 The next item of business is a debate on motion 1248 in the name of Shona Robison on a land of opportunity supporting a fairer and more equal society. I would invite members who want to participate in this debate to press their requests to speak buttons now or as soon as possible. I put an R in the chat function if they are joining us remotely. I call on Shona Robison, cabinet secretary, to speak to and move the motion around 15 minutes, please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'll move the motion in my name at the start. I'm pleased to open this debate to outline the action that this Government is taking to create a fairer, more equal society for all who live here. We are well aware of the challenges ahead. We know that Covid-19 has not gone away and we must be vigilant whilst the virus remains part of our daily lives. Its impact has been far-reaching, with disproportionate impacts being felt by certain communities and low-income households in particular. We face the double whammy of Brexit too, with rising prices, shortages and a particular toll being faced by many industries. As we rebuild from the pandemic, we have an opportunity to ground our recovery in changes that will create a more equal and inclusive society, which is green and fair. By building on our national mission to tackle child poverty, supporting thriving communities, providing people with a safe, warm place to call home and delivering fair jobs, we will create a land of opportunity for everyone. Last week, the First Minister set out our plans to deliver that vision over this Parliament, and we will work across party lines to do so. The recent agreement with our Scottish Green Party colleagues exemplifies our determination to come together to make Scotland a greener, fairer country. I welcome having a new minister responsible for delivering a new deal for tenants. Our goals are clear, and we are building on the work of the previous Governments and the unprecedented action that is already taken to achieve them. We have already done so much in our delivery of affordable homes, action on isolation and loneliness, funding to those that help women and girls who are victims of abuse and violence, and tackling child poverty and the poverty-related attainment gap to name but a few. We are working hard to make sure that opportunity is never limited by economic or social background. Let me turn first to a policy area that creates jobs and boosts our economy, and that is housing. We know that housing is pivotal to our recovery and our goal of a fairer, more equal society, as well as reaching our net zero and child poverty targets. Through our long-term housing to 2040 strategy, we have an opportunity to ensure that our actions are guided by principles, the principles of social justice, equality and human rights. A strong supply of affordable homes is crucial to that aim. Since 2007, the Scottish Government has delivered more than 103,000 affordable homes. Our housing to 2040 ambition is to deliver a further 110,000 energy-efficient affordable homes by 2032. That would support a total investment package of £18 billion and up to 15,000 jobs each year. Stephen Kerr, I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for giving way to us. The cabinet secretary accept that the SNP Government's attempts so far to scale up housing first have been a failure. No, I totally reject that. Housing first has been a success helping those with additional needs, particularly with addiction, to remain in a stable tendency with the wraparound support that they need. If the member paid any attention, he would know that housing first is a success and is going from strength to strength. I will come back later. I want to make some progress. At least 70 per cent of the affordable homes will be for social rent and at least 10 per cent will be in our remote, rural and island communities. With more than 4,800 homes delivered in the four years to the 2019-20 rural areas, we know that we are reaching across Scotland, but we want to go further developing a remote, rural and island housing action plan back by at least £45 million over this Parliament to ensure that we meet the needs of those communities. The Government has already introduced sweeping changes to the private rental sector, protecting tenants and improving standards, and now we will go further. We will publish a new rented sector strategy to improve accessibility, affordability and standards across the whole sector and deliver a new deal for tenants. We will introduce a new housing regulator for the private rented sector to improve standards and ensure fairness. We will also build on the success in preventing evictions during the pandemic, supporting our aim for everyone to have a safe, warm, affordable home that meets their needs. That includes introducing new restrictions to evictions in winter when people are most vulnerable and support services that are not readily available. We will introduce a new homelessness prevention duty on relevant statutory bodies. The right to a home is a human right, as is social security. We are creating a social security system that enshrines that principle. In July, we successfully introduced the pilot of our first major disability benefit, the child disability payment, with national roll-out due to start on 22 November. We will begin shortly transferring the awards of Scottish clients currently in receipt of disability living allowance for children on to our new Scottish benefit. The first time, we will undertake the complex transfer of cases from one Government to another. I thank the cabinet secretary for taking his intervention. Can she outline whether or not she is concerned at the costs around setting up social security Scotland? They have now doubled, and we are now looking at £100 million being spent on staff to deliver just £386 million of additional benefits. What is the Government doing to look at those cost-over-runs? We are not cost-over-runs. We have already introduced 11 benefits. When fully operational, Social Security Scotland will administer 17 benefits in total, it is a growing organisation delivering more benefits. The administration costs will be no higher than those of the DWP when that process is complete. The member should recognise that that is an important employer. In my home city of Dundee and Glasgow, employing people quite often furthest from the labour market, I will take a brief intervention from Pam Duncan Glancy. It is on the transfer of disability benefits and carers benefits that she mentioned. We are consistently told that if we were to address eligibility and adequacy for them any sooner than 2025, the capacity in the system would overrun. Can the cabinet secretary tell us whether or not we need to look now at resources and capacity within Social Security Scotland? Can she also outline why, if the system is going to be so much better in the way that it is delivered in Scotland, why you expect it to be delivered in the same way at the same cost as the DWP? First of all, the system will be delivered better, far more personal, with local teams supporting families to apply for the child disability payment. It is very much an encouraging system that encourages and supports people to apply for the benefit. Pam Duncan Glancy will be well aware of the need for a safe and secure transfer of adult disability benefits, but then we are committed for a review once a year down the line that the benefit has been in place. She will understand the complexities of doing that, the potential complexities and knock-on to passporting benefits, something that I am sure we will be able to discuss in more detail when I appear in front of the Social Security Committee, because it is a really important issue. The adult disability payment will follow replacing the DWP's personal independence payment with a pilot in the spring of 2022 and full roll-out by summer. We are aware of the impact that the pandemic has had on unpaid carers in Scotland and are grateful for their vital contribution. We will make a further payment of the coronavirus carers allowance supplement this December should the carers allowance supplement bill pass. During this Parliament, we will also introduce our new Scottish carers assistance. We are continuing to work with carers about ways that support can be improved and we will consult on proposals this winter. We will also introduce our new low-income winter heating assistance to replace the current cold weather payment. That will provide around 400,000 low-income households with a stable annual £50 to help with their winter fuel bills and will take responsibility for the annual winter fuel payment to those of pension age, currently provided to more than a million Scottish recipients each year, delivering it on the same basis to provide continuity for clients. My portfolio covers many areas that will change lives. One of those is human rights, and I am delighted that Scotland remains a global leader in this area. This year, we will see us consult on a human rights bill for Scotland, incorporating four UN human rights treaties into Scots law, as far as possible, within devolved competence. Over the next year, we will also take forward two other consultations, one on an ambitious strategy to improve how we centre equality, inclusion and human rights in all government policies, decisions and spending, and support the wider public sector and others to do likewise, and the other on the operation of the public sector equality duty and the potential regulatory changes to improve inclusive communications and data on ethnicity and disability pay gaps. In this Government's first 100 days, we allocated an additional £5 million to support front-line organisations that tackle domestic abuse and sexual violence. We will invest over £100 million to support front-line services and ensure dedicated resources to prevent violence against women and girls and to advance gender equality. Our gender-based violence in schools working group will identify good practice and review and develop new resources. Following the conclusion of that work, alongside looking at harmful sexual behaviour, we will commission an independent review to establish positive practice and further areas for improvement this parliamentary term. I want now to turn to the important area of our national mission on child poverty. In 2021, we invested around £2.5 billion to support low-income households, including nearly £1 billion to directly support children, and we will see the level of support continue. Our actions in the programme for government are wide-ranging, reflecting the fact that it is a package of measures that can tackle poverty, not one alone. That includes supporting more parents into work, expanding free early learning in childcare to one two-year-olds, and building a system of wraparound school-age childcare to increase households' income and reduce their costs. Education is the right of every child, and we are taking action to reduce the costs of the school day and ensure that children can access the subjects and opportunities that they want, regardless of family income. We are also committed to a £1 billion investment to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap and support education recovery. From next August, we will deliver free school meals and milk for all primary pupils, having already introduced the Scottish milk and healthy snacks scheme for children in preschool. We met our commitment to increase the value of best start foods in our first 100 days and will expand eligibility in this Parliament, benefiting 60,000 more children. I will let you in a minute. We will publish our second tackling child poverty delivery plan next March, setting out ambitious actions to deliver the pace and scale that is required to reach our child poverty targets. The plan will be backed by a further £50 million tackling child poverty fund. I will give way. Does the cabinet secretary have any concerns about the quality of the meals that we are serving to children in schools? I have had many representations from parents and teachers who are concerned about just how appealing, attractive and digestible some of the meals are because of the way that they are being pre-prepared, frozen, heated up and delivered. It is sometimes not very appetising. There are standards and it is very important that all authorities meet those standards. If there are particular concerns that the member has of a particular authority, he should write to the cabinet secretary with more detail. In the teeth of the pandemic, we still delivered our ground-breaking Scottish child payment. The most ambitious child poverty reduction measure anywhere in the UK is now supporting 105,000 children under six, part of an overall significant package of financial support that sees low-income families receive over £5,300 in the early years of a child's life. Of course, there is more to come. If the DWP provides the data that we need to our timescales, then we will deliver the payment to under-16s by the end of 2022. A game-changing payment that, even at its current value, could reach up to 392,000 children and reduce child poverty by an estimated 2 per cent in 2023-24. To provide immediate support to families, we are delivering bridging payments for children in receipt of free school meals, providing £520 a year for around 148,000 children. £200 of that has already been paid with £160 to be paid in October and December. My party's manifesto committed to double the Scottish child payment to £20 in this parliamentary term. That is four times the amount that was originally called for to tackle child poverty. We want and will do that as soon as possible. As the First Minister set out last week, it is a significant investment and it will be part of our budget process later this year. We will set out our plans and the budget bill shortly ahead of our next tackling child poverty plan. A clear action to tackle child poverty is designed to lift people out of poverty yet. It is in the face of the actions of another Government who holds the levers of around 85 per cent of welfare spending and has taken no action to tackle child poverty since its election 11 years ago. Although we take action—the positive action that I have laid out today—we look at the UK Government and its fixation with austerity and the many changes to welfare politics that have contributed to poverty with another one around the corner. The Tories quite often talk about Scotland having two Governments. One Government is aiming to double the Scottish child payment. The other is going to take £20 a week out of the pockets of low-income households. That will happen shortly unless there is a complete change. That will be a scandal that we have not seen in over 70 years. Over 6 million households across the UK will lose over £1,000 a year. Many of those are unable to work due to ill health, disability or caring responsibilities and, for many others, in work but needing to rely on universal credit to make ends meet. Those issues have been raised by campaigners, by every devolved Government. They have ignored four Social Security committees of the UK nations who joined together to stand up for the people that they represent. They have ignored their own backbenchers. None from Scottish constituencies who were posted missing, I may add. They have ignored a former DWP secretary of state. They have ignored their own Government official, one of whom is quoted as saying, the internal modelling of ending the universal credit uplift is catastrophic. Homelessness and poverty are likely to rise and food bank usage will soar. It could be a real disaster of the autumn. Today is an opportunity for all of us to lay out what we are going to do to tackle child poverty and make Scotland a fairer nation. I look forward to working with people across the chamber in order to do so. I now call on Miles Briggs to speak to and move amendment 1248.1. As the cabinet secretary started her speech, I too would like to start my speech today by saying that this session of Parliament I hope we can find agreement where possible and consensus on a number of issues and areas of work to address poverty and inequality in Scotland. At the election there was genuine cross-party commitment to work to tackle child poverty and, as the motion suggests, to make that a national mission. Indeed, all parties elected to this Parliament agreed to double the child payment and work to meet the targets to reduce child poverty. Scottish Conservatives supported the introduction of the Scottish child payment and have continued to support and press for reforms. That is why my amendment for today's debate calls on Parliament to support the doubling of the Scottish child payment within this next financial year, something that all charities and stakeholders are providing useful briefings for this debate have called for MSPs to support. The negative impact that the pandemic has had on Scotland's children and young people is only just starting to be fully understood, but for the most vulnerable children and young people in our society, we know that the impact has been significant. Realising the potential of every child and young person in Scotland is something that we all agree must be a key focus of this Parliament and the SNP-Green Coalition Scottish Government. The hard work that it will take to meet those ambitious targets, as set out in the 2017 child poverty bill, is something that we all must work to do. Bob Doris. I thank the member for giving way. With his complete humility that I asked this question, how on earth can you stand there with any credibility or dignity and say you're concerned about vulnerable children? Not you, Mr Doris. When the member is going to rob those vulnerable families of £20 per