The next item of business is a debate in motion 10343, in the name of Shirley-Anne Somerville, on equality within the 2023-24 programme for government. I would invite those members who would wish to speak in this debate to please press the request-to-speak buttons. I call in Shirley-Anne Somerville, cabinet secretary, to speak to and to move the motion. Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of the three critical missions for this Government, alongside our focus on growing the economy and strengthening public services. It is these interconnected missions that are front and centre of this year's programme for government, which is unapologetically anti-poverty, focused on delivering high-quality public services. It shows that we can alleviate inequality and poverty by ensuring that we have a fair, green and growing wellbeing economy that provides job opportunities and capitalises on a just transition. This Government will continue to use our fixed budget to reduce poverty, improve opportunities and reduce health inequalities, protecting people as far as possible from the harm inflicted by the UK Government's austerity-driven policies and the on-going cost-of-the-union crisis. However, it is only with the full economic powers of an independent nation that we can truly eradicate inequality and poverty here in Scotland. Delivering fair work and fair pay for all is critical to our missions and a top priority for the Scottish Government. The NHS is the largest employer in Scotland, and through our Agenda for Change pay offer, we have ensured that NHS employees on the lowest bands have the biggest increases in pay. Building on that, we are committing to providing the necessary funding in the next budget to increase the pay of adult social care workers in the private, third and independent sectors in a direct care role and those working to deliver funded early learning and childcare to at least £12 per hour, an increase that could be worth up to £2,000 per year for those on full-time contracts. There are more than 200,000 registered workers in the social care sector and four out of five of them are women. We know that women and child poverty are inextricably linked, so not only will that help, recruit and retain in our social care workforce and in early learning and childcare, but it will also be a key step to tackling poverty for women and children. I thank the cabinet secretary for taking this intervention. Is it still the case that the Scottish Government will stand by the First Minister's commitment in March for a new national funding framework for hospices in Scotland? I am sure that this is one of the aspects that the cabinet secretary for health can deal with in his closing statement on this, but I recognise that there are challenges that many hospices and charities in the third sector are facing. We are very keen to try to support where we can, but within the limited budget that we have. This Government is committed to tackling the inequality that we have in our community. I only wish that the UK Government showed even a quarter of our ambition. The UK Conservative Government must face up to the damage and hardship that it has caused by well over a decade of hysterity and welfare cuts. Damage and hardship exacerbated by a hard Brexit and shocking mismanagement of the economy, which has led to soaring in-fasion, spiling energy bills and the worst cost of living crisis in a generation. The Government is doing all that it can in the face of that to make a difference. Despite the UK Government's policies pushing people into poverty, we know that our action is still making a difference. Modelling estimates that 90,000 fewer children will live in relative and absolute poverty this year, as a result of this Government's policies, with a poverty level's 9 per centage points lower than it would have been otherwise. That includes lifting an estimated 50,000 children out of relative poverty through the Scottish child payment. That is a major achievement, but that achievement would be all the more if we weren't being held back by the UK Government policies pushing people into poverty at the same time. The UK Government welfare policies, including the two-child limit and the benefit cap, inflict hardship on families on the lowest incomes. The two-child limit alone is affecting 80,000 children in Scotland and has removed £341 million from Scottish families since 2017. That is a disastrous policy for people right across this country at their time of greatest need. Were the UK Government to reverse key welfare reforms introduced in 2015, that would help to lift 70,000 people out of poverty this year, including 30,000 children, putting an estimated £780 million back in the pockets of the lowest income households. The Conservatives in Westminster must no longer sit by and watch people suffer, although they may feel that they can, because Labour is promising more of the same, which is why the powers over social security and employment to name but to are needed in the hands of this Parliament. However, if the UK Government really wanted to do something to alleviate inequality, it could. That is why the First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister yesterday calling for the UK Government to legislate to put an essential guarantee in place to ensure that social security benefits adequately cover the cost of essentials, including food, transport and energy, and to ensure that deductions such as debt repayments to Government, sanctions or, as a result of the benefit cap, can never pool support below this level. We know that the Welsh Government also supports this approach, and I will follow up with further correspondence to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the coming days. Over the last five financial years, we have invested £711 million through activities such as discretionary housing payments and the Scottish welfare fund to mitigate the austerity of UK Government policies, including the bedroom tax, the benefit cap and local housing allowance. That money could have been spent on services such as health, education, transport or on further ambitious anti-poverty measures. It could have paid for around 2,000 band 5 nurses each year. That is the price of staying in the union. However, Scotland cannot wait for the UK Government to act. While devolution continues to limit what we can do, this Government is determined to use our powers to the fullest possible extent. That is why in 2021 we convened an expert group from across the third sector in academia and industry to look at how, under our current powers and current budget challenges, Scotland can build steps towards a minimum income guarantee. Such a change could be transformational, and I look forward to receiving the group's recommendations in 2024. We know that child poverty in particular lies at the roots of many of the greatest challenges that we face as a country, including tackling health and educational inequalities. The Scottish Government is unequivocal in its commitment to meet our statutory targets through best start bright futures. Delivering on our ambition will mean tough choices, and we will not shy away from the decisions that are needed to reduce poverty and support those who are in greatest need. Neither will we shirk from protecting people from harm as outlined in our missions. Our programme for government sets out how we will work to deliver further progress on those shared ambitions. That includes investing £405 million in our unique and game-changing Scottish child payment this year, worth £25 per eligible child per week. That payment is unique in the UK and was reaching over 316,000 children as of the end of June this year. That is more than £350 million paid to low-income families since a payment launched in February 2021. To ensure that we continue to support people with the cost of living, we are committed to increasing the Scottish child payment, funeral support payment and all disability and carers benefits in line with inflation. Unlike UK benefits systems, I also have to stress that the Scottish child payment does not have a limit to the number of children who can qualify for a family. That is a principle based on dignity, which is a shame. The Tories and the Labour Party have long since given up on that. Building on our action to date, we have now set ambitious plans to expand access to high-quality fund the childcare by the end of this Parliament, starting with those who need it most, helping to tackle poverty and supporting thousands more parents to take up or sustain employment. The cabinet secretary might have saw some correspondence on social media last night from the private voluntary and independence sector. They are not very happy with the Government's proposals. They think that the SNC's will still close in the childcare sector. Can you ask what the cabinet secretary responds to that? We will, of course, continue to work with those right across early learning and childcare, but I will take no lessons from the Tories who want us to follow the UK Government's approach, which is only restricted to children with parents who are working and who are not determined to pay their living wage—never mind the £12 per hour that we are committed to. I will take no lessons from the Scottish Tories and how we should have access to childcare in this country. We will, of course, continue to work with stakeholders to make sure that we will do what we can to deal with any concerns that they have and to build the best possible childcare system in Scotland that we can. Recognising the cost of living is still far too high for many families, we are already struggling with the increasingly unaffordable cost of food, housing, bills and everyday essentials, as well as Brexit and the economic mismanagement by the UK Government. That is why, last year and this year, we have allocated almost £3 billion to support policies that tackle poverty and protect people as far as possible during the on-going cost of living crisis. Beyond investment in our Scottish child payment, that includes continued provision of free bus travel for over 2 million people, including all young people under the age of 22, the tripling of our fuel insecurity fund to £30 million this year and continuing to provide one of the most generous free school meals that offers anywhere in the UK saving parents £400 per eligible child per year. We will continue to do everything that we can within the scope of our powers and limited budget to tackle poverty and support those in greatest need, strengthening the support where we can. In 2023-24, we will invest £5.3 billion in Scottish Government benefits, supporting over 1.2 million people, as well as extending further support that we provide to carers by introducing the carers support payment. We will invest £752 million this year through our affordable housing supply programme and we will continue the housing bill to create powers for the introduction of long-term rent controls, creating new tenants rights and introducing new duties aimed at the prevention of homelessness. We will introduce a landmark human rights bill and invite the Scottish Parliament to bring back the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Incorporation Scotland bill for reconsideration stage, to deliver legislation that protects and enhances our fuller range of human rights within the limits of devolved competence. We will, of course, ensure that we consult with the intention of bringing a bill to Parliament on the end of conversion practices in Scotland. We will publish the fair fairs review on the cost and availability of bus, rail and ferry services by the end of 2023 and introduce a pilot for the removal of ScotRail peak time fairs beginning in October, in a move that will make rail travel more affordable and accessible during that pilot. In closing, this year's programme for government builds on the foundations that we already have in Scotland, strengthening our approach to tackling poverty and inequality, providing equitable access to health and social care services and to treatment. We will continue to be frank about the need to make difficult decisions to ensure that we free up resources to target support, and we will always continue to stand up for the people of Scotland against a UK Government and any incoming Labour Government with palimitation Tory policies that hit the poorest, hardest at their time of need. That is not what the people of Scotland need at this time or in any other. As a Government, we will use the powers that we have to address the root causes of poverty, but it is only with the full economic and fiscal powers of an independent nation that we can eradicate inequality and poverty in Scotland. I welcome the opportunity to debate equality in the programme for government, because yesterday's programme was nothing short of disappointing. Hamza Yousaf promised us that he would be his own man and set out his own plan, yet there is not a single word in this programme that could not have come from his predecessor. It is quite telling that Nicola Sturgeon is taking part in this debate today to defend her prodigies plan, because she pretty much wrote every policy in this document, and that is why this programme is so disappointing. When Scotland needed a bold new ambitious plan to tackle the big challenges faced by our economy and public services, the best Hamza Yousaf could do was copy Nicola Sturgeon's homework and continue her SNP failures. Before I continue with highlighting its problems, I want to mention two areas of consensus in the programme that the Scottish Conservatives have outlined in our amendment. On support for families affected by miscarriage, the First Minister will always have my support when trying to support those who have suffered a terrible loss, and I commend him for speaking so openly about his own personal experience. I hope that that gives those who have suffered a miscarriage strength, and I look forward to seeing more detail in the coming months. On childcare, as a new mum, I know how quickly childcare costs can rise, not only for the childcare aspect but for other financial pressures that go along with raising a child. I am pleased that the Scottish Government has finally listened to the Scottish Conservatives' calls to be bold and ambitious when it comes to the roll-out of free childcare. Empowering parents is something that I have been calling for for quite some time, simplifying the process for parents and giving them more choice over their child's care as the right course of action. That does not take away from the crisis that is currently engulfing the sector. While I will always welcome increased pay for carers, judging by the reaction on social media last night, the £12 an hour staff wage went down like a sinking ship. The Government still does not get it. It does not understand the needs of the third private involuntary organisations. It is not staff wages that is the problem. It is that