Mary Fee: Presiding Officer, given what you have just said about being in a bad mood and having toothache, I do not know whether I want to speak now. [ Laughter .] I thank John Finnie for introducing this member’s bill and for all the work that he has done on the issue. I and my party have supported the bill since he introduced it to Parliament. By passing the bill today, Scotland will commit to...
Mary Fee: Assault is assault. If we assault someone, we are committing a crime. There are ranges of assault. We should not use force to control another individual. That force could take many forms. The bill is often incorrectly described as introducing a smacking ban, but it is important to remember that it does not create a new criminal offence. Rather, it seeks to remove a legal defence, in order to...
Mary Fee: I am sorry; I have almost finished. The importance of the campaign cannot be overemphasised. There needs to be a co-ordinated campaign message, so that parents, care givers, teachers and social workers are aware of the implications of the changes that are being made. I hope that the bill will be backed with sufficient funds to raise public awareness of the change. Indeed, I hope that, having...
Mary Fee: 4. To ask the Scottish Government what the impact has been on the rural economy of reductions to local authority services. (S5O-03604)
Mary Fee: The passing of cuts to councils by the Government has resulted in severe cuts across all communities. Rural communities need investment in roads, transport and infrastructure to attract new business opportunities and a strong workforce. How does the Scottish Government expect the rural economy to grow and attract inward investment when councils that fund the infrastructure are faced with—
Mary Fee: It is a pleasure to be closing today’s debate for Scottish Labour on a crucial motion that could help to tackle the attainment gap in education, tackle poverty and improve the rights of children and families. The debate has been constructive and mostly consensual, and has shown clear understanding of the benefits of the Give Them Time campaign. In the short time that I have available, it...
Mary Fee: No. The motion contains an explicit timetable. That cannot be contradicted. Local government cannot be left to fix the situation alone. Some 138 requests for an additional year of funded nursery provision have been denied, out of a total of 1,188. That represents more than one in 10 of those families having to make the difficult choice either to send their child to primary school, even though...
Mary Fee: That is okay then.
Mary Fee: Additional recommendation 4 of the GIRFEC practice development panel’s report states: “There should be additional multi-year investment in multi-agency training.” Will the cabinet secretary tell Parliament how much that investment will be, and when it will be in place?
Mary Fee: I recently spoke with Renfrewshire Carers Centre, which told me about young carers who feel isolated in school and struggle with bullying and teachers who do not understand that they cannot complete their homework or arrive on time because of their caring responsibilities. To change that, it is facilitating peer support groups in school and conducting awareness-raising training for teachers....
Mary Fee: I agree with the first 18 words of the motion proposed by Liam Kerr: “That the Parliament believes that urgent action must be taken to restore public trust in the justice system”. However, that is where my agreement ends. More pressing issues in the justice system need urgent attention. The Scottish Prison Service faces reduced budgets, increased prisoner numbers and rising stress-related...
Mary Fee: No, thank you—we have heard enough Tory rhetoric for one afternoon. Further to that, many prisoners tend to have low skill levels. According to freedom of information requests, almost half of prisoners in Scotland are not functionally numerate and 30 per cent are illiterate. The lack of support for, and the underresourcing of, throughcare for prisoners creates the cyclical nature of...
Mary Fee: I, too, thank Miles Briggs for securing this debate. In April 2018, I was fortunate enough to receive an invitation to visit Robin house in Balloch. I was aware of the work of CHAS and—like most people, probably—I was apprehensive about going to a children’s hospice. The word “hospice” can evoke sad and negative thoughts. However, I could not have been more wrong. The first...
Mary Fee: 2. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that children and young people who attempt to take their own lives have to wait weeks for specialist mental health support. (S5T-01733)
Mary Fee: In June 2018, the Government tried to sneak out an audit report on rejected referrals to child and adolescent mental health services, which found a belief among patients that unless the situation was serious enough, the individual would not be seen. Nine months ago, Audit Scotland published a report on CAMHS, which found that young people were not getting appropriate care until they reached...
Mary Fee: It does not sound to me—or, I am sure, to many people who are listening—as though much progress is being made. One in four children and young people is still having to wait more than four months to be seen for their first appointment. Last month, during the statement on the NHS Tayside interim report, the minister refuted a suggestion from Miles Briggs that the issue of services not...
Mary Fee: Provision of services for those with additional support needs is fragmented across local authorities and, similarly, we know that local authorities use a variety of models for provision of the home link service. What steps will the cabinet secretary take to ensure that home link staff are fully resourced and supported?
Mary Fee: Looking at the broader picture of access to CAMHS across Scotland, the latest figures show that more than a quarter of referred children are not seen within the 18-week target waiting time. When does the minister expect to reach the 90 per cent target for children and young people accessing CAMHS within 18 weeks?
Mary Fee: Teachers who gave evidence to the Education and Skills Committee noted that multilevel teaching is becoming commonplace. Every school that was represented in the evidence sessions had instances of it, and some teachers commented that teaching successfully in such circumstances is almost impossible. If the cabinet secretary is right that multilevel teaching poses no disadvantage, those...
Mary Fee: David Reedy concludes that it would be beneficial for the tests to continue, albeit with important modifications and the establishment of additional guidance and support for practitioners. Will the cabinet secretary give some detail on the important modifications that are required and the timescale for implementation?