week, the most impoverished families that are already on the breadline and recorcing to food banks, how can you look anywhere in the eyes and say that you're helping those vulnerable children is an absolute disgrace? Through the chair, please, Mr Doris. Miles Briggs. The member will be aware that I'm on record supporting the extension, but I know that the Scottish Government's amendment for this debate doesn't include any mention of the issue. What is on the table, though, today, is my amendment calling for the doubling of the Scottish child payment within this financial year. Will the member be supporting my amendment this evening? So the member seems to have lost his voice on this issue, but I'd respectfully suggest to SNP and Green members that they get their house in order when they come to this chamber to ask of things of opposition members as well. One of the areas that I believe urgent action is needed is the long-term impact on the lockdown that has had on children's learning. We heard this at education questions just previously. Long-term system-wide support is required if every child is to have a catch-up in recovery from the educational disruption that we've seen during the pandemic and the impact that's had on child development across Scotland. Prior to the pandemic, we know that SNP ministers were failing to close the educational attainment gap, and indeed the Audit Scotland report released in March of this year exposed the lack of progress that's been made in closing the poverty-related attainment gap as well. That's why Scottish Conservatives want to see the Scottish Government focus more on prioritising young people's education with the delivery of additional support for catch-up schemes for disadvantaged children and young people. It's also important, I believe, to consider the skills and training opportunities available for young people to find work in key growth sectors. The loss of over 100,000 college training places under this SNP Government has clearly impacted on the number of opportunities available for young people, but making sure that young people in Scotland who are not in training or education have the opportunities to access a number of schemes and apprenticeships, for example, is critical in something that we all need to work to make happen. I want to take this opportunity, as I did in Tuesday's debate, around renewing, remobilising and recovering the social care and health service of Scotland, to specifically thank and highlight the contribution that was made by unpaid carers and especially young carers in Scotland during the pandemic. The pandemic has significantly increased the number of unpaid carers across our country. Research in June 2020 showed that 392,000 more people have become unpaid carers, taking the total to over 1.1 million of our fellow Scots now taking on a caring role for a family member. It's now estimated that 45,000 young people are now carers across Scotland. Under taking a caring role is a key contributing factor linked to poverty. Whether they are a paid carer or whether they are an unpaid carer, you are more likely to live in poverty as a result. Given the importance of care to people, our society and the invaluable contribution that unpaid carers make, that cannot be right. The pandemic has exposed the extent to which our NHS and social care services rely on unpaid carers. Scottish Conservatives welcome the doubling of the carers allowance supplement, and we on the benches want to see more progress on how we can support Scotland's carers, especially our young carers. Scottish Conservatives also support early action to extend payments for carers after a bereavement and for a new support package for carers who have often had to give up work to care for a loved one. We also want to see help to access training and more mental health support. I also hope that ministers will work with Scottish Conservatives to seriously consider reforms as soon as possible around the young carers grant and reforms to entitlement to allow younger carers to qualify for the carers allowance supplement. For care-experienced young Scots, we need to make sure that a real focus remains from this Government on improving access to services, transition and care. The recommendations of an independent care review were widely supported across this Parliament, but we have seen little progress from ministers to implement the promise and for a national minimum allowance for foster carers, as has been previously committed and is in place in other parts of the UK. My colleague Megan Gallagher will outline more on this important issue later, but care-experienced young people expect to see promises made by ministers kept and actioned to take forward the implementation and implement recommendations of that review. Turning to the critical issue of housing and homelessness, the number of children in temporary accommodation has reached the highest level on record before the pandemic. At the end of March 2020, there were 7,280 children living in temporary accommodation due to homelessness. This is the highest since records began in 2002 and represents a 7 per cent increase on the previous year. In the year leading up to the pandemic, someone was made homeless every 17 minutes in Scotland. We know that the number of people and families in temporary accommodation has increased over the course of the pandemic. Can I say to the member that he raises an important point? We are working with local authorities to tackle the issue around temporary accommodation as a matter of urgency and providing £37.5 million to do so. However, can he genuinely answer the question whether he thinks that the £20 cut to universal credit is going to help or hinder the number of people in temporary accommodation? Does he think that it will put more people into temporary accommodation or less people? The reforms that we have seen have been to try to prevent that very issue. I welcome the steps that local authorities have provided to provide emergency accommodation during the pandemic, but we now need to see a long-term plan to end homelessness. Something for 14 years SNP ministers have failed to do. Rough sleeping and homelessness needs to see a system-wide shift towards a preventative model. I agree with the cabinet secretary and hope that there is genuinely an opportunity for us to look at that. SNP ministers pledged to tackle homelessness by scaling up housing first, as my colleague Stephen Kerr mentioned. However, we have missed previous targets supporting 800 people into housing first tenancies. In fact, the 2021-22 programme for government states ministers will invest in the new housing homelessness together fund, funding rapid rehousing and support of scaling up housing first. However, we know that the path found a total number of people moving into their own home through this project, through housing first, has stated only 381 people actually entered secure tenancies by the end of November in 2020, not 800 cabinet secretary. We know that there has to be improvement from this Government. There is a huge amount of work to do, and as Crisis Scotland stated in its useful briefing ahead of today's debate, ending homelessness does not just mean that nobody will ever lose their home again. It means that we need to make sure that we go to a preventative model. Homelessness only happens where homelessness will only happen very rarely. At present, around 8 per cent of the Scottish population, or one in 12 people, has experienced homelessness. I very much support the calls for this preventative model to be brought forward and we will work with ministers where we can to make sure that that can be achieved. Action to prevent homelessness should start six months before someone faces losing their home. Public bodies such as health services should be asking about people's housing situations to try to identify issues earlier. The recommendations that have been set out to ministers around the homeless preventative group will also be taken forward. Those recommendations were supported by every party across Parliament, and the discussions that I have already had with the cabinet secretary I hope can make sure that we make this a national priority. I know that my time is running out. It is clear that we need to see cross-portfolio efforts to make progress in addressing poverty and achieving specific reductions across the board and to meet the targets that we all supported. There are also longer-term issues that we, as a Parliament, need to start to consider if we are going to bring about real change, action to address intergenerational unemployment and opportunities to genuinely improve social mobility. As I said at the start of my contribution, I hope that this Parliament can find agreement where possible and can sense us on a number of issues and areas of work so that we all can be proud in five years that we have put in the effort to tackle poverty and inequality in Scotland. I move amendment 9. Thank you very much, Mr Briggs. I now call Pam Duncan-Glancy to speak to and move amendment 1248.2. Ms Duncan-Glancy, you have around nine minutes, please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Before I move on to the substantial words that I prepared in advance of today, I just want to say that people watching this debate and people looking at what is happening across both Parliaments and both Governments outside who are living in poverty right now are seriously needing you both to get your act together, because we have a situation in which the £20 uplift that was given during the pandemic in recognition of the fact that social security was at its worst in decades cannot be taken away and will leave people in destitution. However, the Scottish Government cannot sit on their hands either and point fingers. We are at a situation in which the Scottish Government is using the same arguments to not roll out payments to under 16-year-olds that the DWP used to not give the £20 uplift to legacy benefits. They are claiming that it is logistically difficult and the IT systems are not there. People out there really need us both to get our act together and get moving on this before poverty is a part of more people's lives. We are not dragging our feet, which is why, of course, we are delivering that through bridging payments, while those very issues are resolved. Surely the member will recognise that important aspect of the Scottish Government's delivery in order to get the money into people's hands. I recognise that, but 125,000 children who should get the payments under 16-year-olds are not getting the bridging payments because they are only paid to people who get free school meals, so there are still 125,000 children out there who should get the money that are not. As always, it is a great privilege to lead at this debate for Scottish Labour. The debate today has been titled A Land of Opportunity, and that is what I believe all of us in this chamber want Scotland to be. Somewhere where no matter who you are, who you love or where you were born, you can live up to your full potential. Sadly, though, for too many, we are not there yet. As we sit here today, 1 million of our fellow citizens are living in poverty. 260,000 of them are children. We are set to miss the child poverty targets that we set ourselves in this Parliament and without caveat, and half of families living in poverty have a disabled person in them. Disabled people in Scotland are twice as likely when they leave school to not be in education or employment. The disability pay gap remains at 8.3 per cent. Tens of thousands live in homes that they cannot get in and out of. They do not have the care that they need, and they are under-represented everywhere from the high street to the boardroom. The fact that six in 10 people who died from Covid-19 are disabled people shows quite clearly the disproportionate impact that the pandemic has had, but also the chasms that were existing in society before it. Things are not equal for women either. Women are more likely to be in poverty than men, more likely to experience in work poverty and find it harder to escape poverty than men. Women's work in sectors such as care, cleaning, hospitality and retail has long been undervalued, underpaid and underprotected. The pandemic has meant that women are doing more unpaid labour, being forced to carry out more unpaid caring responsibilities, childcare and housework than ever before. It is estimated that a collective £15 million of income has been lost each day in Scotland through the work that many women had no choice but to take on. An LGBT plus equality in Scotland is nowhere near where it needs to be either. Stonewall research has found that almost a quarter of LGBT people have witnessed discrimination and negative remarks against them by healthcare staff, with a startling 37 per cent of trans people avoiding healthcare as a result. Six per cent of trans employees have been physically attacked by customers or colleagues and only half of LGBT staff agree that equality policies in their workplace protect trans people. I think that I am quite clearly explaining why those in the groups that I have highlighted so far cannot see Scotland as a land of opportunity right now. The number of homeless deaths in Scotland rose by nearly a third over two years. Would she support my calls for the Government to have a full review of access to healthcare for homeless people and rough sleepers, especially given the drug deaths that we have seen? I think that the drug deaths show and the homelessness shows that we really need to seriously take healthcare for homeless people very seriously. I think that we heard a statistic this morning that if you are homeless, you are more likely to die in your late thirties. That is your life expectancy, so there is absolutely an urgent need to look at healthcare for people who are homeless. People from ethnic minority backgrounds in Scotland are also 20 per cent more likely to be out of work. Of all the people reporting that they had experienced harassment, 19 per cent were from black minority and ethnic backgrounds, the highest of any one group. People from black minority and ethnic backgrounds also still face disproportionately higher rates of poverty. I say again that Scotland is not a land of opportunity for those people. Thousands are held back by poverty and inequality, denied their rights and their potential. This past year has been tough for every one of us, the hardest I believe most of us have had. The pandemic has meant that people have been unable to leave their homes, travel to see friends, family, unable to go to shops and do things they enjoy, and none of us have enjoyed living like that. Women, people in poverty, disabled people, people from black minority and ethnic backgrounds and LGBT plus people have faced restrictions on their human rights and freedoms like that for years. They have tried their best, not the panning and yet still struggle to make ends meet and still face barriers at every turn. They have been overlooked and undervalued. They have needed more affordable homes, a crackdown on unscrupulous landlords and a pay rise for years. Whilst this year has been dreadful for so many people, things were hard before Covid. Poverty was rife, insecure and precarious work was too common, social care was creaking at the seams and inequality was holding us back then. Things were bad before. The pandemic has made it worse. All is not equal and all never was equal. However, this last year has shone some light in dark corners. One such corner was the inadequacy of the social security system, which led to the £20 uplift to universal credit. Cutting that now is a borent and will be devastating. The UK Government must do the right thing and keep the uplift. The Scottish Government must act too. It must find a way to ensure that the 4,000 families set to lose eligibility for the Scottish child payment as a result of the cut to universal credit to retain that eligibility. I believe that we must see now, all of us, that the opportunities that we want for our family, friends and country are not there. I believe that we all have to act. Presiding Officer, we have a reason to be hopeful. These past months have been difficult for everyone and it has forced us to work together in new ways and think about doing things differently. As we go forward and begin our journey for recovery, we have an opportunity to take the lessons and do things differently. From hardship and pain, it comes strength and hunger for change. That will need bold transformative change to ensure that things do not go back to the way they were. We need to include everyone on our journey and make sure that things are better for everyone than they were before. That is why I continue to be hungry for more ambition and bold action from the SNP Green programme for government. It is also why I am disappointed that it lacks urgency, innovation and real action to change lives now. The Scottish Government can and should be using all the powers that it has to radically transform lives. Crucially, though, Deputy Presiding Officer, the Government must act on its mission to end poverty. Declaration is not enough, it will not put food on tables. We are at a unique point in our history where we have an opportunity to rebuild our social security system from the ground up. So far, change has been incremental. The system is at risk of failing to live up to the hopes that it would be a radically fairer system. We know that a well-designed, properly funded social security system can tackle poverty and reduce economic, health and education inequalities. It is time for radical investment into Scotland's social security system. That is a statement that I believe many share, and I know that it has the support for some in