 The next item of business today is the member's business debate on motion number 12898, in the name of Bob Doris, on celebrating the work of Home Start in North Glasgow and across Scotland. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put, and I'd be grateful if those members who wished to speak in the debate could press the request to speak buttons now. Could I also ask people leaving the gallery to do so quietly please? This Parliament is still in session. I thank my parliamentary colleagues across the chamber who have signed my motion, which highlights the excellent work of Home Start across Scotland and, of course, the work of Home Start Glasgow and North in particular. I welcome to the Parliament this afternoon representatives of Home Start, including many of the volunteers and staff who work with the families who have benefited from the support offered from the team at Home Start Glasgow North. It is inspirational to see the drive and the commitment that exists among everyone involved with the organisation. I pay tribute also to the work of Nicola Hara and Frances Goldman in helping to create such a nurturing and supportive environment at Home Start Glasgow North for staff, volunteers and families alike. I hope that members will be able to join our visitors to Parliament for informal gathering directly after the debate. In the last year, Home Start Glasgow North helped 108 families, providing volunteer-led support for many families in communities such as Maryhill, Possil Park and right across the north of the city. That is a 63 per cent increase in families supported in just one year. Unpleased increased funding has allowed Home Start to recruit and to train more staff and volunteers to support my vulnerable constituents. It is worth noting, though, that, despite increased funds, Home Start still has a significant waiting list for vulnerable families requiring assistance. I will say maybe just a little bit more about funding towards the end of my speech. One of the strengths of Home Start is that volunteers are not viewed as a statutory service and, as a result, often find it easier to build up trust and friendship with families. However, they receive referrals from statutory services, including health visitors, social work and the One Glasgow joint support teams. Such referrals are increasing, as are self-referos to the service. Families referred to have a number of challenges in the last year—36 per cent—of children-faced behavioural challenges, 34 per cent had developmental issues and other challenges included a number of physical and mental health issues being experienced. However, the most compelling fact is that 67 per cent of families felt socially isolated. We know that all those challenges put children's wellbeing at risk. For example, the Scottish Government's growing up in Scotland report states that, by age four, children who experienced prolonged repeated exposure to a mother with mental health problems were particularly likely to have poor behavioural, emotional and social outcomes. I believe that every single MSP in this chamber, we all have a mental health that needs nurtured just as we do our physical health. We are not in ourselves any more resilient to mental health issues than anyone else in society. It is the impact of poverty and deprivation for many of the families and communities that I represent that cause such significant health inequalities that I refer to. It is such poverty and deprivation that leads to that 67 per cent social isolation figure that I referred to earlier. However, this is a positive debate because Home Start Glasgow North helps fantastic families to develop that resilience. An important aspect of this is the volunteer home visiting service that offers practical and emotional support to struggling families. That is crucial. By doing so, Home Start respects each family's dignity and identity and can respond to individual needs. It is about giving families choice and matching the right volunteer with the right family, building trust, lending a listening ear and being non-judgmental at their core to offering that vital support. Working together builds confidence, strengthens relationships and having fun actually and all for the ultimate benefit of the children. Likewise, the family support group helps to support families' growing confidence and to overcome the social isolation that I have mentioned. Caroline, her family support group worker, organises a variety of fun-filled programmes that can include baby massage, dental healthcare, baking and even learning traditional Scottish lullabies and perhaps we will get some of that later on in the reception after this afternoon's debates. I am pleased that Home Start is also coordinating peer support during the perinatal period from pregnancy to the age of one. That is vital, and it is vital for women in particular with poor perinatal mental health. Home Start is also responding specifically to the needs of the local community and has developed, among other things, projects such as singing and grow music therapy courses that are important to boost children's parent-child attachment development. Working alongside education services, for example, with home worker clubs for kinship carers, and moving forward with an organisation, I commend, yes— Johann Lamont I thank you for taking intervention and regret that I am unable to stay for the whole of the debate, but I am sure that Bob Doris would acknowledge the work that is done by Home Start in the south of the city and far beyond that. I wonder what it is that we can do in this carers week to recognise the importance of that work but that also that work is under very profound financial pressures. How do we, across the Parliament, restore the valuing of the voluntary sector and the people who are so committed to making a difference to young people's lives? Bob Doris I am very aware of the good work that Home Start does in Glasgow south. I know some of my colleagues who are specifically raising that in this debate. I will be specifically talking about financial pressures towards the end of my speech. I hope that you will be able to stay for that, and you will hear my answer to that in relation to carers. Of course, I would say that the carers building through the Scottish Parliament offers one route to improve the situation for many families. I have spoken to the Home Start team in Glasgow north. I know that the support offered can be rewarding for staff and volunteers, as it is for the families that benefit from the services. I now want to come on and talk a little bit about funding, because Home Start Glasgow north is one of only two Home Starts in Scotland with no statutory core funding. It continues to depend on lottery funding, as well as funding from organisations such as the Robertson Trust and Lloyds TSB. I am pleased