T

he next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-08758, in the name of Emma Roddick, on tackling social isolation and loneliness.

I am delighted to open this debate on social isolation and loneliness. I do not want to pre-empt anyone’s contribution, but it is safe to say that there is quite a lot of agreement across the chamber on the importance of tackling social isolation and loneliness.

It can be hard to admit to being lonely. Humans are generally social creatures, and it can feel like some kind of failure for someone to admit that they do not have the connections that they would like to have or that they think that others have. It is important to recognise that there is often a difference between what we think others have and what their real experience is. That is particularly the case with the growth of social media and people’s ability effectively to present their lives in a way that is very different from reality—showing only the smiles with friends, and not the time that they spend lonely, scrolling, and looking at other people’s smiles with friends.

It is so important that we tackle the stigma around social isolation and loneliness, so I welcome this debate.

I want to take a little time to remind members of the context in which our work on social isolation and loneliness has developed. I will then outline what the Scottish Government is doing to tackle this important issue.

In 2018, we were proud to be one of the first countries to introduce a strategy for tackling social isolation and loneliness and for bringing stronger social connections. As part of the strategy, we set up an advisory group of expert and trusted stakeholder organisations working daily with people who live with the experiences of social isolation and loneliness. The group’s remit was to build a cross-sectoral approach, develop a plan to implement the strategy, advise the Scottish Government and share good practice.

The group helped us define what we mean by social isolation. For the purpose of the debate, that definition is worth repeating here today:

“Social isolation refers to when an individual has an objective lack of social relationships (in terms of quality and/or quantity) at individual group, community and societal levels.”

As for our definition of loneliness, that is

“a subjective feeling experienced when there is a difference between the social relationships we would like to have and those we have.”

The strategy also sets out a clear vision for the kind of Scotland that we want to see, where community connections are increased and no one is excluded from participating in society for any reason. Our vision states:

“We want a Scotland where individuals and communities are more connected”

and where everyone can

“develop meaningful relationships regardless of age, status, circumstances or identity.”

I will shortly outline how we are implementing that vision, and I look forward to hearing from all parties about work that they are aware of that tackles social isolation and, of course, to listening to how we build on our collective efforts that we have delivered so far.

Before I do that, it is important to recognise the significant impact of the Covid pandemic on social isolation and loneliness. Throughout the pandemic, when Governments round the world imposed physical distancing to save lives, social isolation and loneliness rocketed. People lost casual connections, close support and even loved ones to the virus.

At the height of the pandemic, around half the population reported feeling lonely at some point in the previous week. Loneliness is not just an inconvenience, as research has shown that chronic loneliness—that is, feeling lonely most or all the time—is bad for our mental health and bad for our physical health.

Loneliness and social isolation have been linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, dementia, anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide. Loneliness is a public health issue.

More than that, loneliness is also an issue of inequality. We know that loneliness does not affect everyone equally across Scotland. Data that the Scottish Government and others gathered during the pandemic remind us that some people are more at risk from the damaging effects of loneliness than others. Often, those are the people most at risk of experiencing other disadvantage.

Although loneliness is a significant problem for older people, young people experience high rates of loneliness, despite being almost constantly connected to the world through social media. Disabled people experienced the highest rates of loneliness during the restrictions brought about by the Covid pandemic, and we have heard from them that the feeling of being disconnected from family and friends has persisted well beyond lockdown.

Research from Carers UK suggests that as many as eight out of 10 carers have felt lonely or isolated as a result of looking after a loved one. People who have low incomes have also reported more persistent loneliness. It is not difficult to understand why, and it is not difficult to imagine the impact that the cost crisis is now having.

Research by the British Red Cross last December showed that 81 per cent of Scottish people agreed that the increased cost of living will make people lonelier. Just last week, Carnegie UK published a report “The long shadow of the cost of living emergency”, with the key message that that emergency is hurting our ability to do the things that are important to us, such as visiting friends or family, which is resulting in increased loneliness and social isolation.

As Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees with portfolio responsibility for tackling inequalities and advancing human rights and connected communities, I recognise the challenge that the unwanted experience of loneliness and social isolation presents us with. I mentioned earlier that it is a public health issue. Left unaddressed, it means poorer quality lives for the people affected and greater demand on our health and social care resources. When we think about a preventative approach to public health, it seems to me that tackling social isolation and loneliness is a key part of that jigsaw.

In our 2021 manifesto and our subsequent programme for government, we made a commitment to further develop our work to tackle social isolation and loneliness by setting up a loneliness fund and developing a new delivery plan for our strategy. While that work was under way, we provided £1 million in emergency short-term funding in August 2021 and a further £1 million in January 2023. The short-term funding boosted the work of organisations working to tackle social isolation and loneliness, whose services were facing unprecedented demand, first, because of the Covid pandemic and, latterly, because of the cost crisis over the winter months.

I will give a flavour of what the most recent winter funding package has enabled to happen. The winter funding has helped Age Scotland to support community groups to keep their doors open for older people, it has helped Home-Start Scotland to provide family group activities to help young isolated families, and it has helped faith organisations to provide warm spaces and warm meals over the festive period. All those activities have not only contributed to mitigating the impact of the cost of living crisis but helped people to come together and interact and to make and maintain the vital social connections that we all need.

The Government also committed to providing £10 million of funding over the five years of this parliamentary session. Having looked at the Government’s announcements, I have been able to find commitments for only about £5 million of funding over this parliamentary session. Is the Government still committed to providing £10 million to address social isolation and loneliness?

The £10 million as a whole had to be looked at during the spending review. I point out that the £3.8 million to which I referred is to be spread across three years in order to give organisations confidence in their funding over a longer period, which is what the Scottish Government was asked to do. The funding is certainly not small, but other areas of the portfolio had to be reprioritised.

Is the Scottish Government therefore saying that only £5 million, not £10 million, will be delivered over the course of this parliamentary session?

I will set out some of the other spends shortly. Of course, it is not just £6 million that will be spent on tackling social isolation and loneliness. I hope to provide clarification later in my contribution, and I can write to Miles Briggs with further detail if that would be helpful.

Following the funding that I mentioned, I am delighted to say that, on 8 March, my predecessor, Christina McKelvie, launched a new delivery plan and a three-year social isolation and loneliness fund, which fulfilled our manifesto promise and programme for government commitment. The delivery plan is called “Recovering our Connections” and builds on our original strategy by outlining how we will take work forward over the next three years.

Our priorities remain the same. We want to empower communities, build a sense of shared ownership, tackle stigma, provide opportunities and support an infrastructure that fosters connections. Those are, of course, shared responsibilities. The Scottish Government cannot tackle social isolation and loneliness in a bubble, so we are committed to building shared ownership across the public, private and third sectors.

Our partners in the social isolation and loneliness advisory group are key to our ambitions to provide collective leadership in the area, so we will continue to work with the advisory group, whose input and advice will be invaluable in ensuring that the plan is implemented over the remaining life of this parliamentary session.

The response to the launch of the social isolation and loneliness fund has been incredible, with more than 1,300 expressions of interest having been received. That highlights the pressing need for the work and the passion, commitment and creativity of the organisations that work to tackle social isolation and loneliness in our communities every day. Fundamentally, this is all about communities and the links that we make within and between them. As the First Minister outlined in his policy prospectus, the Government’s missions are centred around equality, opportunity and community.

Tackling social isolation and loneliness does not start and end with the programme for government commitment that I spoke about a moment ago. A huge range of work is being done across the Scottish Government that will have a positive impact on people’s ability to make and maintain connections with one another. From the volunteering action plan and 20-minute neighbourhoods to the child poverty strategy and tackling the digital divide, a wealth of actions will be taken over the next three years.

Our flagship digital inclusion programme, connecting Scotland, ensured that those who were digitally excluded had the means, confidence and support to engage with digital services during the pandemic. The programme, which delivered 60,000 devices and provided an internet connection for two years, could not have been achieved without the support from the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and other third sector public organisations.

