 I ask those members of the public still leaving to leave so quietly as the Parliament is still in session. The next item of business is a member's business debate on motion 14031 in the name of Elaine Smith on challenge poverty week. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put. Can I ask those members who wish to speak in debate to press their request to speak buttons now? I call on Elaine Smith to open the debate. Ms Smith, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I start with an aposite observation from R.H. Tony? What thoughtful rich people call the problem of poverty, thoughtful poor people call with equal justice the problem of riches? Having met the poverty alliance, I lodged the motion to mark challenge poverty week. I thank members for the big cross-party support that it secured. I also thank those who are staying today to take part in the debate and I look forward to hearing other contributions. Members may wish to call in to meet the poverty alliance in room TG 2021 after the debate. This year's message is challenge poverty in Scotland. I, we can. There are three core themes. Poverty exists in Scotland and affects us all. Poverty can be solved by boosting incomes and reducing costs. Solving poverty is about ensuring that we can all participate in society. The wide range of activities that are taking place in communities around Scotland should leave us in no doubt of the commitment to offer support to those who are currently caught in the poverty trap, while also speaking up together and taking responsibility for providing solutions. A recent report from NHS Lanarkshire highlighted that nearly one-fifth of children living in Lanarkshire are growing up in poverty. In some parts of central region, I know that that will be much higher. I am sure that we will all agree that that is unacceptable. Those worrying statistics are not only to be found in the old industrial areas of higher deprivation in Lanarkshire. Here in Edinburgh last year on the doorstep of this Parliament, there has been an 18 per cent increase in the use of food banks. That was over 9,500 people with 96 tonnes of food distributed through food boxes in Edinburgh during 2017. That cannot become normalised and repeated year on year. We saw a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation this week saying that, and I quote, "...barriers to the labour market due to disability, ill health and childcare responsibilities remain prevalent characteristics of child poverty." John Dickie, the head of the child poverty action group, says, "...if we are serious about ending poverty in Scotland, it is vital that we build the public support needed to make real change happen. Challenge poverty week is a great opportunity to work together to highlight the damage that poverty wreaks and create the pressure needed for real action to end it." As this is a member's debate, it gives us the opportunity to put aside part of political differences and to promote ideas for tackling poverty. Of course, the solutions that we propose may differ, for example. Labour supports the Give Me Five campaign. I am sure that nobody in this chamber wants to see children going hungry in modern Scotland. I am particularly concerned about the fact that getting a job does not provide the security of adequate food and shelter for families that it should. Thousands of households living in poverty contain at least one adult in work. It used to be that securing employment was one of the routes out of poverty, but it seems no longer. Changes to family and child tax credits are also likely to cause more in-work poverty. In terms of barriers to the labour market cited in the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, as policy makers we can take action to change the system of work to enable more parents to access good quality employment that suits their circumstances, responsibility to tackle gross inequality and the poverty that underpins it must rest with all of us. I commend the work that is being done by the many charities and organisations across Scotland. I am sure that we will hear more details of that in the debate. I specifically mentioned in my motion the event that is going to be held at the Conforty Institute in Coatbridge. I just have to put on the record that it has recently been renamed as the Zavarian Missionaries' Conforty, so we ought to get that right. This event is entitled Stories from the Edge, Church, Action and Poverty. It is going to bring together faith-inspired social activists to share stories, to critically reflect and explore existing aspects of what makes a good society. The Scottish Parliament has, in the past, recognised that faith organisations in communities have long been at the heart of providing support and assistance to those in need, and I would like today to reiterate our thanks for the work that they do. Although we thank and commend volunteers and churches for their much needed interventions, it really is not good enough in 21st century Scotland for those in poverty to have to depend on Victorian-style Christian charity. We really must say that, and we must respond, of course, to the immediate problem, but we also need a fundamental shift in social policy to ensure the eradication of poverty and inequality. Along with many others here today, I recall the Make Poverty history marches of 2005, and I recognise the shared beliefs that we can and must change the way our society is organised. The economy that we have today was designed. It is the result of a set of decisions that were made about our society's priorities and resources. Just as it was designed, we can redesign it so that it works for everyone. Last month, I saw the publication of a report, Prosperity and Justice, by the Institute for Public Policies Commission on Economic Justice. The report is the product of a two-year inquiry, and its publication is timely, as we reflect on the 10th anniversary of the banking crisis of 2008. The report details the commission's belief that a new moral purpose is needed to define the goals of economic policy and offer a vision of what that could be. It argues that the economy needs to deliver prosperity and justice together, and it explains what is meant by those terms and how they relate to one another. Archbishop Wellby of Canterbury, a member of the commission, spoke out as the report was launched saying, that prosperity depends on the security and quality of work, the balance of work in life, the quality of our relationships and not just about the amount of income that we receive. It rests on the common good, as well as individual wellbeing. Challenge Poverty Week shines a spotlight again on the willingness of communities to rally around and offer a helping hand. I am pleased that I have been able to work with the poverty alliance and the organisations involved. That is also about the future. A future where local government can provide the public services that we all need investing in our communities, a future where every family has high-quality affordable housing, access to secure well-paid work, with a flexibility to suit all and the resources to feed and clothe themselves without recourse to charity, and a future where the gap between the richest and the poorest in our society is no longer extreme. The question is, can we do this as a Parliament, as a Government, as a country? The answer has to be, I, we