 Rwy'n gwybod� Fördwyr yng Nghymru, mae'r ddechrau eich dweud o Mod, dyma, eu cwybrus eto confirmation gyfnodol ar gyfer Lleiwyr Cymru ar gyfer Lleuyr Cymru, a gennymai Lleuyr Cymru i ni'n gwneud yn cyddiadau rwyf yn gweithio eich fewn digwydd, ac erbyn i fawr, y mae'r dweud i'w dweud ychwanegau a'n gwneud i'w dweud i'w dweud i cael ei gweithgiadau y dweud, Rwy'n ddod, pa ni'n dechrau i Darren Tewin, rywbeth i ddechrau i Penodigol, a i ddaeth penderfyniol a fuifnol, sy'n cael eu bywys. Roeddwn i'n rhan oedd yn gwybod gŵr ein ddawr o'r adeithas i wych yn ei wneud. Yn ages i ddweithiau, roeddracheg hwnnw oes i chiwlio dd spinsnig Ac yn rwynt rydyn ni'n sgolion, yr Ymgujedfaeth yn cael arweithwyr, gan seeff teulu i gwestiwn o newid y ail yn Sgolffynt, yn gan rywbwych unrhyw chi'n gwneud cyd-dangos y dda i 10 oedanyaeth. Rydyn ni'n gwybod bod wrth 200 coli yn y llwybwynt gysylltu, rydych chi'n gwybod i'w munt 상황, i'i bwyr i'r picrannu sydd yn yr ymleith. Od rydyn ni'n ddysgu'r gwybod, ond yr ymleithwyr yn cael y bydd ymleithwyr yn eu gyd cydd. It is incumbent upon us all to do what we can to support young people when they are dealing with a bereavement, but also to believe and ensure that our young people have a level of resilience to help them to deal with any trauma that may befall them during their formative years. I want to go on to why I have brought this debate to the chamber today. I have spoken about an incredible person in the chamber before and I am pleased to be able to do so again today. Ben Cain is a young man from my constituency. He set up a bereavement support group in the School, Colledview Academy in Gwyrwch after he himself suffered the loss of a loved one. Ben received support from local organisation Mind Mosaic Child and Family Therapies based in Greenock, and his support work has suggested that it might be of use to him and others if he started a support group, and that is exactly what Ben did. He has now been running for two years, although Ben has now left school and is studying politics at Glasgow University, with an eye in sitting in one of his seats at some point in the future. Several other pupils have kept the support group running. To me, it highlights the need for such groups, and I understand that it will be difficult for young people to go through bereavement to contemplate setting up a group like this, but if they do, Colledview Academy in Gwyrwch is the example to follow. Unfortunately, there will always be more young people experiencing grief that will ensure that the group keeps going. I thought long and hard about how to approach today's debate as I am speaking about death, loss and grief. No one relishes discussing those particular subjects, but I wanted to find a balance between being respectful to the issue but also making the most vital parliamentary time to debate this subject, and hopefully it makes life just slightly a bit easier for our young people who are grieving today, tomorrow and also in the future. That is why the work undertaken by Ben and his fellow pupils to support themselves while supporting others is so, so important. According to a study by the Children and Young People's Centre for Justice and the University of Strathclyde, more than half of Scottish children have experienced bereavement of a close family member by the age of eight. The study was published in 2020 and does not capture the effect of Covid. I think that we can all expect this figure now to be somewhat higher. As we know, Covid affected our young people very acutely, and whilst focused on bereavement so far, the motion is entitled Children's Grief Awareness Week 2023, which runs from the 16th to the 23rd of November. Children across Scotland indeed, the world struggled being locked down in their homes learning virtually not being able to see their friends. Many of them will have lost a friend or a family member, and the grieving process would have been so much more challenging for them going through that Covid period. Being aware of and cognisant of children's grief is even more necessary in a post-Covid world. We know that the health services to support children are stretched, and the pandemic has placed a lasting strain upon our NHS. That is why I believe that the theme of this year's week is very apt, and it is the shape of your support, with the focus being on the people around a bereaved child or young person beyond their friends or family who can be there to support them through their grief, with the key question being asked, who else can you ask for help or support beyond your friends and family? Reben's support group in his old school answers this question. All of us speaking in today's debate are helping to advance the aims of this year's theme. Child Barrier in the UK are also there to offer that help and support. They have a dedicated phone line 0800 02 840, and can offer telephone or face-to-face support for bereaved young people and also their parents. Child Barrier in the UK helps families to rebuild their lives when a child greaves or when a child dies. The charity supports children and young people up to the age of 25 when someone important to them has died or is not expected to live, and parents in the wider family when a baby or child of any age dies or is dying. The child bereavement in the UK also provides training to professionals in health and social care, education and the voluntary and corporate sectors, equipping them to provide the best possible care to bereaved families. The charity has set up 11 original bereavement networks for professionals across Scotland who work in the statutory and