the Government because it comes from the Scottish Greens manifesto on social security. I looked to my colleagues in the Green Party and asked them to please work with us in the Labour Party, support our calls, stand by the commitments and take this opportunity to encourage your Government colleagues to be radical. I cannot mask my frustration that the Government is failing to meet the moment in front of us and sees the opportunity to be radical as it builds a new system, one that must be adequate, dignified, accessible and automated where possible. We are happy to support much of the Government's motion today, but not the lack of ambition in this regard. We are not yet using our powers to their full potential. We need to quickly address eligibility for and adequacy of carers and disability payments, waiting until 2025 is too long. That is both time and opportunity lost. We have to go harder and faster. We urge the Government to back out amendment, do this to accelerate an ambitious and urgent timetable for transformation. That is why the amendment that we have put forward focuses on action that we can take right now. Doubling the Scottish child payment and adding £5 for families with a disabled person in them would help to protect them from poverty. That is why we are calling on the Government to immediately increase the payment to £20 a week, but that is not going to be far enough for us to meet our targets. We know that, despite the Government's current commitment, we are going to miss them. That is why we are calling on the Government to double the Scottish child payment now and again in a year, lifting 50,000 children out of poverty and putting us on track to meet the 2023 target. We have heeded the First Minister's calls for a constructive parliament where we can work with the Government we will and we have. Today, the Government has a chance to work with us to get us back on track on child poverty in Scotland by backing out amendment and calls from charities across Scotland. Deputy Presiding Officer, one person held back by inequality or overlooked by discrimination is one too many. One child in poverty is one too many. One day in poverty is one day too long. As this debate is titled, The Land of Opportunity, I urge the chamber to seize its opportunity and to act and open opportunity for thousands of people across Scotland to double the Scottish child payment now and again in a year. I urge the chamber to back our motion. Deputy Presiding Officer, I move amendment in my name. Thank you very much, Mr Duncan Glancy. I now call on Willie Rennie before we move to the open debate. Mr Rennie, around six minutes please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I hope that the ministers were listening to that contribution because I think that that was one of the most powerful contributions that I have heard in the chamber for some time. There was a lot to learn from Pam Duncan Glancy. That was an encyclopedia of information about the state of poverty in Scotland. I think that ministers should listen, but more importantly, they should act as well. I want to focus my contribution on child poverty. Our advocating child poverty is an urgent mission. After 30 years of decline across the UK, it is once again on the rise. That means more than one in four. 260,000 Scottish children are officially recognised as living in poverty. In absence of significant policy change, this figure is likely to increase in the coming years, reaching 38 per cent in 10 years. The resolution foundation suggests that the Scottish child poverty rate will be 29 per cent in two years—lots of numbers, but let me clarify for you. In two years, it will rise to 29 per cent, and in 10 years, it will rise to 38 per cent. That should be our shame if we do nothing and what we are doing so far is just not enough. The connection between poverty and poor educational outcomes, behavioural problems, chronic illness and mental health are clearly evidenced. I am going to come to the Conservative Government later on universal credit, but every Parliament in the UK needs to work to address the poverty gripping too many of our children, not just to complain about another Government but to take action on areas within our power. I am afraid that this Government too often points the finger elsewhere rather than taking action here at home. For Liberals, education and work is the route out of poverty. We support putting power in the hands of young people by giving them the educational tools that they need to achieve, get a good job and a warm home for them and their family in future. The performance in Scotland has just not been good enough. Five years ago, the First Minister promised to close the poverty related attainment gap completely. She said that it was simply unacceptable that youngsters from the most deprived areas of Scotland only do half as well as their counterparts from the richest areas when sitting higher exams. That is what she said precisely. I want our work to close the attainment gap to be the mission, not just of this Government or even of this Parliament but of the whole of the country. Yet, over five years later, the poverty-related attainment gap still stands at 35.8 points of a difference at the SCQF level 6 or above. At that rate of progress—I acknowledge that there has been some modest progress—it will take another 35 years for the poverty-related attainment gap to close. That is what the First Minister promised to close completely. She did not say that it will take 35 years. That is an area of public policy completely in the hands of the Scottish Government. The Scottish Government has talked a good game on education and poverty but has failed to deliver. It has been slow-footed on introducing early years education for two-year-olds. It is still slow-footed. Only about a third of those two-year-olds are entitled to the nursery education access. That has been going on for years, yet the Government has failed to take the action. It has been slow-footed on adopting the pupil premium in England that targets funds to the poorest pupils in school. The not-made-in-here belligerence of the SNP has had a dramatic impact on the life chances of thousands of young people. The clock is ticking for the SNP-Green coalition Government, because the clock is ticking for our young people as well. A poor child starting school now will be 40 years old by the time this coalition Government closes the poverty-related attainment gap, but it deserves so much more than that. I want to turn to the Conservatives. Modest criticism from the Conservative benches here is just not enough. I have to agree with the Chancellor of the United Nations when he declared that the best way to take people out of poverty is to find them high-quality work. Who could disagree with that? That also happens to be the best way of cutting the cost of universal credit to the public purse. High-quality work cuts the universal credit not by £20 but by £100, yet the Conservatives have an unhealthy belief that the best way to tackle poverty is to make those who cannot find work well-paid work, because that is what it would require. The Government's response is to make them even poorer than they are now. That is not the way to tackle poverty and to get people into work. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation was very clear about that. It said that it could force 500,000 people—almost half of them—children into poverty. The Scottish Conservatives need to speak up and make their voice heard. If they do not agree with that, let them speak and let them criticise the Government and let them force the Government to take an action. The Conservatives have been cavalier on that. It is no longer acceptable. It is short-sighted, it is cruel and it is mean-spirited to punish people who are in their hour of need. We now move to the open debate. I call Neil Gray, who will be followed by Pam Gosel. Around six minutes, Mr Gray, but we have a bit of time in hand. For interventions, we can't recompense you. The fellow archaegian knows how this one likes to talk. I am really pleased to be speaking in favour of the motion today, as it highlights the ambition that the Scottish Government has for the session ahead. I note from the amendments today, particularly the Labour amendment, that there is considerable consensus, even if it is tacit across the chamber for the measures being brought forward by the Scottish Government. It is perhaps a wee bit contrary for Anas Sarwar and so many of his Labour colleagues, since the programme for government was announced, to say that it somehow lacked ambition. When the areas mentioned in the motion today go further, or match the Labour manifesto commitments in so little is being sought from the amendment. Indeed, the one area of real deviation—I will probably answer that in my next paragraph—from what is set out in the programme for government and the Opposition amendment today is on the Scottish child payment. All parties went into the election promising to double the Scottish Government's anti-poverty game-changing Scottish child payment. For someone who believes that building consensus drives and sustains progress, that was incredibly heartening for me. Of course, the question mark is about timing. We all want to see that happening as quickly as possible, but that highlights the limitations of a hybrid tax and social security system. The Scottish child payment is demand-led, meaning that the budget commitments will change year on year, depending on eligibility. Of course, when eligibility is at higher times of higher unemployment or poor economic performance, which suppresses wages, there is also the time when the consequential tax receipts are also lower. When you need to fund more social security, your revenue is reduced, and that is why demand-led social security requires borrowing to work. The Parliament does not have the adequate borrowing powers, which means that it takes longer to safely deliver and sustain social security benefits than if it was being delivered with full powers. I will take Pam Duncan Glancy. The point that I was going to make was about ambition. Our amendment to the motion absolutely recognises the work that is on-going, but, consistently with the evidence that we heard this morning in the Social Security Committee—I know that the member will have heard too—the social security system will have to do heavy lifting. That is where we need to put our energies in order to lift children out of poverty and families out of poverty. Does he agree that that is the single biggest thing that we need to do right now? We are in a tale of two Governments, with one Government that is investing in social security and one that is cutting social security. Neither Labour nor the Tories included the Scottish child payment commitments that they are making in their amendments today and in their manifestos, which is the point that I was going to come in on with Miles Briggs. I am looking forward to seeing their costed budget submissions coming up, but it would lack any credibility for either party to make those demands, which go beyond their just four-month-old manifestos, without explaining how they should be paid for. We have to operate within a fixed budget in Holyrood. New spending commitments have to be met from existing resources. We do not have the necessary borrowing powers like a normal Parliament delivering social security, but the investment is by all means. I am slightly confused by the line of argument, because all social security benefits are demand-led, and yet the Government has been very happy to take on PIP, take on DLA, which again will go up at different times. How are we going to pay for those? My point is that the commitments that are being made are being forecast and budgeted ahead of time, so that is exactly the same point that has been made around the Scottish child payment. For that to happen properly, it needs to be done in a way that ensures that the budget safety is built in over time, which is why the points that are being made by the two opposition parties need to come forward with where they would make the cuts in order to deliver the commitments that they are making. However, the investment that has been budgeted for in this session by the Scottish Government to make real improvements to our social infrastructure will make a real difference to people's lives across air drain shots and across Scotland. Expanding our childcare offer to one and two-year-olds is investing £1 billion to tackle the poverty-related education attainment gap, and I must declare an interest as my wife is a primary school teacher and soon take up a role as a local authority equity development officer. Expanding wraparound childcare, doubling the Scottish top-up to carers allowance so that carers in Scotland will receive better support than anywhere else in those aisles, doubling the Scottish child payment and providing bridging payments as the roll-out to 16-year-olds continues, providing new adult and child disability payments, building 100,000 new affordable homes, including 70 per cent for social rent, and expanding free school meals and increasing school uniform grants. I could go on, Presiding Officer. This Government is investing in social security, investing in social housing and investing in education all to tackle poverty, giving our children the best start in life to support families and develop the progressive and compassionate society that delivers for the people we are here to represent. I spoke earlier about Scotland having a hybrid social security system, partly devolved. Sadly, we are seeing a tale of two Governments. At a time when UK inflation is at its highest level in a decade, with the sharpest rise in inflation since records began, and when it is predicted to keep rising into Christmas, meaning that the costs of essential items are rising and family budgets are squeezed, the UK Government is embarking on a perfect storm of tax rises and social security cuts that will devastate those on the lowest incomes. We have the regressive 10 per cent rise to national insurance coming, which will disproportionately hit younger workers in the lowest paid. We have the disgraceful cut to universal credit, the biggest single cut to social security since the Second World War. It will force 60,000 people in Scotland into poverty, including 20,000 children. That will completely undermine the benefit of the Scottish child payment and serve to highlight the real limitations of having a shared or hybrid social security system. In the Erdring shots alone, 10,500 people who receive universal credit or working tax credits and their families will see their annual income cut by £1,000. We have already heard from the cabinet secretary the quote in the Financial Times from last week that the internal modelling of ending the UK-UK uplift is catastrophic. Regressive tax rises and cuts to social security, while inflation soars from the UK Government versus investment in social security, investment in social housing and investment in education from the Scottish Government, the Tories have a real brass neck coming here and trying to lecture us about poverty. I support this motion, I support the Government's programme and I look forward to those transformational poverties within it being delivered at pace. Social justice, social security, welfare, whatever name you want to give it, it's the most important responsibility for any Government. Today's debate is a youthful reminder that far more needs to be done to tackle poverty in Scotland and ensure that everyone can live their lives to the fullest in a fair society. Presiding Officer, we should spend all day if we cannot debate our thoughts on how Scotland can be a fairer country. However, when we look at the main levers that help create a fairer society, better healthcare, a good education system, stable employment and affordable housing, let's be honest, those are hardly the areas that the SNP excel on. If the member is saying that the Scottish Government doesn't excel on affordable housing and we've delivered over 103,000 affordable homes so far, that is 75 per cent more per head of the population than the affordable homes delivered in England by a Tory Government. What does that say about the Tory Government's record on affordable housing? All we keep hearing is about the United Kingdom, or if it's not about England, let's compare it. I'm going to be honest, you're talking about homes here, right? No, if you let me finish, please, if you're talking about homes here, right, why is there so much homelessness if you're doing such a great job over there? That's what I want to know. Anyway, I need to get on with my speech now. Organisations such as Barnettis and Save the Children have said that even before the pandemic struck, one in four children in Scotland were living in poverty and the levels were rising in every local authority in Scotland. The attainment gap remains very wide. We cannot continue with this postcode lottery, where pupils from the most deprived areas do significantly worse at every level of education on an average than those in the least deprived areas. To give you some home truths—I want to talk about it in my own region—we have a tale of two towns, Milgae and Clifbank, only minutes away but worlds apart. One where schools rank 14th out of 340 schools and one where schools rank 230th. One where 68 per cent pupils leave with five hires and one where only 33 per cent leave with five hires. Moving on from two towns, we look at the bigger picture of my whole region on West Dunbartonshire. There is almost double the national average of homeless households per 100,000 people. People can't expect to fall into our health over 10 years before their neighbours in East Dunbartonshire. Where