 Order, please. Before I move on to the next item of business, could I ask the members of the public leaving the gallery to please do so quietly? The next item of business today is the member's business debate on motion number 13954, in the name of George Adam, on the national third sector graphic project. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put, and I would be grateful if those members who wish to speak in the debate could press the request to speak buttons now. I call on George Adam to open the debate seven minutes or so, Mr Adam. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'm only too glad to bring this debate to the chamber today to discuss the many good third sector projects that are working currently in all our communities. Tonight we'll celebrate an event in here to celebrate that work, but today it's all about the support of the national third sector graphic project, which is a public social partnership between Barnardo Scotland, Improvement Service and Voluntary Action Scotland. The aim of the project is to reduce inequalities for children, young people and their families by creating, nurturing and enabling partnerships within and between the third sector and statutory sectors to ensure the best use of resources. There are many examples of those organisations making a difference in all our constituencies. There are also examples of third sector organisations that have profoundly affected me personally when you see the work that they have done. Barnardo's thread project in Paisley is an example of that type of support, offering help and support to young mothers throughout Paisley, Renfrewshire and Inverclyde. That can be as simple as completing forms for housing or discussing health nutrition for both mum and baby. Many young women have had that support and gained from the help offered. The third sector is also able to do that because, unlike statutory organisations, they are seen as a friend to the individual. They are seen as part of the solution and not part of the problem because it can be extremely challenging for local authorities to have that type of relationship with a young mum or anyone in that position. Services that threads offer include one-to-one pre-tenancy and tenancy support, prenatal group work and new baby group work. Pre-tenancy group work is particularly good because it is not just a case of ensuring that we can get those young families housed. It is about making sure that they stay in that home and they have an opportunity to thrive within that. The support that they give is immediate and available for emergencies or other inquiries. During a visit with the minister in Paisley, we heard of how the project has managed to include all the family, including young fathers, grandchildren and grandpas. I have recently become a grandpa. I remember being a young parent because, obviously, you can tell him a young grandparent as it is. I can remember that difficult time even then with the support that I had, the decisions that you had to make as a young parent and how you constantly questioned yourself whether you were doing the right job. I can see the value of a project in our area. We all know that our first influences are those of our family members, so we have to ensure that a family unit stays strong. That is where the third sector comes in and supports families. My confidence derives from this type of thing by being told by my parents how wonderful I was from an early age. Of course, married life ensured that I was told on a regular basis that I was not quite as perfect as mum and dad told me, but it provided me with that support to be able to be all I could be within my own life and give me that confidence to move forward. That is something that the third sector and projects such as this are trying to do with families throughout Renfrewshire. One of the other projects that I went to see was—I am a great believer in actually seeing it, seeing what is happening with some of the projects. Bernardo has asked me to do a project that is in Poulmouth, where I saw first hand the work that they do in Poulmouth, in Cortenvale, working with young men and women with their outside-in project, which gives them a basis to make sure that those young men and women get an opportunity to work towards anything with the curriculum for excellence, to engage with youth work and to see how it can make a difference and how we can change the way they look at life and move forward. Some of the stories of the young people involved, if they had possibly had third sector or other interventions at an earlier stage, might not have been in those institutions, because there was one young man who was there on a serious assault charge. His girlfriend was pregnant, she had been wound up by one of his colleagues and he attacked the person and regretted it and ended up in a serious assault charge, but he ended up in a tragic situation, where he was in there for about seven years, he had no girlfriend anymore, the girlfriend had a miscarriage and he had no child. Effectively, he was locked up after a decision that he made at that point, but he saw the value of the project and how he would have made different decisions when he was out in the outside world. That is not to say that he would have engaged with that type of programme in the outside world, but it just shows that, if we could have made sure that young man got him at the right stage, he might not have made that tragic decision. There was also a young woman who went off, her mum died, and she went off the rails and attacked a girl because she effectively just couldn't deal with the situation of her mum dying so young and she had nowhere to go and no other support. Again, it shows you that if there had been a possibility of intervention out with the actual being in the institution, there could have been a difference to that young woman's life, but all the whole, the project gives these young men and women the opportunity they never had or did engage with in the outside. The services enhances their social skills and their personal development and proves the prospects of young men and women in the community to be on their release. They deal with about 1,599 youth work interventions, and some of the programmes that they have, as I have already mentioned, have worked with the curriculum for excellence, but they also have interventions that have worked particularly well and linked to specific aims of the Scottish Government strategies, including the CFA and getting it right for every child, and the SPS's out-offender outcomes. However, one of the projects that they have is Big Man, peer education and anti-violence, ensuring that some of the young men that I have spoken about speak to some of the younger people that are in the institution and