local authorities set the rates per child for both themselves and, effectively, their competition. I have asked that before. How can a Government organisation be a competitor and a banker at the same time? I will make this play again. I will fix the funding formula to create equality for the PVI sector. They are Scotland's first educators, and the Government must do more to support them. I will now turn to the problems with the programme. That plan takes a lot of action to tackle violence against women and girls, and of course that action is welcome. However, that is completely undermined by the fact that this Government is continuing to push forward with its gender reform bill. That programme was a chance for the Government to admit that they got this wrong and to drop the bill. Yet, instead, they are charging ahead with a costly legal battle to take forward a law that the vast majority of Scots oppose. They oppose it because everyone can see the massive loopholes that allow predatory men to take advantage of the system. Last year, the SNP Government said that that would never happen, yet, mere weeks after the bill was passed, we had the case of Eila Bryson, the double rapist, who was initially remandied to a woman's jail after being found guilty. We were told that that would not happen. If the SNP truly wants to stand up for the rights and protections of women and girls, then they need to ditch the gender reform bill. One area that the Government could focus on is the misinformation about contraception on social media that could be contributing to the high abortion figures. Those are basic public health issues that the Government could be focusing on. Then we have the message of building better communities. I learned quickly during my time as a councillor that the SNP rips the heart out of communities by ruthlessly cutting council budgets year on year. In North Lanarkshire alone, they will need to find £67 million worth of cuts over the next three years on top of £228 million of cuts over the last decade. I am not sure if the member has paid any attention to what is happening in England with council after council going bankrupt, Tory councils, Labour councils. Will she not take any responsibility for the lack of funding and financial mismanagement of local government by her Government in England? Surely. What a brass neck you have. I am not quite sure that the cabinet secretary understands the damage that her Government is doing to local authorities across Scotland, community centres, vital services and swimming pools. If the cabinet secretary would like to stay behind for the debate that is taking after this debate this evening, he could maybe see the damage that has been inflicted by her Government at that point in time. I have also learned during my short time as an MSP that to have stronger communities, you need to have better infrastructure. However, as we have all seen during the SNP's time in Government, we have fewer GP surgeries and appointments available, our high streets and town centres are about to collapse and no real investment for our rural communities. While I am on the point of infrastructure, what about the A9 or the A96? That announcement from Hamza Yousaf fell flat yesterday, all because he committed to dualling the roads. Then he could not tell us when the road would be completed. I am not a betting woman, but I do bet you anything. If the Greens were not in Government, that road would be further along than what it is just now. The Greens are anti-growth and anti-roads. Finally, tackling child poverty. The SNP promised to deliver free school meals by August 2022. Now they have announced that they will work with COSLA to expand free school meal provision to primary 6 and primary 7. That does not even include breakfast, which we know is proven to set up kids for the day and to improve their learning and their behaviours in the classroom. Is this Government incompetent or incapable? Either way, they are trying to hoodwink the public into thinking that they are delivering for Scotland when, in fact, they are not. The SNP will spend this debate praising their record inequality and saying that this programme will continue those achievements. A session of ritual backpatting in Nicola Sturgeon defending her legacy, but beyond the spin, the poorest people in Scotland are being failed by this Government. Drug deaths remain the highest in Europe, alcohol deaths are the highest since 2008, and homelessness is reached an all-time high with children being placed in temporary accommodation. All the while, women and girls are being failed by this Government, held bent on introducing a gender recognition reform bill and by not having the correct public health messaging around contraception. Those are the facts that the SNP wants to ignore, but that is the reality that they are being faced with by the people of cross Scotland. That programme was a chance to tackle those big challenges, but, instead, we have the same reheated promises from a Government that is quite clearly ran out of ideas. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. In opening this debate for Scottish Labour, I move the amendment in my name. I am pleased to have the opportunity to open this debate on equalities in the programme for government, and I will begin with areas of consensus. There are areas in the programme that Scottish Labour supports. We have long called for improvements in the pay of social care workers, so finally seeing some progress on this area is to be welcomed, despite being told repeatedly by the Government, including the First Minister when he was health secretary, that he could not be done. We have also long supported efforts to improve access to childcare across Scotland, because we know that access to good high quality, truly flexible childcare, can reduce poverty and support people, especially women, into the workplace. I will give way to that question. I will go back to the issue of social care workforce. I notice in your amendment that you talk about a workable plan for achieving £15 an hour minimum wage for hard-working social care workers. Given that Labour has set themselves against any tax increase, whether it is income tax or council tax, could Paul O'Kane explain to us what Labour's workable plan is to get to £15 an hour for social care workers? Paul O'Kane? The Deputy First Minister well knows that, budget after budget, the Scottish Labour Party has brought proposals to this chamber on how we can accelerate to £12 an hour and to £15 an hour. The former finance secretary said that £12 an hour could not be done and consistently refused to engage on those points. We have long supported efforts to improve childcare. Of course, we support the actions that are outlined to move forward the work of Baroness Kennedy's review on misogyny law and support women and families who have experienced baby loss across Scotland. I think that we have heard very powerful contributions across the chamber on that regard. However, let's be honest. The relaunch of Humza Yousaf's Government, already tired just after six months, is underwhelming. Just 24 hours after the statement, it has been met with a lukewarm response at best from anti-poverty organisations, the third sector and wider civic Scotland. It has been described as a timid step in addressing injustice by Save the Children. The poverty line said that it missed the crucial opportunity to turn our shared values of justice and compassion into meaningful action and it fails to meet the challenges described by Shelter Scotland. The challenges before us are great. We face twin crises—the cost of living and an NHS on its knees. The response to those crises must match the scale of the challenge. Continuity won't cut it, as someone famously said, but continuity from this First Minister is exactly what we got. The reality doesn't match the rhetoric. Instead of direct action and new interventions, we have a document that is full of pilots, proposals, exploratory work and steering groups, and many of those initiatives are just re-announcements. The Government's flagship policy of removing income thresholds for best start payments is a re-announcement of existing policy and does little for those in the deepest poverty. No new spending has been announced on the child payment. The SNP Government is expecting credit for maintaining the status quo. On the annual recycled pledge of free school meals, this is now delayed until 2026 and beginning with that limited roll-out. How many times will the Government promise and then not deliver? It is clear, Presiding Officer, that this is a tired continuity Government lacking direction. The reality is that the SNP Government is failing and it is out of ideas on how to turn the situations around in Scotland. There are clarion calls in a moment. There are clarion calls around Scotland that the Government is going to fail to meet its own strategy poverty targets. Given the Government's anti-poverty measures so far have been estimated to have lifted 90,000 children out of poverty, is that not the sort of thing that we should be continuing with? As I have just said, the Government is on track to miss the legally binding poverty targets that have been set. There are clarion calls across Scotland pointing out that they are going to miss those targets. I need to make progress. None more so than the Fraser Ballander Institute said that missing a statutory target should be a big deal, shouldn't it? Instead, we have the equivalent of a shrug and a suggestion that the constitutional settlement means that we lack the necessary levers. We have already heard plenty about the constitutional settlement already in this debate about poverty today. We can and we must do more. Scottish Labour has offered interventions to tackle the cost of living crisis and prevent people experiencing poverty that have been ignored by this Government, capping the cost of public transport, rebate on water bills, mortgage rescue schemes and taking that quicker action on paying care workers not £12 an hour but £15 an hour. If the First Minister and the Cabinet are serious—if the Deputy First Minister is serious about their offer to listen and work—no, no—work on this, they must engage with our proposals. I spoke of care workers, because we know how vital health and social care is to ensuring the best life for everyone in Scotland. It seems that health and social care are at best and afterthought in this programme for government, and it was something that the Government does not actively want to talk about. It took the First Minister 22 minutes to mention the NHS in his speech yesterday, and it is more of the same in today's motion from the Government just one single sentence about health and social care. Over 820,000 people are languishing on waiting lists, while more than 7,000 NHS vacancies remain unfilled. A crisis in our health service is being felt every single day by people up and down Scotland. That is the reality under the SNP. Hard-working staff are crying out for action, so where are the big, bold solutions to help to alleviate that pressure? Where is our renewed recovery and catch-up plan? Where is a meaningful workforce plan? Where is the action to properly fix social care to ensure that people can get out of hospital and live good and well-supported lives in their communities? Of course, we recognise the reopening of the independent living fund, something that we have been calling on Government to do as a success of programmes for government and budgets. I know as convener of the cross-party group on learning disability that this will be welcomed, but we would want to see it move faster and further than the phased approach and become more sustainable. I would ask him, however, where is the further action in social care? The Government pledged its 2021 manifesto to abolish non-residential care charges. We have time and again called on the Government to honour this commitment to disabled people and their families. By each year, it slits further and further into the parliamentary calendar for delivery. Today, along with my colleagues, I met campaigners outside Parliament on this issue. Rhys, Sandy and Kerry were just some of the people who spoke to me about the huge difference that removing those charges would make for their lives, their wellbeing and their mental health. They told me how disappointed they were not to see this in the programme for government. I do ask the Government to once again look at how we do this quickly and we will work constructively with the Government if campaigners want us all to do to deliver this. It is clear that this programme for government was built as a reset moment for Humza Yousaf and a tired 16-year SNP Government. Instead of hitting the reset button, it is rewind on some announcements and pause on others. I think that the reality is that the people of Scotland are looking not for reset or rewind, but for change, and we on these benches are ready to rise to that challenge and deliver change. I am pleased that I have the chance to contribute to this afternoon's debate on the programme for government. The title equality opportunity community throws up issues that I want to reflect on further specifically from an island perspective. However, let me start by saying that there is much in the programme and in today's motion that Scottish Liberal Democrats warmly welcome. There are quite a few aspects that we have been calling for. I might gently point out that there are a few initiatives—heat and buildings, free school meals and fair fairs reviews—that could charitably describe as frequent fliers in programme for government statements. However, in the spirit of consensus, let me declare an obvious interest in these initiatives and confirm my willingness to work with ministers in the hope that they can deliver in those areas for communities such as Orkney, where there is a particularly acute need. Of course, the centrepiece of the First Minister's statement yesterday and featured again prominently in today's motion is the commitment to further expand childcare provision. It has certainly had a welcome around the chamber. A good example of an issue where Scottish Liberal Democrats have been pressing successive SNP Governments to be more ambitious is that my colleague Willie Rennie frequently raised it with Alex Salmond when he was First Minister and before he was airbrushed out of SNP history. Indeed, I remember Willie Rennie and the Chamber repeatedly being told that expanding childcare to 1140 hours could only be done with the powers of independence. I was a member of the Education Committee at the time and it was an assertion regularly repeated to us by the Cabinet Secretary then Aileen Campbell. It was nonsense, of course, and when Mr Salmond realised that it just made him look like the needs of Scottish children and their parents were being held hostage in the interests of the SNP, he relented and brought forward an amendment to the children and