the number of children that go on to positive destinations has seen drops of almost 4 per cent on the previous year. Let me be clear. If those figures don't leave you questioning the Scottish Government's priorities, then I don't know what will. Now I am sure that this will be a familiar story for many MSPs in this chamber today. It is sadly a situation that is reflected across the country, but those are not just statistics. They are real people and they matter. Let me tell you how the story goes with welfare. For those of you who don't know, 11 benefits were devolved to the Scotland in 216, meaning that the Scottish Government is in charge of those. Yes, the Scottish Government is not Westminster, but no surprise that SNP were not ready and had to hand back the powers to DWP. All that from a party that said that they could set up an independent Scotland in just 18 months but would not have finished taking the devolved welfare powers into 2025. If we are going to be serious in making Scotland a fairer society, then we need to start thinking long-term. It is not what the SNP is doing today, which is sticking plaster over the cracks. Scotland needs much more. People need real change. The motion today calls on doubling of the Scottish child benefit as early as possible within the current parliamentary session. We support that. In fact, our motion goes further and calls for payment to be doubled within the next financial year. The member is not giving way. However, it has only taken the SNP three years to implement such an important payment. I highly doubt that anyone in this chamber today does not want to see a fairer Scotland. There is real inequality in our society and that must change. I hope that poverty and inequality will get the full attention of the Scottish Government during this term of the Parliament, not limited to an afterthought with endless reports and policies being published and no real action. We want to build a Scotland that not only supports those in financial crisis but helps to lift people out of poverty for good by tackling the root causes of poverty. We all agree that poverty must be reduced. We all agree that attainment gaps must be tackled. The health and social care must be improved, and the housing should be safe, affordable and warm. We cannot afford to sidetrack by meaningless debates on independence and endless false promises, not whilst Scotland's children go hungry. I was told that I would get some extra time. I have experience of homelessness in Scotland, so a programme for government that aims to prevent it is something that I welcome very strongly. Homelessness is not or certainly shouldn't be just a fact of life and something that happens to people in the process of a normal society functioning. It is a symptom of a lot of things, of lack of affordable housing, inadequate social security, a bad attitude towards disabled people, carers and others who are unable to work and frankly the inability or more likely indifference of certain governments. I am glad to be able to say that that is not the case here. The programme for government seeks to address all of these issues in so far as it can with current devolved powers, although a true transformation of our society requires the powers of independence. This is the country that ended right to buy. This is the country that declared that anyone unintentionally homeless was entitled to a permanent home, and this will be the country that says, no, people are not going to be homeless in 21st century Scotland. We are going to listen to them, understand the issues that face them and do what we can to make sure that they have access to a safe and secure home. Something often missing from homelessness action plans is tackling the wider drivers of poverty, so throwing money at tackling homelessness once the person is already homeless. What homelessness actually shows is that someone has fallen through a net. Maybe they have had to wait six weeks before they got their first universal credit payment. Maybe they lost their job due to shameful employment rights. Maybe they were failed by a landlord who took advantage of loopholes in a tenancy. I am therefore glad to see the focus on availability of homes, decarbonising homes and putting money into supporting families with young children in their early years as priorities for this Government. I do not think that people appreciate just how often poverty is essentially predetermined. We have heard a lot so far today and I am sure that we are going to hear a lot more about child poverty and nobody can blame a child for living in poverty in a poor household. However, when that child grows up, somewhere around late teens, early twenties, it seems to start becoming okay for people to say that it is that person's fault that they do not have the same educational background. They do not have money in the bank for a rainy day. They could not afford their driving licence when they were 16 or they have poor health due to lifelong nutritional or exercise issues. It is important that we tackle those drivers of poverty. A fairer Scotland is a Scotland that addresses issues at the root rather than once a person has already had the whole course of their life changed just by being homeless even for a short time. Take it from me employers, credit agencies, landlords—they do not like to see care of addresses. I am going to move on a bit to the Tories amendment today because I note that it laments the fact that the Scottish Government is not taking full control over devolved benefits until 2025. I agree with that. It is a real shame that it took so long to devolve those powers and that it is taking a couple extra years, pandemic years, to bring social security in properly, something that their party down south has not managed in over a decade of power. Jeremy Balfour. I am grateful to remember that I appreciate that she was not here in my last Parliament, but we passed the bill within 18 months of that Parliament. We have now had that it is going to take almost eight years for this to happen. The delay is not this Parliament, it is the Scottish Government not being able to take the powers and the line with DWP to do all the work. Presiding Officer, it is a real shame that my colleagues on those benches have no sense that irony, hypocrisy or shame, when they criticise the Scottish Government for being too slow, implementing benefits like the Scottish child payment, which was only brought in to mitigate the harm caused by a UK social security system that started out inadequate and then suffered years of cuts. It is a real shame that so much of government budgets in this country are spent trying to stop UK austerity hitting our worst off the hardest. It is a real shame that the Scottish Government is having to wait another few years before every power is devolved for decisions to be made for this country in this country, but I am sure in the spirit of their amendment today that my colleagues over there will be delighted when that day finally comes. I am also grateful to Crisis, the homelessness charity, for drawing my attention yesterday to a number of incredibly pertinent points, including their belief that the current plans that this Government has to prevent homelessness, which were developed with input from those with lived experience, hold the potential to make Scotland a world leader in homelessness prevention. Every time I, as a member of the social justice and social security committee, read a paper that discusses homelessness, I am reminded of the process in which my housing officer told me that she needed an address in order to process my entry to the housing register, and in which I faced at least two years of temporary accommodation before I could imagine walking into a council house that I could call home. Whenever we discuss poverty or disability benefits that I currently receive, the personal connection is not lost on me nor is the weight of responsibility. I will always truly value those who offer their lived experience to me and this Parliament to aid our decision making and improve the lives of others, and I would encourage my colleagues to reflect and do the same and listen to those in poverty. Right now, more than one in four children in Scotland are living in poverty, and as Willie Rennie said earlier, according to analysis by the Resolution Foundation, the Scottish child poverty rate will be 29 per cent by 23-24, the highest rate of child poverty in over 20 years. All of that stands in stark contrast to the following child poverty that observed in the UK in the 1990s and early 2000s. Labour reforms from 1997 saw £18 billion annual increase in spending on support for families with children and an £11 billion annual increase in support for pensioners by 2010-11. The result was that millions of children and pensioners were lifted out of poverty, and the country was on track to eradicate child poverty by 2020. The key point for mentioning that is that, if we are, in the short term, wanting to tackle child poverty and tackle poverty, the evidence is clear. You have to put the resources in, and you must put money in to increase people's spending power. Successive Tory Governments managed to dismantle those achievements with their failed austerity agenda. We now have a situation in Scotland, as across the UK where we have food banks in every city, every town. For those who have not seen the film I, Daniel Blake, they should have a look at that film because it brings home the reality of failure by government to support people when they need that support. James Baldwin once said—the author James Baldwin said—that anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor. That is why I have to say the hypocrisy of the Scottish Tory Party to come along here and talk about child poverty, while, at the same time, supporting a move by the Johnson Government to cut £20 a week from universal credit, the largest cut overnight cut ever seen since the creation of the welfare state 70 years ago, the hypocrisy is absolutely incredible. If the Scottish Tories believe that the £20 a week cut to the poorest, the most vulnerable, the lowest-paid workers is wrong, you really need to condemn that cut and stand with the rest of this Parliament in condemning that cut, because it will result in more children in Scotland being in poverty. It will result in more people in Scotland having to go to food banks. Can I say, because the member earlier talked about the independence panel and also talked about independence, the greatest driver to increase support for independence in Scotland is to drive more and more people in Scotland into poverty by direct action of a Westminster Government. If you cannot see that, then you know, pretty help us. In terms of the other areas, it is true that if we look to the medium term, then we have to get more people into work. We have to get people to be earning a good wage. I have to say that over the last 14 years, when the SNP came to power, they promised to cut class sizes. When I look at primary schools where the education sector represents and I represent in five, the number of primary classes in five with over 30, some 32, 35 children, it is utterly unacceptable. How can those children get the same opportunities as children whose parents are able to afford to buy their education and get them into class sizes where the teacher pupil ratio is 1 to 16 and the pupil adult ratio, so support teachers in classrooms, is 1 to 8? There is no comparison. Therefore, if we are going to tackle poverty in the medium term, then we need to give every child, regardless of how rich or not their parents are, the same opportunities to get a proper and good education. And likewise, in terms of the skill shortages that we have, the Save the Children say that we believe that it is about scale and pace. We believe that the priority for the Scottish Government should be to focus on key drivers of poverty. That includes the jobs market, work opportunities, low-paid roles, even largely held by women, often largely held by women. That is true. They cannot recruit for social care right now, but if you look at the inequalities within social care and the low pay, is there anyone there that they cannot recruit? What about the skills agenda? We look at the skills shortages in not just the care sector, but in construction. What opportunities are there out there for young people to be able to get into the construction industry? I heard a lorry driver talk the other day about those companies who were quite happy to recruit lorry drivers abroad on lower pay, but that has driven down where the pay should be within that sector. The specific lorry driver that has been interviewed in the BBC Scotland talked about getting a £20,000 pay rise, and that is where the sector should be. So what opportunities, rather than depending on bringing people to abroad and then paying low wages, what opportunities are we going to give to people, the education and the skills so that they can get the jobs? The reason I became involved in politics was driven by a passion to see Scotland become a fairer and more equal society. I believe then and I believe even more so now in that an independent Scotland is the best way to achieve that. I remember growing up in the 1980s watching the deliberate, the deliberate destruction by a Tory Government of Scotland's manufacturing base of which we're still to recover. At the same time as we watched the requirement of Trident at the cost today of around £12 billion pounds. Jonathan Haid and an American author wrote in his book, Righteous Mind. Everyone cares about fairness, but there are two major kinds. On the left, fairness often implies equality, but on the right it means proportionality. People should be rewarded in proportion to what they contribute, even if that guarantees unequal outcomes. How true that is today in Tory Britain. That quote gets straight to the point about what this debate is all about. What kind of country do we want? I want one that places equality, fairness and compassion at its heart. The great Nelson Mandeline's speech about making poverty history stated, overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is a protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. Right now, the UK Government is ready to impose a cut to universal credit. We've heard the Joseph Rowntree Foundation being mentioned a few times and I'm going to do it again. It estimates that 8,500 families in my constituency and 450,000 in Scotland will lose out with half of those having children. Indeed, six in 10 of all single-payment families in the UK will be impacted, six out of 10. Analysis conducted by the Scottish Government in June shows that the plan to cut the £20 per week uplift to universal credit in October could cut social security payments in Scotland alone by over £460 million a year by £23.24. Withdrawing that payment is expected to push 60,000 people in Scotland into poverty, including 20,000 children. I have 5,000 children in my constituency who are in poverty. So, what has this devolved Scottish Government doing with its limited powers in creating a more equal and fairer Scotland? The announcement of the whole family well-being fund, resourced by £500 million over the lifetime of the parent, is very welcome. It's a step that will help to develop support to families. The Scottish Government is making major progress, taking ambitious steps to tackle child poverty, promote social justice and create a playing field for young people for low-income backgrounds in their families. That includes investment to tackle poverty-related attainment gap and support education recovery. In the first 100 days that the Scottish Government paid £100 as part of the £520 support to low-income families, it paid the first instalment £215 million of the £1 billion attainment Scotland fund. In 2021, the Scottish Government invested around £2.5 billion to support low-income households, including nearly £1 billion to directly supported children. The Scottish Government will rely on the Scottish child payment to all under 16s by the end of 2022. Thereafter, the Scottish Government will double the payment to £20 per week as quickly as possible. I look forward to some of the budget discussions that are coming from the opposition parties about how they are going to pay that. We need the boring powers if we are going to meet the demand that is going to come forward. We heard evidence this morning in the social security committee that a number of the things that we need to do to challenge poverty in the long term will take much longer than the 2023 targets if we are to meet them. I hope that you will double it today, but if you are only going to double the Scottish child payment, how do you intend to meet the 2023 target? It comes back to the very point that Neil Gray made. Within this Parliament, we do not have the boring powers to achieve that. If we did have that and it was an independent Scotland, then we would be able to do that. We have to look at the demand as Neil said earlier on in how we have to tackle that. That gets to the fundamental question that he mentioned. It is the binary ad of powers that are here in Westminster. We need all the powers here. What did the Deputy First Minister's comments on the television this weekend that Scotland would not be able to undertake quantitative easing and therefore would not be able to borrow? I did not see the interview at all, Mr Marra, so I cannot comment on that specific point that was made. Again, it comes back to the boring powers that are there. We need to go back to the UK Government and ask for that. I cannot comment that because I did not see the interview. The Scottish Government has also taken the first step, and this is a really important part that has