say to them, that I made that mistake. The conversation that they had with me, they have with that young person as well. Another one that they have is all very peer support, and one of the things that I have is Mind Your Heat, where they have emotional health and wellbeing programme and explore the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of enabling young men and women to identify and adopt strategies to cope with stress. In some of the cases that I have already mentioned, that would help them to make the right decision at the right time. Of course, the challenges that we currently have, we have welfare reform within the Westminster Government, and that is having a dramatic effect on a lot of young families throughout Scotland. One of the things that Barnadol and the third sector are concerned with is the effect that it is going to have on the lack of financial support, because we all know that if you are struggling to make sure that your family has the financial backing, the need things could go wrong at that stage. At this stage, I welcome all the work that the third sector does, and although we live in very difficult times, we need the third sector to continue to work with the Government, both locally and nationally, and along with the rest of the public sector, in providing help and support to the many families in Scotland through no fault of their own, need that type of support. Many thanks. I turn to the open debate speeches of four minutes. I call Iain Gray to be followed by Joan McAlpine. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I give thanks to George Adam for securing this debate on what is an important topic, and I would like to join him in commending the national third sector girfit project on the work that is already undertaken towards reducing inequalities for children, young people and their families through the creation of vital links between sectors and recognise some extremely impressive examples that Mr Adam gave from his constituency. As he said, due to the increasing budget pressures on the public sector, particularly at local government level in Scotland, it is vital that we work towards supporting third sector organisations as full partners in the delivery, commissioning and planning of children's services. In my constituency of East Lothian, Strive is the lead partner in voluntary action. It is the third sector interface for the county, and it provides support, learning and development opportunities for both individuals and organisations through volunteering, organisational support, youth adventure and wellbeing teams. Members will all, I guess, know from similar projects in their constituencies just how important third sector organisations are to the building of empowered and resilient communities and families. Many promote informal learning, leadership development and help build community capacity across projects. The project in the motion today demonstrates that partnership working has a positive impact on a project that has been evaluated. It shows exactly how we see a positive impact on how services are delivered in local areas where the third sector is strong, and it demonstrates the importance of partnership working not as something unusual or remarkable but rather as the standard practice between third sector and statutory bodies. Continuing to support the development of interfaces across Scotland will be vital, as is using the resources and expertise available throughout the third sector. Those will become increasingly important, as we see the dual pressures of increasing legislation and sweeping cuts in welfare public sector budgets and local budgets through the council tax freeze. SCVO has said that the impact of those cuts is affecting the work of many third sector organisations. Indeed, 63 per cent of charities and third sector bodies in Scotland forecast that they will face cuts, and 81 per cent of third sector organisations expect the financial situation for the sector to worsen in coming months. All of that is set against the next expectation in the sector of increased demand, worrying not just for the organisations themselves but for the families and communities such as those whom Mr Adam referred to who rely on third sector projects. Demand for support is expected to increase in coming years as GERFEC further rolls out, and the Children and Young People's Act comes into force too. It is increasingly important that the Scottish Government does everything it can to support the role of the third sector across Scotland. It is clear that third sector organisations have significant challenges ahead of them, but it is also clear that there are better outcomes in areas where there are empowered, professional and adequately resourced third sector organisations working in an effective partnership with councils and the NHS. They must be supported as they develop those robust and efficient partnerships. The third sector must be involved on the basis of an equal playing field in the delivery of children's services, albeit that that is an ambitious aspiration given the challenges facing the sector. However, it is something that I am sure the whole Parliament supports, because it is an important strand for us in delivering the best outcomes for young people, for families and for communities across Scotland. Many thanks. I now call Joan McAlpine to be followed by Kara Hilton. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I am going to start my comments today with something of a confession. When I was elected to this Parliament in 2011, I, like many people, had never heard of GERFIC. If I am honest, as a journalist, I was quite suspicious of acronyms. I had not been here for very long when I became a convert, and that was due to the work of the education committee, in particular our inquiry into the educational attainment of looked-after children and, of course, the work that we did in scrutinising the children and young people's bill. It became clear to me that GERFIC was a touchstone that people could go to getting it right for every child. It meant something particularly to the young people who were care leavers for whom it had not gone right for them. I think that the principles behind getting it right for every child is that every child should want their outcomes to be the same as they want for their own children. For everybody who is involved in children and for policy makers to understand what that means, it is really important. I even became persuaded by Shanaari, the eight indicators of wellbeing, which are safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included. It is really important that people have those touchstones to go back to and say that our policies are the way that we are doing things, going to deliver those outcomes for