can, but only if we recognise that significant interventions are needed to properly challenge poverty. Can I just finish with this? Next week, blessed Oscar Romero will be made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. He spoke out against poverty and social injustice, assassinations and torture. In 1980, he was murdered and I will simply end with his words. It is not God's will that some people have everything and others have nothing. I want to congratulate Elaine Smith for securing this important debate and to thank her for hosting the drop-in session that I will be attending after the debate. Elaine Smith will disagree on many things, but we are also in agreement on a range of things including the scourge of poverty. As we know, poverty affects too many households and people across the country and also globally. It blights lives, it diminishes hope and it can also lead to a feeling of helplessness and can be a contributing factor in addiction. If dealing with poverty was easy, it would have been done by now. However, exacerbating the issue is something that is totally unforgivable and I will come on to that point in a moment. Ultimately, poverty is one of society's challenges that we, irrespective of party affiliation, need to take seriously. The motion highlights the event that will take place tomorrow in the Confort Institute or the renamed Institute in Copebridge that Elaine Smith spoke about. I want to highlight the event that Ronnie Cymru and myself are hosting tomorrow in the Greenock and Inverclyde constituency. We are hosting a challenge poverty event at the AAS Business Centre in Greenock. We are promoting it as a money and heating advice surgery. We will be joined by representatives from iHeat, Ideas, Financial Fitness and also Christians Against Poverty. The first three are local organisations who have helped and continue to help many people locally. The event runs between 11am and 1pm. If anyone is watching this or reading the official report knows of some locally who could be helped, please let them know. I want to thank the organisations who have provided briefings for today's debate. To some people, the figures might be just numbers on a sheet but, in reality, they are people's lives that are being challenged every single day. According to the Poverty Alliance briefing, I quote, 1 million people living in the group of poverty, including 230,000 children. 65% of all children living in poverty live in working households and 59% of all working-age adults living in poverty live in working households. According to Oxfam, I quote, Some 8% of adults experienced food insecurity in 2017. Defined as being worried, they would run out of food due to a lack of money or resources. In our most deprived areas, this figure is 18%. One in 10 people reported running out of food over a 12-month period. What kind of society thinks that it is fine for people to worry about eating? What kind of society thinks that it is fine for parents to worry about how they are going to feed their kids? I have spoken before about food banks in the chamber. In fact, I led the first members to debate on the issue. However, the situation has got worse. My office is a food bank collection point. I help the food bank and I am in regular contact with my communication with representatives from it. During the summer, I spent a few hours in the never-clad food bank. I put out an appeal because they were running out of food. Last night on Twitter, we were informed once again that they were running out of food. The never-clad food bank needs pasta sauce, cereal, tinned fish, tinned fruit, rice pudding and custard, UHT milk, diluting juice and also coffee. The situation is disgusting. What makes it worse is that the policies that have come from Westminster, including the rape clause and welfare reform, including the roll-out of universal credit, have made it worse. Universal credit was introduced into never-clad in November 2016. With the six-week lading time before any payment, how does anyone seriously think that this was going to be seamless? Then there has been the poverty wages that some businesses have paid and the continual short-term contracts, including zero-hour contracts, to name just further examples. When the UK Government created a new minister for food supplies to deal with the post-Brexit situation, then what comfort does that provide to those already living in poverty and food poverty? Absolutely none. We have a heartless Tory Government with eight years of ten years of delivering austerity, saying that this cannot continue. People are already struggling. They cannot continue to live like this. I will end on this point. When a primary school child tells a staff on a food bank that in the past they fed that child and their family, what kind of impression will that leave on the staff, but also about the bravery of that child? That is the reality of poverty in our communities. It is disgusting, it is abhorrent, and the sooner the Tories start considering all the communities that they represent and not just the rich and the chosen few, then maybe their colleagues and Westminster might just consider that they are less well off in Scotland and elsewhere across the UK. Thank you very much. I welcome the opportunity to take part in today's debate and I commend and congratulate Elaine Smith for securing this motion today. As we have already heard, challenge poverty week runs from the 1st to the 7th of October and highlights the challenges and the realities of people suffering from poverty. The event has an annual event and we have already talked about the poverty alliance, which is actively involved and has been working in this field since 1992. Growing out of an informal network of groups, individuals and activities back in the 1980s, the membership of that organisation is very wide and varied, and that is exactly what it needs to be to ensure that we can look at the issue of social inclusion and poverty that individuals are suffering. Its membership is made up of a wide range of organisations, and those include grassroots community groups, individuals facing poverty, voluntary organisations, statutory organisations, policy makers and academics. It also acts as a national poverty network in Scotland, working with organisations and policy makers in the UK and also Europe-wide. Two of the challenge poverty week aims are to highlight the reality of poverty and to challenge the stereotypes that exist about it, and to demonstrate what has been done to access Scotland with poverty in individuals and organisations. Neil Findlay Groups in his region and speaking to groups over the past week or so, every one of them, I am sure, has told him that the introduction of universal credit and the benefits cuts are one of the key components of the increase in poverty. Does he accept that every one of them tells him the same story? Alexander Stewart Thank you for your intervention. I acknowledge what you are saying, the individuals feel that they are being challenged, and the Westminster Government has been mentioned in this Parliament already today, and the rules and the occupations that they put out to individuals may well have an impact. I see that in my own parts of the constituency, and I acknowledge that. To demonstrate that each organisation is there to ensure that their groups will tackle poverty and challenge the way that they are going