not been mentioned as well, about establishing a minimum income guarantee, helping to ensure that everyone in Scotland can live healthy, financially secure and fulfilling lives. I have taken a few, and I am conscious of the time so far. Nine local authorities with Scotland's highest concentrations of deprivation are sharing £43 million of investment. A further £7 million from the school's programme has been shared between 73 additional schools, with the highest concentration of pupils from areas of deprivation. Headteachers are getting an enhanced £147 million of PEP funding to support disadvantaged pupils. Of course, all councils are offering 1140 hours of funded early learning and childcare to eligible children, making high-quality early learning and childcare available to families and seven parents of up to £5,000 per year for each eligible child. The recent announcement about the Scottish Government and about building a system of wraparound school age childcare over the course of the Parliament is much welcome, offering care before and after school and in the holidays, which will be free to families on the lowest income. This debate gets to the heart of why we are here, protecting the most vulnerable in our society, providing hope and opportunities. I am delighted to be able to take part in this afternoon's debate on supporting a fairer and more equal society. As a Scottish Conservative, I believe in the principles of equality of opportunity. We have a role to play to ensure that what people achieve in life is not determined by where they come from, who their parents are, or where they went to school, but by the drive that they have and the determination to succeed. To achieve that, we all need to tackle the root causes of poverty in Scotland, but the Scottish National Party's record on tackling poverty is quite frankly shocking. Nearly one in five Scots or over one million people are living in relative poverty after their housing costs are taken into account. That statistic rises to one in four for children across Scotland. Those rates have been gradually rising for the last decade. The First Minister claimed in the last Parliament term that education was her number one priority. I want to make some progress, but I will take an intervention later. However, she has had to preside over a stubbornly wide attainment gap, which has shown that pupils from more affluent deprived areas are not managing to succeed and that there are no signs of closing that attainment gap across many different measures. The usual excuse that we hear from for this failing is that the nationalist benches tell us that they do not have the necessary powers to tackle poverty. However, we all know that that is simply not the case. Despite a range of new welfare powers being devolved in 2016, the SNP has said that they will not be able to fully, successfully restore until 2025—nine years later, Presiding Officer. Remember that this is also the party that said that it could set up an independent Scotland in just 18 months. In one case, the Social Security Minister simply had to hand back responsibility of benefits to the Department of Work and Pensions because it would avoid unnecessary duplication. Even SNP ministers now seem to see the benefits of having some welfare powers on a UK-wide basis. The proposals that have been put forward by the cobbled together coalition of the nationalists and greens are even worse, being ill-thought out and unaffordable. The new coalition has suggested that they will seek to introduce a universal basic income. This scheme simply gives with one hand and will take with the other. According to the documents released under freedom of information by the Scottish Government itself, the scheme could cost the economy £58 billion a year. The policy will put forward and it only appears to have the appeasement of headline supporters in the coalition of chaos rather than to target to those people who need the most. Another poor suggestion is the introduction of rent controls. They simply do not work and are not supported by economists from across the political spectrum. Capping rents will simply make renting out properties a less attractive prospect for landlords who will lead a reduction and they will not be able to supply what is required. There will be similar proposals. We have heard those similar proposals that took place in Sweden and Stockholm are waiting up to nine years for a rent-controlled problem resolved. Yet another flashy policy from a party fully looking at not the real problems but only working towards its goal. It has been mentioned many times already in the debate that it wants full powers for independence. Unlike the coalition for chaos, we in the Scottish Conservatives have a real workable solution to tackle the root causes of poverty and will give everyone a chance to succeed. We will deliver the biggest programme of social housing building since the Scottish Parliament was convened in 1999. We also want to assist in the construction sector going back to pre-2007 levels. Rather than debating society's proposals such as rent controls, we would address the high rents that are increased and ensure that supply and demand to ensure that the supply of houses and the people were able to afford to rent and to buy. We would also provide funds for councils that are delivering many of the frontline services on which the poorest people in our society rely. They have had to deal with squinging cuts over the past few decades from this chamber and from this Government. The Greens and the SNP have put forward budgets over several years that have done that to councils again and again. We would ensure that the increases to the Scottish Government budget were passed directly on to councils to ensure that the funding formula was set in place. That would ensure that councils can continue to deliver vital public services. It is very important to point out that there are some areas in which we agree. Excuse me, Mr Gray, but Mr Stewart is not giving way at the moment. We were the first party to announce plans to extend free school meals to include all primary school pupils. I am pleased to see that the Scottish Government has since adopted that policy. We also pledged in our recent election manifesto to double the Scottish Child Payment. Again, I am glad to see that the Scottish Government is proposing to do the same, but we would like to see it happen much more quickly and within the next financial year. In conclusion, we and the Scottish Conservatives are committed to tackling the root cause of poverty to ensure equal opportunity for everyone in Scotland. The Nationalist Coalition is so fixed on its holding another referendum on independence to give this important issue the attention that it really deserves. We will continue to hold this Government to account for its failings that it has done for years across Scotland. I support the amendment in the name of Miles Briggs. I call Stevenson to be followed by Maggie Chapman. As we all know, the impact of Covid-19 on our society has been huge and we need bold action to recover. The cabinet secretary's motion outlines many of the ambitious plans from the programme for government. We need to rebuild from the pandemic and we need to grab the opportunity to create a fair and more equal society. So much of that revolves around education and, as we go forward, it is important to remove barriers and ensure pupils get the most out of their time in education. Since the election, the Scottish Government has already increased school clothing grants and abolished charges for music, art and other practical subjects. The SNP is committed to expanding free school lunches for all primary school pupils and introducing breakfast clubs. Those additional measures to tackle the cost of the school day are so important and will ensure that more children have the opportunities that they deserve. Early learning and childcare plays a huge role in children's development and a universal system can do so much to minimise the consequences of poverty on children. Plans to expand early learning and childcare to one and two-year-olds and the introduction of wraparound childcare for school-aged children will benefit children and families immensely. That builds on the achievement of 1140 hours of early learning and childcare funded by the Government. I remember as a working parent having to give up my pension contributions so my daughter could go to nursery. There was no way I could afford both and I am sure that this is a problem that many parents and especially mums have faced. For some, the decision could be starker, choosing between work or childcare. It is important that the Government does as much as possible to support parents in or into the workplace. Many new-build nurseries have sprung up across the country. In the school-bride shopping centre, we have the new rooftop early learning and childcare centre. The kids there have a huge roof garden where they can play and learn outside safely. Outdoor space is really important and it is part of our efforts to encourage children to get outdoors and help them to become more aware and appreciative of our natural environment. The programme for government gives a welcome commitment. The Scottish Government will continue to promote and support outdoor learning, including Child and Scotland's first outdoor primary learning facilities. I used to work for an outdoor education charity and we ran a project, bushcraft bear, for nursery children from deprived areas. We created our own books starring the bear and the outdoor education instructors. We took children and their favourite soft toy to Shetlarow country park, with our very own bushcraft bear dressed up as an explorer and read stories, created a den and foraged for food for the terries. I saw first-hand the positive outcomes that it delivered. For some kids, it was the first time they had experience being out in the forest. We also gave every child a book voucher and encouraged them to visit the library more often. More importantly, we invited parents and carers to come with us to show that a fun day out does not have to be costly. I would like to see schemes like that to become more widespread. Delivering outdoor education, reducing the cost of the school day and expanding early years provision will help tackle some of the problems that affect people who grew up in poverty, including low educational attainment and poorer health outcomes. However, we must eradicate child poverty and the SNP Government will continue to drive forward this national mission. Over 6,000 families in South Lanarkshire have already benefited from the SNP game-changing Scottish child payment. We need to tackle the root causes of poverty and we need to treat people with fairness, dignity and respect. The new Scottish social security system does exactly that. Its upcoming introduction of disability benefits will, I am sure, be welcomed by many across the country. Workers deserve fair employment and to earn as a minimum their real living wage. However, we also need to be radical by ensuring that all of our fellow citizens have enough money to live on. A minimum income guarantee will give everyone the dignity they deserve. I am sorry, but I would like to make progress. The foundations for this have been laid and I look forward to hearing the steering group's deliberations on that. However, with most social security powers reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is acting with one hand tied behind its back. The Scottish Government is working hard using the powers that it has to build a fairer country, but the events of the recent weeks show us the limits of what we in this Parliament can do. The Scottish Government will support our young people by removing council tax for under 22s. Meanwhile, at Westminster, Boris Johnson appoints a Deputy Prime Minister who has called for the minimum wage to be scrapped for some people under 21s. It really is a tale of two Governments, as my colleague Neil Gray has stated. As we rebuild from the pandemic, we have an opportunity and a duty to make Scotland a more equal and inclusive society. Reality is this—the only way to keep Scotland safe from more Tory cuts and Westminster Governments we do not vote for is to become an independent country. The past 18 months have laid bare the brutal inequalities in our society, but they have also revealed our will and our capacity to heal them. More than ever, we recognise how the fundamental pillars of green politics support and strengthen one another, not just environmental sustainability but social justice, not just non-violence but genuinely participatory democracy. Our vision and our imperative for action is a Scotland that is fairer, more inclusive, more progressive and more equal. The history of the last century and the experience of communities across the globe show us the centrality of human rights in achieving that vision. We want to see a Scotland where people understand their rights and those are their neighbours, where they feel valued and included, where they are empowered to claim their own rights and to stand in solidarity, compassion and justice to help others to achieve theirs too. That is why it is so important to embed equality, human rights and inclusion across the entire public sector, especially in Government decisions, policies and spending. It is only when those who hold power, us, are reminded day by day of our specific obligations to fairness that we will begin to uproot those structural inequalities that are so deeply rooted and so bitterly toxic. During the coming year, the beginning of consultation on how we embed these principles will be among the most important work that Scottish Governments have ever done. In the same way, I warmly welcome the commitment to start consultation on the public sector equality duty in Scotland and the potential regulatory changes that it will require. The new duty on relevant public bodies to develop accessible and inclusive communications and the expansion of existing duties to include reporting on disability and ethnicity pay gaps will be vital tools in creating greater inclusion and fairness. I look forward to the opportunity to look at those regulations too and I think that they really could be transformative. Would you agree with us that we need to make sure that ScotRail, when it is brought into public hands, is also subject to those duties? How Governments make spending decisions on behalf of people and communities has a huge impact on the direction in which that country moves. The work of embedding equality and human rights within all stages of the budget process is an essential part of the swider transformation. By taking account of the equality budget advisory group's recommendations, we can help to ensure that spending decisions advance equality and human rights for everyone in Scotland. Over the past decade, her party has supported the SNP at cutting local government budgets. We have seen a 7 per cent reduction over the past decade. Are we ever going to see that turned round that she is in government and fair funding for local government delivered? I would ask the member what his party has managed to achieve through budget negotiations over the past seven years, and I think that that is the answer. As we all know, the moral health of a society can be reliably judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members. I therefore especially welcome the focus on child poverty contained within the new fair of Scotland duty guidance. That provides a vital statutory basis for public bodies to consider fundamental issues of socioeconomic disadvantage when making their decisions. In the coming year, we will see consultation on a new human rights bill, a key aspect in advancing the 30 recommendations from the national task force for human rights leadership. The bill will incorporate, as far as possible, within our devolved competence, key human rights treaties. I am going to name them all because this will truly be a historic commitment. The international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights, the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. It will also follow international best practice in including a right to a healthy environment and equal access for all, especially those older and LGBTQI plus people, to the rights contained within the bill. Of course, incorporating those treaties into Scots law must be accompanied by decisive bold action. The right to adequate housing is one of the ICER SCR's central provisions, and we in the Greens have been especially determined to realise that right for private sector tenants. We welcome the start that has already been made in working towards ensuring that everyone has a safe, warm place to call home, with rights and security, regardless of tenure. We will work actively in bringing about the new deal for tenants, ensuring quality of outcomes and protection. We look forward to enhanced tenants' rights, including greater flexibility to make their homes their own, keep beloved companion animals and greater protection from winter evictions, more stringent penalties for unscrupulous landlords, an effective national system of rent controls and a rent guarantor for estranged young people. Taken together, that represents the biggest transformation for tenants in decades, and I am pleased that the Greens secured that as part of the co-operation agreement. A few months ago, I said in the chamber that at the heart of our collective wellbeing must be social security, not a system or an idea, but a fundamental right. We know that the societies that guarantee their services in social security are the societies that perform best. They have the longest life expectancy, the lowest levels of crime, the highest levels of innovation and economic performance. Ma'am, could you bring your remarks to close, please? I am about to close. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Well, you go over your time, so please do so now. There is so much more, I would like to say, on carer disability, benefits on child poverty and more, but I will close by confirming— Yes, thank you, Ms Chapman. I had asked you to close. Our next speaker will be Jackie Dunbar, to be followed by Sharon Dowey. Up to six minutes, please, Ms Dunbar. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am delighted to be able to speak to the motion today. I am a firm believer that we should always strive to do the best for our communities. I also sincerely believe that that is what our Scottish Government is doing with the programme for government and the specific interventions that are outlined in today's motion. Those interventions will be simply game changing for the individuals, the families and the children who are in need of our help. However, although those interventions are very welcome, we must also admit that they can only go so far. Our Scottish Government can only do so much while continually fighting against the tide of, quite frankly, downright disgraceful decisions made by the Tories at Westminster. The Westminster Tories are removing the £20 uplift to universal credit, plunging over 8,000 people in Aberdeen alone into poverty. Nationally, that figure exceeds 241,000 people, and by removing that £20 uplift, it reduces their household incomes by £1,040 a year. Let me say that again, £1,040 per year stripped from those in most need within our society. Fawr, some families and individuals to make horrendous decisions to either feed their children or to heat their home, to make the horrendous decision as to who gets to eat that day, themselves or their children. That is the reality many will face once the universal credit uplift is ripped from the pockets of those most in need. In recent weeks, we have heard of yet another hammer blow by Westminster, again hitting the poorest in our society through the raising of national insurance to pay for social care in England and Wales, a provision in Scotland that is already funded by the Scottish Government. Whilst we do not know the full extent of the damage that it will do, members should be under no illusion that those decisions will be less money in the pockets of the lowest-paid workers within our constituencies. That is less money to buy food, less money to pay bills and less money to meet the expenses of daily life. I firmly believe that the Tories at Westminster have absolutely no interest in creating a more equal society. All that I can see coming from Westminster is the broadening of the gap between the richest and the poorest of our society and forcing more working families on to the bread line. In stark contrast to that, the Scottish Government has committed to an ambitious programme for government. A programme that Neil Gray said earlier will invest around £2.5 billion to support low-income households, a programme that commits nearly a billion to directly support our children and pupils who live in Scotland's most deprived communities will be among those set to benefit from a record investment of over £215 million of targeted funding in this financial year to help to close the poverty-related attainment gap. The Scottish Government is also committed to delivering a doubling of the carers allowance supplement. That will be a very welcome boost to the inadequate payments that are again made by the UK Government. The SNP has also committed to doubling the Scottish child payment and extending the payment to all illegible under-16s by the end of 2022. On the carers benefit point, we too support the doubling of the carers benefit, because it will put more money in carers pockets. What do you and your Government intend to do for the 39,000 people who have an underlying entitlement carers benefit but will not receive the supplement? I would like to think that the Scottish Government has got that within our sites and will hopefully be able to deliver. I do not have the answer to you, I am sorry, but I am sure that the Scottish Government is very much aware of that. We have committed to expanding free school meals provision, extended childcare provision to 1,140 hours and are committed to supporting working families with the provision of wraparound care and the provision of care for one- and two-year-olds. The Scottish Government is also investing over £12 million to provide access to free welfare and money advice services, ensuring that those constituents who are struggling the most have access to good quality advice and support to allow them to maximise their incomes. That will be greatly received, I know, from a lot of my constituents in Aberdeen-Donside. As we rebuild from the pandemic, we have an opportunity to make Scotland a more equal and inclusive society. However, Scotland does not hold all the powers that it requires to achieve that. The UK Government has shown time and time again that it does not hold the same progressive values with regard to equality and fairness as Scotland. That only reaffirms the need for Scotland's future to be in Scotland's hands. I believe that the Scottish Government will do all that is within its power and will continue to fight tooth and nail for equality in Scotland. I also truly believe that, only once all decisions are made here, will we be able to achieve our goal of truly becoming a fair, equal and prosperous country. One of the first steps towards building a fairer and more equal society is to ensure that all children get a fair start in life, no matter where they are born. All too often, the issues of rural poverty are swept beneath the carpet, out of sight and out of mind. As our world becomes even more connected, the communities on our periphery are being left behind. Ensuring that rural communities are connected with young people afforded the same opportunities as their urban counterparts is a key part of the challenge and nowhere in Scotland is this more evident than Asia. Looking at the Scottish index of multiple deprivation, sadly, several communities in Asia appear in the top 10 per cent of Scotland's most deprived areas. However, the majority of those areas lie outside of air in the countryside, which, despite being a few miles from the promenades of Trun and Presswick, feel a million miles away. For example, I recently visited towns in rural East Asia during my street surgery tour, an area that is some of the highest levels of deprivation in the country. While there, residents pointed out the number of derelict buildings in one of the towns with 12 in one street alone. The effects of housing poverty can be felt clearly in rural communities and derelict buildings are the final results. Without adequate funds to keep houses in good condition, living standards deteriorate, causing further hardship and stigma, with a knock-on effect on young people's development. In East Asia, 37 per cent of buildings feel the Scottish housing quality standard, with that figure rising to 46 per cent for South Asia, nearly half the local authorities' dwellings. 41 per cent were judged to have critical elements of disrepair. In other words, they are flawed in terms of weather tightness and structural stability, while 25 per cent of South Asia's dwellings were in need of immediate repair, affecting a horrifying 34 per cent of families. Fuel poverty is another issue that holds back people in rural areas. In East Asia, fuel poverty affects 15,000 households, including 2,000 families. Meanwhile, in South Asia, a wealthier local authority, as staggering 12,000 households are affected—nearly a quarter of all households. In South Asia, the fuel poverty gap—in other words, the amount of money that it would take to pull households out of fuel poverty—has reached £850, truly highlighting the disadvantage at which many in rural communities find themselves. Does she think that the cut to universal credit will help those people who are in fuel poverty in those communities? Will it help or hinder them to have £20 a week taken off them? We fully supported the temporary uplift in the universal credit during the height of the pandemic, but now that we are coming through, we need to try to get people back into work. People in my area do not want to live in benefits, they want investment from the Government to go into that area. I recognise that many of those people on universal credit are already working, but they do not earn enough in order to have the type of living standards that she is talking about. Removing the £20 will just make that situation worse. Surely she can see that. I have been to the DWP and I have spoken to people who work there, and they think that that is the best system to try to encourage people to get into work. We need to invest in rural communities, and we need to give people the opportunity to get into work. I have a few comments from the sedentary position, please. No, I am sorry, I will make some progress. A doubling of the Scottish child payment would go some way towards resolving those issues, but it is not enough on its own, and it takes no account of rural and urban disparities. The Scottish Government has many worthy aims when it comes to resolving poverty, but often there is too much talk followed by too little change. Education, followed by consistent employment, is and always will be the best way to deliver real economic change in a community. Making sure that we have the appropriate tools in place is an essential step on the road to reducing rural poverty. Inward investment is one mechanism, as is education, but employability programmes also have a role to play. With that in mind, I decided to look at how the Scottish Government's employability programmes had progressed. However, I was surprised at the results, and not in a good way. Fair Start Scotland has been operational since 2018, but its performance has been disappointing. In the first quarter of April 2018, only 14 per cent of starts sustained one year of employment. Those figures have not improved, and the pandemic is no excuse. In the final quarter of 2019, only 9 per cent of starts stayed in a job for a year. Although the pandemic has undoubtedly had an impact, during the height of Covid, in October to December 2020, 38 per cent of starts began a job. That figure has plummeted to 9 per cent in the second quarter of this year. In June 2021, only 76 participants had achieved 12 months' work out of 878 starts the previous year. If we are serious about curbing rural unemployment, then the Cabinet Secretary needs to get a grip on Scotland's employability programme. The number of Scots using devolved social security programmes is set to rise exponentially in the effects of the pandemic, and further benefits are devolved. We need robust measures in place to boost rural employment, cut rural poverty and end rural barriers to employment. I hope to see the Scottish Government taking more positive action to bring genuine change to those forgotten communities. I think that this Parliament does a really good job at hiding whether there can be consensus and agreement from time to time. Perhaps I should leave the Conservatives to one side when I talk about that consensus and agreement in the most. I do recall attending events in our Parliament in the last session to hear the case for £5 per week per child as a anti-poverty supplement. As a backbencher of the Government, I took those calls seriously, as did the SNP Government and members across the chamber. In the Scottish Government announced in 2019 that, rather than a £5 per week child supplement, that would now be a Scottish child payment that would introduce to families and qualify benefits as a £10 per week per child payment. No rape cause, no two child care, a straightforward forthright direct payment to those most in need and in poverty. We have agreement across the chamber and we have consensus. That was to be extended to all under-16s for starting with under-60s. The announcement was a victory and a vindication for campaigners. They had showed movement as well. They wanted a universal £5 payment at the outset, and we have now moved to a £10 targeted payment. Since then, the SNP has fast-tracked both the delivery and roll-out to under-16s for the Scottish child payment and brought in bridging payments, as we have heard. Most recently, SNP MSPs were elected on the commitment to raise the Scottish child payment to £20 per child per week. Commitments made across the chamber indeed, and our Scottish Government will do so. I absolutely accept that campaigners wish to see that happen as soon as possible. There are always demands on Government money. When we are bringing in the Scottish child payment, rather than increasing it further, one of the suggestions that were made by anti-poverty groups was that if we have additional money, perhaps we should give it to teenage children's families during the summer, another pinch point when families were in poverty. There are always many ways to spend money in the chamber to help those who are living in poverty. We should bear that in mind. Together with various other direct policy initiatives from this Government to tackle child poverty, such as best start grants, best start foods, increasing the Scottish school clothing grant and rolling out further free school meals, the Scottish Government clearly has a policy programme that is taking seriously action to tackle child poverty, and with it bringing a fairer and more equal society that this debate is focused on. No complacency there, Presiding Officer, and of course we must strive to do more. Entitlement and support must not only exist, but their uptake must be maximised. I welcome the Scottish Government embraces its statutory duty to promote benefit uptake. A similar statutory duty does not exist at Westminster. With regard to the Scottish child payment, once rolled out, the Scottish Government anticipated an 83 per cent uptake. Of course, it wanted 100 per cent, but it estimated 83 per cent. I absolutely welcome that 108,000 children benefited to the tune of £176 million from February when it was introduced to the 30th of June this year. With around 133,000 forecasts to be eligible, that would suggest an uptake of around perhaps 80 per cent or so. I am not sure about that figure. I would also note that Spice suggests initially that uptake was around 60 per cent, so it is really quite important to act to work out what that uptake is currently and what we are doing to address any uptake gap. Those missing out may indeed be the most vulnerable. I know that the Scottish Government is distributing £12 million this year to support the provision of free welfare and debt advice. I recommend the work of various groups and organisations, be they citizens advice bureaus, local authority welfare workers or various other groups working in debt support advice and income maximisation. However, it is often the most vulnerable families who do not go to those bodies. In my constituency, in Mary Ellen Springburn, I am lucky to have on-the-ground trusted organisations who do not just offer practical support for those who are most vulnerable, but who also seek to ensure individuals and families are plugged into the wider benefits system. I would note two of those. There are many, but I would note the Glasgow North baby food bank and the spirit of Springburn. The Glasgow North baby food bank does not just give out baby formula, nappies, clothes, moral support, peer support. It also signposts those individuals and families to Scottish social security benefits to make sure that they get what they are entitled to. The spirit of Springburn has a hub in the heart of the Springburn community, bringing services to the people that most need them. They do not get direct funding from Government. Perhaps we have to do more to build community resilience such as offered by the Glasgow North baby food bank and the spirit of Springburn. The time that I have left, I want to talk about the £20 cut in universal credit. You were not in the chamber at the time, but I used that expression, you, in an intervention to Miles Briggs' time and again. I apologise for that. It is not parliamentary etiquette, but I was so impacted by the proposed the looming cut, the catastrophe that the £20 cut in universal credit will bring to my constituents. I lost that parliamentary etiquette. There is a bit of a false debate in relation to this cut. Universal credit was not sufficient before the £20 uplift was brought in. It was never enough to live on. I had constituents already going to food banks, already in poverty, already not eating their homes because benefits were too low and £20 a week just about got them to hang in there, just about got them to hang in there and now it's been stripped away again. It's disgraceful, it's appalling, it's shameful, it's not dignified, it's quite simply wrong and the Conservatives in Scotland should get a backbone and stand up to their UK masters and stand up for the poorest in Scotland and across the UK, Presiding Officer. Thank you Mr Doris. I now call Martin Whitfield to be followed by Joe Fitzpatrick, who will be the last speaker in the open debate. Up to six minutes please Mr Whitfield. I'm very grateful Deputy Presiding Officer and it is a great pleasure to follow Bob Doris and his thoughtful contribution, particularly with regard to universal credit and particularly I echo his comments that even before the £20 uplift the pressure on families, families with children, families who were in work was quite simply unacceptable and I do welcome the thought behind today's motion about an ambitious programme for government to create a fairer society but I would like