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On a point of order, Deputy Presiding Officer. My app has not refreshed. I would have voted yes.

I am pleased to stand tonight to speak in favour of the Education (Scotland) Bill. As deputy convener of the Education, Children and Young People Committee, I start as others have done by thanking everyone who has contributed to the bill and helped to shape it as it made its way through our Parliament.

After months of scrutiny by the committee, I am looking forward to making the final few changes to the bill with the amendments that were in front of us today. Now we can get on with dotting the i’s, crossing the t’s, and driving forward with improving our education system.

Although we are looking to improve it, we should not forget that our starting point is that we already have a great education system thanks to the hard work of teachers up and down the country and to the pupils, too, who I sometimes think do not get enough credit.

I said that the system is great, not perfect. That is because there is always room for improvement, some of which will be directly achieved by the bill and some enabled by it.

The most talked-about change that the bill will deliver is that the Scottish Qualifications Authority will be replaced with a new national qualifications body for Scotland, aptly called qualifications Scotland. Our committee heard a great deal about how the SQA could improve. We heard that our teachers felt that there was a disconnect between the SQA and their profession and that the SQA’s work did not seem to take account of the reality in our schools. The stand-out example for me was when qualification requirements were changed during an academic year. That is being changed.

Qualifications Scotland will be a new authority, with new governance arrangements, new people, including a headteacher, and a new ethos. Those changes might be seen as small to start with, but those small changes will add up and I am certain that, over time, they will mean substantial and tangible improvement for our pupils and teachers.

The bill also seeks to create an independent inspectorate to ensure that every child gets the great education to which they are entitled. However, the whole bill—new qualifications authorities and inspectorates, and all the amendments that we have seen as the bill moved through Parliament—is only one step in a journey. The end of that journey is when every single child in Scotland has the best chance to succeed in life and poverty does not hinder their life chances.

The Scottish Government has been clear, time and again, that it will do everything that it can to close the poverty-related attainment gap. That is not only about an education bill and new organisations but also about the investment of billions in our schools estate and £1 billion in the Scottish attainment challenge, expanded free school meals and breakfast clubs, school uniform grants, the game-changing Scottish child payment and, before that, the baby box and best start grants. What a contrast to the United Kingdom Government’s continuing to balance its books on the backs of children through their shameful two-child cap—actually, something else for my list is that it is this SNP Scottish Government that is abolishing the two-child cap in Scotland.

We can make no better investment than in our young people—it is an investment in Scotland’s future. Today, we can help to build that future by passing the Education (Scotland) Bill and pushing on with improving our education system.

Has the member engaged with people in the home education community on what he is putting forward? Has he engaged with their views on how this can be progressed to ensure that we are getting it right for every child?

The majority of the Scottish Government’s funding continues to be tied to decisions of the United Kingdom Government and is subject to high levels of uncertainty until very late in the financial year. Will the minister give a practical example of the consequences of Scotland’s funding being tied to Westminster?

Will the member take an intervention?

On a point of order, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am finding it very difficult to hear what you are saying.

The prospect of job losses is extremely distressing for workers and their families, and I welcome the Scottish Government’s urgency in addressing the matter. Can the Deputy First Minister provide an update on the Scottish Government’s latest engagement with the employees of Alexander Dennis and the trade unions to ensure that their voices inform the Scottish Government’s work?

The impact that inadequate and unaffordable housing has on child poverty levels is clear. Can the cabinet secretary outline what action the Scottish Government is taking now and in the immediate future to work towards eradicating child poverty through improvements to housing?

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting tenants in Aberdeen to protect and enhance their rights to a safe, secure and affordable place to live. (S6O-04830)

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent report, “Energy Transition: 41st Survey”, by the Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, which reportedly demonstrates that the United Kingdom is losing the supply chain and skills necessary to deliver net zero. (S6O-04795)