young people's bill. What that experience also showed, however, is that it is not just the quantum of early learning and childcare offered. Quality, flexibility and availability matter every bit as much if not more. We know, for example, that as funding for childcare has increased, availability has often contracted. More than 300 private and voluntary childcare services have stopped operating since 2021. There has been a 47% fall in nursery teacher numbers over the last decade. Half of private nurseries say that their businesses are unsustainable and a third of childminders have quit since 2016. A figure of the Scottish Child Minding Association expects to double by 2026. On that point, isn't it also a truism that the families who have suffered the most at trying to gain access to child benefit are some of the poorest families in Scotland? That is a point that is very well made by Martin at Whitfield. Even if the Government succeeds in growing the workforce by 1,000, it still won't reach the level that it was at in 2019. That lack of availability and choice poses problems everywhere for those most in need, but it poses particular issues in rural and island areas. A number of childminders in Orkney has plummeted by 40% over the past decade. I know from my own mailbag the real impact that this is having on my constituents, not least on women looking to return to or remain in employment. On that theme of equality and opportunity in rural and island areas, let me conclude with a few areas where the Government urgently needs to up its game in the interests of fairness, equality, opportunity and community resilience. Funding for local councils has been squeezed across the board, but Orkney Islands Council continues to suffer from lower funding per head of population than other island authorities. Now more than ever, this is resulting in cuts to services upon which some of the most vulnerable in my constituency rely. We need to see a more equitable settlement across our islands. On transport, the First Minister promised new ferries, albeit ones already in construction. Today, though, this is an excluded replacement of Orkney's ageing internal fleet, despite the fact that it is as crucial to providing a lifeline to islands in my constituency as Calmax fleet is to islands on the west coast. The task force set up to look at the issue needs to deliver and map out urgently a funded programme for ferry replacement. On RET2, the SNP Government has failed to deliver cheaper ferries affairs on pentland furth routes to match those in place for a decade and more on the west coast. SNP ministers blame UK state-aid rules, having previously blamed EU state-aid rules, but have confirmed that they have made no effort to agree away forward with the UK Government. The failure of the Government to deliver its promise to superfast broadband to 100 per cent of premises by 2021 means that the digital divide between the haves and the have-nots remains as wide as ever. Orkney has the poorest coverage and lowest speeds anywhere in the country that affects access to services, education, business opportunities and much more. The digital divide undermines whatever aspirations this Government might have in terms of equality, opportunity and building resilient communities. There are many more examples that illustrate the mismatch between promises made by SNP ministers and the daily reality for islanders. The programme for government repeats some of those promises and adds quite a few more. Making such promises is easy. What islanders and people across Scotland want to see is a commitment to painstaking delivery. That will be the real test of what the First Minister set out yesterday. Before I focus on just some of the equality measures set out in the programme for government, I would like to put on record how pleased I was yesterday to hear about the commitment to bring forward legislation to tackle dangerous planning in residential buildings, an issue that I have been working on very closely with hundreds of residents in my constituency and have met with the housing minister a number of times, even raised it during First Minister's questions. That commitment is the hallmark of a Government that has engaged and responded. If Scots were ever in any doubt of the massive gap in priorities between this Government sitting in Edinburgh and that in London, yesterday's programme for government demonstrated it very clearly. A Tory UK Government guilty of negligence, responsible for economic disaster, the incompetence and uncaring architects of the cost of living crisis, all the while a Labour so-called opposition that sits back and supports the status quo. Meantime, here in Scotland, we have a First Minister and a Scottish Government with an agenda for change that will empower women, lift children out of poverty and protect our minority groups while promoting growth. Let's be clear, no community can reach its full potential unless all its constituent parts have the equal opportunity to contribute. Yesterday's programme for government and the new human rights bill shows the true understanding of that, which I look forward to scrutinising with colleagues as it progresses through this place. The Scottish Government's record on LGBT plus equality can be measured on the streets. In July, I joined thousands of marchers going through Glasgow City centre for Mardi Gras. This is a minority group that feels supported by a Government in perhaps ways that they didn't in 15 or 20 years ago. In response to inequality, human rights and civil justice committee report on banning LGBT plus conversion therapy practices. The Scottish Government said in March 2022 that it is committed to, and I quote, bringing forward legislation as far as is practical within the powers available to it by the end of 2023. I welcomed the update from the cabinet secretary on the timescales. I do ask that this would be done in a sensitive way so as to avoid re-traumatising the people that we have to listen to. I am encouraged that such a significant proportion of the Scottish Government's priorities focus heavily on building a society where women are safer and can better contribute. That includes supporting the work of Gillian Mackay to introduce safe buffer zones and the legislation being brought forward on misogyny. I would, however, welcome any update from the cabinet secretary that she may have on the progress of the public sector equality duty review as ensuring equal treatment, protection and opportunity within our public services is the gold standard that we all have a right to expect. I, along with many colleagues, welcome the expansion in childcare that will also be a significant boost for women and their households. In the last Parliament, that place passed its ratification of the UNCRC, and I am encouraged that the Scottish Government is working with the Supreme Court ruling on that and will welcome an update as to when we can expect the bill's amended return. We must recognise and colleagues have the significance of the Scottish child payment is to families with lower incomes. A benefit that does not exist elsewhere in the UK, I met with the child poverty action group over the summer recess and, having called the introduction of the Scottish child payment a game changer, I am pleased that the First Minister yesterday committed to assessing how much further this benefit can go in supporting children from lower income households. However, there are, of course, clear restraints on spending ability of this Parliament and, sadly, it does come down to the money. However, let us not forget that, while the Scottish Government gives with one hand, on the other hand is the Tory Government that takes away with cruel policies such as the two child limit on benefits and the rape clause, a policy that penalises one in 10 children, a policy that costs families an estimated £3,235 per year and a policy that is shamefully supported by Keir Starmer and the Labour Party. Yet again, Labour offers no alternative to the Tories and I note that the Scottish Labour leader still has not responded to my letter to him calling on him to reconsider his position on reversing the two child cap and rape clause, which he considers not to be a priority. Labour might want to stand by why folk all over the country struggle—that is their prerogative—but the people of Scotland can see that the alternative is here. The people of Scotland can see that, as far as possible, this Government, a devolved Government, has announced a programme for Government that will be a game changer that will continue to lift more and more people out of poverty and increase their opportunities. It is a positive blueprint for change, a vote of confidence in the potential of a country and its people, and I welcome that programme for government. I would advise members at this point that there is some time in hand and therefore time for interventions, should members wish to take interventions. I now call Liam Kerr to be followed by Nicola Sturgeon. I found that interesting that Corkab Stewart majored on priorities because I listened carefully to the First Minister's speech yesterday, one in which he committed explicitly to reduce poverty. I listened to what he said and I listened to what he didn't. I have read the Government motion today, which is titled Equality within the 2023-24 programme for Government. What concerns me is that, if we start from a position that education is a priority and key to understanding then addressing poverty and inequalities, it is staggering that there were so few mentions of schools. What worries me even more is that I believe that the Cabinet Secretary for Education in a second. Cabinet Secretary for Education also cares deeply about that, and it would be deeply irresponsible for the First Minister to sideline this portfolio and his Cabinet Secretary for Education relegating education from the number one priority to something far from it. I agree that education is a priority, but having talked to many teachers over the years in my constituency, one of the things that they say to me is that it is very difficult to teach a child in the morning with a hungry belly. This Government has made a difference in terms of free school meal provision. It is something that the Tories should consider, that poor children often go to school hungry. That means that they are unable to learn because of Tory austerity. I think that, for part of that, Mr Stewart makes an important point. The magic breakfast, of course, as Mr Stewart will know, is that Scotland is an outlier when it comes to having no nationally funded breakfast provision. Of course, if we are going to talk about food in schools, Mr Stewart, a great example of the Scottish Government taking its eye off the ball is the 2021 programme for government, in which the SNP promised to provide free school meals to all primary schools by August 2022, which was something that the First Minister seemed to forget, incidentally, on the radio this morning. Yesterday, the First Minister confirmed the words on page 40 of the programme for government that this will not be universal until 2026, four years later than promised. Despite acknowledging the point that Kevin Stewart makes, yesterday's programme said that the highest standards of nutrition are vital to our children's effective learning, which is why the 2021-22 programme's commitment to deliver free breakfasts to all primary and special school children and to start to provide pilot provision, which was not mentioned at all in yesterday's programme for government. I'll carry on and see if I have time, Deputy First Minister. It is exactly that sort of smoke and mirrors that the First Minister is employing that we have to get away from. So, for example, I notice at page 36 of the programme for government, we have seen good progress in closing the poverty-related attainment gap since the pandemic, but, in fact, according to the 2023 SQA monitoring report, the attainment gap has widened for the third year in a row at both national 5 and higher level. Worse, the actual attainment per se, despite the best efforts of our teachers, staff and pupils themselves, has dropped with SQA attainment statistics showing the A to C pass rate in national 5, higher and advanced higher, all lower than in 2022. Grateful to the member for that. Can he also welcome the fact that we have record positive destinations for our young people? While he's at it, will he join with me and the First Minister in encouraging the Prime Minister to support the essential's guarantee if he's genuinely interested in putting food into the stomachs of bairns? Support us to ensure that the welfare state actually allows that where it's still mostly reserved. Of course I welcome positive destinations but the cabinet secretary has conveniently failed to remember that when we talk about destinations post school there have been 140,000 fewer college places since the SNP came to power and our UCAS data is showing that there's been a year-on-year reduction in people going and that has to be taken into account and I just want to pick up the point that I made before the intervention because I said this is despite the best efforts of our teachers, staff and pupils and I lay I do not for one minute lay this at the door of our schools or the staff or the students themselves I lay it entirely at the door of a government which promised to recruit three and a half thousand additional teachers last year but has overseen numbers of all by 92 it runs a teacher qualification scheme which sees the proportion of post probationers teaching the year following their probation at its lowest since 2016 it leaves at least 5,000 of our teachers on temporary contracts has presided over what the daily record calls an epidemic of youth violence and as we learned yesterday from the school estate statistics presides over a situation in which 60,000 pupils are being taught in schools in a poor or bad condition the member will be the member will be concluding presiding officer there are many warm words in this programme for government but precious few for education which is a pity because as I said I respect the cabinet secretary on this and I know she shares my desire to get it sorted it's why I hope she will be receptive to our policies to ensure funding follows the child that gives head teachers more power over their schools which empowers teachers through a new deal for teachers now I look forward to working with her on that and part of that is to ensure that education is always on the agenda in motions which forget it such as this one and that's why I ensured it was in the amendment in the name of Megan Gallacher today and that's why I asked the chamber to support that amendment. Thank you Mr Kerr I now call on Nicola Sturgeon to be followed by Karen Mocken. Thank you, Presiding Officer. This is my first speech here solely as the MSP for Glasgow Southside and it's also the first programme for government in 17 years that I've