to take a moment to consider what we mean by fairer society. A number of speakers this afternoon have spoken about an equitable society, a number of speakers have spoken about a fair society and I want to just look at what that means because we have people living in our society in our communities now and I have to confess as a primary school teacher I have sat through and I say this very carefully perhaps some very convoluted assemblies where I have heard adults try to explain to children what fairer and what equity and what equitable means and as I say I say that with my fingers crossed to the head teachers who I know are probably immediately emailing me because to explain what a fairer society is needs to get down to a simple principle if you say to a child is it fair if they've not benefited they'll say no so is a fairer society about everyone being equal I hope I deeply hope that we all in this Chamber can agree it is not about everyone being the same indeed I'm minded of Clarence Drummond one of the perhaps the first human rights lawyer in the US who took part in the monkey trial when when they were trying to stack the jury he said conform conform what do you want do you want to run them through a meat grinder so they all come out the same I hope everyone in this chamber indeed I hope everyone across Scotland do not want a society where everything is the same Richard Levoix the educationalist has said the definition of fairness well it means everyone gets what he or she needs and I think that flexibility is very important going forward and I welcome the fact that so much of today's motion concentrates on our young people because that is important and it's crucial that the society we bequeath them is one that is fairer is one that they feel attached to is one that they feel that they have contributed to but it's not enough to have slogans it's not enough to have promises it's not even enough to rebrand previous offers 19 percent of Scotland's population 1.03 million people each year are living in relative poverty takeaway housing costs that's 17 percent and child poverty levels in this country are an absolute disgrace we have young families and we have young people and their families in this society who are supported by food banks who are supported by the third sector groups who are supported by charities churches who are supported by their friends and neighbours they're supported by local authorities and I welcome work that's being done there indeed East Lothian Council's poverty plan has been well received but 25 percent of children in East Lothian are living in poverty as expressed by their constituency MSP Paul so so eloquently 26 percent of the children who live in the borders 24 percent who live in Dumfries and Galloway we can't live in a society where one child is hungry and that's what we should aim to on current figures without an alteration to the Scottish child payment we will miss the target we this chamber this government we who have been elected to look after and support people will miss the target that's been set that's unacceptable Scottish Labour have made the choice and I know Neil is not in his seat but I'm sure we'd leap up and intervene and say where is the money coming from but Scottish Labour have made the choice that that should be doubled and doubled again next year why so that 80 000 pupils children and young people can be lifted out of poverty and it is a question of choices it's a question of what is important what lies at the heart we heard the smoke earlier on that pandan glancy mentioned that social security has to do the heavy lifting in the short term please cabinet secretary on that point the joseph round tree foundation was very clear that it is not sustainable to expect social security to solve poverty or child poverty it has to include employability and reducing costs do you agree with their position absolutely martin whitefield my apologies deputy presiding absolutely it is not for social security to pay for everybody forever because that reduces the dignity that people find as individuals but it is right in the short term that we use social security to do the heavy lifting and get these children get these children's families out of poverty so that as we look to their education they feel more able to contribute and learn as they go on to find jobs they can hang on for a job that they feel more fitted to rather than the first thing that comes along often pressed on them by those who administer the social security so i agree it is not the single answer but i suggest it is the answer going forward so with the bridging payments we have children who can receive that without the needs to be on free school meals so after the abhorrent £20 cut children in scotland who will whose families will use lose universal credit can continue to receive the scottish child benefit i know time is very short and i want to make one mention which i would ask for a response yes if you do very quickly please because time is very short i agree it's very quick the unhcr case at the supreme court is about to be the judgment is about to be handed down will the government confirm that it will provide primary legislation time should that be needed to bring it into force i'm grateful deputy thank you mr quickfield and i now call joel Fitzpatrick up to six minutes please miss thank you Presiding Officer um Presiding Officer from my constituency office i can see the social social security scotland headquarters building at dundee waterfront by autumn next year 3,500 people will be employed by the agency across scotland including up to 900 in my constituency and we heard this week there are further 300 jobs are set to be created nearby at the new nhs24 regional hub in the city Presiding Officer the smp are delivering for dundee as we've heard social security scotland are delivering the game changing scottish child payment to low income families which will be double to 20 pound per week per child as quickly as possible social security scotland are also delivering the new child disability payment in three pilot areas including in my constituency in dundee Presiding Officer where the actions of the Scottish Government are compared with the actions of the UK Government it is clear who is serious about tackling poverty in scotland the tories have imposed the bedroom tax the benefits cap the five week wait for the failing universal credit benefit sanctions the two child cap and the abhorrent rape clause and last night Scottish Tory MPs at Westminster sat on their hands as Boris Johnson bulldozed through his 20 pound a week cut to universal credit which as many others have said will cut will push thousands of children in scotland into poverty as the cabinet secretary put it last week it is a total disgrace that Tory MPs who come into this parliament demanding that the Scottish government plug the holes that their own government is creating at Westminster and have the brass neck to do so the tories really need to get their own house in order Presiding Officer I am proud of the steps being taken by the Scottish Government to eradicate poverty the Scottish Government is delivering for dundee including over 4.2 million pounds to 3,700 dundee carers through our carers action supplement Mr Marra Mike Marra I think the member is giving way I mean I think there's a slight dissonance between the rhetoric and the reality he must know that poverty in dundee has continued to increase dramatically child poverty is increasing dramatically under this government drug deaths are increasing dramatically the outcomes for the people of our city Mr Marra an intervention not a speech please Mr Fitzpatrick I think the member for his intervention clearly no one is suggesting that poverty does not exist in scotland which is why the Scottish government takes us so seriously which is why the Scottish Government is investing so hard in this area but it is so difficult when every time we take an action those actions are reversed and gone against by actions of the Westminster government which we then have to mitigate against so for dundee over 4.2 million pounds to dundee's 3,700 carers for the carers allowance supplement over a million pounds via the two families pandemic supplement supporting 5,422 children and young people in our city over 1.7 million pounds via the best start grant and best start foods over half a million in funeral support payments supporting people at that most difficult time in their lives of course miles break what impact does the minister think cutting 20 million pounds from drug and alcohol partnerships had in the city of dundee so obviously I'm not a minister I think if you look at the budgets over the last last number years certainly for the last three years the budgets for alcohol and drug partnerships in Scotland have risen year on year and I think you'll see that that in this year's budget there was a there's been a significant investment of new cash which I welcome clearly we have more to do and I hope it's one of the things that we can actually work to together on but there's other things that the the Scottish Government have done for dundee so the free school breakfast and lunches which being expanded to all primary school pupils benefiting over 10,000 children in dundee alone and over 6,000 children and young people in our city receiving the school clothing grant sadly the progressive and ambitious I'll need to make some progress sorry I'll bring you in later if I can sadly the progressive and ambitious work of the Scottish Government is constantly being undermined by the callous approach of the Tories at Westminster slavishly backing backed by their Tory colleagues here in this chamber who will defend indefensible to preserve their precious union. Presiding officer Scotland cannot afford to remain part of this sinking ship there is the United Kingdom imagine what we could achieve in this Parliament if we had the full control of the Scottish welfare system like any other normal country in the world. I look forward to supporting the forthcoming independence referendum bill once the Covid crisis is over so that the people of Scotland can choose whether to remain shackled to Boris Johnson's Brexit Britain or choose independence which will deliver the full range of powers to enable this Parliament to put in place the transformational recovery one which will lead to a fairer more sustainable and prosperous nation and a Scotland which would be able to work in partnership with our friends in the rest of the UK and Europe in genuine partnership of equals often when we talk about independence in this chamber there is complaints from Tories that we need to focus on the day job but we've had an election and the result of the election was clear and decisive the people of Scotland delivered their verdict on the Tories fundamentally undemocratic position that says that Scotland should never the people of Scotland should never have the chance to choose again there was a clear majority in this Parliament for in favour of an independence referendum Presiding Officer that is what this Parliament is duty bound to deliver on behalf of the people of Scotland at who we serve and that is what I will be proud to support when the time comes Presiding Officer to conclude I support the motion and particularly welcome the Scottish government's commitment to put human rights at the centre of our Covid recovery and which will see a new human rights bill introduced by the Scottish government incorporating all the conventions by Maggie Chapman earlier I hope that this is one of the areas where while we differ on other areas I hope this is one of the areas that the Parliament could work together to do what's best for Scotland. Point of order Mr Doris Presiding Officer earlier in my speech a spring burn organisation called spirit of spring burn and the wonderful job they do but what I didn't do is declare that I am a director of spirit of spring burn as I should have done so now place that on the record Presiding Officer. Thank you Mr Doris and that indeed is now on the record I now move to winding up speeches and I call on Michael Marra to wind up for labour up to seven minutes please Mr Marra. Thank you Deputy Presiding Officer and for giving me the opportunity to follow on from my dundie colleague Jo Fitzpatrick more of which later. Only this weekend during the online SNP conference the First Minister took a short break from setting out conspiracy theories to tell us that Scotland can be Denmark, Ireland, Austria, Norway, Finland I mean personally I quite like being Scottish but given all this perhaps there should be no surprise to see the government taking on the language of America and the United States and the land of opportunity that we've heard not very much about today for while on these benches we of course strongly believe in opportunity it isn't really what the focus of this motion or this debate has been about for the grasping of opportunities can only become a reality when there is a universal realisation of rights the right not to be hungry the right to a decent education the right to live free of the indignity of poverty I think my colleague Martin Whitfield was incredibly eloquent in painting that picture and the need for the realisation of those rights and I hope that the minister picks up on his point regarding the implementation of government legislation for the realisation of rights legislation but these are fundamental principles that should exist within our social contract but that is not really what this debate was about this afternoon because the language of opportunity perhaps surrounding these core issues I think shifts significantly that issue of social contract it speaks not really about equality but to I think to a wider sense of individualism and perhaps we hear a little bit of what Susan Aitkins analysis that we should have the opportunity to empty our own bins the opportunity to sweep our own streets and the opportunity to run our own libraries so Presiding Officer maybe to end this analogy borrowing this language from Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio signals a new more honest direction from the government how the society should look perhaps it's just a little bit odd and it's a tired attempt from a press officer or a civil servant to rebadge what has been a dull and timid programme for government the minister started the debate by saying that the government were well aware of the challenge ahead I have to say across a wide range of portfolios it doesn't really seem like it you know there is a real lack of ambition in terms of around our education remobilisation the remobilisation of our NHS which we've heard so much about today and the crisis that we see in our social services but the minister talked about rights she did talk about a list of bills rights consultations rights discussion groups and this rights framework frankly has very little to say about the reality of the city in which we both live in Dundee I think the minister mentioned housing first what she didn't mention was that the 12 staff in the housing first programme have been made redundant and four staff have been had the full responsibilities of that programme taken on top of their own jobs as a result of the funding ending and not being replaced by this government she talked about protection of women and girls but we didn't mention that the fact that refuges in the city of Dundee are often full with no access available when a woman seeks refuge for her and her family please do cabinet secretary so would the member recognise that in recognition of the services provided by women's aid and rape crisis Scotland we provided five million pounds of additional money in order to help them meet the increased demand due to Covid would he not recognise that and welcome that Michael Marra thank you thank you for the intervention I recognise certainly that there was money gone in recently but I can tell you in recent weeks there is still incredibly long waiting lists for one-to-one work with between women and women's aid in Dundee and that resource is not changing that situation the refuges have been full in recent years and continue to be in a state of extreme pressure so we have to think about the reality involved in this government policy I think Pam Duncan Glancy talked to that very clearly when she frankly skewered the minister on the issue of the 125,000 young people missing out on bridging payments due to the approach taken by this government in a speech that was frankly our customary tour de force across these issues praise that Willie Rennie gave as well and went on to highlight the key statistic that I think we are all taking note of in this debate today about 25 percent of children living in poverty in Scotland rising to 38 percent in 10 years time and Alec Rowley talked about that statistic and rightly told us that governments can and should do more as Gordon Brown and Labour did simply put warm words don't put food on the table and we need pounds in the pocket to actually make a difference and I think Mr Rowley made that point very strongly indeed that Labour took 1 million children out of poverty and that child poverty now continues to rise year on year under this both of these governments so the immediate moral imperative for this government is to live up to its end of the social contract should be to eradicate the scourge of child poverty in Scotland in my home city of Dundee over 25 percent of children are living in poverty 7,046 children families who need our support now and I'm afraid the picture that Mr Fitzpatrick portrayed of that city and the challenges that we face didn't actually meet the mark I would say he asked us to imagine what could be achieved I would ask him to imagine what could be achieved