children. During the course of the inquiry and scrutinising the bill, it became very clear to me that it was third sector organisations who were some of the most powerful advocates for GERFIC. One of them was Bernardo's, whose briefing today is very useful. It is really clear that third sector organisations have become far more central to designing and delivering policy in my own area in Dumfries and Galloway. The third sector interface now has a shot fund project on the high street, so it is really very accessible and it is becoming recognised as being central to the delivery of services. That is what this project, as I understand it, is about. It is a pilot project to encourage the third sector to be involved in designing services that deliver GERFIC right across Scotland. It is obvious that the way that we are integrating services, not just for children but for children today, is a very complex affair. The top-down approach of old, where the local authority or the health board made all the decisions and designs and the delivery of service, has the benefit of simplicity, but it is not flexible. If you want a person-centred approach, where services are tailored to the needs of the individual, the third sector has to be at the heart of that. George Adam outlined what a transformative experience that can be on the ground for young people. The pilot looks at ways on how you can improve all the different parties involved in delivering GERFIC and how you can improve their communication. It strikes me as an excellent way to deliver good practice in the area. As I understand it, 10 community planning projects are working on that and are looking at ways to strengthen their partnerships with the third sector. They have a self-evaluation checklist that ensures that GERFIC informs the collaborative working that they do every step of the way. As I understand it, self-evaluation perhaps not surprisingly throws up challenges, not least the pressure on resources that is caused by austerity, as is outlined by Ian Gray. The increasing pressure on third sector interfaces to co-ordinate so many very different third sector organisations, both large and small, but the point of the project is to offer solutions and then to share those solutions right around Scotland, which I think is a really admirable idea. I understand that we are halfway through this project and the last part of the project will be to discuss with service users how it is working and how it would improve matters. Again, my experience on the education committee told me that one of the most important aspects of the Children and Young People's Act and our inquiries was when we sat down and spoke to look after children and got their views and used them to help us influence and shape policy. Service users are children and young people themselves that are at the heart of GERFIC. That is why I am very pleased that this project is going to, in its next stage, listen to them and share their views right around Scotland. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I begin by congratulating George Adam on securing today's debate and also by apologising for not being able to stay after my speech because I am sponsoring an event on behalf of a constituent at one o'clock. George Adam has already highlighted that the aim of the national third sector, getting it right for every child project, is to reduce inequalities for children, young people and their families by creating, nurturing and enabling a partnership approach between the third and statutory sector. In confirming and right across Scotland, this innovative approach is already delivering results and playing a real life changing role for many families. In Fife, we have seen the development of the south-west family and nurture hub, which brings together third sector agencies to design and deliver services for parents and families of not-to-three-year-olds with a particular focus on the most vulnerable families. Key to this project has been a focus on developing early language skills on improvement attachment, providing support, information and advice to mums and dads, including one-to-one specialist family support and intensive interventions, all geared towards breaking the cycle of disadvantage in our communities that too many kids are caught up in. The hub involves Bernados, Fife Council, Aberlawer, Fife Gingerbread, Early Years Scotland and Homestar, all working in partnership to provide early targeted and intensive support, and ensuring that those families with extra needs can access the right intervention and support services in a non-stigmatised way, receiving as little or as much support as they need. I had the pleasure of recently visiting the Bernados project in Kirkcaldy to meet partners involved in the nurture hub and find out more about the key services that they offer, such as a family carer service, which provides extra support to vulnerable women in pregnancy and after birth, helping to build what parents' practical knowledge of nutrition, communication and attachment with direct input from the speech and language service and the dietitian service. I have also had the pleasure of visiting the fantastic Bernados threads project in Paisley, highlighted by George Adam. In this context, we can clearly see the benefits being delivered by following a public social partnership approach, increasing the focus in tackling inequalities and delivering a genuine shift in focus to early intervention and prevention. It is always good, I think, to see the first-hand policy aspirations that we debate here in the chamber being translated into real action on the ground and to see the barriers between organisations and sectors being broken down. That is why it is absolutely vital that both the Scottish Government and local authorities continue to provide the support and the resources to make that happen. In that respect, Bernados has highlighted their concern that a great deal more work and support is needed to help third sector interfaces to be full and effective partners in the delivery of children's services. There is currently quite a big variation in their ability to be a representative voice for the third sector in community planning partnerships. Given the requirements of both the Children and Young People's Act and the Community Empowerment Act, I think that more work has got to be done here to ensure a better support network, and that is especially the case for smaller organisations. Obviously, we have got a key role to play in implementing GERFIC and designing children's services. The reality is that, unless the third sector is really involved in the planning of children's services, it is going to be extremely hard to make sure that those services are designed in a way that meets people's needs. That is