Chamber and committees

The cabinet secretary has already talked about getting alongside families and working with people—often those in the third sector—with whom the families already work, and the minister has also mentioned the Deputy First Minister’s announcements at the weekend. That cash support will be incredibly welcomed by families.

We have also heard in evidence how critical it is to listen to families and to provide the hands-on and practical support that individual families need. Cash and financial support is a part of that and can really prevent families from going off a cliff edge. What guarantees can the Scottish Government give that funding for existing whole family support services will be maintained?

That is great. It is reassuring to know that we are talking about moving forward and investing more in family support. How will you measure the impact of the whole family wellbeing fund? Will you be able to drill down and ensure that it is supporting families?

That is great. I have a final question. Is there scope to expand the early intervention support specifically for care-experienced children and their families, which goes beyond the whole family wellbeing fund? To a degree, that also relates to the Promise.

What consideration has the Scottish Government given to offering care-experienced people lifelong support? We know that there is often generational trauma—adverse childhood experiences run through the generations. Young children in particular reflect their parents’ emotional and mental health. As it is so important for young children to have a strong anchor, is it worth considering giving lifelong support, to let care-experienced people know that we have their backs and allow them to feel confident that they can become strong parents and support their children?

What discussions took place during the development of the framework? What were the key areas of debate? Were there any notable areas of disagreement?

I have a couple of questions. I will ask them both at once and you might want to answer them together. How important is a place-based approach that involves having facilities side by side in order to help facilitate families accessing services? I know that, in North Lanarkshire, there is a single multidisciplinary team approach, whereby there are shared budgets and shared decision making. Is that something that the Scottish Government is looking at? Do you have any comments on that?

It is good to see you both here this morning. My question goes back a wee bit. We have mentioned ACEs, which are, sadly, often passed down from generation to generation—the trauma repeats itself. The minister mentioned the excellent work that has been happening around perinatal mental health, and my question builds on that. We all know the phrase “happy mum, happy baby”, but it goes beyond that to “happy mums, happy parents, happy children”. Parents’ emotional health affects hugely how children feel when they are growing up.

I spoke to Des Murray, the chief executive of North Lanarkshire Council, yesterday and he talked about reaching out to young mums when they drop their children off at nursery so that, instead of going home and being isolated, they become engaged with services, whether that involves their having a coffee, accessing advice services, doing a bit of physical activity or whatever. What are we doing to promote that type of good practice, which recognises how important parental wellbeing is in enabling our young children to flourish?

My question is not about physical activity. If you want to bring in the others first, I will maybe come in at the end.

You will be glad to know that I do not have any further questions; I just wanted to say that I should have mentioned that I am a councillor on Lanarkshire council.

Is there nothing overarching that at a national level? Is such a thing needed?