The evaluation of the connecting Scotland programme validates the programme and shows that it provided a lifeline to the people of Scotland. Recipients told us what it means to be online and to be able to stay in touch with friends and family, and highlighted the access that they then had to vital information and services. All that combined to preserve their mental health and wellbeing when face-to-face services had all but disappeared.

With the current cost of living crisis, getting online and staying connected are just as important as they were during the pandemic. The digital divide is more significant than ever. Those who are online can access services, savings and opportunities that are denied to those who are digitally excluded. I am therefore delighted to tell members that the new connecting Scotland programme will be launched soon with a more sustainable and inclusive approach. More information will be available shortly.

To take another part of my portfolio as an example, Scotland has a long history of welcoming people of all nationalities and faiths, including those seeking refuge and asylum from war and persecution. Our approach to supporting asylum seekers and refugees living in Scotland is set out in “New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy 2018-2022”, which sets out a vision for a welcoming Scotland where refugees and asylum seekers can rebuild their lives from the day they arrive, and where we remain committed to supporting their integration into our communities and providing the safety and security that they need as they begin to rebuild their lives.

Yet another example, this time from health and social care, is the communities mental health and wellbeing fund. Just last week, the Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care announced a further £15 million to meet the demand for local grass-roots mental health and wellbeing projects in 2023-24. That is a total investment of £51 million over three years. The communities mental health and wellbeing fund supports grass-roots community groups in building resilience and tackling social isolation, loneliness and mental health inequalities, which have been made worse by the pandemic and most recently, the cost crisis.

In the first two years, approximately 3,300 grants were made to a wide range of grass-roots community projects, including those based around peer support, physical activity, arts and crafts, social interaction and befriending, with a strong emphasis on the key themes of prevention and early intervention. The fund has a particular focus on social isolation and loneliness, with 1,026 projects funded on that topic in year 1. The three-year funding will make a big difference to communities across Scotland, enabling them to build on the examples of good practice that have been supported so far and providing them with further opportunities to reconnect, revitalise and promote good mental health and early intervention for those in distress.

There are plenty more examples that I could give, but I know that members will be keen to provide their own contributions and perspectives, just as I am keen to hear them. I will end by saying that this is an incredibly positive and exciting time for me to become involved in this area of work, and I look forward to chairing my first meeting of the social isolation and loneliness advisory group in June. I know that my predecessor very much enjoyed getting out and about to learn about this area of work and to meet the fantastic organisations that are making life better and more connected for the people of Scotland, and I fully intend to do the same.

I move,

That the Parliament recognises that social isolation and loneliness can affect anyone at any age or stage of life, but that not everyone is affected equally; acknowledges that the COVID-19 pandemic meant that more people experienced social isolation, and that this was disproportionately felt by disabled people, younger people and single-person households; recognises the action taken by the Scottish Government since its strategy for tackling social isolation and loneliness was published in 2018, including working with young families that are facing adversity, stigma and exclusion, supporting disabled people, carers and grassroots projects to ensure that communities can make a difference on their own terms; believes that preventative action is vital to ensure that the negative mental health consequences are addressed; welcomes the investment that the Scottish Government is making through the three-year, £3.8 million Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund, which will create opportunities for people to connect with one another in Scotland’s communities; commends the work of organisations and communities to tackle this issue, and recognises that tackling this public health issue is a collective responsibility and requires a shared commitment across the public, private and third sectors.

The problems that are associated with poor mental health have become a regular part of the wider public health debate, and rightly so. The loneliness that the pandemic created in many groups, which today’s motion speaks about, is well documented. As such, I welcome the time that has been set aside today to debate the risks of social isolation and loneliness, and how we should best tackle those as we go forward.

As my party’s shadow spokesperson for older people, I will begin by speaking about the particular challenges that loneliness poses for that group. Loneliness is an issue that affects the lives and wellbeing of thousands of older people across Scotland. Research by Age Scotland found that nearly 220,000 people aged over 50 in Scotland feel lonely either all or most of the time. Perhaps the most telling statistic is that, in every street, there is one person of pensionable age who feels chronically lonely at all times. That is quite a damning statistic.

