The first ​‘Programme for Government’ for the Scottish Parliament

The 4 main priorities are:

• Eradicating child poverty
• Growing the economy
• Tackling the climate emergency
• Ensuring high quality and sustainable public services

John Swinney says:

He goes on to focus on how services and resources working together more effectively to support children and their families can reduce child poverty.

The way in which services are delivered is a key element of the PFG and that relies on the contribution of many partners.

So, for example, funding for Fairer Futures Partnerships in Dundee, Glasgow and Clackmannanshire have enabled key workers to help at-risk families and support the community around the child, improving child development and family wellbeing.

To tackle child poverty, 5 new place-based partnerships are now funded: Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Aberdeen, and Perth and Kinross (more on this in our next newsletter).

Scottish Government will also prioritise improving incomes through social security and benefits in kind and cutting the costs of living as one of the most effective approaches to reducing poverty. New benefits to be launched later this year will include Pension Age Disability Payment and Carer’s Additional Person Payment.

Scottish Government is ambitious to ensure that people have access to high quality public services, which are available whenever needed. This means taking steps to ensure that services are easier to ​‘navigate and understand, so people can get the help, support, and treatment they need’.

The vision is of:

focusing on improving population health, prevention and early intervention.

As part of this, the National Care Service will be established by the end of this Parliamentary term and will reform the way in which social work, social care and community health are delivered, with the aim of improving standards and quality.

In relation to new legislation, a key area of interest for VoiceAbility in the Scottish Legislative Programme is the Adults with Incapacity Bill. This will be a first step to update and modernise the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 in line with developing thinking and international standards on human rights. It aims to ensure that adults are supported to make and act upon their own decisions for as long as possible. The Bill will also introduce proposals to modernise how adults with incapacity can participate in research in Scotland, whilst continuing to ensure their rights, safety, dignity, and wellbeing.

However, there is concern that the new legislative programme does not include a Human Rights Bill. Many organisations, including VoiceAbility, have been involved in an extensive programme of development work on this issue and would like to see this progressed.