that the Scottish Government has supported Home Start Glasgow north through the early years change fund. I also, based on what I am now about to go on and say, recognise the financial challenges within the public sector. However, Glasgow city council currently does not allow organisations such as Home Start Glasgow north to bid for funding from their integrated grants fund, and that is just plain wrong. When the next round of funding opens in 2017 for the IGF, I hope that whoever is running Glasgow city council will remove that unfair barrier. Given that Home Start Glasgow north achieved 97 per cent in its recent quality assurance review, confirming its high standards throughout their working practices, surely that barrier should be lifted. However, today is about the staff and the volunteers at Home Start Glasgow north and across Scotland, of course, and I look forward to joining the Home Start Glasgow north team to celebrate their 15th birthday next year, and I thank them for all that they do, staff and volunteers alike, to meet the communities that I represent a better place to live in for our children, a better place to grow up in closing, Presiding Officer. Can I pay tribute to all the successes over the years? I know that Home Start Glasgow north will go from strength to strength in the years ahead, and I look forward to helping to support staff, volunteers and families on that journey. Many thanks. Due to the number of members who wish to speak in this debate, I am minded to accept a motion from Bob Doris under rule 8.14.3, that the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes, Mr Doris. Formally moves. Thank you. Is Parliament agreed? We are. Even at that, the debate will be quite tight, and I ask members to keep to the four minutes, if possible, please. Patricia Ferguson, to be followed by James Dornan. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Before I begin, may I apologise to you and to the chamber that I won't be able to stay for the entire debate, as I have visitors from my constituency here today? May I also apologise to any Home Start, rather staff, clients or volunteers from my constituency that, for the same reason, I don't think that I'll be able to join them for the reception that I now understand will follow this debate? That I won't have the opportunity to speak with folk from my constituency is a real disappointment to me, so I will today make arrangements to do so in the constituency in the very near future. Today's world can be frightening and it can appear hostile, as everyone seems to go 100 miles an hour, and there are so many challenges to be faced in everyday life, how to find a job or how to keep it, how to navigate your way through an increasingly complex and often unfair benefits system, the challenge of ill health, or if not having a house that fits your family's needs. The list is endless, and the pressure and the feeling of isolation too often takes its toll on families. Sometimes the opportunity to talk through those problems and to have someone who won't judge you but who can offer some support or suggest another way of looking at things can make a real difference to families, and that's where Home Start comes in. I say that's where Home Start comes in, but, of course, a Home Start volunteer doesn't just appear. All of Home Start's volunteers are trained and carefully matched with individual families, and that relationship is at the end of the day based on choice. So, too, is the support Home Start offers, whether it's working in family groups, as we've heard, or supporting families on an individual basis. Home Start tries to ensure that the approach that it takes is one that is right for that particular family. Over the years, I've spoken to families right across Mary Helen Springburn, who have worked with Home Start. They have unfailingly praised the organisation and have talked, often movingly, about the difference that Home Start has made to their family. The one word that has always come up, a small but important word, is quite simply fun, because every single person that our family group has spoken to has suggested that being part of a Home Start is actually a very fun experience for them. That, to me, is important, because to my mind a family that can laugh together and enjoy one another's company will find it much easier to weather the storms that blow us all off course from time to time. Last week was Volunteers Week, and I wanted today to pay a special tribute to the Home Start volunteers. They are well trained and supported by the organisation's staff, but even so it isn't always easy to make the right connection with a family or to support them to establish their own priorities. That is what Home Start volunteers do day in and day out, and they do so with great integrity and respect, and they deserve our grateful thanks for that. I hadn't planned to talk about funding in this particular debate, because I wanted to talk more about Home Start as an organisation. My understanding, and I may be wrong, is that Home Start wants to be considered for integrated grant funding that the local authority provides, but that the local authority has made a decision that it will award that money on a three-year rolling programme. I can understand that Home Start might see that as a route to funding being closed to them, but I sincerely hope that by working with the elected members that the issue might be resolved at least for future funding rounds. As I said, I am glad that we agree on future funding opportunities, but I understand that the current entity grants fund is a closed fund. Only those who already had cash were allowed to apply for that current fund, and that is the current guidelines, but I welcome your support to change Glasgow City Council regulations on that. That is obviously a matter for Glasgow City Council, and Home Start has to engage with them about that. Given that we have all, at many times, over the years in this chamber, suggested that there needs to be more stable funding and more guaranteed funding for voluntary organisations going forward, I think that we have to allow the local authority to look at this and to work with the organisations in its area to come up with the best possible opportunity. However, as I said earlier, I would hope that by working with the elected members that the issue might be resolved at least for future funding rounds. I am certainly happy to play my part in trying to make that happen. I would say that there was one slightly discordant note in the motion that I perhaps do not agree with. I say that slightly with my tongue and my cheek. That is that it ends by saying that it hopes that Home Start is successful in its aim to continue to bring about positive social change in Scotland's communities. I am slightly more optimistic than that. I am absolutely sure that Home