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The two aspects to that are breakfast clubs and activities, and it is clear from the engagement that I have had with parents and families, that those will go a long way to helping them. For example, the breakfast clubs will ensure not only that children are provided with a nutritious meal, but that parents have the ability to take up employment opportunities over and above the normal school hours.

I have spoken to the committee before about the activity clubs. I have been out to visit some of the projects in the extra time programme—they are doing fantastic work and we are investing further to grow those and to work with other activity providers to build them up so that parents have more choice. That will go a long way to ensuring that children stay active and have the opportunity for healthy activity after the school day. It also takes us back to the aspect of tackling poverty and ensuring that parents are able to take up employment.

It is all about bolstering what is already there. I know exactly what Mr Adam is referring to; I have been out to visit St Mirren FC Charitable Foundation, and I know the fantastic work that it is doing.

We have invested £5.5 million in our extra time programme, which supports around 5,000 children most at risk of living in poverty to access free after-school meals and ensure healthy activity. We want to expand that provision to new clubs and more families. As I have said, I have been out to visit a number of the extra time projects, which are football based; they are doing fantastic work, and it is great to see the young people involved in them, but I would like to see that provision expanded. I am absolutely not taking away from the importance of football in our local communities, but I think that we might be missing out on some opportunities for children here. Therefore, I want to continue to work with the SFA, but I want to expand the approach to take in other activities, perhaps, and ensure that there are choices and opportunities for all children and families.

Absolutely, and I think that that fits with our whole-system approach. One of the extra time projects that I visited—I believe that it was in Dundee—had very close links to the early adopter work that was being undertaken in that area, and that allowed the people involved to understand some of the difficulties that families were experiencing, to wrap care around the family and to work together to provide them with the best support. It started off with a focus on the activity itself, but it was then expanded into something more. That sort of thing fits into that ethos and everything that I have been talking about this morning with regard to prevention.

It takes me back to my point about the importance of taking our time to consider this and to understand the work that the early adopters are doing. I am imagining a system in which everyone talks to each other and families need knock on only one door to get the right support that they need, whether it be from a number of different support services and organisations, or whether it be just childcare activities. You have raised an important point, Mr Adam.

Some of that fits into the transition space as well. I would like to talk about that, because it comes back to the discussion about prevention. If we do not support children in school but support them only when they reach adulthood, that is a reactive rather than a preventative approach. We need to ensure that support is in place in schools.

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The aim of the national transitions plan is that every young disabled person feels ready and supported to enter adulthood. A lot of the discussion around that has been about when we start talking about such transitions. Obviously, moving from school to the point after school—for example, further education—is important. However, it is also legitimate to discuss the transition between primary and high school. It is key in this space that we think about the child’s plans and the discussions that will take place to bolster and support children through the transitions.

What is also key—this is an issue that Mr Briggs and I have discussed at length—is that children’s services and adult services talk to one another. We know that there are issues and inconsistencies across Scotland in relation to that, which the legislation that I have introduced intends to combat.

I do not want to take anything away from anyone. There was real ambition with the whole family wellbeing programme. I have said to the committee previously that transformational change takes time, and perhaps the level of local change that would be required was not understood. Whole family wellbeing funding is being routed directly to enable children’s services planning partnerships to break down barriers and work with other organisations in order to take a whole family, multisystem approach.

You asked about lessons, and I know that other members of the committee have expressed concern about the £500 million that was announced and the spend that is being utilised every year. Spending is at the pace of what the CSPPs are able to spend. It is not that we are drawing back from that commitment in any way; it is just that we are going at the pace that CSPPs are able to go on the ground.

Over and above the element 1 funding that goes directly to CSPPs, we have element 3 funding, which is a cross-Scottish Government approach to embed system change in local organisations. I am committed to continuing that. There are various aspects to whole family wellbeing funding, but I would say that it is having real impact. We can see transformation happening, but it does not happen overnight.