not been involved in as either First Minister or Deputy First Minister so to say that my perspective on politics has altered would be something of an understatement certain things look different perhaps a bit clearer in fact from here than from the trenches of the political front line and I'll perhaps return to that later firstly those straight to yesterday's programme for government I enthusiastically commend it I can't claim to be entirely objective but in my view it does strike a good the right balance between building on progress and breaking new ground much has been said of course about the importance of the economy rightly there can be no strong society without a strong sustainable economy however the opposite while just as true has traditionally had less attention it has been right therefore in my view to address this and I commend the First Minister for keeping the mission for a fairer society where everyone can contribute to and benefit from the fruits of the economy very firmly in vision the economy will not never will flourish when systemic barriers prevent people accessing the labour market especially when lack of population growth is one of the most significant challenges we face or when poverty robs too many people of opportunity and fulfilment I am extremely proud of the doubling of early years education and childcare a vitally important infrastructure project as well as social initiative and I'm proud too of the establishment of the Scottish child payment these deliver immediate benefits especially to the 90,000 children being lifted out of poverty right now but the real value of these of course will be long term in that vein I very much welcome plans to further expand childcare the pilot that was announced yesterday is a sensible approach and I hope very much that it will lead as soon as possible to mainstreamed provision I also want to take the opportunity today to mention the promise to our care experienced young people a mission that is and always will be very close to my heart yes thank the member for the intervention the member will be aware of the promise oversight board they had a report that came out in June of this year where the board states that it doesn't believe that delivering the aims of the plan 21-24 is realistic by next year does the minister agree with the oversight board's assessment I do believe that that is the case right now but I don't believe that that is inevitably what has to be which brings me exactly to the point I wanted to make the promise is and always will be a mission very close to my heart and this is very relevant to the point the member raises as on so many areas there is a need to make up for time lost to the pandemic and that is why I do welcome and applaud the focus that a new cabinet subcommittee will bring the promise is of course about improving the lives of young people in care but we must also remember that it's about something else as well supporting families better so that fewer young people need to go into care in the first place and to that end I look forward to hearing about progress in financing and implementing the critically important whole family wellbeing fund the other aspect of the programme for government that merits I'll take one more intervention I thank the member for taking that intervention and I recognise the contribution of the whole family wellbeing fund but will the member recognise then the 18 months into the pilot in Glasgow not a penny has been commissioned yet and there are organizations like the government help who are critical in delivering these services who really need some of that money little starchy yes I do that's why I think progress does need to be accelerated which is why I mentioned at that point the other aspect of the programme for government that merits close attention is access action to accelerate the green transition essential to safeguarding the planet and building a fairer society but also the most important opportunity we have to achieve sustainable economic growth and I welcome plans to take forward the recommendations from the FM investor panel established towards the end of my time in office moving away from fossil fuels which we must do doesn't mean turning off the North Sea taps overnight as some mischaracterise but turning on new taps and the First Minister is ripe to criticise the UK government approach makes only a marginal at best difference to the lifespan of the North Sea but comes at a heavy cost to the environment and also to the focus we need on building renewables capacity as quickly as possible lastly on climate I look forward to seeing Scotland's world leading commitments on financing for the loss and damage suffered by the global south taken forward fully I want to conclude with a few words not so much on what we do here but on how we do it before I do let me say that I accept my share of responsibility for the state of our political discourse if anything though that makes me more determined to play a part in trying to change it polarization in politics is much maligned it is the paralysis of action that it can result in though that should worry us most so perhaps we need to as we embark in a new term have some principles in mind to guide us firstly a collective recognition that the challenges we face require tough decisions these are by definition hard they're often unpopular and will always meet resistance from those who benefit from the status quo that's not an argument to ignore those voices but it is important that we make sure that they don't become an automatic veto on the change that is necessary second and acceptance that we can't just wish for the ends of our policy objectives we must also have the means to deliver that means matured debate on how we pay for our policy priorities but also on the powers this parliament has and needs I want this parliament to be independent and believe it soon will be I don't think I'm creating news with that statement but that will never stop me arguing for incremental change along the way and likewise those who oppose independence shouldn't close their minds to new powers that allow us to better tackle the big challenges we face in the here and now and finally Presiding Officer disagreement and robust debate isn't just the essence of democracy it's part of what makes us human but the dynamic that it creates is not fixed first minister you will need to consider that was sorry Nicholas Tertian you will need to consider stalemate or can we use the creative tension to drive improvement for all I hope in this term we see more of the latter than the former and I look forward to playing my part in it thank you miss surgeon I now call I would advise members there is a bit of time in hand so I can be generous in circumstances where interventions have been taken I call Kara mochen to be followed by Kevin Stewart miss mochen thank you Presiding Officer whilst I know the cabinet secretary and government's commitments on child poverty health and social justice I hope I will be forgiven for pointing out that it's all very vague unfortunately however I think we can all agree vague is pretty much what we have come to expect from this government and I look to the back benches and comment that not only do they expect it they do accept it after 16 years of varying incompetence and financial mismanagement we are left with another programme for government which does not amount to much more than carrying on and papering over the cracks a programme for government that suggests this administration has run out of ideas and run out of road indeed a programme for government described by key stakeholders as timid scots are being told of council tax and income tax rises to come and the top line in this programme for government is one pushed forward by scottish labour relentlessly the 12 pounds per carers for 12 pounds per carers that is seven months away and it's over a year since humza use of first made that promise we need it now and we need a route for 15 pounds an hour another new flagship we've had discussion on that point already thank you another new flagship policy announced with that of removing another new flagship policy announced was that of removing income thresholds for the best start payments only it is not a new policy at all they are simply announcing again an already existing policy commitment and I think that we can do a lot better than that health inequalities in Scotland are growing we are two years into so-called nhs recovery plan and it would be fair to say things are not going well 820,000 on waiting lists over 7,000 nhs vacancies remain unfilled and getting a dentist appointment is becoming increasingly difficult borderline impossible in a constituency such as mine south of scotland by definition a recovery plan should see things improve no matter how slowly slowly but under this smp government things continue to get worse and this programme for government highlights the fading ambition of a tired party of government getting these things right at the basic building blocks as successfully run health service but ours is crumbling beneath our feet despite the best efforts of staff who are overworked and underpaid in public health we are simply not moving with enough purpose review after review of policies the government have considered in acting for years a strategy with no real intention of delivery no real intention of delivery yet just recently we learned that alcohol specific deaths have increased to the highest levels in years with an increase in the number of women tragically dying this situation will not improve by tinkering around the edges and moving slowly we need real and lasting action and we need it now and this programme for government falls very short of delivering on that delivering anything after 16 years delivery it seems is not this government's intention indeed Presiding Officer the same issues with announcing strategies but lack of delivery exists in women health not even a mention for the women's health plan in yesterday's speech to parliament by the First Minister and I have to say I'm not surprised health inequalities impacting women in our most deprived areas remain deep and divisive staffs safe ing legislation that would support women working in healthcare setting still not delivered and reports of community with midwifery and screening services becoming harder to access in the areas where they are needed most our communities won't change but this continuity First Minister continuity government is just offering more of the same and the reality is more of the same means suffering for the vulnerable in our population Presiding Officer we know that social care was put under incredible strain by Covid and yet after working their fingers to the bone the country moving carers working their fingers to the bone to keep the country moving carers still cannot see a route to getting £15 an hour from this government they will rightly wonder if they will ever receive a decent wage from this SNP and green government I think they are justified in concluding that their work is not valued enough by this government and I looked at the green benches they have promised this section of our workforce a lot there is an alternative the next UK Labour government will fundamentally reform universal credit so that there is a proper safety net for those who are struggling I'm going to continue thank you those who are struggling to find work and within the first hundred days of that government we will deliver a new deal for working people banning zero or our contracts extending sick pay and making sure the minimum wage is a wage that people can actually live on. When Labour was last caring, I'm sorry, Ms Malkin sorry to interrupt could you please resume music just for a one-way second could we have less chitchat across the front benches please because it's disrespectful to Ms Malkin who is trying to make her contribution please continue Ms Malkin the measures that I mentioned will have a direct impact on inequality and give families the ability to make choices that can help them build for the future without having to constantly worry about where they can find where ends meets this is what Labour will deliver is this I was just about to come there I will take the intervention cabinet secretary briefly please very grateful for the member for taking intervention given that Keir Starmer has said that he and Anas Sarwar are welded together on key issues and you promote change and the Labour Party can the member perhaps explain how Keir Starmer intends to make the rate clause be implemented more fairly what does that actually mean Karen Malkin thank you I wish that this government would want to talk about their own programme for government I have set out exactly exactly why I'm going to make the member is trying to conclude on maxi I'm going to make progress I have set out some of the things that the Labour government Westminster have said that they'll do and I think the point that should be made to the front bench here of the SNP government is that Labour will deliver we have a history of delivering when Labour was lasting power across the UK we lifted 2 million children out of poverty 200,000 of which were in Scotland there are now 40,000 more children living in poverty in Scotland than a decade ago that's the SNP legacy and it won't be erased by such all underwhelming reform and the here and now we have to recognise that Scots have suffered through serious financial and health concerns due to the cost of living crisis growing NHS crisis these same people will be expecting a bit more from the first programme for government from this First Minister I imagine many of them will be left very disappointed and I hope that the SNP benches will consider those points thank you Presiding Officer thank you Ms Mocken I now call Kevin Stewart to be followed by Slandish Gohani Mr Stewart thank you very much Presiding Officer and during these challenging times as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic deal with the horrors of Brexit and the brutality of 13 years of Westminster austerity now people have to face the Tory made cost of living crisis and now more than ever the people of Scotland need a Scottish Government that is on their side and that's why I'm pleased that the focus of the programme for government is on reducing poverty creating sustainable growth and on providing quality public services I welcome the ambition to increase childcare provision to make it even fairer and more affordable for those that need it most I welcome the decision to raise the pay of childcare staff and of social care workers who tirelessly work to support the most vulnerable in our society and I welcome the fact that we will continue to build a social security system here that is built on dignity fairness and respect at the end of last year ft analysis called the UK a poor society with some very rich people we have an enormous wealth gap which is ever increasing across the UK and yet