Start will be successful and will continue to be successful in its aim of continuing to bring about positive social change in Scotland's communities. They have been doing so for nearly 15 years, and I see no reason why that is going to change. Thank you. I like to remember to run over slightly because of the intervention. I now call James Dornan to be followed by Liz Smith, but we would appreciate four minute speeches, please. I would like to start off by thanking my colleague Bob Doris for bringing this debate to the chamber. I also extend my welcome to those from Home Start who have travelled from across the country to hear this debate, including Gillian Leslie, who is a development manager at Home Start Glasgow South. I hope that she manages to get here. I intend to go on to wax lyrically about Glasgow South. Parenting is not always easy. Sometimes it feels like it is the hardest thing in the world to do, and the one-size-fits-all approach to it just does not work. That is where Home Start comes in. They are there to help those folks not only with the issues that always cause stress and anxiety for parents and children such as illness, disability, bereavement and loneliness, but for other, more individual problems that many parents face. That can range from helping teenage mothers with access to education, single fathers with access to rights, to helping people affected by poverty, abuse, violence or social isolation, whom we also need additional support to help to give their children the best start in life. 258 families with 550 children are supported by Home Start in Glasgow South. The most crucial part of their work is the work that they do, supporting those vulnerable families in their homes. Volunteers with parenting experience visit once a week to offer emotional and practical support in a way that is informal, confidential and, crucially, as has already been said, non-judgmental. That non-judgmental part has come across time and time again as being one of the utmost importance when I've met people who have been helped by the service. A crucial aspect of this work is that the person who is determined to support is also generally a parent or had parenting experience themselves. That qualification is needed when you are to be considered as a Home Start volunteer. It's a cornerstone of their work because it means that you're sharing your fears with people who also get how tough and rewarding being a parent can be. The insecurities around trying to do the best for your children and feeling that you're failing is a feeling that I'm sure all parents can relate to. The Glasgow South branch is the biggest in Scotland and I was delighted that the Minister for Children and Young People accepted my invitation earlier this year to come and see firsthand the work that they are doing with a great complement of dedicated committed staff and volunteers led by the brilliant passionate manager Collette Boyle. At that visit the minister met some of the volunteers and parents who have been helped by the service. Like the other 32 home starts across the country, Home Start Glasgow South is an autonomous body with its own charitable status. However, it still has the same central tenant as other home starts across the country, which children need a safe and happy environment in which to grow and develop. The minister heard for herself the case of a young woman who felt that the service enabled her to recognise the situation she found herself in, where she'd lost control of her children, where she was concerned that she was going to end up going the same way as other members of her extended family have gone and not be able to create that future for her children that she so desired. This was not one of her own making, but of circumstances outside her control and thanks to the help of Home Start she began to realise that. Since interacting with Home Start, this young, incredibly impressive young woman now finds herself in control of her own circumstances, her children and her future. She began volunteering with Home Start and is now in regular employment. This is the reality of what Home Start can do. By their support they can help their clients to improve their immediate situation but, probably more important, help them to build their confidence to take control of their own lives, benefiting both themselves and their families. Presiding Officer, I have great delight in commending the work of Home Start across Glasgow, across Scotland, but particularly in Glasgow South to the chamber. They are a great organisation supporting many people across Glasgow South to ensure that they give their children the best start in life. I wish them every success in the future and all those who work, volunteer and benefit through Home Start across the country. I now call Liz Smith to be followed by Cara Helton. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I begin by saying thank you to Bob Dorris for bringing what I think is a very important motion to the chamber and also to thank all those who do such fantastic work with Home Start in my constituency Mid Scotland and Fife. I am well aware of the extremely high regard in which they are held. As the motion rightly points out, Home Start supports some 2,000 families and 4,000 young children across Scotland with a team of around 1,000 volunteers. Across the UK, Home Start is operating in something like 300 different towns, cities and rural communities now, including, obviously, in my own patch, the city of Perth, which Home Start was formed in 1984. It is now supporting around 150 families a year. One of the most successful aspects of the Home Start is the focus on the wellbeing of parents and, obviously, of their families. I think that Patricia Ferguson in her contribution is no longer here, but I think that she made an important point about the specialisms of the training that go with that individual development. I think that that naturally fosters a feeling of self-confidence and helps them to take full advantage of the splendid support that is on offer from the volunteers. Obviously, that support has to come from a very wide, different variety of forms, because it has to reflect very difficult circumstances that many have invaded. A lot of them can be very long-term, and that can include loneliness and isolation. It can include mental health issues, low self-esteem and poor physical health, in some occasions domestic abuse. The incredible work that is carried out by the volunteers who are striving to tackle those issues has to be taken in collaboration with local authorities and health boards. However, the point about it being personalised and decentralised is extremely important, because that autonomy really matters to the character of the whole programme. I totally accept the points that Bob Dorris raised when he mentioned the financing of that, because