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The minister has alluded to the fact that, two weeks ago, the First Minister said that the Government was reviewing the guidance. Given that Conservative-led Scottish Borders Council has already made decisions on nurseries—although it has compromised and does not intend to go ahead with what it originally decided to do—can the minister provide a timeline for when the revised guidance will be available to the public? If she cannot do so today, I ask her to do so as soon as is practicable.

I will, in a moment.

The elephant in the room is the hike in employer national insurance. That tax on jobs, which one employer estimated would cost an extra £400,000 per annum on his wage bill, will also cost jobs. The Office for Budget Responsibility has predicted that 60 per cent of those increased costs will be passed to consumers.

The impact on the voluntary sector is also devastating. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations estimates an additional cost to the sector of £75 million. If we add in winter fuel allowance cuts and farm inheritance tax, which threatens the very basis of our food sustainability—none of which was in Labour’s manifesto—no wonder Labour had a kicking in the recent council elections.

To go back to what the Scottish taxpayer gets for their money, Murdo Fraser can take it as read that I know and recognise that we need a thriving economy to fund social justice, and that will be my focus. As my old history teacher, Tar Macadam, used to say, what better way to assess than by comparing and contrasting? In this instance, I will compare and contrast Scotland under the SNP with England under the Tories and now Labour.

I will give examples. University tuition is free in Scotland; in England, it is £9,535 per annum, and students have after three years a debt of around £28,000 just for fees.

Contrast the delivery in Scotland of 1,140 hours of childcare for all three and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds with England, where, broadly, provision is only for all three and four-year-olds, for 570 hours.

Keeping 40,000 children out of poverty by providing the Scottish child payment at £27.15 per week for every child under 16 in a qualifying household can be contrasted with an absence of child payment under UK Labour and, instead, the punitive and disgraceful two-child benefit cap.

For the older generation, all pensioners in Scotland will receive at least £100 in winter fuel payment; those who receive the UK-run pension credit will get £300. If we contrast that with England, we see that only those on pension credit get anything, and the majority are left out in the cold.

We are investing in a fairer social security system and helping people into work, and we have 16 more benefits than are available in England. By contrast, the Labour Government is intent on restricting disability payments. It euphemistically says that that is about

“re-evaluating the personal independence payment eligibility criteria”—

that is cuts to you and me.

Here, we are providing free bus travel for 2.3 million people, including older and disabled people and all children and young people under 22. In England, free bus travel is available only for those with certain disabilities or on reaching state pension age, which is currently 66; in Scotland, people get their bus pass at 60.

Prescriptions here are free, and eye examinations are free for everyone, every two years. Prescription charges in England are £9.90 per item. In England, eye tests are free, but only for certain groups—for people who are under 16 or aged 60 or over, or who have specific medical conditions.

We are reducing the cost of the school day for families through free school meals for pupils in primary 1 to P5. In England, free meals are only for pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2.

The majority of Scottish taxpayers pay less tax than those in England, and we provide a compassionate and fair distribution of that tax.

I very much endorse the Scottish Government’s statement that it has

“targeted engagement with investors to secure investments from our new National Project Pipeline”,

which is a bit of official gobbledegook, but I hope that that means research and development. We have missed out on that in Scotland, so I want to hear more about the new proof of concept fund and an improved system of grants to increase the scale and quality of the Scottish start-up ecosystem. For Scotland, while tied to the UK, there has been a lack of vision and investment in manufacturing and in universities.

In a previous debate—I am apparently in a compare-and-contrast mode—I noted how Taiwan, with little or no natural resources, unlike energy-rich and food-rich Scotland, invests in research and development and protects intellectual property and patents internationally, which is essential in this fast-moving world.

For me, comparing and contrasting demonstrates without a scintilla of doubt the benefits, even with the constrictions of devolution, of living in Scotland under this SNP Government, but think how much more we could achieve with full economic independence.

Will the minister take an intervention?

I have heard from Opposition members the false claim that Scotland has the highest income tax in the UK. In fact, most here pay less than in England, and the same is true of council tax, which is some 30 per cent lower here.

I congratulate the member on securing the debate.

These days, issues with our mental health or wellbeing are recognised as having a status and significance equivalent to that of physical illnesses. Of course, that was not always the case. I am referring not to the bad old days of asylums, which were not so long ago, but to the general acceptance now that it is no longer a weakness or an embarrassment for someone to admit or recognise that their mental health is not in a good place. That change will have contributed to more people identifying as having mental health issues.

The Covid-19 pandemic must also have exacerbated mental health issues for many people, perhaps as a result of isolation, illness, the loss of a loved one or financial worries, or a combination of any of those. For the young, there are the pressures of social media. How do your looks conform to fashion? Are you too fat? Bullying follows you into your bedroom, and is at your fingertips in the ever-present social media.

For the single parent, there are money worries; for the pensioner, there are money pressures, loneliness, failing health and mobility limitations, with family perhaps far removed or even estranged. Those are just some examples.