most other countries in Europe countries that are comparable to Scotland are wealthier and fairer they of course are independent and that's why I want to see an independent Scotland as I believe that we could do so much better within the powers that we have we have spent over £700 million in the last five years mitigating Westminster welfare cuts the Scottish Government has helped to improve the lives of over 316,000 children with the introduction of the game changing Scottish child payment and of course we have delivered more affordable housing per head of population than anywhere else in the UK but we could do so much more as an independent nation with all of the levers of power and talking of independence I can hardly advocate for freedom and independence for our country without thinking of the freedom and independence for our people all of our people disabled people have been hit badly during the course of the pandemic by Brexit and by the cost of living crisis many feel that they have not been served well by public services and they have not had the support that they require I'm therefore very happy to see a commitment by the First Minister to reopen the independent living fund to allow more disabled people to control in a minute to allow more disabled people to control their own care in lives and to give them the freedom and independence that is enjoyed by those who currently access the ILF and I'll give way to miss Bailey Jackie Baillie and it is on the point of the ILF because my recollection is that the SNP promised to open up the ILF fund some 16 years ago what's taken you so long Kevin Stewart Well I think that what has taken us so long and Jackie Baillie supports it is Westminster rule and Tory austerity over the past 13 years and those folks who have advocated for the reopening of the ILF recognise that the Scottish Government has had its budgets cuts over the peace by Westminster Government can I say, Presiding Officer, it's also gratifying to see that there is a commitment in the PFG to review the adult disability payment so that it meets the needs of disabled people in full there's a pledge to increase our social security payments in line with inflation and the ambition to replace carers allowance with a carer support payment to improve support for unpaid carers all good news but think how much more we could do with the full powers of independence and no Tory Westminster austerity we also need to do more to ensure that neurodiverse people artistic folk and those with a learning disability can lead independent lives too and access services jobs and housing and I'm glad to see that the government intends to consult on the proposed learning disability autism and neurodiversity bill this year I know that minister Marie Todd has a fantastic team of people behind her to drive this work and a fabulous set of engaged stakeholders too but moving to improving the lives of people does not necessarily require new legislation we should look to the good that is going on now we too an organisation in Aberdeen has teamed up with Codona's amusements to hold a disabled friendly night was hopefully many more to come I know that these kind of partnerships are growing across the country but we should all be encouraging more collaborations and fostering a greater understanding of and meeting the needs of neurodiverse people project search a collaboration in Aberdeen between the university of Aberdeen values into action Scotland and public sector partners has been on the go for a decade providing apprenticeships for learning disabled people which has successfully seen many many folk getting jobs having more fulfilling lives and gaining their independence we should be doing more to encourage these kinds of projects throughout our country to bring new talent to our workforce equality opportunity and community are the key goals in this programme for government and it would be remiss of me not to say that in order to gain equality to maintain opportunity and to retain cohesive communities in the north east we must have a just transition that works and is supportive of the change that is required we all recognise that we have to diversify that we have to grow green jobs and we should all understand that oil and gas still has a part to play as we move to net zero mr stew are you concluding your remarks sorry are you concluding i'm almost there president officer thank you very much excellent because you're quite i welcome the scottish government's 500 million prime transition fund i shared the first minister's ambition that Aberdeen should become the first the world's renewable energy capital and i'm keen to support the first minister and the government to make this a reality and i welcome this programme for government thank you mr stew i know gollans for honey to be followed by Maggie Chapman doctor honey thank you i wish to declare my interests as uh practicing nhsgp the snp has been responsible for health in scotland continuously since may the 17th 2007 when nicola sturgeon here today though leaving took office as cabinet secretary running it for over five years this was a time when she cut the number of nurses in training and also a time when serious concerns were raised about a certain neurosurgeon dr sam el jamal who also doubled as a government advisor incidentally despite patients outside today protesting there is no backing for a public inquiry more than a third of patients are waiting over four hours to be seen in scotland's emergency departments and that situation is getting worse not in the depths of winter but here in high summer and we know excessive waiting leads to unnecessary deaths over 820 000 patients are on waiting lists we have an adult mental health crisis a child and adolescent mental health crisis we also have record high drug and alcohol related deaths because people can't get the treatment and support they badly need and want scotland's nhsgp and support services are spiralling out of control on the snp's watch and what happens when vital health services fail let me tell you patients suffer staff suffer health inequalities soar across our communities most impacted by health inequalities you'll find the highest rates of alcohol and drug dependence yet there's been no cohesive strategy little in the way of action to help families and communities from successive snp governments the families of 1276 scots who died last year to alcohol are grieving the loss of their loved one alcohol related deaths continue to rain the highest since 2008 when you add drug related deaths the highest rate in europe over 2300 people lost their lives to drug and alcohol in scotland last year alone and here's a shameful stat people in the most deprived areas of scotland are 15 times more likely to die from drug misuse than those in the least deprived areas people in our poorer community suffer the most because of the snp's inability to get on top of their brief with i will the member has drawn an important link there between health inequality and income inequality so will he welcome the measures that we are bringing in to tackle poverty in these communities which will of course reduce those health inequalities dr gohani i would really like it if you were to be on top of your brief and actually do the things that we need you to do when it comes to health care like i will go on to point out in the rest of my speech with regard to alcohol the snp has tried one flagship approach to make alcohol more expensive and so frankly deter the less well off from purchasing the trouble is we know that people are going without food instead the minimum unit pricing policy has now been discredited by none other than the snp itself they set out to they set to put a more convenient and positive spin on a public health scotland report into m up by shoe horning words like significant into the draft in order to claim a slam dunk success but there is no slam dunk success the snp were humiliated then accused of misrepresenting the analysis by spinning estimates as facts they also implied that their resounding success was based on 40 different studies that backed the snp's policy that wasn't true well they had to rewrite their public announcements what is clear crystal clear is that more people we said that again more people suffer alcohol related deaths now than in 2018 when m up was introduced in fact men from deprived areas are in fact more drinking more with m up in place and others are switching to spirits and if we are ever to get a grip people suffering from dependence should have the right to access treatment and rehabilitation this approach a right to recovery is backed by frontline experts in the time remaining presiding officer let me highlight another key area our nhs workforce we have seen another increase in the number of nursing and midwifery vacancies which stand at over 5600 and is worse across our rural and island communities it is hardly surprising that the number of patients awaiting this is over 800 000 this morning i attended a royal college of nursing round table discussion with student nurses many students are actually mature students including single parents what was striking to me was that when a parent decides to train for public service as a nurse then they lose their Scottish child payment that Shirley-Anne Sonneville spoke so long about so if you want to be a nurse in Scotland then Scottish Government will take away your money our nurses are the backbone of our nhs and crucial to tackling Scotland's health inequalities the member has concluded thank you doctor gohani i know call mikey chaftman to be followed by Ruth Maguire miss chaftman thank you presiding officer can i begin by thanking the organisations community groups and others who have engaged with me in advance of this programme for government i'm grateful to them for their dedication to the communities they support and serve because one thing is clear as we talk about delivering equality we know it is not something that can be done by those of us in this place alone it requires the sharing of information resources expertise and so much more but another thing is also clear inequality and poverty are not inevitable they are consequences of political and economic decisions and choices so that is our challenge to make better choices the pfg we discussed this week is not going to eliminate poverty and inequality in one year it is not possible to undo the structures and processes that decades centuries of decision making have created that fast even if we had all the powers we need and the uk's austerity agenda we've endured makes our tasks so much harder but the pfg does signal a clear and important direction of travel i and my Scottish green colleagues are pleased to see the child's Scottish the Scottish child payment at the heart of this year's pfg when we argued for it to be so substantially increased alongside mitigation of the cruel benefits cap we knew it was the right thing to do but we didn't know quite how desperately significant it would prove to be in this crisis of costs and inflation this crisis let's be blunt of greed and profiteering experts and academics like those at the jrf and danny dawling they agree the Scottish child payment is the single most important intervention in anti poverty action but it's not enough alone for the children of scotland those 300 000 children have already born heavy burdens in their short lives and face more in their futures we must build on the foundation of the increased payment to provide the shelter that they need from the storms that assail them those storms include real damage to children's health for those who live in cold damp cramped or unfit flats and houses or those who have no permanent home at all we've led important work in protecting and enhancing the rights of tenants work that alongside practical action on homelessness must be prioritised in the coming year i'm going to make progress health burdens fall heavily too on the children who live and play and learn in streets blighted by air pollution for some adults low emissions zones are a political football part of the so-called culture wars but for children with asthma and other conditions football in the streets can be a cruel joke and the wars are literally a matter of life or death many of those receiving the Scottish child payment face as well as poverty particular injustices to do with who they are and who cares for them we know that households that include a disabled person suffer disproportionately in this hostile economic environment so i look forward to the implementation of the immediate priorities plan and to the further transformations which must flow from it we know that Scotland still has a problem with racism structural institutional yes and also sometimes conscious and deliberate children including gypsy and traveller children face systemic and personal abuse and exclusion the anti racism anti racism observatory is welcome and has vital work to do and to enable we know that some of those 300 000 children who currently benefit from the Scottish child payment will be transgender or non-binary many will be gay lesbian or bisexual we want them all to grow up in safety with dignity and equality with their health needs met in the right place at the right time and with freedom from cruel and damaging conversion practices i and the Scottish Greens will never renaig on our solidarity with the lgbt qi plus community some other children receiving that child payment or refugees many others are callously excluded from our support by inhuman and often illegal UK laws and policies i urge the Scottish Government to push the boundaries of the possible to mitigate those shameful acts and to welcome all children fleeing from their homes whether from Ukraine or from other places of danger conflict or repression and we know as a dark backdrop to everything we do that all Scotland's children face futures blighted by the effects of climate's chaos 2045 may seem a long time off in election cycles but those who are babies now will only just be starting out on their adult lives then even the end of the century the furthest reach of our everyday imagination is a time that they can expect should expect to see and to experience north sea fossil fuel licences might bring short term gains for a few but for generations to come they are warrants of death for the sake of those children and the families and communities to which they belong the just transition cannot just be a technical project they need we all need a future powered not only by clean energy but by creativity and most of all by care every year of this parliament the context in which we work becomes more difficult we act in the shadow of a Westminster government shameless in its brutality making no secret of its hostility towards our work and a Westminster opposition increasingly reluctant to oppose i don't underestimate the obstacles we face but we can do things differently here we have a tradition in this chamber of cooperation