I think that that has implications if you are going to deliver that at local level. I think that that has implications. I think that the very strong, good news is that the concrete evidence that can be provided by Homestart over recent years is really outstanding. I think that the University of Glamorgan, if I am not mistaken, conducted quite a lot of this analytical piece, and it really is showing a huge increase in the number of families who are supported who can help themselves now. I think that they put that at 2013. I think that they said that there was a jump from 29 per cent up to 45 per cent, and I think that that is no mean feat in difficult circumstances. As members of Parliament, we always have to remember that there are real lives here, and there are real constituents who not only need the help of the splendid volunteers, but they need our help and support as well. I know that you are tight on time, so I will finish there, but I thank Bob Dorris for bringing what is a very important motion to the Parliament and to say thank you on behalf of constituents across Midscotland and Fife for the extraordinary work that is carried out. I now call Cara Hilton to be followed by Graeme Dey. Can I begin by congratulating Bob Dorris on securing today's debate, celebrating the fantastic work of Homestart? It is also great to see so many representatives from Homestart in the gallery, especially on a day like today when it might be more tempting to sit in the park and eat an ice cream. I would like to pay a particular mention to Brian McRan and Sheila Leal, who is a board of trustees from Dumfremont Homestart, and also to scheme manager Kirsty Richardson, who cannot be here today, but is doing a brilliant job for Dumfremont Homestart and for local families and volunteers. Over the past year, Homestart has supported 96 families, including 190 children in Dumfremont and South West Fife, either through one-to-one volunteer home visiting, their weekly family group or a combination of both, helping families with one or more children under the age of five and supporting them to achieve happy home environments where both parents and children can thrive, providing early intervention to prevent families from reaching crisis points and overcoming some of the real challenges that every mum and dad can face, opening up opportunities to develop support networks and friendships at a time when many can feel isolated, opening up access to gym membership and swimming lessons that could have been out of reach thanks to a partnership with Fife Leisure Trust, helping mums and dads to get out of the house with day trips and outings, arts and crafts, structured play sessions such as messy play and book bug, information sessions ranging from budgeting skills to jewellery making, and like other colleagues have said, basically about having fun. On top of that, Dumfremont Homestart has developed new initiatives this year such as group and one-to-one infant massage classes and are working in partnership with other local agencies to deliver evidence-based parenting programmes to vulnerable families such as Mellow Parenting. In Fife, the council has embraced a radical agenda to transform early years and to end the cycle of disadvantage that too many children are caught up in. In Homestart, locally, I have played a full role here as a partnership in the south-west family nurture hub, which delivers intensive family support services to local families in my constituency with children aged not to three and also to vulnerable mums during pregnancy. It would be impossible to celebrate the tremendous role that Homestart plays in our communities without celebrating the contribution of each and every volunteer. In Homestart, Dumfremont rightly recognises that the 37 volunteers working across south-west Fife to support local families are the organisation's most important assets. I know that every volunteer is carefully matched to the families that they support, and this is obviously absolutely vital in ensuring positive outcomes for those families. It is not just a case of volunteers being dropped in at the deep end. Every volunteer is fully supported to build their own skills and confidence too, and I know that from speaking to some of the local volunteers that they experience again from working with Homestart is invaluable and rewarding. In Dumfremont and right across Scotland, Homestart volunteers are doing an absolutely brilliant job in supporting mums and dads and improving the lives of vulnerable children and making a real difference to our local communities. However, the work of Homestart volunteers needs to be backed up by political change at local and national level 2 to improve children's life chances and transform their lives. Last November, I attended the launch of Homestart Scottish Manifesto All Our Children. The manifesto has three key aims—that all our children should grow up with safe places to live and play, support when the parents suffer from a mental illness and protection from hunger and poor nutrition. Those are basic needs, yet right now, those needs are not being met, meaning that children are missing out on the support that they need and deserve, impacting on their life chances both now and in the future. Too many families right across Scotland are struggling day to day, week to week. The strains and the stresses, whether due to poor housing, financial problems, benefit sanctions, mental health or addiction issues, often mean that children are missing out on the support, stability and the nurture that they need to thrive. In conclusion, we all want Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up. All children, wherever they are and whatever their backgrounds, have the right to the best possible start in life. I think that the proposals for action in Homestart's manifesto would be a good starting point, and I would encourage the minister to pay close attention to them. Homestart is calling on all political parties to put children's lives at the heart of policy making, and I hope that across the chamber we can work together to make sure that that happens and to ensure that every family really does have the support that they need, every child really does have the best possible start. I wish Homestart every future success, and I am confident that they will go from strength to strength in supporting families in Dumfremont Fife and right across Scotland. Many thanks. I now call Graeme Dey to be followed by Liam McArthur. Thank you. I begin by thanking Bob Doris for bringing this motion to the chamber for debate. Firstly, because there is a farce Parliament a chance to recognise the achievements of Homestart across Scotland, and secondly because it allows me to know that the very positive work going on in my constituency, and as members are well aware, that is not an opportunity