forward. However, to achieve the aims of the organisation across Scotland, we are organising things and events to take place to try to capture and ensure that individuals have the ability to ensure that they are actively involved. That might be distributing information, supporting them, making sure that they come and speak to politicians, and it is vitally important that we, as politicians, listen to the views and opinions that are being discussed by individuals, and that they focus on activities that ensure that individuals get the right and the opportunity to go out in their communities and do that. With a clear focus on their priorities, they want to highlight and they also want to deal with and tackle poverty across Scotland, and we can all look towards what we can all do in future to create a bigger impact on everyone's lives and examine ways in which people and organisations can ensure that they have that self-confidence and that they have that dignity and that outlook. Challenging Poverty Week shows the vision, and it is there to try to end child poverty, to listen to those affected by poverty and to invest in high-quality education. That is vitally important. In short, it is vital that we respect everybody's human rights and give them the dignity to ensure that the circumstances they find themselves in, and to ensure that the vision that is there should be highly commended. We need to address poverty by tackling inequality, supporting individuals on low incomes, supplying them with information about money and debt advice, and ensuring that people facing injustices at poverty get the support that they require to give them the confidence to manage their money effectively and to manage their resources so that they can make responsible decisions. I commend and congratulate Alain Smith and Alice for all the work that they are doing in this, and I look forward to seeing progress moving forward. Mr Stewart, I call James Kelly to be followed by Alison Johnstone. Mr Kelly, please. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I want to start by congratulating Alain Smith on securing the debate this afternoon in support of challenge poverty week. It is a very important issue and, as others have said in the debate, it resonates throughout our constituencies and regions. You just need to look at the statistics in some of the briefings. The recent Joseph Rowntree Foundation report illustrates that there are 230,000 kids living in poverty in Scotland. The Oxfam briefing highlights the fact that 860,000 individuals are in poverty in Scotland. That is a scandal for a modern progressive country, and it is something that we all have a responsibility to address. However, it is not just those statistics that are a story behind that. What is actually happening on the ground? The reality is that there are still too many people not in work or struggling, as others have said, against the oppressive policies pursued by the UK Government in relation to benefit changes. Some are working in two or three jobs. Over 400,000 people have not been paid a living wage. That means that they do not have enough money to live in proper housing, to heat and to enclose their families. Their kids then grow up in a situation in which they might not be able to have a breakfast before they go out to school in the morning. Therefore, they are not the best place to make the most of the educational opportunities before them and do not get their best chances in life. There is a whole story behind the poverty statistics. People are struggling on low wages, living in poor housing and living in poor health, and they are not getting the opportunity to live their lives with respect and dignity. There is a challenge to all of us in fighting against that. I want to illustrate the work of one local group in Whitleburn. I visited the Whitleburn resource centre earlier this week, as part of the challenge. I bothered to look at the work of the Whitleburn hub and spoke to Fiona Boyle. There were three important strands to the work of that group. They have an IT facility that allows people who are out of work to come to the hub and to get advice about their skills, building their CVs and to use IT facilities and to get training in that to access what they need in terms of building CVs. It is also important to lay a foundation for volunteers in order to train people who come to use IT facilities up. The hub has helped in getting people back into work and raising their confidence and self-esteem, which can often be destroyed as a result of the poverty that they are living in. Stuart McMillan, rightly, was highly critical of the United Kingdom Government and a lot of the policies that are causing that poverty have been driven by the United Kingdom Government. It is right that we speak out against that and campaign against it, but there is also a responsibility for us in this Parliament. We heard yesterday that the Scottish budget will be published on 12 December. I think that there is an onus on the Government to look at the policies and spending commitments on that budget to ensure that we are doing something real and live in order to tackle poverty. If we are going to tackle those stats, we need a commitment from all levels of government and all MSPs in this chamber. Thank you very much, Mr Kelly. I call Alison Johnstone to be followed by Claudia Beamish. I congratulate Elaine Smith on giving us the opportunity to really try to begin to make more of a difference in this challenge poverty week. I would like to thank all those organisations who have provided us with briefings today. Elaine Smith noted in her speech that members' business should not be as confrontational perhaps as other debates, but I really find it very difficult to contribute today without noting the context in which the debate takes place. It is clear that there is a very important role for employers in addressing poverty. It is clear that there is an important role for schools in addressing poverty, but let us look at schools. We discuss regularly in the chamber the attainment gap, and, quite frankly, it is simply impossible to reduce that educational attainment gap if we do not reduce the gap that is caused by poverty. How can you possibly do your best at school if you have not had decent meals the night before, if your parents have not had enough time to do your homework with you, because they have been busy at their second or perhaps third job of that day, and that job is not one that pays enough? Is there a role for all of us in this? Absolutely. Elaine Smith. I thank the member very much for taking an intervention. I should also recognise that holiday hunger is an issue, and schemes such as Food 365 in North Lanarkshire help with that as well. Alison Johnstone. I could not agree more with the member. Holiday hunger is an issue. It is one that has begun to be recognised and realised. You can only imagine how some families feel faced with a six or seven-week school holiday when perhaps that meal at school has been the one hot meal of the day or perhaps the only meal of the day. That recognition is really welcome. I have always felt conflicted about the food bank issue. I congratulate those who donate, those who collect and those who work in those food banks, but the fact that that has become a normal part of life in this country is a matter of huge concern. It is one that we really need to