We know how much loneliness can damage older people’s quality of life. There is clear evidence that loneliness in older people increases their risk of other conditions, such as heart disease, stroke, anxiety and depression. However, there are also links to dementia in the older generation. Research from Harvard has highlighted that lonely people aged between 60 and 79 are three times more likely to develop dementia than those in other situations.

Although loneliness can restrict individuals from improving their health, there is a real need to address it when it comes to physical and mental health. In Scotland, there is a significant gap between healthy life expectancy and total life expectancy—a difference of nearly 20 years for women and 16 for men. As declining physical health makes it more difficult to create and maintain relationships, loneliness can often have consequences for health conditions that people develop. That means that individuals need to access healthcare but, if there are delays in access, that can also cause many issues for them, as it can play an important role in tackling loneliness and isolation.

There is a clear link between older people living longer lives and living healthier lives. If they do not have connection and there is a break in individuals’ support and care, it has an impact on their wellbeing. There is no question but that the record waiting times in the national health service are an issue for everyone in Government. Older people in particular are suffering and do not have the guarantee that their support will be available. We need to ensure that it becomes a reality.

Scotland has a new Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care. I suggest that we need to focus on the NHS recovery part of his remit. We need to talk about the recovery because that approach will support many older people. It is time to scrap the previous NHS recovery plan and put in place a new one that will take control and tackle some of the situations that we find ourselves in.

Community groups also play an important part in the support networks that are available to older people. They are a great way of combating loneliness. I pay tribute to the many organisations that work tirelessly in that sector, are leading it and do much to combat loneliness for many individuals. However, long-term social isolation is becoming a major issue. The work that community groups and the Government are doing identifies needs, but there are still gaps and they require to be filled. In fact, it is estimated that around 200,000 older people in Scotland rely on some form of social group or club for company.

That is why I welcome the additional funding that the minister spoke about and that the Scottish Government is providing. There is no doubt that more needs to be put into that sector because it requires support. The funding will keep the doors open for many organisations. By doing that, it supports many individuals in our communities. We know that many community groups are struggling financially. They have told us time and again that more is required because, as the population ages, they need more and more. Age Scotland has told us that more than 30 community groups are struggling at present. As we have heard, the cost of living crisis has an impact on whether those organisations can maintain and sustain their work and become sustainable for the future.

We have also heard about the gaps that appear within the market. The third sector, our council support services and the Government are working together, but there are areas that still require more support. Therefore, I would welcome assurances from the Scottish Government and the minister that protecting those community groups will be a priority going forward because it is one of the biggest ways of managing the strategy for tackling loneliness and isolation.

I acknowledge that the Government has given general assurances but, as I said in Christine Grahame’s recent members’ business debate, when the First Minister set out his priorities for the Scottish Government, he did not make any specific mention of that. It was a gap.

I have heard what the minister has said today, but I still believe that the First Minister should be looking at our ageing population and thinking about what we can do. We have talked about crossovers between portfolios, which does happen, but there should be some real priorities from the Scottish Government with regard to where we see that sitting.

As my amendment points out, it is important that the Scottish Government studies what is happening to our older population, but also that it acknowledges that loneliness and isolation also affect younger people. We have talked about loneliness in all parts of our society and it is important that we do that. For example, research from the Higher Education Policy Institute has found that one in four students are lonely either most or all of the time. That figure should set alarm bells ringing for us that young people who are students are in that situation.

In 2018, £20 million of funding was put in place for around 80 counsellor positions at Scottish colleges. I welcomed that, but the Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee found that the targeted counselling funding was not getting to all the individuals that it should. The removal of that funding means that some colleges are no longer able to fund some of that counselling, which becomes a major issue when they are trying to do that.

It is time that the Scottish Government listened to the calls from Mental Health Foundation Scotland and Colleges Scotland, and from the 21 college principals who I believe wrote to the Government and co-signed a letter about the issue and the problems that they see coming down the track when dealing with younger individuals.

If the funding is necessary, it should be provided. We know that colleges and universities are well placed to address mental health issues among their students, but they need support to ensure that that takes place. The motion talks about tackling loneliness and isolation as a shared responsibility. I believe that we need to share that responsibility because it brings together the whole idea of what we are trying to achieve.