across party lines of attention to the common good of imagining and working towards a shared generous future we have the opportunity this year particularly in shaping our human rights bill to bring that future closer to hand let us grasp it with urgency with compassion and with hope thank you i call Ruth Maguire to be followed by Colin Smith Presiding Officer reducing poverty delivering growth tackling climate change and providing high quality public services are rightly the focus of the programme for government announced by our First Minister at the beginning of this new parliamentary term i was pleased to hear the First Minister describe his agenda as unashamedly anti-poverty and pro-growth the better fairer Scotland and more equal society would all like to see requires our concerted efforts to both eradicate poverty tackle the cost of living crisis and create opportunities for businesses and individuals to thrive today we debate equality opportunity and community actions to build stronger communities improve social justice and reduce inequalities these are the things that arguably will make the most immediate difference to the people that we serve like many colleagues from across the chamber i spent recess in the communities i represent doing additional surgeries and meeting with community groups and businesses listening and providing assistance where i could of the many varied things that myself and my office team help constituents with there is one thing that is the same one thing that's constant and that is how poverty exacerbates every single inequality and any injustice people across scotland have been paying a steep price for economic incompetence austerity and brexit caused by successive Westminster governments for a number of years now in the last five years the Scottish Government has spent more than 700 million pounds mitigating the impact of Westminster welfare cuts alone but the current cost challenges but current cost challenges which are being noticed by all but a few households are now a crisis felt even more acutely more keenly and harder to overcome by those who already have the greatest challenges Scottish Government action is making a difference to children and families in my constituency and throughout scotland due to the policies of our SNP government and estimated 90,000 fewer children are expected to live in relative and absolute poverty this year with poverty levels nine percent lower than they would have been otherwise one child living in poverty is one too many but there is progress there the First Minister quoted the late David McLeach's warning about worshiping the false god of consensus and for the good of society where we need to pick aside and doing just that there are two matters where I'll follow the First Minister's advice on that front the first concerns the care and justice bill the aims and principles underpinning the bill are laudable it's the right thing to do and absolutely supports keeping the promise however there is an undeniable challenge in balancing the rights of offenders against those of the victims who are harmed by offending behaviour this is never starker than in both parties or children from their casework I'm sure MSPs across the chamber will recognise situations in which the balance has been off has not felt just and in which the harmed child has been further traumatised by the actions work here and justice system a system which intended to do its best for the child who caused harm but particularly in cases where a sexual offence has been committed or where the harmful behaviour is coercive control and domestic abuse has let down the victim and compromised their safety that important balance of rights is not correct and the bill is drafted and child victims will not have their rights realised if changes are not made I'm hopeful that the Scottish government will work with me victims support and others to get this right and appreciate the children's ministers willingness to meet I hope we can get a date in the diary very soon finally and again on the theme of justice and inequality and reflecting on how poverty exacerbates inequality and injustice there are as colleagues have set out many measures to welcome for women in the programme for government but I'm pretty dismayed to be honest to see no mention of legislation to tackle commercial sexual exploitation within the work on violence against women for decades now the Scottish government has recognised that commercial sexual exploitation in all its forms is violence against women however our legislation does not protect women from that particular violence it is a cause and a consequence of women's inequality and in women and girls with the greatest vulnerabilities are most harmed that men can buy sexual access to women in this country online and as quickly and easily as you might order take away food is shameful and it fuels trafficking and abuse and it doesn't just harm the women involved there are wider societal implications for women and men I would call on the government to do three things outlaw online pimping and the purchase of women hold traffickers and the male buyers and those who exploit and fuel demand to account with the full force of our criminal justice system and provide a comprehensive financial support and exiting services for women prostituted and exploited a fairer country for me will be one where no woman is bought or sold where women and girls have equality where their lives are not limited by misogynistic society and the communities that they live in are safe and free from male violence any attempts to tackle the pervasive misogyny which harms so many women and girls boys and men will be futile if we close our eyes to this or look the other way because it's too difficult or there's not comfortable consensus at the moment the equal society that we all seek demands actions which I hope my Government will take a week ago Scotland's long-awaited Covid inquiry got under way we heard again those tragic stories from families who lost loved ones more often than not those in later life it reminded me that a day really passed at the height of the pandemic when I didn't have constituents raise their heartbreaking experiences not being able to see loved ones in a care home because we failed to get our act together over testing social care packages being removed when they were clearly needed the pressure people felt to sign do not attempt to resuscitate forms the loneliness the isolation many older people faced and of course the appalling death rate amongst those in later life during that time I kept asking myself that when all the big decisions were being made who independent of government but with real statutory powers and with the ear of ministers was champion in the human rights of older people and making sure their voice their views were being listened to and frankly the answer appeared to be no one now Presiding Officer that Covid crisis has been replaced by a new health and social care crisis and it's those in later life who are again bearing the brunt more and more older people are stuck in hospital when they should be at home but can't return there because we don't have the carers needed to look after others are being moved out of hospital into care homes to manipulate the delayed discharge figures often miles from their home and family as more and more care homes close when all they want to do is return to their own home but they can't because of the thousands of care worker vacancies across Scotland one recent case I'll never forget was that of a constituent whose cancer had become terminal who no longer needed medical intervention just support from carers to make them comfortable the final wish was to die at home but instead they spent their final days in hospital for no other reason than a lack of carers to deliver the assessed care package they needed Presiding Officer when we can't provide carers in such circumstances it really does show how utterly broken our social care system is so I'll welcome the decision by the government to ban the long-standing calls by Labour and the trade unions for a pay rise to at least 12 pound per hour for care workers albeit three years after those calls were first made so massively eroded in value by inflation and it's still six months away but we will not make serious inroads into that care worker recruitment crisis unless 12 pound per hour is part of a clear plan a first step with a timetable to deliver 15 pounds per hour and proper career progression for those who do that invaluable job caring for our loved ones as if they're their own Presiding Officer Scotland is a rapidly aging population it's grown at a faster rate than anywhere else in the UK but increases in life expectancy have slowed too many are spending far too much of their later years in poor health with poor levels of care and a growing number are growing older in poverty there's a misconception that all older people are wealthy but the scottish government's own figures show almost one in six people of pension age in scotland are living in poverty that poverty is often hidden many older people quietly getting on with their lives not wanting to make a fuss but pension or poverty which sadly doesn't mention in the government's programme is on the rise we're in danger of another pandemic one caused by the rise in the cost of living a poverty pandemic with according to the charity independent age 150,000 older people and rising the victims of that pandemic yet in the government's programme published yesterday older people barely register there's one direct mention a claim that equality for older people will be advanced by the government engaging with the older people's strategic action forum i welcome any engagement with the forum its members but also the many other groups across scotland who work with older people every day but Presiding Officer that forum hasn't been convened by the government for two years it's met just four times in six years according to the scottish government's website it's chaired by the minister for older people yet one of the first acts of the new first minister was to act having a minister with older people in their title despite condemnation from members of the forum and others this programme for government is a missed opportunity to really engage in the issues facing scotland's older people despite the ass from those working with those in later life being relatively modest the reinstatement of a named minister for older people a dedicated pensioner poverty strategy the creation of an older person's commissioner a real independent champion for those in later life with statutory powers this week scotland's new children's commissioner began work and we wish her well there are children's commissioners in every nation of the uk an older person's commissioner for Wales one for northern island and a growing campaign for one in england why should scotland's older people not have the same right Presiding Officer it's little wonder that in the 2023 big survey of people aged over 50 age scotland found just 8 thought as decision makers properly consider older people's issues and two thirds that's up from 51% last year don't feel valued by society too many of our older people face multiple forms of discrimination too often a negatively stereotype when we should be celebrating the immense contribution they make to our communities and we we should be putting tackling the issues that they face at the heart of government sadly at this programme for government fails to do just that thank you and i call Karen Adam the final speaker in the open debate thank you Presiding Officer the Scottish government has shown leadership on equality and human rights and it's an inspiration not only to many here but to others across this land and beyond all over the world and our first minister's dedication to fighting for these fundamental causes gives me great hope where after all do human rights begin elna roosevelt once asked in small places close to home without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world wise words from the former first lady and distinguished human rights champion words which underpin our journey here in scotland to become an equal inclusive community free from discrimination or potentials realised and full of opportunity for all scotland is already making great strides towards equality than other parts of the united kingdom in 2021 the scotish parliament unanimously voted to incorporate the united nation's convention on the rights of the child into the law in scotland before it was challenged by the UK government that bill would have been the most important thing scotland could do to protect the rights of children and young people and i urge the scotish government to do all it can to bring back the legislation as soon as possible when we passed gender recognition reform last year the united nation's high commissioner for human rights said our bill was a significant step forward it was passed by a two thirds majority of this parliament and yet again our democracy and our progressive policies were vetoed by Westminster time and again we march forward unapologetically on human rights only to be thwarted by a UK government which is hostile not only to human rights as we've seen with our vile illegal immigration act but to any part of the united kingdom which dares to do better it should come of no surprise last year the UK government brought forward proposals to repeal the human rights act thankfully those proposals have not made progress at Westminster but this is the uncertain context in which the scotish people find ourselves is for this reason Presiding Officer that i wish to focus my remarks today on the proposed human rights bill in the programme for government the human rights bill is a significant piece of legislation which could give effect to a further four of the nine core international human rights instruments of the united nations these would enshrine a right to work and to favourable conditions of work it will cement the right to an adequate standard of living including the right to adequate food and housing in the context of a Tory cost of living crisis and with the world's energy and food security threatened by russia's abhorrent war in ukraine the need to guarantee these fundamental rights has never been more acute yesterday the first minister spoke movingly about his past and present experiences of racism and while racially motivated hate crimes are declining there were 1468 racist crime offences recorded by the police in scotland last year we must commit ourselves by all appropriate means and without delay to a policy of eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms and promoting understanding between different racial ethnic and national groups in scotland the abuse and discrimination faced by women in society is as perennial as it is pervasive to the surprise of no women in the chamber today this is particularly acute for those in the public