We are doing a number of things in that respect. The budget directly responds to many of our priorities in the Promise. We have discussed whole family wellbeing funding, and we will establish a care leaver payment this year, which will go a long way towards improving transitions into accommodation for care leavers. We are furthering our investment in the secure care estate. That investment funds not only additional beds and remand places, but adaptations and progress in relation to some of the difficulties that we experienced with capacity last year, which, thankfully, we have not seen in recent months. I have spoken about the continuation of funding for the bairns’ hoose, which is making transformational changes for young people who are involved in the justice system and young victims. Those are just a few of the things that we are doing, on top of what is already being spent to deliver the Promise, which shows the priority that the Government is giving the issue and its continued commitment to it.

We also have funding in relation to the Promise bill. Should it be passed, that funding will grow in future years, as the provisions are brought in. I have been clear that, although they are not directly related to spending on the Promise spending, many of the interventions that we are taking across education fit with our aims to deliver on the Promise and to tackle poverty. The things that I have outlined are on top of what is already under way.

No, I do not. I believe that we would need to see what has been proposed as unacceptable before we could make any comment on whether we agree or disagree. I agree with the cabinet secretary on that.

Yes, there will be; that has already been considered. For example, it is already a focus in the extra time projects. We want to ensure equity for children and that no one is left out. We also understand that parents who have children with additional support needs could have needs in respect of employment opportunities and also for respite. That is a focus for the investment.

I will take this one. Obviously, a commitment was made in relation to whole-family wellbeing, but I believe that the priority of prevention has been growing ever further since then, and I think that we are now going further than that.

I am happy to get back to Mr Mason with the specific detail about the 5 per cent of health and social care spend, because, he will understand, that does not sit with me, but I would like to give a more general response on the Government’s priorities.

Preventive budgeting is a central element of the public service reform strategy. It is essential to improving outcomes, addressing root causes of demand and ensuring long-term fiscal sustainability. It fits in quite well with the discussions that we were just having about the decisions that local authorities can make on preventative spend and the money that can be saved as a result later down the line. That is a key point to highlight.

The strategy specifically includes a workstream on preventative budgeting, and commits the Scottish Government to redesigning budget processes to track and monitor preventative spend, guide decisions on resource allocation, reform budget rules to allow funding to move across portfolios and services and expand our invest-to-save approach to finance transition costs and kick-start prevention.

For me and my portfolio, that is really important. Members will be aware that delivery of the Promise is not a one-portfolio shop—it has to be a cross-Government priority. As I say, the move towards prevention and that prioritisation of prevention is positive for our tackling poverty agenda, our whole-family support agenda and our delivery of the Promise.

I would argue that much of the spend in my portfolio is preventative, whether it is ELC, which can have huge impacts on early child development, or the various strands of the Promise that not only ensure that children in care are supported the way they should be but that we are supporting families in a preventative way so that children are not entering care.

We are also doing work on secure care and rehabilitation. I believe that the majority of what we are doing in my portfolio prioritises preventative spend with the aims of keeping families together, growing connections and promoting attachment.

It is also key to highlight the joint approaches that we are taking on these matters. There is a cross-Government approach to early child development, and I have worked very closely with health ministers on that. Also, in relation to the investment that we are putting into bairns’ hoose, we have worked very closely over the past few years with justice and health to ensure that we are supporting that on a cross-portfolio basis.

I think that it is easy to split spend into what is preventative and what is reactive. The difficulty comes in trying to understand how much will be saved from the decisions that you are making at the time. For example, for a three-year-old child, the interventions that we are making now in relation to ELC and our play strategy will have positive impacts, but we cannot necessarily measure what would have happened to that child should those impacts not have taken place. For example, there could be issues with behaviour, health issues or justice issues, and it is hard to quantify that.

On the work that I have already put forward in relation to the strategy, we are getting better at that, and it is improving. That will continue to be a priority for the Government.

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