also third sectors, as well as businesses that support people with bereavement. The networks are also open to campaigners and activists, and the voice of lived experiences is crucially important in these networks. The Sean Humphries, the child bereavement in the UK national development co-ordinated for Scotland, is responsible for the facilitation and development of these networks. He is currently looking to establish further networks in Ergyll and Bute and also in the borders to try to ensure that even more coverage of all parts of the country is keen to hear from anyone who wants to be part of the existing or new networks. If anyone living in these areas is interested in helping to set up a network, please contact my office and I can put you in contact with Sean. On 5 December, all members of the networks are invited to join them for a national network event and training day where the theme will be on how they have adapted services to meet the changing needs and as how we grieve has changed over recent years, taking into account Covid-19 and associated restrictions and also the cost of living crisis. In 2022, growing up grieving, the national childhood bereavement project's final report was published and submitted to the Scottish Government. Nella this year had asked the Scottish Government when it would respond to the recommendations in the report, which included an I quote, embedding commitment to improve support for bereaved children and young people into wider national priorities, promote greater awareness of children and young people experiencing grief and to establish a national secretariat for childhood bereavement. I would ask the minister to update the chamber today regarding when the Scottish Government will respond to all of the recommendations in the report. I want to thank also the Church of Scotland for their communication about the Reverend Fiona Gardner and the book that she has written entitled Love Songs for Healing and Hope. The proceeds of the book were donated to two Christian charities, helping people, including young people, to deal with grief. The two charities are quite waters and Richmond's hope. Come back to the work that has been undertaken in one constituency. Before closing, as part of the Inverclyde bereavement network, Ben Cain has arranged for the network's next regular meetings to take place this Friday to coincide with children's grief awareness week. The meeting will specifically focus on bereavement from a young person's perspective, and Ben himself has already taken on board the recommendations in the growing upgraving report. Ben asked me to conclude the speech in this way. He wanted me to mention how Inverclyde has come together around this cause and calls on all local authorities to do so. He is extremely proud of the unity and the collective local effort. It is something that I very much agree with Ben on. I want to say well done to everyone in Inverclyde for making that difference to support our young people in dealing with grief and bereavement. I thank Stuart McMillan for a very moving contribution this evening in the chamber and excellent use of our time. Grief, as we all know, is a fact of life. Sometimes it is an event that is anticipated perhaps through illness, but more than often it is unexpected or unforeseen. The recent events in the past couple of years have brought that into sharp focus for many of us. It impacts us all as adults but more so as children. I know from my own experience having lost all my grandparents before I left high school and even my father shortly after, grief really does affect people in very different ways. Loss at an early age or such an early age can be as confusing as it is unsettling. I must also pay tribute to the childhood bereavement network for the fantastic work that it does as an organisation that supports children at one of the most difficult points in their lives. I was struck by one particular phrase that came out of the childhood bereavement network resource pack. That phrase, which comes up regularly, is that of creating compassionate communities. Is that phrase around which I want to base my contribution? As Stuart McMillan also said, I want to highlight the great work being done in Inverclyde. It really is leading the way when it comes to creating that compassionate community. In fact, Inverclyde is the first place in Scotland to be included on the list of compassionate cities according to the Public Health, Palliative Care International organisation, the only other place in the world being Taipei. It is not because we have amazing organisations that can support people such as cruise bereavement care, the national childhood bereavement network, or even more locally compassionate Inverclyde who do great work through the local hospice, but it is because of individuals themselves who have suffered a great loss and have taken action such as that of Ben Ken. I think that his ambition of creating support groups for young people right across schools across Scotland is not just an incredible ambition. I also think that it is a realistic one too. It is so important that we do so because the study that Stuart McMillan mentioned, the statistic that over half of children in Scotland will have experienced bereavement of a close family member by the age of eight, really struck me. It is not a statistic that I was aware of until I read this report. That is before Covid. That number could very well have changed since then. Children who experience bereavement at such a young age can be more vulnerable to risks later in life. It is not just the loss of