arena we discussed these issues at length on the gender sensitive audit board but i want to say that i'm particularly proud that under nicola sturgeon's leadership we introduced the first gender balance cabinet in the UK and that under humza use of leadership we now see more women in government than ever before and in his first programme for government through the human rights bill we have the potential to ensure non-discrimination economic and social rights and gender equality for all women in scotland many people with disabilities face barriers which prevent them from participating fully in society these barriers take many forms from financial to physical to cultural and with this legislation we can make clear that disabled people have the same rights as non-disabled people and break down the barriers which prevent them from realising their human rights many other communities would benefit from having their rights recognised in this piece of legislation including lgbt people and on that point i'm relieved to hear the government is bringing forward the legislation swiftly to end the abhorrent conversion practices and i look forward to ensuring that the rights of lgbt people are included in the bill with this human rights bill we have yet another opportunity to distinguish ourselves from the cruel policies of west minister and be a beacon for human rights this will no doubt anger the UK government who are doing all they can't undermine any scotish progress 700 million has been spent in the last five financial years to mitigate the effects of UK government policy on the scotish people the suffering and harm inflicted on us day in day out by this unequal union cannot be emphasised enough the scotish government are the ones who offer that real change and they do so with a programme for government which is fighting poverty tooth and nail and is proud and unapologetic about progressing human rights we have made great strides in building a modern inclusive scotland but we must not and should not rest on our laurels giving effect in scot's law to these core international human rights instruments will build stronger communities improve social justice reduce inequalities and tackle child poverty. Presiding officer the cost of the union is clear it is a cost mired in humanity in stark contrast the scotish government show their commitment with this programme for government to the highest standard of equality for our citizens with true humanity thank you thank you we move to posing speeches and i call on Jackie Baillie thank you Presiding officer and let me start by correcting the record because i said it took 16 years for the SNP to act on the independent living fund turns out it was eight years in that time 800 people with ilf packages died and the fund remained closed to new entrants despite promises by nicola sturgeon. Presiding officer i think it's fair to say that it's been an eventful year in scotish politics when we came to this chamber this time last year few people would have expected that we would be sitting through a programme for government with humza yousif as first minister in fact i have sat through 24 programmes for government this has to be the worst in fact zombies have more life in them than this offering more working groups more task forces more oversight boards more recycling of old announcements no action they say that there are some days where years of political action take place while this last year has felt like a decade has passed in scotish politics from cash in envelopes to police tents in gardens from allegations of mi5 infiltration to camper vans we are now clearly in the last season of the long running soap opera that is the snp government but Presiding officer i must admit i do feel for humza yousif this time last year he would have had no idea he would be first minister and there are a few people in this chamber who will not join me in realising just how daunting the task of head of him truly is because the fact is that after 16 years of snp government not a single one of our public services is stronger our nhs is in crisis and the economy is stagnant now he might not have had a long time to prepare for this programme for government but i already want to ask him who's programme for government is this really is it his is this a leftover from his predecessor or is it really the greens programme for government now i don't expect to receive an answer like so much with this government secrecy and a lack of transparency guide the reproach the title for this debate is equality and there could not be a more timely topic because after 16 years of snp government scotland is a deeply unequal place in fact inequality across a range of measures has simply got worse let's take the nhs our health service was born with the sole ambition to provide equal access to healthcare for everyone in society regardless of their means but the fact is that under the snp government the very principles of our nhs are at stake we have the scandalous situation where well over one in seven of our fellow scots are on a waiting list this means cancers going undetected this means people living in pain waiting for orthopedic procedures and it also means that those who have the means are going into the arms of the private sector whereas those who do not have that financial option are left languishing on waiting lists presiding officer the snp have allowed a two tier health service to become a reality widening inequality statistics published yesterday reveal the brutal truth over 820 000 scots on waiting lists almost 80 000 patients waiting over eight hours in a and e in this year alone 27 000 patients waiting on mental health treatment children children waiting years to be seen while some mental health gets worse but that's only one snapshot of the carnage in our nhs and this year alone it's been estimated that there's been over 3200 excess deaths for healthy life expectancy premature mortality coronary heart disease cancer incidents the gap in outcomes is at their highest point since the statistics began that is shocking and the snp benches should hang their heads in shame and what about the first minister's targets for ending long waits set in 2022 he has already failed to meet them thousands of people are still waiting over two years we all know that cancer is scotland's biggest killer but the 31 day target and 62 day target have not been met and in fact the 62 day target has not been met since it was set over a decade ago a and e is overrun delayed discharge something that the current deputy first minister promised to eradicate completely is once more on the rise and there are simply not enough gps to cope with demand and audit scotland said the government's target for more gps will likely not be met under the snp social care is also going backwards too many people are waiting too long for assessments for care packages and too many are waiting too long for the care packages themselves costs of care are rising in snp controlled glasgo city council they are almost doubling whilst we wait for the snp to prevaricate about ending care charges something they promised to do years ago in their manifesto but not implemented and shameful that that's not so during a cost of living crisis and as for 12 pounds an hour we were asking for this three years ago the difference then would have been a rise of about three pounds an hour with inflation that would now be worth 13 pound 83 an hour so you are short changing them still by a total of almost two pounds an hour the cost of living crisis has eroded your offer in real terms no i'll take no lessons from you right you've eroded their offer in real terms and you are making staff wait till april shame on you presiding officer nhs and social care staff have been let down they've been let down by the snp from the scandal at the queen elisabeth university hospital where the health board is in denial and locked in a war of words with the inquiry to nhs t side where the lack of action and toxic culture of cover-up fostered by the snp has failed patients the snp have presided over a litany of problems in our nhs and social care they can't be the ones we trust to fix it the people of scotland deserve so much better than this incompetent out of touch government change is coming and only scotish labour has the vision and the determination to get our country back together thank you and i call on myles briggs thank you thank you deputy presiding officer and i thought it was quite interesting to listen to the former first minister's opening remarks in her contribution this afternoon and and i welcome them because i do think our political discourse and we've seen it this week from ministers has become so defensive by snp and green ministers around their broken pledges and promises and collectively if we're going to solve some of these problems and especially around the qualities they need to start to listen and work with parties yes cabinet secretary on that very spirit to respond to a point that dr gilhani made later about the scottish earlier about the scottish child payment reason the scottish child payment stops is because it has to be based on eligibility for UK benefits so in the spirit of consensus will he join with me to call on the UK government to ensure that they don't stop UK benefits to student nurses and we'll be able to keep paying the scottish child payment myles briggs the cabinet secretary knows i'm always welcome at conversations that we have we don't have them enough though i think that's one of the part parts i'm making cabinet secretary and ministers across this government are just relying on green votes now in this parliament that's fine but they're making a mess of legislation as they do that short term let's is a prime example of that the deposit return scheme is another example but i want to start on a part note of consensus with aspects around the programme for government which are welcome indeed we've been trying to progress with ministers the bill to finally address the unsafe cladding is welcome and i look forward to seeing full details of that i hope like in england we see hotels and public buildings included the announcement to finally deliver a national allowance for foster and kinship carers is also a welcome step forward but we need to see the detail on what that looks like and as the former first minister also stated the wider policy agenda around delivering the promise still very much needs to be outlined and developed and i hope care experience young people will hear more from ministers urgently in the coming weeks on how these commitments to expand certainly around expanding holistic family support services are going to be delivered as the request of binardo scotland in their briefing today's debate included and polo kain i think made a number of important parts and contributions to this debate around a cross party consensus and the objectives we all agreed to and set out in 2017's child poverty scotland bill which was passed unanimously by parliament setting targets we all want to see the elimination of child poverty and that's a priority i believe for all of us across the chamber presiding officer in the time i have today i wanted to return to an issue which hasn't really been raised by ministers at all today or yesterday and that is homelessness and the unacceptable situation in scotland we see and have seen statistically over the summer with a record number of children and families who are now declared homeless and living in unsuitable temporary accommodation when the cabinet secretary was appointed in april i said we on these benches would work with ministers to help deliver solutions and develop those today we have seen very little from ministers who seem to fail to see the scale of the housing emergency scotland is facing especially here in the capital but also to work to deliver an emergency response which is needed cuts to housing budgets and council budgets are the wrong answer yes cabinet secretary i just wonder how mylesburg's reconciles what he's saying about his concern about homelessness and temporary accommodation with him and his party's opposition to any policy that seeks to avoid the loss of homes into second homes short term lets how does he reconcile those positions today because it doesn't seem to me to be reconcilable well cabinet secretary might not want to listen to me but i hope she will listen to allison watson of shelter scotland who says that the programme for government offers nothing new to meet the challenge of ending scotland's housing emergency she goes on to say anyone in scotland currently experiencing homelessness should should who listens to the first minister would have taken no comfort in his words and the cabinet secretary i think should look in the mirror around her record on this because in 2010 in 2020 when 7 000 children were living in temporary accommodation she said i recognise we must go further 2021 when 8 000 children were living in temporary accommodation she was deeply concerned 2022 when 9 000 children were living in temporary accommodation this was a national priority this year we are now seeing a new housing minister who's very disappointed and deeply worried that is a record of failure no i won't i want to make progress thank you very much but it is a record of failure and one which the new cabinet secretary needs to act on urgently to turn that situation around because every day in scotland 45 children become homeless under this smp government i don't have the time i'm sorry that's 9 595 children living in temporary accommodation across our country with no government plan to end that scottish families being accommodated in former hotels guest houses and ben and breakfasts many left sharing toilets with strangers and cooking on kettles in so many cases this isn't just temporary accommodation it is inappropriate accommodation today we see a situation escalating out of control the number of homeless applications have increased by 9 16 263 children assessed and has been threatened with homelessness the number of children in temporary accommodation at a record level this is this record of this smp government and it is shameful now children who have been homeless for three or four times more likely now are to experience mental health problems children who have been homeless are seeing increased risks of ill health and disability up by 25 percent and any teacher will tell the cabinet secretary if she would listen that children in temporary accommodation are struggling to maintain relationships and are experiencing increased anxiety as well now we need to see a completely new approach to this from the government and i hope i don't have the time i hope that ministers will genuinely lose this debate and this new session to do something differently measures to prevent homelessness are already on the statute we do not need the housing bill to take those forward they're just not being delivered by local government because they don't have