that I would ever let pass. Those of us who are parents know that raising a child cannot, at times, be as challenging as it is hugely rewarding. There is no manual for being a parent. Most of us base our approach to bringing up our children on what we experienced as youngsters ourselves, and if we are lucky, we will have the parents who reared us to turn to for practical help and advice, but not everyone is that fortunate. That is where Homestart can come in, supporting young parents as they learn to cope, furnishing them with the knowledge and confidence to provide appropriate parenting for their kids. Of course, it is not just the children who benefit. Homestart's 2014 social impact report tells us that 95 per cent of families supported felt their children's emotional and physical health and wellbeing had improved, and 94 per cent of parents said that their own emotional health had improved. Similarly, high percentages felt more involved in their children's development and better able to manage their children's behaviour, so we have the parents feeling empowered as well. Since Homestart began operating in Angus in 1994, it has helped over 1,100 young families, with over 260 volunteers giving up some of their free time to ensure that the service can be delivered. Those assisted have been parents who are feeling isolated, parents suffering from poor mental health, parents lacking the confidence to cope with the behaviour of their children. In mirroring the picture nationally, we have seen an extremely positive evaluation from those who are benefiting from the work of the organisation. A survey of 35 families in Angus who ended their interactions with the service during the period April 2014-15 found that 94 per cent felt less isolated, and it made links with other parents and or services. 96 per cent reported that their emotional health had improved, 96 per cent felt more confident in their parenting and had successfully implemented more positive parenting techniques. At the beginning of the year of this year, my colleague Mike Weir MP and I visited Homestart's premises, which is located just 100 yards from my constituency office in Abroad. We were pleased to show our support for the organisation and to congratulate the team on securing a grant of £300,000 from Big Lottery Fund for their five-year bumps and beyond project. The project offers parents to be and new parents the opportunity to make a Homestart volunteer who understands the pressures of family life. Homestart volunteers visit young families regularly in their own homes for pre-birth of new parents. That means that they can access health with practical preparations for having a new baby, such as getting to appointments, as well as having someone they can trust to talk to and share the experiences with. The Big Lottery Fund was a major boost for the work of Homestart locally and provided a much-needed degree of financial security. The importance of landing that funding has since become all the more obvious with the news that the financing associated with the 2015-16 service level agreement with Angus Council has been cut by 5 per cent. The organisation has been advised that this is the first of three years of cuts in that funding. That, of course, is the economic reality for many third sector organisations across the UK and let us recognise that councils have tough budgetary choices to make. However, I do hope that Homestart's work can continue to be undiminished because there is no sign of the demand for the services that they offer, reducing. Homestart, in my opinion, has a key role to play in helping to ensure that families requiring fairly basic support can access that. Of course, by addressing any challenges that parents may face early on or even better preventatively, we hope to avoid far more serious issues arising further down the tracks. I conclude by again congratulating my colleague Bob Doris for allowing us to highlight the work done by Homestart in our communities and acknowledge its importance. Many thanks, and I now call Liam McArthur to be followed by Malcolm Chisholm. Thank you very much, everybody. I am certain that, like Patricia Ferguson, I offer my apologies that I may have to leave shortly before the end of the debate. I have a meeting with Orkney's two MSYPs, Jack Nuckwaith and Thoffan Moffatt, where I am pleased to say that I have joined Homestart staff and volunteers in the public gallery this afternoon. I warmly congratulate Bob Doris on securing this important debate, as his motion fairly highlights the enormous but often unsung successes of Homestart in communities across Scotland and the wider UK. 2,000 families helped 4,000 children given the support that they need. Those numbers in absolute terms may not sound particularly high in the context of Scotland as a whole, but we should not lose sight of the vulnerability of those who benefit from input by Homestart workers and volunteers. Those interventions can and do have a profound effect in changing lives. Building is the motion that suggests resilience and confidence and bringing about positive social change. By way of illustration, like Cara Hylton, I remember attending the event in this Parliament not so long ago, aimed at highlighting and celebrating the excellent work of Homestart around the country. A number of speakers addressed the meeting that evening, but without a doubt, the stand-out performers were two Homestart volunteers from I think the Allawa area. Both, for different reasons, had previously been recipients of Homestart support. Both talked candidly about the problems that they had experienced and the desperation, isolation and helplessness that they felt by the time they came into contact with Homestart. Both provided the most eloquent testimony possible of the transformative effect that Homestart support can deliver. It was wonderful to see those two remarkable women having the confidence to share their experience with a group of largely strangers, albeit friendly ones, in this Parliament. More wonderful still was hearing how they are both now volunteering with Homestart, providing to others the kind of support that enabled them to rebuild their lives and thereby offering the hope and confidence about what the future holds. It really was a very moving and memorable occasion when I felt privileged to be a part of. As colleagues may be aware, I lodged my own motion in support of the work of Homestart earlier this year. The reason for lodging that motion back in January was to acknowledge and welcome over £285,000 of big lottery funding for Homestart in Orkney. One of the great strengths, as Liz Smith indicated earlier, of Homestart is the way it tailored its provision to suit local circumstances. In Orkney, self-evidently, those local circumstances include pressure to deliver support to those who need it across a number