time at school during the event, it can lead to underachievement at school at one end of the spectrum, but also more worryingly depression, prolonged grief disorder, self-harm and in some cases sadly even suicide at the other end of the spectrum. We also know statistically that children born into low-income families are five times more likely to lose a parent by the age of 10 than a child born into a wealthier family. The risk of losing a brother or sister at a young age was four times higher in the lowest-income families as it is in higher-income families. I think that that comes perhaps as no surprise to those of us in this chamber who have talked about these issues before. We know that issues around drug and alcohol-related deaths, suicide, mental health, mortal ill health and comorbidity are all things that we talk about regularly in this chamber. We know that certain communities rank much higher in those sad lists, and Inverclyde sadly is one of those. On a positive note, I think that what the survey did is bring to the four some clear recommendations that I think we should take on board. I look forward to hearing the minister's response. The three that struck out at me in the brief time that I have was that young people, I think, would benefit greatly from more death and grief literacy in the education curriculum. By that, I mean let's talk about death and grief in the right way in schools more often. It's still a taboo in many schools, and it's still too difficult to talk about for too many. The second point is that we also need to develop those stronger informal networks that Stuart McMillan talked about, not just parents and teachers but peers and children themselves supporting each other. However, the last and final one that I would raise your attention to is that often grief-related services in Scotland are too often developed by adults for children and not based on the real-life experiences of children themselves and how their own tragedies and losses could help to shape the future services for other young people. To me, that is what is at the heart of compassionate communities, and I hope that that is what lies at the heart of this debate. I thank my colleague Stuart McMillan for bringing this very important debate to the chamber, and I thank Jamie for a really interesting contribution. The motion states that more than half of children in Scotland have experienced the bereavement of a close family member by the age of 8 and 62 per cent by the age of 10. Like Jamie, those statistics really surprised and shocked me. Those figures were published by the Children and Young People Centre for Justice in 2020 before the impact of Covid was known, so sadly those figures might be even higher. We know that bereavement and loss contributes to trauma and is counted as an adverse childhood experience. The childhood bereavement network has done amazing work on this subject, and this year it has stated that the theme for 2023 is the shape of your support. Support ingraving children may come from those outside the family, as the wider family will in all likelihood be grieving themselves. I may not be the best people for young people to turn to at an incredibly sensitive and sad time. I was really interested and encouraged to hear about the initiative by the Inverclyde bereavement network and former Clydeview academy pupil Ben Cain, who set up a support group in the school for children who are dealing with bereavement. Ben has shown incredible maturity and courage in setting this up. As Stuart McMillan explained, he has held talks with Inverclyde council about expanding the service to all Inverclyde schools. I really hope that the initiative can go beyond Inverclyde and help grieving children in eastern Bartonshire and my constituency of Struthkelvin and Bearsden, indeed through all the areas of Scotland. We have wonderful voluntary and third sector support networks in my constituency, and I am sure that this is something that would be welcomed. Indeed, the work of child bereavement UK and its national development co-ordinated for Scotland believes that working together could make a meaningful impact to Scotland's young people during what it considers to be such a difficult period in their lives. We should remember too that bereavement often involves the death of a pet, which can be very traumatic for children and adults alike, and sensitive support and counselling should always be available for that experience. Depending on the age of a child, grief will be felt in a multitude of ways and the childhood bereavement network can provide professional and caring support in every case. The excellent website is a source of valuable information and well worth visiting for anyone struggling to cope or support a young person. Presiding Officer, I cannot help but think about the children of Gaza and Israel at this terrible time of terrible conflict in the Middle East. I know I won't be alone in dreading, watching and reading about the suffering of babies and children in that desperate war zone. Day's children frightened and confused, unable to comprehend why they've lost mums, dads and siblings in such a sudden, violent and incomprehensible way. They face a lifetime of trauma and I hope with all my heart that support is there for them to help them heal. Their grief puts all of our problems into perspective. So in conclusion Presiding Officer, I commend the work of the Childhood Bereavement Network, Child Bereavement UK and indeed Young Ben Cain for all the work that they're all doing to support young people experiencing grief. Grief is a part of life