especially the case for those who face the greatest difficulties. Members have highlighted the environment that we are in in the climate of diminishing resources and increasing needs. Both the public and voluntary sectors are increasingly having to deal with children and families in crisis. We can only address that issue in partnership. We must do all that we can to make the Children and Young People's Act work, but that will be challenging unless there is a genuine partnership between local authorities and the voluntary sector. It is not always something that is just central government led. Moving on quickly to the wider context of the motion, George Adam is right to highlight the impact of the Tory welfare cuts on children and families across Scotland and the possible knock-on effect in the third sector. Local authority cuts will have an impact here, too. We live in a country where not only food banks but clothing banks are springing up in our towns and cities. That is why we must do everything we can to protect children in Scotland from the Tory's austerity regime. We all want to see as Scotland in which every child has the opportunity and support to fulfil the potential. If we are to achieve that goal and the best outcomes for all our children and young people, partnership work in between the third sector and the public sector is vital. The third sector is a great example of where we are starting to get this right and all involved in supporting our children must focus on working together effectively to ensure that every single child in Scotland has the best start in life and an equal opportunity to succeed. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would also like to congratulate George Adam on bringing this motion to Parliament today. I consider the national third sector getting it right for every child to get a perfect project and excellent framework to support each and every child and their families. In fact, the project represents a consistent way for all involved to work with children and young people in Scotland. I particularly welcome this project as it recognises not only its support needs but also the wishes and interests of children and young people. What does that mean in practice? We first behind the project is to engage with children in the decisions that affect them. It aims to actively be involved with children in the decision-making process and to help to understand the reason behind decisions taken that will impact on their lives. That involves listening to their wishes and actively engaging with them in the discussions that will affect them most. Overall, the project seeks to streamline responses from professionals and to prove the co-ordination between all stakeholders. In that respect, the name person scheme has been introduced. I particularly welcome that aspect of the project as it makes sure that every child or a parent has a single point of contact to guide them and provide advice when necessary. What are the steps that are important? First of all, I believe that those measures will help in enabling children and young adults, as well as their families, to feel better supported and more confident about the help that they receive. Secondly, by achieving that, they will be able to ensure that all children feel safe, supported and cared for through their childhood. Scotland is a great place to grow up, but we simply cannot forget that child poverty, social inequalities and deprivation remain core challenges to achieving a more equal and fairer society. Getting it right for every child also means that we need to focus on a wider range of issues. In that regard, I agree with George Adam that we need to need a well-resourced and supported third sector. Organisations such as Barnardo Scotland, voluntary action Scotland and improvement service can be a great help in reducing inequalities. Looking at the GIRFEC project, I believe that this is a case and that the charities have an excellent understanding of the pressing needs of children and families based on a daily basis. Recognising this one of the main aims of the national GIRFEC project is to strengthen the involvement of the third sector in community planning. The project states that it is essential that the third sector is a full partner in planning, design and delivery of children's services. Getting it right for every child, as I have outlined earlier, requires a focus on the interests of children and young people. Focusing on the interests of children and young people is facilitated through a public social partnership between Government and third sector organisations. Additionally, a project promotes the co-operation and co-ordination among organisations, as well as identifying the indicators against which activities in the sector should be measured. I truly support this approach. I am confident that it will last improve the wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland. However, being cognisant to the measures proposed by the UK welfare reform, working with the first sector organisations will come an even more important task. We just need to think about the tax credits cuts, nearly 350,000 Scottish children and 200,000 families will be affected. In fact, research shows that 100,000 more Scottish children will be important by 2020. If we do not succeed in counteracting the UK welfare reform, I am confident that we can make Scotland an even better place to grow up. However, we are at a crucial junction. We need to use our new devolved powers wisely, respecting the rights and dignity of our citizens. The best way to achieve this, I believe, is by building strong and mutually beneficial links with the first sector. The GIFIC project is an exemplar for creating such a partnership, which, undeniably, has already benefited many children and families in communities across Scotland. I invite Aileen Campbell to respond to the debate. Minister, seven minutes or so please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome today's debate and want to thank George Adam for bringing in this important topic for discussion today. At the heart of George Adam's motion is getting it right for every child and GIFIC is built on partnership. It is there in how services can work together better to support children and young people. It is the foundation on which professionals should work with families. I think that Joan McAlpine's point about needing to be mindful of jargon and realise what GIFIC stands for is an important one. It is about making sure that we have and work well for every child, every time. GIFIC, of course, is also the cornerstone of our belief that we should be putting our children and young people at the centre of all that we do. As recognised by David Torrance, it is our national approach to ensure that children