seek to address. Nobody should have to go to a food bank. People should have enough money in their pocket to be able to go with their family and choose the food that they want. Stuart McMillan picked up on the emails that we receive as parliamentarians, letting us know what food banks are running short off. Are those really the foods that we would be recommending when we look at becoming a good food nation? All too often, not. They are tinned. We know that many families who are living in poverty and perhaps are living in BNBs do not have access to food and heating. All those issues are interrelated. The Parliament has done much good work on the issue. The fact that dignity and respect is going to be put at the heart of the social security system and we are seeing some of that in action. We need to do as much as we possibly can to boost income. Schemes such as the health and welfare of children will have an impact. The fact that we are beginning to recognise that carers need more support is massively welcome. When we look at the committee on the rights of persons with disabilities at the United Nations talking about the impact that cuts the social security and other support to disabled people are having, families with a disabled parent or child are bearing the brunt of those cuts. When we are looking at challenging poverty, we have to recognise that those things are having a devastating impact. Our schools in Edinburgh and Lothian at the moment are being asked to contribute to food banks as part of their harvest festival events. It has come to this in one of the wealthiest economies on the face of the planet. I know that I have run out of time, but I would like to thank Elaine Smith again for giving us the opportunity to challenge poverty this week. As we go forward in everything that we do in this place, we should be making sure that we are doing just that. I call Ms Beamish. Due to the number of members still wishing to speak in the debate, I am minded to accept a motion under rule 8.14.3, that the debate will be extended by up to 30 minutes. I invite Elaine Smith to move the motion. The question is under rule 8.14.3, that the debate is extended by up to 30 minutes. Are we agreed? I thank Elaine Smith for bringing this grave matter to debate. This year's challenge poverty week gives us an opportunity to highlight some brilliant organisations that help to alleviate the scourge of poverty across Scotland. One such organisation is Healthy Valleys, which is based in Lanark in my region of South Scotland. It works to promote health and wellbeing across the Clyde sale area, and Healthy Valleys is helping to transform communities and individuals' lives by working with them to solve problems, build resilience, empower them to find solutions that tackle and relieve the impact of poverty, particularly for children, vulnerable adults and older people. However, some areas of rural Clyde sale have child poverty percentages of 46 per cent compared to the national average, which is intolerable in itself. Healthy Valleys provides practical support and opportunities to improve people's circumstances, such as child health and wellbeing programmes, parental support and, importantly, social prescriptions. It is a real challenge to engage with those who are hard to reach to participate equally in a community life. Particularly successful schemes by Healthy Valleys are the community health cafes that I have visited. They are led by volunteers, and those cafes help to reduce isolation and loneliness and allow people to have a cooked meal on site and take one home with them. Therefore, I congratulate Healthy Valleys on their work in my region and other organisations and groups across Scotland and wish them every success in the future. However, I cannot stand here today without saying that we should not have poverty in the 21st century here in Scotland. Of course, people want to do things for themselves and their communities, and as a member of the Scottish co-operative party MSP group, I hear of and I support empowering co-operative models across all sectors, including energy, farming, housing and childcare. Last week, in the cross-party group, which my colleague James Kelly convenes, four co-ops, there was a student co-op organisation here in Edinburgh that has successfully bucking the trend of rip-off rents by private student landlords. However, zero-hours contracts in work poverty and child poverty are systemic in our society, and tax cuts for the rich and benefit cuts for the most vulnerable are a stark legacy of Tory rule. That should not be ducked by Tories here in Scotland as well. The resolution foundation highlighted the largest single year increase in child poverty last year since the 1980s. That has been made even more obvious by the recent release of the Joseph Rountree Foundation annual report. That also highlights that the SNP is not using the powers of the Scottish Parliament effectively. It is clear that the failures of the Scottish Government to use their powers to tax the rich and to share the proceeds across local authorities and voluntary sector organisations is contributing to destroying lives. One example from yesterday, which is as convener of the cross-party group for carers, and Alison Johnson highlighted the issue of carers, is that I heard of cuts to respite care, inability to secure funding for transition programmes and much more. Last week, the cross-party group for co-operatives about a serious challenge is faced by them. We need a system change. A future Labour Government plans to invest in transformational funds, a statutory £10 living wage and so much more. Here in Scotland, in government, we would introduce a Mary Barber law, increase child benefit and do so much more here with this Government, with the powers that we have. We would tax those who can afford to pay more to have a more equal society in Scotland. Let me be clear, someone, just one person in poverty, is one person too many. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I also thank Elaine Smith and congratulate Elaine for securing this debate. As members have already said, 21st century Scotland, a rich nation, and here we are looking at 230,000 children living in poverty. It is absolutely unacceptable. I will go on to the social security part in a minute, but I have to say to Claudia Beamish that perhaps if your party had given the full powers and support, we would have the full powers of social security, so please remember that. We could have had the full powers, but I am sorry, I have to get on. I just want to say, Presiding Officer, challenge poverty week is an opportunity for everyone to raise their voice against poverty and show what is being done to tackle poverty across Scotland. As others have said, the main aims of the week are highlighting the reality of poverty, but, like other members, such as Stuart McMillan and Alison, I appreciate what Elaine Smith has said about normally that it is consensual. There is absolutely no doubt that the actions by the Tory Government and Westminster are making more and more people worse off and driving them into poverty. We have to give some credit to what the Scottish Government is trying to do without all the powers of an independent country. I would like to put forward a couple of things. I cannot go through all of it. We are the only part of the UK with legally binding targets to reduce