreciated that, and we will continue to promote the importance of play in supporting early child development, both physically, socially and cognitively. We have continued to support national initiatives, such as Play Talk, Read and Bookbug, which are supporting thousands of our youngest children up and down Scotland with books and low-cost activities. Through both my work in government and my personal connections, because most of you know that I have two young children at home too, I hear the difference that this is making and how appreciated this is by families and parents across Scotland. Our investment of £60 million to renew play parks across Scotland will make play more accessible in our communities, providing families, grandparents, carers and friends a space to spend precious time together. I want to assure members that I will continue to promote and push the importance of play for children as a way to support positive mental health, a healthy lifestyle to build positive relationships and lay the foundation for future years' growth and development. I have been on a number of visits recently, seeing first-hand how nurseries and schools are embedding play and importantly outdoor play within their settings. I think that what is important too, and it encompasses much of the efforts that I have just laid out, is the need to support both the child and the family, promoting bonding in relationships as a key factor in improving child development, supporting parents and carers to build strong relationships with their children and giving them those opportunities to do so. Turning to early learning, which has been raised by a number of members across the chamber, I recognise the issues wholeheartedly that have been raised by Willie Rennie, Fulton MacGregor, Oliver Mundell—sorry, it was raised by several of you. I am actively engaging and working to support our hugely valued PVI sector. Now, as a critical first step towards addressing the recruitment and retention issues facing the sector, we are funding £12 per hour to ELC professionals working in the PVI sector. I am sorry, but I really need to make progress. I know we need to do more. The Scottish Government and COSLA have undertaken a review of the sustainable rates paid to providers to deliver funded ELC. I am considering its findings carefully when it reports later this year. I want to do everything that I can that it takes to support this sector, because they are absolutely fundamental both to our current offer and to our further expansion. On that point to my question, do you believe that the PVI model is financially viable at this moment? Minister, I will give time back. I believe that there is work to do. As I say, I am positive that the actions that will be taken as a result of the rates review will help to support the sector more. However, there is positivity in our three- and four-year-old offer. Our three- and four-year-old offer is universal and has a 99 per cent take-up rate. The programme for government, as has been noted, goes even further than that, because we know that parenting support and enriched early learning opportunities will improve outcomes for children and families. I am running out of time, but I will try my best to get through those issues. I know that members raised issues around health visiting, and I would like to point out that we have invested more than £40 million over the past few years to increase our health visits for workforce by more than £500 million. We have more health visitors than ever before. Another matter that was raised was around speech and language waiting times, and I want to assure members that we continue to work with speech and language therapists across Scotland to try to understand the increased weights. Work is under way to improve the early speech and language development of children prior to starting school. For example, we have appointed seven regional speech and language therapy leads, and we will develop an action plan in order that young children in Scotland will experience language and communication nurturing in environments. The Parliament does not yet have the full powers over many areas that impact on child development. Westminster's strategy policies continue to limit public spending. UK Government welfare policies such as the two-child cap are pushing children and families into poverty, but we are taking action where we can, and we are still determined to go further. Indeed, we are determined to do everything that we can within the context of the powers that we have available to us. If we want to make the difference in the lives of those who need it most, we must all work together and remove barriers, challenge existing beliefs and assumptions, and listen to the voices of families and communities on how our precious resources can and should be used to make sure that every child grows up loved, safe and respected. I note that we have only got six Conservative members on the benches here. In other words, 80 per cent of them are not present at decision time. Do you share my dismay that this is showing disrespect for this Parliament? That is not a point of order, Ms Grahame, and I can confirm that members will be aware that remote participation is a facility that is available to all members. The debate on early childhood development transformational change programme has concluded and it is now time to move on to the next item of business. That is consideration of motion 11054 in the name of Shirley-Anne Somerville on appointments of the chair and commissioners of the Poverty and Inequality Commission. I call on Shirley-Anne Somerville to move the motion. The question on this motion will be put at decision time. I am minded to accept a motion without notice under rule 11.2.4 of standing orders that decision time be brought forward to now, and I invite the minister for parliamentary business to move the motion. The question is that decision time be brought forward to now. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. I note that Martin Whitfield did not move his published amendment this afternoon. Therefore, there are three questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first is that amendment 11053.2 in the name of Ross McCall, which seeks to amend motion 11053 in the name of Jenny Minto on early childhood development transformational change programme, be agreed. Are we all agreed? The Parliament is not agreed. Therefore, we will move to vote and there will be a short suspension until our members to access the digital voting system. The question is that amendment 11053.2 in the name of Ross McCall, which seeks to amend motion 11053 in the name of Jenny Minto on early childhood development transformational change programme, be agreed, and members should cast their votes now. The vote is closed. I call Fiona Hyslop for a point of order. I couldn't connect. I would have voted no. The result of the vote on amendment 11053.2 in the name of Ross McCall is, yes, 30, no, 86, there were no abstentions, the amendment is therefore not agreed. The next question is that motion 11053 in the name of Jenny Minto on early childhood development transformational change programme, be agreed. Are we all agreed? Thank you. The Parliament is not agreed. Therefore, we will move to a vote and members should cast their votes now. The vote is closed. The result of the vote on motion 11053 in the name of Jenny Minto is, yes, 63, no, 51, there were no abstentions, the motion is therefore agreed. And the final question is that motion 11054 in the name of Shirley-Anne Somerville on appointments of the chair and commissioners if the poverty and inequality commission be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are therefore the motion is agreed. That concludes decision time and I close this meeting.