for everyone, young and old, and I'm heartened to see the focus on support and understanding, something that in the past was in short supply. So can I thank Stuart McMillan once again, and I look forward to hearing contributions from throughout the chamber. Thank you. I'm very grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer, and it's a pleasure to follow Rhona Mackay in this member's debate, but also to follow on from, I can only echo what was said, the very powerful speech from Stuart McMillan about what we're addressing this evening, because of course Children's Grief Awareness Week technically starts tomorrow on the 16th and runs through to next week, and I thank the Children's Bereavement Network for their work on this, and around bereavement, but in particular, to go back to the phrase of the Awareness Week grief, because that's what we're talking about and how young people deal with it, and we've heard very powerful examples already about Ben Cain setting up the support, and because of the statistics we've already heard, it allows me to go back over the previous years with regard to Children's Grief Awareness Week, which began in 2019, when, interestingly, the network focused on young people who were lost for words, and I think the whole process over the years of this week carrying forward actually shows us a route about grief, that it would be helpful for all people, both not just to understand, but also to remember. So, beginning in 2019 with Lost for Words, in 2020 they moved to say the words. That most powerful moment, when anybody, but particularly young people, can move that internal language of grief to something externally and express it. Sometimes for young people, particularly very young people, there aren't the words, and in saying the words, what you actually see are behavioural changes, which people with understanding, with training, indeed with empathy, can read into that it's not any malicious attempt from a young person, but it is a phrase we've heard frequently in this chamber, a cry for help, but one that comes from somewhere deep inside. In 2021, the network moved it to a word cloud of the thoughts, those internal feelings that young people have about grief and the difficulty it is to express it. And then in 2022, they came to the sharing shape, which again has been reflected this year. And indeed, if those people within the chamber and outweath go to the website, they can see the mosaic that was created from the shape for last year. And I'm sure that this year's similar shapes will be incredibly powerful because it speaks to what we've heard already, the very individual grief that people suffer, but also, most importantly, the support that stands around, be it from family, who may indeed also be suffering grief, from friends, who may have a challenge of understanding why their best friend or friend in their group is behaving the way they do, but the innate empathy of our young people comes through to the charities that work around our young people, to the professionals that stand around our young people, and indeed to the wider community that it sometimes would be helpful to remember that perhaps you don't understand what's going on in an individual's life, but you can still be kind, you can still care, and you can still ask them if they're all right. In the short time that we have, I would like to mention two groups that work with regard to bereavement. One is MyPass, a charity founded in Midlothian back in 1999, which has grown, but the charity originally came from the local community and now works on a whole diverse area supporting young people, particularly in the Slothian schools offering counselling, where particularly with regard to bereavement and grief, I've seen huge work done there, because as I said earlier, sometimes children don't have the words to express it, but the feelings are inside, and actually it might not be a quick solution, and I have seen the way that bereavement counsellors have worked sometimes for many months, to allow a young person to get into a space where the grief doesn't vanish, but just like the shape that was chosen in sharing, they can build a wall around it and events in their lives put it into a proportion that makes it understandable. The other group that I would need to make mention of is, of course, Barnardo's, who do a huge amount of work with regard to grief and bereavement and supporting not just our young community, but indeed our communities across Scotland and the UK. Can I once again compliment the Children's Grief Awareness week starting tomorrow, and the shape of your support is shown in part by what we do here this evening? Thank you, Presiding Officer, and to all members for taking part in this debate with some really, really thoughtful contributions this evening. I'd also like to thank Stuart McMillan for lodging this important motion, recognising Grief Awareness week. I believe wholeheartedly that where children have suffered trauma and loss, they deserve appropriate support. We know through research that bereavement during childhood can have significant and long-lasting effects on emotional, psychological and social wellbeing. Key impacts include struggling to understand and process emotions, leading to potential long-term issues. Childhood is a critical period for development, and the loss of a loved one can disrupt a child's developmental trajectory. It can affect their ability to form secure attachments, develop a sense of identity and navigate relationships with others. They may experience difficulties in school due to the emotional