of smaller islands. Thankfully, the big lottery funding is enabling that now to take place. A new co-ordinator for the Isles has been appointed and volunteers are being actively sought with a view to expanding the network to help develop parenting skills, build more positive family relationships and provide in communities not currently benefiting the sort of invaluable input that is Homestart's trademark. That really is good news, as families in the remote parts of my constituency often face additional challenges, notably in terms of isolation and financial costs, and that's why it's great to see Homestart expanding its reach beyond the mainland of Orkney out to the smaller islands. As with other parts of the country, demand for Homestart services has been on the increase in Orkney even before the latest expansion of the service. Since 2010, volunteer hours have almost trebled, and the number of families struggling to cope with mental ill health, abusive relationships and financial difficulties, as well as social isolation, is clearly on the rise. I am grateful that Erika Copland and her colleagues at Homestart are showing their determination to meet that challenge, although the prospect of what may happen should the UK Government press ahead with further welfare cuts is causing understandable anxiety. Therefore, I encourage both the Scottish and UK Governments to heed the calls from Homestart for continued investment in support for families and children in the early years. Meantime, I congratulate Bob Doris again and thank all those involved in Homestart Orkney and across the country for the wonderful and very necessary work that they do on our behalf. I now call Malcolm Chisholm to be followed by Alex Ferguson. I congratulate Bob Doris on bringing forward this motion and also welcome all the representatives from different Homestart groups across Scotland who are in the gallery, particularly the wonderful staff of the wonderful Leith and North East Edinburgh. Homestart, I was very pleased to open their relatively new office on Leith Walk four years ago, but in fact they have been active in Leith for all of 30 years. They received 90 per cent of their funding from the council, and of course they are grateful for that. However, as with other groups, there are concerns about future funding being continued, so I hope that the council will maintain its commitment to the wonderful work of the group. It is one of several great children's organisations in my constituency, and I can mention two in particular that work with Leith Homestart. Dr Bell's family centre in Leith and also a multicultural family base in Leith. Of course, I paid tribute to the staff, but we also need, as we are all doing today, to pay tribute to the volunteers. I think that there was about 50 volunteers involved with the Leith group over last year. I spoke to one volunteer, who I know in fact quite recently, and she was praising the wonderful training that they get before ever they do engage with families. I met another volunteer recently as well, who had extra training apart from the routine extra training as part of the parents early education programme, and that volunteer participated in the twin babies group. That was a time-limited group, but other activities, of course, are on-going. There are regular parent and children's groups, social events and, of course, their central feature of their work as a volunteer working with a family, and other speakers have referred to that. What that means is tailored personalised support to families in their own homes. We could regard that as a significant part of the preventative spend agenda that we all praise so often in this Parliament, but we need to promote examples of that. The families that they are working with may be in diverse circumstances. Isolation, I think, was referred to by one of the previous speakers, bereavement, multiple births, illness, disability or just finding parenting a struggle. In each case, the volunteers are responding to individual needs, respecting each family's dignity and identity. As a result, we can hear from the different groups that parents are becoming more confident and developing stronger parent-child relationships to quote just one parent. Thanks to you, I feel that there is always someone who cares, who believes that this difficult time with PATH and who helps to get through it. Of course, that work is not instead of statutory services. For example, home start groups regularly emphasise the central role of health visitors and ask for more funding for them. There has been reference already, I think, by Cary Hilton to the manifesto. I noticed that the subtitle was listened to by the voice of the family. They are using their experience with families to advocate on the issues that they realise are important to families. Again, Cary Hilton referred to mental health as one of the issues. I note that, from its recent survey of home start in Scotland groups, 64 per cent of children in participating families had no support from health and social work when parents suffered mental illness. I noticed that the Glasgow North group emphasised that aspect. It is not something that I have been so aware of with some of the families at least, but I am sure that there are mental health issues for some of them. I wish all the best to the Glasgow North group. I wish all the best to the Leith group. I wish all the best to all the groups in Scotland. I am afraid that I have to leave at the scheduled end at 1.15. I will only be able to listen to one more speech, but it is a good sign that we have a long debate because so many people feel strongly about this issue. I have extended the debate, and Parliament did agree to that, so we will be listening to two more speeches than the minister. Alex Ferguson, to be followed by Jane Baxter. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I, like others, start off by congratulating Bob Doris warmly on bringing this debate to the chamber? It is a hugely worthwhile debate, as the contributions of all members have shown, and I am very pleased to be able to participate in it. Like others, I am afraid that I am going to be unashamedly parochial in my approach. I am afraid that my eyesight is ageing rather more rapidly than the rest of us. I am not able to visually confirm her presence, but I am sure that that is the case. I think that the great strength of home start is that, although it is a national charity, its various schemes and operations are very much rooted in the communities that they serve and are managed locally. I think that that is certainly the case with home start Wigtonshire and would appear to be the case with others, as has been raised. I have no doubt that it is the core reason for the great success of this particular organisation. Home start Wigtonshire has been running for 15 years now, and in the last accountable year it provided support to 128 children from 60 different families right across Wigtonshire. That is not an easy thing to do in such a rural area as Wigtonshire. Just identifying those most vulnerable families is a massive task, because, for reasons that Bob Dorris was talking about, poverty and social deprivation can lead to the isolation that Liam McArthur and others highlighted. It is that isolation, particularly in a sparsely populated rural area that makes the identification of those families so difficult, and it is hugely to the credit of home start and their partner organisations that they have been able to identify that number of people. They do so by operating three family groups, known as the Tweenies, around the county. That is funded by the Big Lottery and they are so sought after that each of those three groups now has a waiting list of families keen to join. Each Tweenies group has its own dedicated project worker to ensure that they all meet local needs, but partly to overcome that waiting list issue and also to be able to provide the one-to-one visits that I think are very important in these situations. Home start also undertakes a huge number of home visits. Those are, of course, absolutely vital to give confidence back to those who, frankly, have none. That lack of confidence can cover everything from simply feeding a baby to household budgeting and everything in between. As everybody has highlighted, none of this can happen without the massive support of the volunteers who make it possible. Home start Wigtonshire has 27 home visiting volunteers, along with the six trustees, 33 in total. Those selfless individuals undergo regular trading in the wide range of specialisms that include things like welfare reform, first aid, child protection, hepatitis B, autism awareness and a whole range of other issues that might have to encounter as they go about their work. They are selfless because what they are doing is passing on their own hard-earned experiences as parents, and all of us who have been parents know that those experiences are hard-earned. However, they are passing on those experiences to others who, for whatever reason, have lost all confidence in their parenting skills. When you meet the co-ordinator of Home start Wigtonshire Mary Wilson and her administrator, Fiona MacDonald, who, along with the three project workers, make up the entire team, you instantly appreciate just how much that work means to them. It may be their jobs, but it clearly means so much more than just that. As the chairperson's latest report said, the staff team has delivered an outstanding service to the families that we support and the referers with whom we work. As their workload has increased, they have been put under considerable pressure to deliver, and they deserve our grateful thanks for their work in maintaining the professional standards that we have come to expect. Indeed, they do, but I also think that they deserve the grateful thanks of this Parliament, and I am more than pleased to support the motion in front of us today as a way of doing just that. I would like to add, among others, my congratulations to Bob Doris for securing this debate. A few months ago, I was fortunate enough to host the Home Start reception that colleagues referred to here in the Scottish Parliament. At that event, which marked the launch of Home Start's first-ever policy manifesto for Scotland, we heard from Professor Phil Hanlon, who is a professor of public health at the University of Glasgow, and from Home Start UK's chief executive, Rob Parkinson, both of whom spoke about the challenges that are facing public services and the people who work at them. They referred specifically to addressing the related challenges of having to provide support to families whose lives have been devastated by poverty and inequality, while at the same time being able to make the investments and interventions that have been proven to make a difference and which will therefore, in the long run, reduce the human and financial cost of poverty in the future. After that, we heard from Malawa, whose families have been supported by Home Start volunteers and whose lives have been changed by that help. Those women have been able to move on with their lives not only to become Home Start volunteers but crucially to develop us people, with the confidence and self-worth to want to grow and to effect positive change for themselves, their families and their communities. That is the impact that Home Start can have on people's lives. We should encourage employers to help potential volunteers to get involved with Home Start. I myself have in the past allowed a member of my staff regular time off to volunteer with Home Start. Not all employers will be able to do this, but those who can should. The Scottish Government should look closely at how to support employers who want to do this, but currently cannot. Home Start helps people for a wide variety of reasons. When parents or children have mental health problems, as a result of difficult and traumatic bursts, or when parents encounter trouble accessing the services and benefits that would help them to support their families, Home Start works with families day in and day out and deserves much greater recognition for their hard work. We should also keep in mind just how challenging the circumstances in which many of those who Home Start support are. More than four out of five Home Starts in Scotland work with families whose children are not protected from food poverty. This is higher than reported by Home Start elsewhere in the UK. Four out of five Home Starts work with families whose children do not have safe places to live and play. Almost two-thirds believe that children in the families that they work with are not adequately supported by health and social work services when parents suffer mental illness. I think that it would be valuable for MSPs to read the Home Start policy manifesto. I urge them to do so. It highlights three main priorities—that all children should have safe places to live and play, that all children with the parents suffering from mental illness should be supported and that all children should be well nourished and protected from hunger and poor nutrition. Achieving that will require a co-ordinated and sustained effort by Government at all levels and the willingness to think beyond departments or budget headings and to put tackling poverty at the heart of service planning and delivery for all public agencies. We live in a country where 350,000 children will live in cold homes this winter. For 200,000 children, those homes will be damp. That is a shame on all of us, and I sincerely hope that we begin to make progress in reversing the rising tide of child poverty in this country. Home Start has a valuable role to play in this. It