and young people get the services that they deserve. It embeds partnership and, importantly, early intervention and prevention to ensure that we avoid crises, escalate them and secure the best possible outcomes for our children and young people. The national third sector GIFIC project was launched in early 2013, and the project aims to support community planning partnerships to recognise and embed the role of the third sector in implementing GIFIC, maximising the contribution that the sector can make to enhancing outcomes for children and young people and to draw together those principles in policy and in good practice. Partnership is why the national third sector GIFIC project has been so successful at this critical stage of preparing for the new duties that will fall under the Children and Young People Act. Partnership has been the word that occurs throughout the positive evaluation of the project, and it has been an important model for the partnership that should underlie how all services are planned and delivered in the future. Along with George Adam and so many others here today, I want to celebrate and value its success and look forward to getting an opportunity to do that again later this evening in Parliament. The third sector's role is a key plank of our Children and Young People Act to make sure that we are effective in our planning of children's services. That includes new duties on local authorities and health boards to ensure that the third sector organisations have a key role as part of that planning process. At the same time, we are introducing a new programme to improve how partnership will deliver better services for children and young people in each local area. Public, third sector and private organisations must work more effectively in partnership with communities and with each other to design and deliver excellent public services for local people. We want to make sure that—oh, sorry, I thought—I apologise, I thought that Ian was going to intervene there. Sorry. This is where the realigning children's services programme will add value to what is already taking place across community planning partnerships. The programme will support local partners to accelerate the implementation of GERFEC and help to meet the needs of our vulnerable children much sooner than we currently do as a nation. Last night in Parliament, we celebrated action for children's 60th anniversary. We got a chance to recognise its unstinting determination to do the best for the children in their care. It also provided a wider opportunity to recognise the fantastic work undertaken by the third sector more generally. The value of the third sector is that it is often deeply embedded in the community, understands completely the people that they are trying to help and is a fleet of foot and nimble to adapt to emerging challenges and opportunities in order to provide the help people and communities need. It does not expect people to fit around them, instead recognising the strengths and assets within a community and building on them to find lasting and sustainable solutions to the challenges that they may face. In the words of our former chief medical officer, Harry Burns, moving our people from passive recipients of care to active agents of change in their own lives. It is that approach and value that has been articulated by so many in this debate today. George Adam mentioned the friend project, which builds the confidence of parents by revealing to them what they can do. He also mentioned Bernard O's outside-in project. I think that that shows and highlights why we should be embedding early intervention and prevention, because it is those young men and women who are getting the help too late. They are getting it in the prison service and if we had potentially managed to find earlier solutions for them, they could have avoided that trauma or imprisonment. At the violence reduction unit's tenth anniversary celebration, I heard from a young man who beautifully encapsulated what we need to do to help these young men and women. He said that if young men and women have to look beyond the end of their kitchen table for a positive role model, then those people are already disadvantaged. It is those people that we need to make sure that we can step in to help, and the third sector is well placed to provide that. Ian Gray also mentioned the Strive programme in East Lothian and talked about its importance in building resilience in the communities that he represents. Likewise, Cara Hylton mentioned the south-west family nurture hub, which focuses on vulnerable families' attachment and language development. George Adam and many other speakers today are also right to recognise the challenges that are often faced by the third sector, because it is the third sector that is often at the coalface of trying to help families, especially in the face of harsh welfare reforms from the UK Government, where sanctions and cuts are hitting our most vulnerable the hardest. We are also seeing increasing use of food banks, which is a complete and utterly unacceptable situation for our rich nation to be in. The challenge is also there for the third sector. Partnership sounds easy but it is absolutely and completely challenging. The third sector is not homogenous, but it is richly varied. That means that a lot of careful work has to be put into ensuring that there is trust, open relationships and that there is positive dialogue between each and every single part of the third sector in that community. Cara Hylton is also right to acknowledge the challenge of finding a truly representative voice of the third sector at a CPP level. We want to support the third sector, and that is why we have committed substantial support through the children and young people and families in our late intervention fund. More widely, the 1516 Scottish Government budget has enabled us to continue investing in the third sector as a key social partner with £24.5 million of funding. We are working closely with the sector to consider what approach might be taken in the period ahead to continue to secure a buoyant and sustainable third sector. I want to acknowledge the great work that has been done by the national third sector GERFEC project and by the third sector more widely. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank again George Adam and the SNP and Labour party members who have united in this chamber to recognise the fantastic work that has been done by the third sector in the face of what is very challenging times but nonetheless are able to deliver fantastic results and outcomes for those who are most vulnerable in our communities. That concludes George Adam's debate, national third sector GERFEC project, and I now suspend this meeting of Parliament until 2.30pm.