child poverty, brought in by the Child Poverty Act 2012. £12 million invested in intensive employment support for parents, increased funding for the workplace, equality fund—that is something—and a new minimum payment of £100 per child for the school clothing grant, which is a shame that kids have even got to get a grant for clothes. We are way back to the 50s and 60s, and then I come on to, of course, the new Social Security Agency, which will treat people, as Alison Johnson has said, with dignity and respect. I come back to that point again. What a pity we do not have all of the powers in that agency, which we could tackle better with poverty. We are talking about, perhaps, things that are going to happen. Tomorrow, in my constituency, myself and Patrick Grady MP are putting together and holding in the eve of universal credit, we are having a road show on universal credit, because it comes into my constituency in partake this month, and it covers some of Patrick Grady's MPs area 2. It is not just as it will be there. There will be community groups, but there will also be people there from CAB and ZWP to, hopefully, give advice to people. It has been said, even by the Conservatives, that, yes, our post-bag is full, and we see people every other day in our constituencies who are suffering the cuts through universal credit. I want to go to another aspect, which is happening in my constituency also, and that is the refugee survival trust. It is taking part in challenge poverty week in the Kelvin hall next week. A lot of people do not take that into account, but poverty and destitution issues affect every part of society, and its impact falls pretty disproportionately when it comes to refugees and asylum seekers. It is a pretty precarious position that they find themselves in, so I am really pleased that the refugee survival trust is holding this to give information to those people who are becoming destitute, really sleeping in the streets and in poverty. We must all strive to end poverty, but it is a disgrace that is happening in Scotland in the 21st century. I would like to start by congratulating Elaine Smith on securing this debate. I want to particularly focus on food security, which other members have mentioned. It is a disgrace that, in recognising modern-day poverty in Scotland and across the UK, food security is an almost accepted part of poverty. When food banks first opened, there was a degree of shock that people could not afford food and that it was a model for people to have to access a charity in order to feed themselves. In 2011, when I first went to talk to a food bank, I had to go up to Dundee because there was none in Fife at that time. There are now eight in Fife, run by and supported by volunteers who are working really hard day in, day out to try and support the needs of their communities. Food banks are now an important part of our support infrastructure, but they often struggle to meet demand. Cercodi's Food Bank is having to spend at least £8,000 a month to supplement its donations. Research from Fife councils suggests that there are at least 24,000 adults living in food insecure households in Fife, though that is thought to be an underestimation. The drivers for that are identified as changes to the welfare system, rising living costs, job insecurity and continuing low wages. The Scottish Health Survey was published last week, and for the first time included a question on food insecurity. It revealed that 8 per cent of adults experienced food insecurity in 2017. That figure rose to 21 per cent for single parents. In among concerns over food shortages, there is also the issue of the quality of food that people in low incomes are able to access. The recent Food Foundation report highlights that the poorest fifth of families would have to spend 40 per cent of their income, their weekly income, on food if they were to meet the Government's healthy living advice targets. Prior to the school summer holidays, I wrote to local authorities in my region to ask them what they were doing to plan to address the issue of holiday hunger. Children who receive free school meals and in some schools they also get a breakfast do not get the support during the holidays, and we also know that parents will often not eat in the holidays so that they can provide for their children. There were different responses. Clackmannanshire Council were not preparing any support, reporting that they had previously run a pilot that had resulted in a lot of food waste, but they would explore options for next summer. The other local authorities, Stirland, Perthen, Cynroth and Fife, were running a variety of targeted schemes that were referral based and built around a programme of activities with meals. I recognise the efforts that have been made but also recognise the scale of the demand, and speaking to food banks, community cafes and support organisations, I can see that they were preparing for an increase in demand. As part of challenge poverty week, I held a round table in Cacoddy on Monday with Fife Gingerbread, Homestar, Citizens Advice Bureau, Linton Lane Centre, Cacoddy YMCA, Glenrothys Food Bank and Cacoddy Food Bank, the Ord Valley Housing Association, the Poverty Alliance and Fife Council to give an opportunity to discuss the provision that was available over the summer holidays, what the demand was like, how did the organisations respond to that and what was the best way forward. Issues raised included sustainable funding, the reach of the provision, the extent of the deferral system, how to avoid stigma, and how to recognise hidden hunger. I want to thank everyone who came along to the discussion and sincerely thank them for the effort in responding to a desperate need in Fife to reduce food insecurity and build resilience in our communities. But what can Parliament do to make their jobs easier? I think that we need a comprehensive food bill as soon as possible that includes a right to food. That would give a statutory underpinning to efforts to tackle food insecurity. We should do all that we can to raise income levels. Food insecurity is a symptom of poverty. We need to ensure that the benefits system delivers a recognised minimum income standard. We need to ensure that the new income supplement that the Scottish Government is committed to is as ambitious as possible. I will continue to argue that a top-up to the child benefit is a good way to do that. By strengthening the Scottish welfare fund, we can ensure that people receive the cash support that prevents them from having to access emergency food provision. Finally, we must do all that we can to avoid and work poverty. While I have focused on food, poverty has many negative impacts on people's lives and our society, and we must all redouble our efforts to end it. I will call Neil Findlay to be followed by Michelle Ballantyne and Ms Ballantyne, who will be the last speaker in the open debate. Mr Findlay. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thank Elaine Smith for bringing the debate forward. People have mentioned a million people who cannot afford the basics to live a decent life. If that does not get you angry and emotional, then you must have a heart of stone. Across Scotland, we see the educational attainment gap growing. A mental health crisis unfolds before it arrives with people desperate for help, but unable to get it. I recently spoke to a group of young carers out of 15 of them, and 13 of them had sought help for a mental health problem. We see 1,000 people a year die from the effect of drugs. Food bank uses people have said is rising, not falling. We have a housing crisis. People cannot afford a deposit that has been ripped off by exploitative landlords and councils not even remotely able to meet housing demand. All those issues affect women, the low-paid, the poor, the weak, disabled and the vulnerable most. We have had report after report on the issue over the years. This week, we all come here and we stick our badges on, and we go and get our photo taken, and we take part in a debate. We all feel very good that we have contributed something. We might do events in our constituency, and nothing much changes. In fact, poverty is increasing and, shamefully, I do not think that this has got anywhere near the coverage that it deserves. Last week, life expectancy in this country is falling for the first time in many years. That is an utter disgrace. It is an abject failure of public policy. Now, we know that Tory benefit cuts, the stagnation of wages, precarious work, public spending cuts, attacks on local services, all leave communities and families struggling and isolated and without enough money to pay bills, buy food and clothes, pay the rent, never mind buy luxuries such as toys or books or a short break for children. We know that, when we have a Tory Government, poverty increases just as much as night follows day. There was no mention of food banks or disability cuts or suicide rates increasing in Theresa May's speech yesterday or, indeed, from Mr Stewart today. Do not give his compassion today about the extent of poverty in Scotland, while cheering the very people who are causing that yesterday in that speech. However, if we want to do something different here, we need a concerted cross-Government response, making the eradication of health and wealth inequality the core objective of Government policy. I believe—and I always have—that responsibility and accountability for this should lie in Scotland with the First Minister and at UK level with the Prime Minister, with every other minister and every other department contributing to an overall plan to eradicate those inequalities. Where the Government has powers, it must use them and it must act. In Scotland, we could make work pay through a living wage of at least £10 an hour in all contracts that the Scottish Government gives out. We have the power to do it. We need to end the cuts to council services, which disproportionately impact on those groups that I mentioned earlier. This could happen where the political will. We have the power. We need to invest in childcare and policies such as North Lanarkshire's school meals policy. Again, we have the power. We need to increase the money going into people's pockets—the pockets that are the most needy. We could do that by, for example, topping up child benefit. I failed to understand the First Minister's logic when she argues for universal provision in relation to tuition fees, the baby box, bus passes—all of which I support, by the way—and argues against universal provision for putting extra money in people's pockets. It is just complete and utter inconsistency. We need to ensure that no one in our country sleeps rough or has no food to provide for their family. We have the power. We could do it with the political will. I think that we need to end the failing war on drugs and declare a national public health crisis. Again, we have the power. If education really is the Government's priority, then the approach is failing as the gap between rich and poor is growing, not narrowing. We need to reverse that and we have the power. In conclusion, those debates come and go, and in many areas things are getting worse instead of better. If the Government were to act on the areas that I have identified on other people, they would have our full support. Tackling poverty and inequality should be the overriding priority of any Government, in my opinion. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate, marking challenge poverty week. I thank Elaine Smith for bringing the motion to the member's debate. I am sure that there have been many interesting contributions. I might be glad that I did not hear some of them, but I apologise for my absence, because I was hosting a delegation of alpacas outside. I hope that, when we finish, some of you will be able to go and see them as well. I should advise that the presiding officer gave permission to me to be late, because I wanted to come and participate. While we may disagree on many things, the one thing that we all agree on is that it is shameful that a million Scots are living in poverty. Despite some of the commentary today, there is a lot of accusation that it is all the fault of people who sit over this side. It is not a situation that has arisen from just the actions of a single Government, but rather administrations of all colours are responsible to one degree or another. However, and I would say this to everybody from all sides and all colours, here in Scotland we have been handed a golden opportunity to tackle poverty and end the destructive cycle that has blighted our country for so long. The new child poverty act sets out an ambitious target of reducing child poverty to only 10 per cent of children by 2030. Of course, to advance this, the way we measure poverty would also have to change, because if you take it as it is as a medium, we are always going to have people by that measure in poverty. I hope that this chamber, when it goes forward, will give consideration to the new indicator of poverty that was recently published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, where it looks at income and expenditure and looks at the impact that it actually has, because that is what is really important, is how that is measured and what families actually have to live on and what surplus they have got to bring opportunity into their lives. The Social Security Scotland Act is now enshrined in Scots law. Stuart McMillan I thank Michelle Ballantyne for taking the intervention, but would Michelle Ballantyne agree with me that, with the welfare reform and the sum of our constituents getting less money as a consequence of that, it then means that they have less money to actually live on, unfortunately, putting more people, our constituents, into poverty? Michelle Ballantyne I am not going to dispute that. There is no doubt that there have been winners and losers across the welfare reform. I think that that is something that everybody is monitoring at the moment, and everybody is looking at where the impacts are, whether those are right, whether they are wrong and what needs to be adjusted to actually do it. It would be utterly wrong to say that the UK Government is not looking at that too, because they are. They are monitoring it, and you can already see that they have been making changes and adjustments. This is a radical change to the way welfare is delivered, and we have to make sure that it is being altered and adjusted and made fit for purpose, so that all people can look at it, although they might not always agree with the decisions that they can say that it was fair. We now in Scotland have a real part in that, as I say, with the new social security Scotland act enshrined in Scots law and the devolution of 11 