the resources to do that now to conclude president officer homeless charities across scotland are raising the alarm cross party voices are raising the alarm there is a growing concern around the housing emergency we face in scotland today we need an emergency response from this government now we need to see a fresh leadership from the cabinet secretary and i hope she will genuinely lead from the front on this because it hasn't been mentioned in any debates so far it is the biggest issue the summer minister should have been dealing with if ministers genuinely want to take forward a progressive agenda around this and the housing emergency they will have our support but they need to act because we are seeing this crisis develop ever more every day thank you and i call on michael matheson to wind up cabinet secretary thank you position officer and i've listened to all of the contributions in the course of the debate this afternoon and i must say that i do think that miles briggs has managed to finish in a high point for the contributions from the conservative benches here this afternoon in his desire to try and find a new way in which to try and tackle some of the challenges which we face as a society and i can assure him that there is a determination and a willingness on these benches to engage in a constructive way where there are constructive suggestions to try and tackle some of these issues that we face as a society i must say as well that i have also sat through 24 programmes for government in this parliament and i think my memory serves me better than Jackie Baillies whose memory i can only suspect has been clouded by time in this establishment and my recollection is that the worst programmes for government were the first seven that we had within the scourge parliament which he obviously had a hand in they were vacuous lacked an ambition and they were actually so unambitious they actually left money in the bank account of the scottish executive at the time was they handed back to Westminster because they weren't even capable capable capable of investing in tackling poverty in scotland between 1999 and 2006 so i can recall poor quality programmes for government let me finish my point and i'll let you in but i can i can remember i can remember very well the lack of ambition from our government and i recall well actually at jackie baillie holding office in a portfolio that responsibility for tackling child poverty but the same time handing money back to Westminster because you couldn't use the resources to tackle effect here in scotland i'll give way to jackie baillie very much and i am i am so grateful to be able to remind the cabinet secretary because clearly his memory has faded too because when we were in government our ambition to end child poverty saw 200 000 children lifted out poverty in scotland poverty child poverty went up under your watch under the s n p and now your ambition is to lift 90 000 where is your ambition cabinet secretary cabinet secretary as ever as ever with jackie baillie let's just wipe out the reality of UK government austerity and the impact it has on child poverty that's the impact of started under Gordon brown before he left office the austerity programme and child poverty starting to increase as a result right now sir however the consequences of political choices in tackling things like child poverty are really important so we have gone from a point where we have a Labour party a Labour party who has stated that we do too much social policy too much of this social policy stuff and not enough on the economy then they tell us then they tell us you're not doing enough social policy to tackle poverty in our society and then they tell us we need real action on child poverty but we don't need any of that social policy stuff to deal with it and then of course then of course the Labour party are doing too much social policy then we're not doing enough social policy and now what we get from them is that we are now the champions for the rape clause and for the benefit and the bedroom tax they're the party that are now supporting these policies and and to add to presiding officer they have a shadow chancellor who has now said that they will follow the fiscal policy of the existing Tory government if they get into government next year now it'd be fair to say and i think i'm being generous to them here it's a bit of a muddle for the Labour party nowadays because i think in reality it is nothing more than a self-contradictory mess Mr Matheson please a self-contradictory mess you've got yourself into on social policy and economic policy which is reflective reflective of a leadership in the Scottish Labour party that don't have a principle to stand on when it comes to tackling these issues let's just remind ourselves let's just remind ourselves of the policies that Labour have now wedded themselves to as well so the two child limit what does it affect that affects 80 000 children in scotland it takes 341 million pounds out of scottish families pockets each year and of course we also heard from the consulate of party your new buddies when it comes to social policy we heard from megan gallaker who said what we need is we need a big bold idea well here's a big bold idea for you so the UK government through the chair always you could officer miss gallaker and her colleagues in Westminster could with the flick of a pen they could lift 70 000 people out of poverty including 30 000 children by simply reversing the cuts they have made to benefits that's the type of big bold idea that would seem to me to be a good policy to pursue rather than coming in here and pretending pretending that you have a concern about the impact that austerity is having on local services within local authorities the architects of UK austerity sit in those benches and in those benches and the consequences that you refer to are the consequences of the policy decisions that your government is making and the impact it's having on communities right across scotland so don't come in here don't come in here don't come in here and lecture us on the actions that we should be taking to tackle poverty because as a government is doing exactly that with one high time time behind our back because of the impact of your own policies at a UK level can i remind the cabinet secretary cabinet secretary to always speak through the chair please thank you i will proceed officers let me let me turn now to the issue of our nhs so here we are in a situation where if you were to believe what has been set out by the opposition parties that in some way the challenges we have within our nhs here in scotland are unique to us that they only happen here in scotland because of our actions so let me be quite clear when it comes to things like waiting lists in the nhs in scotland let me just do some comparative work here for miss belly and her colleagues Presiding Officer so in march this year in scotland there were on average 114 patients waiting per thousand of our population on the treating the treatment time guarantee how does that compare to what was happening in england well using the same basis it was actually 130 patients who were waiting and of course what was happening wheels it was 237 per thousand now i for one think that die for one i'll be generous here i'll be generous here die for one think that labour in whales don't care about the nhs no i don't i believe that they care about the nhs and they want to can i just cabinet secretary cabinet secretary cabinet secretary i just like to ask all members to please refrain from intervening from a sedentary position where they are able to do otherwise cabinet secretary i'm more than happy to take an intervention for mr smith if you want to make one math is on you are the colon smith nhs minister in scotland would you think your constituents think about lining a trolley in your local hospital because waiting lists have gone up to record levels on your watch mr mathison you see that's why that's why we put a recovery plan in place with an extra billion pounds in order to address these issues but what the bit that mr smith doesn't want to recognise is the challenges which your nhs is facing off the back of the pandemic the challenges we're facing with increasing demand on our healthcare system they're not unique to scotland they're actually impacting on the healthcare system we're across the whole of the UK and actually globally and if the if mr smith is particularly concerned about performance he only has to look at labour's performance in Wales which is significantly worse than it is in Wales but he can be assured that we'll continue to do what we can in order to address these issues as we move forward i want to turn to the issue of alcohol related deaths which was raised by mr gohani in the course of his contribution and he made specific reference to a minimum unit pricing now i can remember a time in this chamber when the conservatives had had a sense of commitment to tackling what is three people dying per day from a preventable cause when jackson carlaw gave a commitment to supporting minimum unit pricing and he did that despite the fact that you had as a party as a position sign officer the conservative had opposed the initial attempt at minimum unit pricing and decided to turn it into a party political issue that was a position no i make this point again because i was on the committee that dealt with it and i witnessed the behaviour of conservative members on that committee that resulted in expert witnesses refusing to come back to parliament and give evidence because of the behaviour the behaviour of conservative members on that committee at the time i won't mention who they were but it was recorded and set out at that time and the labour of course opposed minimum unit pricing a position that was taken by jackie bailey they orchestrated an alternative commission under brine faran to come up with alternative proposals that fell flat on their face under scrutiny before the parliament the consequence of that was let's hear the cabinet minimum unit pricing through parliament it was delayed as a result of the actions of the opposition parties at that particular time and that was a reality and the consequence of what is quite clearly a public health policy that would make the situation if we didn't have it would make the situation even worse than it is today and i say to sandish gohani i think you do yourself no favours and you do your party no favours by seeking to undermine a public health policy that many evidence-based leading experts have repeatedly said is making a positive impact in tackling this issue and if my old briggs is to be taken at his word he may want to have a discussion with his colleagues within the health portfolio in his party because if we are to try and tackle some of these very deep-seated inequalities in our society then we need to take forward action on a collective basis recognising the evidence the evidence to underlines the benefits of these policies rather than to try and seek to undermine them for narrow party political purposes mr gohani mr gohani so i'm conscious of at time and drawing my remarks to a close if we are to tackle some of the deep-seated health inequalities that we face in our society we also have to recognise the social determinants of many of these inequalities and one of the most significant social determinants of inequality and health inequality in our society is that of austerity we have sought over the course of a decade and a half history has shown us repeatedly the impact the economic austerity has on those in our most deprived communities we as a government are determined to grow and expand our economy for a purpose to invest in our public services and to make sure that we tackle the root causes of those social inequalities within our society we might not reap the benefits of those in our health service today but we will in years to come the question i ask those across this chamber is are you prepared to as a party work with us in order to deliver that because it's very clear from the approach that's been taken by a Tory government at Westminster tackling social inequality is no longer a priority in fact expanding social inequality appears to be the objective and the sad reality is that a party that once said that it believed in strong social policy is now following the path of a conservative party following the path of austerity following the path of the rape clause of the bedroom tax of policies that push families and households into poverty the policies that we know will drive social inequality and will create health inequality in our society well one thing saying officer this government will do is you stand up to tackle social and health inequality in our society and this is a programme for government that will deliver that thank you that concludes the debate on equality within the 23 to 24 2023 to 24 program for government the next item of business is consideration of business motion 10340 in the name of george adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau setting out a business program and i call on george adam to move the motion thank you president officer i moved thank you minister no member has asked to speak on the motion therefore the question is that motion 10340 be agreed are we all agreed the motion is therefore agreed the next item of business is consideration of business motion 103 00 in the name of george adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau on a stage two timetable any member who wishes to speak against the motion should press their request to speak button now and i call on george adam to move the motion and move president officer thank you minister no member has asked to speak against the motion therefore the question is that motion 103 00 be agreed are we all agreed the motion is therefore agreed the next item of business is consider consideration of three parliamentary bureau motions and i ask george adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau to move motions 10301 on office of the clerk 10341 on designation of lead committee and 10342 on suspension of standing orders all three move president officer thank you minister and the question on these motions will be put at decision time and there are four questions to be put as a result of today's business and can i remind members that if the amendment in the name of megan gallaker is agreed to the amendment in the name of paul okne will fall so the first question is that amendment 10343.2 in the name of megan gallaker which seeks to amend motion 10343 in the name of shirlianne summerville on equality within the 2023 to 24 programme for government be agreed are we all agreed the parliament is not agreed therefore we will move to vote and there will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system 10341 on the behalf of the parliamentary bureau to move motions 10343 on the motion 10343 on the amendment in the name of megan gallaker is agreed on.