helps people to live better lives. It brings communities together. Professor Hanlon at the launch spoke about how scary it would be to be suddenly lost in the jungle and how scary that is for families who find themselves lost in the territory of perhaps being homeless or in poverty. He said that, if you are lost in a scary jungle, you might find it helpful to talk to professionals or politicians who are committed and highly skilled, but the best help that you can get might be from someone else who lives in that jungle and knows what it is like to live there and knows how to find a way around and work out what is best for them. He does the parallel between living in a scary jungle and having someone who lives there and having families living in scary communities that use that word advisedly and getting help from Home Start. I hope that this debate will be the beginning of increased recognition of the work that Home Start and its volunteers do every day across Scotland. It is difficult and scary work, but it is also valuable. We must all recognise the positive contribution that Home Start makes in each of our constituencies and regions. Can I now invite Dr Alasdair Allan to respond to the debate, Minister? Seven minutes or so, please. Can I, firstly, like many today, congratulate Bob Doris on securing this valuable debate about a service that, from what we have heard today, clearly impacts very positively on the lives of many of his constituents and across Scotland and more recently across the UK as well? Home Start is a charity whose activities in giving confidence and resilience to families is a cause worth celebrating in Parliament today, and I would likewise welcome those from the organisation who are in the gallery today. Our programme for government, which we published in November, set out three key priorities—creating a wealthier nation, promoting equality and empowering communities. Our success in delivering all those priorities depends on the involvement of the third sector, including organisations such as Home Start. The third sector is essential partners to us in the services that they deliver to individuals across the country. The Scottish Government recognises the critical role that the third sector plays in addressing issues of inequality and the needs of disadvantaged communities and is committed to supporting the sector across Scotland. The Scottish Government provides the 32 third sector interfaces across Scotland with £8 million for the 2015-16 year to deliver volunteering development, social enterprise development, supporting and developing a strong third sector and to build a relationship with community planning. We are taking action to mitigate, as much as that is possible, the effects of welfare reform by investing £2.5 million over 2014-15 and 2015-16 to build the capacity and resilience of communities and local third sector organisations, particularly by helping them to respond to the worst effects of changes to the welfare system. A point well made by Mr Doris was the impact of poverty on physical and mental health. Here, at risk of possibly touching on more contentious issues on the subject, I think that many of us—not all of us, but many of us—would acknowledge the connection between what is happening in the welfare system and the impact on poverty and all that goes with that. It is clear to see that the £34,000 Homestack Glasgow North West received for a period of one year as part of the one Glasgow initiative, funded by the third sector early intervention fund, was used to support 15 families through home visiting as a direct result. I use that as an example, because of those 15 families that 13 found out about and engaged with other services and sources of support in their local community, and eight of the families reported an improvement in their capacity to manage their children's physical or emotional health. Furthermore, funding from there for three years of £590,000 was granted to Homestack UK for the Scottish element of their work. At the end of the first year of that funding in 2013-14, a total of 2,607 families had been home visited and supported across 19 of Scotland's local authority areas. By the six-month point of year 2 of that funding, 1,500 and 1,500 families had been supported. I mention those statistics because they are important. They are real families. In the course of today's debate, many members have alluded to the impact on individual families and individual children of the work that Homestack does. I will, yes. Thank you for giving way. It just allows me the opportunity to put on record, and if you would welcome the good work that Homestack Glasgow North does with such families, particularly in the refugee and asylum security community, which I would remiss of me not to mention during my opening speech. I am very happy to acknowledge the work that the member refers to and the particular problems, issues and challenges that families from the asylum-seeking and refugee communities in Scotland face. Homestack is certainly to be commended on the work that it does with those communities. Other members have mentioned other work that Homestack does. James Dornan described some of the real challenges that many families face. Liz Smith rightly highlighted the personalised nature of the work that volunteers do for individuals in dealing with those challenges. Cara Hylton and Graham Day highlighted the work of Homestack in their constituencies, as did Malcolm Chisholm. Liam McArthur pointed out that many of those helped by Homestack go on to volunteer themselves and made very valuable points about the challenges that are faced by many families in island areas, a point that I certainly understand. Alex Ferguson likewise mentioned the challenges of isolation in other rural areas of Scotland, and Jane Baxter raised important points about encouraging employers to support their employees who want to volunteer with organisations in the voluntary sector, such as Homestack and others. Patricia Ferguson described the impact of Homestack on individual families and raised the question of funding. Perhaps, in that case, in concluding, it is as well for me to point to the fact that there is a new children, young people and families early intervention fund, which is due to be launched by Ms McLeod at an event in Edinburgh on Tuesday 22 June. National voluntary organisations will then have until 30 September to apply, and Homestack will be eligible to apply for further funding through the process. I thank Bob Doris for giving us an opportunity today to talk about an organisation whose work it is right that we all learn about and right that we celebrate and support. Thank you very much minister. That concludes Bob Doris's debate on celebrating the work of Homestart in North Glasgow and across Scotland. I now suspend this meeting until 2.30 pm.