benefits. Obviously, social security is now open, and I was really pleased to be visited on Monday, and I am going back again to talk to them again. I think that we have to remember that both the poverty act and the social security gained unanimous support across this chamber. That is a clear sign that, when it comes to poverty, there is a will within those four walls to come together and take decisive action. However, passing legislation is just the beginning. Solving something as complex and deep-rooted as poverty cannot be eliminated by just passing the laws or, indeed, by focusing only on social security. That is why I welcome today's motion. It recognises that the key to lifting people out of economic hardship is by boosting their income and ensuring their participation in society, by providing them with a range of choices and options to build a better life. I have stood in this chamber and made this point before, but I feel that it deserves to repeat it. I know that some other members, since I have come back in, have also done this. We must take a wider joined-up approach when it comes to poverty. When the chamber debated the child poverty bill, I made the point then that education and under attainment have been identified as a key contributory driver of child poverty. It restricts the life chances of our young people and prevents them from breaking the cycle as they go on to be parents themselves. I take Alison Johnstone's point that it is extremely difficult to be effective in the classroom as a child if you have not got a full stomach. Those are things that we can address. There are ways to do it that sit outside of social security. I see that I am having the pen waved at me, so I am going to lose a bit of my speech. I just wanted to say that one of the things—very quickly, if you will allow me some leeway—that one of the things that I have spent most of my life working with people in poverty—that is what my professional background is and I feel really strongly about it—is not enough communication between services. The third sector does a phenomenal job. The public sector tries its hardest to do a phenomenal job, but the communication between everybody and the joining up of how we approach things from Government right the way down to the front line is not that great at all. The First Minister must conclude that you have had six minutes. I have a feeling that that is not a point of order, and if it is not, I am cutting you off. I can cut me off if you like. My understanding is that if you are not in the time for the summing up of a debate and then the other one— That is not a point of order. I said at the beginning— Is there anything that we can do? Please sit down, Ms White. Ms White, do not argue with me. Please sit down. The Presiding Officer has given advance permission to Ms Ballantyne to not be in here for the start. It is the Presiding Officer's ruling and that you must just have to accept. I now take Eileen Campbell, please. Will you sum up, please, on behalf of the Government Cabinet Secretary? Like others this afternoon, I also thank Eileen Smith for bringing this member's debate forward during Challenge Poverty Week, a chance for Parliament to collectively assert and raise our voices against poverty in Scotland. In her words, she put aside some of the party politics with a focus instead of putting forward ideas. That should not necessarily come without the appropriate challenge to Government and people in power, but the space that has been created today has provided members with an opportunity to consider what more needs to be done to challenge poverty and to Eileen Smith. I am appreciative for her providing that space. I commend the work that she has mentioned that is going to be happening in Coatbridge and the storytelling, because I think that it is people's stories and those individual stories that are powerful and illustrate the horrifying impact of poverty in Scotland. This week, a number of key poverty publications have been published during this Poverty Week, including the Scottish Government's annual report on UK Government welfare reforms, and the Poverty in Scotland 2018 report that was published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which launched at the Sory Telling Centre, to ensure that people's experiences and their stories are at the forefront of the consideration about what we need to do to challenge poverty. Both those reports highlighted the on-going UK Government austerity and the devastating impact that will be leading to more families falling into poverty, both those in and out of work, and is forecast to increase child poverty in Scotland. £3.7 billion reduced from the benefit income of people in Scotland by 2021. Those welfare reforms have explicitly focused on reducing benefit generosity towards families with children, and that is affecting the priority families that are identified in the Scottish Government's tackling child poverty delivery plan. For example, over the first year of implementation of the two-child limit, around 3,800 larger families in Scotland saw their incomes reduced by up to £2,780, simply for having more than two children. That situation is only set to worsen year on year. The reform that is estimated to bring about the biggest reduction in spending in Scotland—around £370 million by 2021—is the benefit freeze. The Scottish Government has taken action to mitigate the impact of UK Government welfare reform policies, including spending that is expected to be £125 million this year alone. However, unless the UK Government reverses the reductions that are made in social security spending, it will be even more challenging for the Government to meet the ambitious targets in the Child Poverty Scotland Act 2021. We will be challenging that poverty with one hand tied behind our back. Agreeing that there has been a cut in actual spending in the budget, does the minister accept that there has been an increase in the percentage point of the amount within the whole envelope of Government spending in terms of benefits? It has gone up from 34 per cent to 35 per cent of overall Government spending. Does the minister feel that, when she talks about mitigation and not doing it, that this, to some degree, is about choices about where you spend money on education or health? It is a short intervention, not another speech. Cabinet secretary, just a wee minute. I know you are desperate to reply. Thank you. I am talking about the mitigation that we are having to spend to cope with, cover up, sweep up and clear up the mess that has been left by the UK Government. Unless the Tories accept that, to be quite frank, it is probably not worth the contributions that you make in this chamber unless you are going to adequately challenge poverty amongst your own party colleagues and at Westminster Government and perhaps better suited to having meetings with al-Pakas than thinking about contributing to this debate. However, the reports this week also outline the importance of continued concerted Scottish Government action in this area and need to maintain a strong focus on child poverty across all policy areas. That is exactly what we are doing. In developing the tackling child poverty delivery plan, ministers recognised that it was not the responsibility of just one cabinet secretary to deliver on child poverty. The delivery plan took an across-Government approach. Ministerial