distress, they may have trouble concentrating, experience a decline in academic performance and have difficulty interacting with peers and teachers. The loss of a loved one can lead to social isolation and withdrawal, struggling to engage in social activities from new friendships and maintain existing relationships. That can further exacerbate those feelings of loneliness and grief. Childhood bereavement has also been linked to a higher risk of mental health issues in adulthood, and research concludes that it is crucial to provide timely, appropriate support and interventions to mitigate those possible long-term impacts. Now, I want to assure the chamber that this is something that I take very seriously. I was two years old when I lost my dad, and there was very little support available at that time for me or my mum. I think that that is something that we need to remember. Support is really important for those around the child, too, and I know that that was something that was picked up on specifically in Martin Whitfield and Dwayne McNeill's contributions. However, what I really want to highlight here is that support isn't a one-stop shop. Support at two years old would have been really helpful, but there are numerous points in a child's life following a time like this, where support could be required. As a child growing up, it is extremely hard to deal with the loss of a parent, having to deal with questions from peers in school and, for me, the stigma that came with the death of a parent, and equally not having a clear understanding of why that happened to you, why you are the one who lost a parent. It is hard, and honestly, the lack of support that I received still impacts on me to this day. Therefore, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation for the bereavement support services in Scotland today, especially during challenging and unprecedented times such as the Covid-19 pandemic that was picked up by Stuart McMillan. Those services play an invaluable role in providing comfort and guidance to children and their families who have experienced the profound loss of a loved one. I am proud that, since 2016, the children, young people and families' early intervention and adult learning and empowering communities funds have provided funding of over 14 million annually to 115 organisations, including many of which have been leant in the chamber today, child bereavement UK, Richmond's Hope and Apex Scotland, who provide much-needed support to children and young people who have suffered a loss through bereavement. I thank members in this debate who have highlighted the important work of those vital organisations. Another person I would like to highlight and thank, as have other members, is Ben Cain. As has been highlighted by, I believe all members today, Ben's commitment to raising awareness and increasing support for those impacted by bereavement has been admirable. The support group set up by Ben offers a safe place for people to find comfort and talk about their grief, and I really welcome that important work. I am sure that many young people have found that extremely helpful. The Scottish Government recognises that bereavement can affect many aspects of our lives, and so it reaches across many different ministerial portfolios. Therefore, we have set up a cross policy bereavement network that aims to support a more joined-up approach, be more strategic across existing and planned government action and provide a single point of access for bereavement partners. That will ensure that there is collective ministerial responsibility to ensure that those experiencing bereavement are able to access the support that they need and require. In 2020, we established the national childhood bereavement coordinator to look at the range of bereavement services available for young people across Scotland, and that work was carried out over a two-year period, and a final report with recommendations for improvement was published in September 2022. Following that, the Scottish bereavement summit was held on 13 October, and the final report of the summit was published in June and made 10 recommendations, as has been touched upon. Those recommendations were based on the childhood bereavement coordinator and four previous bereavement reports, and the Scottish Government welcomes those reports and acknowledges the huge amount of work and collaboration that has gone into developing those, and the focus brings to improving the experience of those affected by grief and loss. I understand that Stuart McMillan and other members are looking for an update on the recommendations on the report. I can confirm that the Minister for Social Care, Mental Well-being and Sport has agreed to meet with three key bereavement stakeholders on 14 December 2023. In advance of that, the Scottish Government bereavement cross-policy network will continue to engage with the bereavement sector as we consider how to best take forward those findings. As a Government, we will continue to engage with and listen to the bereavement sector, and I am very clear that we require a collaborative approach to supporting those who have suffered bereavement. I really hope that by sharing my own personal experience, members will appreciate that I fully understand the importance of ensuring that that support is available when it is required and my commitment to it. I would like to close by reiterating my thanks to all members here today for this important debate and to Stuart McMillan for bringing it to the chamber this evening. That concludes the debate, and I close this meeting of Parliament.