if one in eight teachers hadn't been taken out of schools in Dundee by the SNP council whose budget has been cut by the SNP government so analysis shows that 40 pounds per week Scottish child payment would lead to child poverty reduction of up to 80,000 children in Scotland and Neil Gray said we were asking for very little that is not very little that is a significant move yes Neil Gray Michael Marra for giving way and I don't doubt the sincerity by which he makes his case nor Pam Duncan Glancy or any of his colleagues because I share that sincerity that the drive to drive down poverty but why wasn't that commitment to 40 pounds in the manifesto that is just four months old that the Labour Party stood on four months ago? Michael Marra what we have done is we have seen that the writing under this government is on the wall frankly that child poverty child poverty targets are going to be missed and also what we have done as a party is we have listened we have listened to the faith leaders across Scotland listened to the hundreds of third sector organisations that are telling us to take this action and I would say to Mr Gray that the public accounts show us that the government has more money this year than it has in previous years and is likely frankly under this Tory administration to have for years to come I would ask the question if not now then when if not now then when will you have the resource to do it and Mr Gray seemed to indicate and is a retreat to this issue of powers that actually that we needed borrowing more borrowing to do this and Mr Clinton couldn't answer my point and I understand he missed the piece on the telly where the deputy First Minister said that an independent Scotland would not have quantitative easing and could not borrow so frankly when Mr Gray accuses us of being slightly confused I think he would take that point. Mr Marra could you please conclude. To conclude I think the broad consensus across the chamber is a clear issue that the Tories and Miles Briggs point on this that we have to make sure that the position on the 20 pound uplift is frankly indefensible but it is a moral imperative that the Scottish Government acts. Thank you Mr Marra. I now call on Jeremy Balfour to wind up for the Conservatives up to eight minutes please Mr Balfour. Thank you deputy. The pursuit of a fair and equal society is an endeavour that we all have a part to play in. It with so many different areas that must be addressed it will take all of us to strive for our goal. We must be ambitious in our plans to tackle the issues of inequality but more importantly we must deliver on that ambition. Unfortunately deputy Presiding Officer the Government is very good at ambition but woefully inadequate at the delivery. We have heard across the chamber of all the times that the SNP has failed to deliver a fair and equal chance for the people of Scotland. My colleague Miles Briggs highlighted the role of unpaid carers and young carers and yet no one has addressed the points that he has raised and I hope that the Government will in their conclusion. My colleague Pam Gauzer laid out the dread for and truly heartbreaking disparity in her area whether it be in school performance, homelessness or life expectancy. The postcode lottery should not determine your school results whether or not you have a home and certainly not how long you live. Alexander Stewart referred to the fact that the Government has handed powers out over the raw benefits in 2016 and still haven't finished taking full control over them until at least 2025. It will take almost a decade before we get a fairer order and yet they keep saying that they want more powers. Neil Gray? I merely point out to Jeremy Balfour that we have one Government that is investing in social security and a Government that he supports that is cutting social security. Did he hear Stephen Crabb, the former DWP Secretary of State yesterday, when he said that it was a mistake for him to assume that cutting social security would get people into work? That was a mistake and he backed the policy that is supported by this Government, which is to see the universal credit uplift retained. Mr Balfour? I think that my colleague Mr Gray made clear that we would have preferred an extension if possible, but we also recognise, as you recognise, that there are financial choices that have to be made. All that we have heard from the SNP benches this afternoon is, let's have more power, but we have heard over and over again that we have not even been delivered on the powers that we have already. The slag of DWP, but without DWP, poor people would be even poorer and people would be getting benefits. We have heard from my colleague Sharon Dowie of the terrible lack of opportunities that are affordable to our rural communities. Again, being education employment. At this point, I want to go back and echo my colleague Alexander Stewart in ensuring that we as a Conservatives believe in equality of opportunity. The hallmark of a fair society is that one allows individuals to thrive regardless of their situation where they are born into what type of family they live in. Child poverty is a massive problem here in Scotland. I would love the Minister to tell me that we have the same powers north and south of the border but why are more disabled people in employment in England compared to Scotland? Because this Government, I think, needs to answer these questions rather than slagging off other Governments. As I mentioned earlier, it is estimated that almost a quarter of children in Scotland are living in relative poverty after housing costs. That statistic doesn't hit you like a punch in the gut. You surely aren't grasping the magnitude of it. You are talking about child poverty and you have said that your Government needs to make difficult financial choices while demanding that this Government doubles Scottish child payment immediately. Do you not see the irony in that? Surely those are people who are receiving money Scottish families? How can you justify £20 coming out of those families' hands? Can we just remind members that they speak through the chair and therefore they should not refer to other members as you, Mr Balfour? The answer is that all five parties had that in our manifestos. We want to deliver on our manifestos because we have listened to the faith groups, we have listened to the third sector, we say that this needs to be done. You are talking about organisations that have quite rightly lobbied. The member has talked about organisations that are quite rightly calling for the doubling of child payment. Those same organisations are telling members on that side of the chamber that it is the wrong thing to do to cut universal credit by £20. Why are you only listening to them on one issue and not the other? I may be wrong on this, but I understand that we are missing the Scottish Parliament and we have responsibility for Scottish decisions. If you want to go and discuss universal credit, stand down and get yourself elected to Westminster, but please let's focus in on what we can do in this Parliament with the power that we have rather than focusing on other Governments. It is the utmost importance that we as a Parliament seek—no, I have no more time on the middle of the site. As I said, many charities have stated that it would make a massive difference. Doubling the Scottish child payment to £20 will have a major impact on the number of children in poverty, lifting tens of thousands of children from most tragic circumstances. Of course, it is no way a silver bullet, but it would make a difference, a real difference, and it is something that I can do and all 128 other members can do when we vote on a budget in a few months' time. If the Government wants to take seriously those issues, it must stop all the talk, grow up its sleeves and deliver effective policies that will promote a fairer and more equal society. What will be the better way to start by seeking to kick women down the road and double the Scottish child payment now, commit to it now, vote for Miles Briggs amendment and let's give a clear message that we understand what the Scottish people want us to do. I thank all members for their contributions today. We have quite understandably heard a lot about the anti-poverty measures that are being taken by the Scottish Government and particularly around the Scottish child payment. We have heard that directly at the start from Miles Briggs and we have heard it from many others. It is, of course, the Government's intention to double the Scottish child payment to £20 as early as possible in this parliamentary session. That is, after all, a benefit that went from announcement to delivery in 18 months, which is a record delivery for our new social security system. Thank you. You are quite right. It is record delivery. Can we replicate that with some of the other benefits then so that people don't have to wait to the likes of 2025 in order to get more eligibility or add to inclusive payment? I will come on to some of this if I have time in more detail. I would absolutely point the member to the fact that we are already delivering 11 benefits through Social Security Scotland, 11 of which are brand new and unique. Some of the reasons why we are taking some time to develop the policy with those with lived experiences to get this right, but also to ensure that we have a stable system that will allow us to make the change. That is something that I, when I was social security secretary, did work very carefully with stakeholders on the reasons for that. Can I get back to the issue on the Scottish child payment? I think that it was very telling as we went on. We heard about the Scottish child payment and we heard about universal credit, although apparently, according to Jeremy Balfour, we shouldn't debate universal credit and we should just leave it to Westminster. He'll forgive me if I don't take that offer up. It is a choice. We all have choices, so I would happily give way to any of the Scottish Conservatives here who would like to intervene today and anyone who would want to condemn the UK Government. If not go as far as that, at least could you all the UK Government into dropping their threat for the UK Government to take that £20 cut to universal credit? I'll say the exact point that I said to one of our backbenchers. My motion today looks towards making sure that we double the child payment in this financial year. Will members support that or are you about to vote against it in this Parliament? There we go, at least Miles Brideg's had decency to stand up and attempt to defend the UK Government while the rest of his backbenchers and frontbenchers sat and looked at the floor, because no one will actually do that in the Scottish Tories. I think that that is a testimony to where their priorities lie and, as Jeremy Balfour said, the choices that they have made on this. We have set out very clearly what we will do in the Scottish child payment and I look forward to when it comes to the budget debates about what will happen in this debate from every single party as we move forward with costed budgets on this. Pam Duncan-Glancy, as always, in her contributions within the Scottish Parliament, gave a very thoughtful, considered approach to her contribution. I urge her to caution on some issues. We would all love to get on with it when it comes to aspects, but specifically on the Scottish child payment, as Shona Robison pointed out when she was making an intervention, we are providing bridging payments to make sure that we are getting on with it. Pam Duncan-Glancy mentioned that that does not match to everyone who will be getting the Scottish child payment. That is simply because we do not have the data to be able to allow us to deliver on that. While, yes, it is a commendable desire for us to be able to do that, we can only work with what we have, we can only work with the reality of what we have within our social security system and the answers are there for full powers, not split powers. I am some of my apologies, I am going to try and make some more progress. Neil Gray, Jackie Dunbar, Bob Dorris and others did talk very rightly about the tale of two Governments and I think that was a point that was exceptionally strongly made. Emma Roddick also gave a very thoughtful contribution, talking about her own experiences of homelessness and the absolute necessity on us to tackle the drivers of poverty through this. People fall through the net and that is absolutely unacceptable and that is why we have to take a cross-government approach to be able to deal with this. I can also just point out the contribution by Maggie Chapman. There were not many contributions that did mention the work that is on-going on human rights and the incorporation of the UN treaties. We have the opportunity within this parliamentary session to deliver something that is truly world-leading on this and she mentioned the different parts of our society that will benefit from that and I do hope that it is something that we will genuinely be able to take some progress on consensually. I'm very grateful that we choose exchange time to leap it up. I wonder whether the cabinet secretary is able to answer the question that I posed with regard to the Supreme Court judgment that we anticipate within weeks. Yes, I'm just coming to your contribution as well. Martin Whitfield made a contribution on the UNCRC, which is of course within the Supreme Court at the moment, so I won't take too much time or make too much commitment on a live case, but this Government does remain absolutely committed to the incorporation of UNCRC to the maximum extent of the powers of this Parliament and I hope that that gives them some comfort in our words. I move on to talk about some issues in education that hadn't come up in education children and families because this pandemic has had a significant impact on families and we need to make sure that we are delivering the support to them. That's exactly why a programme for government sets out our commitment to invest at least £50 million over the life of this Parliament to create a whole family wellbeing fund. We also absolutely have to take into account the talk of that promise that we made, we all made, to thousands of care-experienced children and adults last year. We made a promise of transformational change in the care system and we intend to absolutely keep that promise and we will ensure that we will deliver on that despite the challenges. I thank the cabinet secretary for giving way. There is currently no streamlined approach towards adoption support for Scottish families despite the SNP's pledge of implementing the promise, therefore can the cabinet secretary provide an update regarding the care experience grants for 16 to 26-year-olds? That is again something that we are determined to move forward with. You have seen the programme for government, you have seen our commitment for that and we are determined to deliver on that. If I can move on to education recovery, which again a number of members have mentioned, we are aware that there have been negative impacts on both the health and the wellbeing and attainment of some children and young people as a result of the pandemic. That is exactly why there has been £450 million of additional funding that has already been committed as part of education recovery. A significant amount of work regarding educational renewal and recovery is already under way and we will continue to work with partners to ensure that pupils who have been negatively impacted are given the support that they need to recover. An important part of that is on the Scottish attainment challenge programme and that does have an absolutely vital role. Audit Scotland has recognised that there has been progress made on the poverty-related attainment gap and headteachers have also reported back that they are seeing progress, but we know that there is more to do. That is exactly why we have committed £215 million this year to attainment Scotland funding, including a £20 million pupil equity funding premium. That is the first part of a £1 billion commitment to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap within the parliamentary term. I am not sure how much time I have left. I am apparently winding up. My apologies, Miles Gregor. I would have taken another intervention if I could. We are also determined to tackle teacher recruitment and to ensure that teachers have permanent contracts wherever possible, although recruitment and retention lies within the gift of local authorities. We have already committed £248 million to support local authorities for the appointment of an additional 2,200 teachers and more than 500 support staff in schools across Scotland, and we are providing further funding for councils to support the recruitment of 3,500 additional teachers and 500 classroom assistants over this parliamentary term. In conclusion, there is much within the programme for government that Ms Robertson and I could have discussed within our own portfolios. There is an ambitious programme there to create that fairer Scotland. We have seen progress and we are proud of this Government's record. I think that the results of the election have demonstrated that the Scottish people have put our trust in us once again to deliver on that. I think that we are beginning to repay that trust already. When you look at our first 100 days, we have demonstrated that we are committed to delivering on teacher recruitment and on levels to tackle anti-poverty. That is the type of delivery that we are already seeing within the first 100 days, and that is the level of delivery that we are committed to continuing to do over this parliamentary term. That concludes the debate on supporting a fairer and more equal society.