colleagues have been looking at opportunities this week and beyond to raise awareness of the reality of poverty in Scotland, highlighting again what is needed to be done and what has been done to tackle this and encourage debate and discussion about how to identify more solutions. Our delivery plan is already making progress in having an impact on a number of areas. We have agreed a new national minimum level of £100 for school clothing grants, which started this academic year, benefiting around 120,000 families this year. Choices that we are making in the here and now to mitigate and help families cope with their poverty. Social Security Scotland made its first payments of the carers allowance supplement in September, putting an extra £442 in carers pockets. Last month, fair for you, was the first lender to borrow from the £2.5 million affordable credit fund. The Scottish Government has also invested £1 million in the fund, alongside Carnegie and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, to increase choices for people on low incomes and provide genuine alternatives to high-cost credit providers. Neil Findlay. I wonder if she could answer a very direct question. Why is it that the baby box bus pass and tuition fees help people out of poverty, but a £5 a week increase in child benefit would not? We heard during the First Minister's questions that what we are wanting to do with the money and resource that we have is to direct and target that in the best and the most appropriate way to lift more children out of poverty. The analysis that we have done of the give me five campaign, although it is absolutely appropriate that it will take forward that campaign and raise rightly the impact that it might have, it will not raise as many children from poverty as the income supplement that we are taking forward work on in the here and now to deliver more for children across the country. How is it that other policies that I have mentioned do help? Can you tell us how they help? Cabinet Secretary. I have listened to a whole host of policies, initiatives and things that we are doing in the here and now to help families to cope with the poverty that has been inflicted on them through welfare reforms and the money that has been taken out from their pockets. All of those things contribute to ensuring the wellbeing of our country. It is quite an important point to recognise that we want to target and direct our funding to impact the most families, the most children across the country. That is the most appropriate way in which we use and target our funds and to continue to do what we are doing, but to continue to do it with one hand behind our back. Again, it is probably appropriate to reiterate Sandra White's point. If we want us to really radically transform the society that we live in, perhaps it is about thinking about what powers do we need here and now to actually impact and transform lives and bring people out of poverty. Again, unless the Labour Party wants to think about that, we will get stuck in a crisis of not being able to do things and take forward policies without having to mitigate the impact of decisions taken elsewhere. Can I make a bit of progress if that is okay? Again, we are taking forward other things that are around impact and targeting people who need help most. The best start pregnancy and baby grant that we are working towards making before Christmas is now six months. It will be delivered six months earlier than planned and we are going to be providing parents payments to low-income families with £600 on the birth of their first child and £300 on the birth of any subsequent child. Further payments of £250 for each child will be introduced by summer 2019 at key transition points in their life. Again, we are also taking forward work to maintain a focus on poverty in work across all of government and we have implemented the fairer Scotland duty. That asks all public bodies actively to consider how they can reduce inequalities of outcomes caused by disadvantage when making their decisions. Members made comments on other particular issues. I completely agree with Alison Johnstone's student, Mellon and Clare Baker, about the unacceptability that in a country as prosperous as Scotland that people are struggling to put food on their table. Everyone has a right to food and people shouldn't be forced to turn to food banks for that. That is why, again, the programme for government that we announced is increasing funding for our fair food fund to provide a dignified response to food insecurity. £2 million of that £3.5 million funding will focus on supporting families during the school holidays. We know that, again, we need radical action in order for us to achieve the ambitious targets that we have set out in the child poverty act. That is why we have set out our intention to develop a new income supplement that will provide additional financial support for people who are living in poverty, ensuring that it tops up the income sufficiently to lift those households out of poverty. Although we can list that suite of actions and policies with strategies to make an impact towards eradicating poverty, there is much more that we can and need to do, and we must do if we want to shift the curve in child poverty. That means ensuring that every member of the Government recognises the role that tackling poverty does not just mean work by me or Shirley-Anne Somerville, but we work across transport, economy, work and employment, and we maximise the impact of the policies in those areas. Although we work to tackle the social injustice of poverty with a hand tied behind our back, we continue to exert our influence and take action that we need, while we continue to mitigate the worst impacts of welfare reform. Although Alexander Stewart acknowledged the appropriate and pertinent intervention from Neil Findlay, the uncomfortable truth for the Conservatives is that acknowledgement will not stop the trauma, the lack of food, and the lack of dignity that people in Scotland face as a result of welfare reforms. A acknowledgement of that problem will not put food on people's table. That is why challenge poverty week is important and will continue to be so until we solve it. That means stopping in work poverty, where folk work hard and you cannot get out of the bit. Removing the barriers facing people with disability to enter the workplace and reversing the gender pay gap and being ambitious on our plans to introduce an income supplement. By preventing poverty, we end the horrifying impact that has felt across our communities. I do not think that anybody in Government or anyone across the Parliament will be content by just sticking on a badge or getting a pic or our selfie done to mark this week. The position that I have in this Government is a privilege and with that comes opportunity. I have to say that with this week and with this opportunity that we have a chance as a Government and as a Parliament to come together and understand that every week, every day, every week and every year, until we see the change that we need to happen across the country, that that will have to drive our effort and our work. As Elaine Smith, we are reimagining and creating that good society where everyone has their fair chance to flourish. Thank you, cabinet secretary. That concludes the debate. I suspend this meeting of Parliament until 2.30.