So, how to cope and where to find support? I accept that there are huge pressures on those across all age ranges, for which I do not have solutions. However, there are well-known agencies such as Citizens Advice Scotland, for debt support; bereavement services that are run by the national health service and Samaritans Scotland; and more localised help, too. For example, I did not previously know about the Scottish Borders widowed community, which is a peer support group for men and women in the Borders who have lost a partner. It offers a mix of private online discussions, in-person meetings of the widows hope group in Galashiels and social activities, giving widowed people a chance to give and receive support through their grief in a trusted safe space as well as making friends and combating social isolation and loneliness.

The Scottish Borders widowed community has been described by its members as a lifeline, being the only group in the area that is exclusively for widowed people. One said:

“I joined the group in 2023, five weeks after I lost my husband Sean. Losing Sean so suddenly and unexpectedly was devastating to me, but the Scottish Borders widowed community gave me hope for the future and brought me so much joy.”

Being widowed is very different from other losses and is widely recognised as one of the most traumatising and stressful life events. Having access to that type of support locally is, therefore, crucial to the health and wellbeing of the community’s members.

There is also an online service called Togetherall for residents in the Borders aged 16 and over, which provides an anonymous peer forum offering self-assessment for anxiety and depression. There is a 24-hour service for online chat, with wellbeing advisers to support people to maintain their mental health and wellbeing.

There are what matters hubs offering drop-in sessions across the Borders. Looking across to the other part of my constituency, there are men’s sheds—we are all aware of those. For example, there is one in Penicuik that brings men together to chat, taking them away from their isolation once they are no longer working in teams. They make useful items—for example, they have made a bench and bird table for Broomhill day centre, which in turn provides support to keep elderly people away from loneliness and isolation by providing not just lunches but company and a chat.

There is the Kellock club at North Kirk church in Penicuik—that is not easy to say—where men meet for an afternoon tea and chat. They often have a speaker; I was one such at their inaugural meeting. I introduced myself with the words, “Is this where the speed dating takes place?” It more than broke the ice, but disappointingly I am still unattached—I will leave it at that.

There are many more examples of support for those who are suffering. For example, as I know members will be aware, there are groups providing support for baby loss, suicidal thoughts and drug and alcohol addictions. I know of many such groups across the Borders—there are too many to mention, but I know who they are and I thank them, as they do much to help people through the mental stresses that they meet in today’s modern world.

My intervention is not relevant to what the minister has just said, but I want to give a plug for Trellis Scotland, which I failed to mention. It offers therapeutic gardening and horticulture for children and adults. Unlike Brian Whittle, I do not have running shoes, but I have a fork and a spade.

My point is linked to curriculum for excellence. We have been talking about how important it is for young children to understand the environment and sustainability; there are children who will not engage in the classroom in the same way as others, but, once they get outside into a garden and planting things, they begin to engage with life around them and to express themselves, speak and become confident. The programme is, therefore, a winner all round.

I thank all the members who signed my motion, allowing this debate to proceed, and the members who have stayed behind to contribute to it.

Although the motion refers to St Andrew’s RC primary school in Gorebridge, we will all have examples that show how important eco-schools and green flag schools are in Scotland. It is the young who will inherit Scotland and this precious planet that is so at risk from the activities of previous generations.

Eco-Schools is one of five international programmes operated by the Foundation for Environmental Education and it is delivered in Scotland by Keep Scotland Beautiful. It is the largest sustainable schools programme in the world, with 19.5 million children, young people and educators engaged worldwide in 74 different countries.

The green flag award is a visible indication of a school’s commitment to learning for sustainability; it is an internationally recognised accreditation for excellence in sustainable education.

The Scottish Government funds and promotes Eco-Schools Scotland as part of its education and sustainability strategy and is seen as a leader in the Eco-Schools initiative.

St Andrew’s RC primary school previously earned the green flag award through the Eco-Schools programme. This year, it has established an eco squad comprising students from the nursery up to primary 6 and primary 7, under the auspices of class teacher Mrs Valentine. The students are focusing on two key areas. The first is caring for the earth—for example, by using donated trees to regenerate existing woodland in the school grounds, creating a dedicated outdoor learning space. The second is supporting the less fortunate, which they are doing by collecting and cleaning crisp packets, which are then sent to a homeless charity, where they are repurposed into blankets for those who are in need. I have no idea how to repurpose a crisp packet into a blanket, but I will need to find out. I have not googled it; maybe the information is there.

Earlier this year, in partnership with the garden for life forum, nursery and school pupils aged three to 18 were invited to design a miniature, pocket-sized garden. Those provide food for people, they are good for wildlife and they reuse something. More than 130 entries from 18 local authority areas were submitted. They represented the work of whole classes and schools, they all demonstrated fantastic imagination and they were creatively linked to the 2025 theme, “our heritage, our future”.

The designers of the 32 winning entries have now been invited to build and grow their garden at their schools before filming or photographing it to be displayed as part of an online garden showcase in June, where people will be able to vote for their favourite garden. The winning designs will be turned into real mini-gardens.

Adding to the green flag award, which I mentioned, two Midlothian schools have been selected to enter the competition to design the perfect pocket garden—schools have to get selected to enter the competition; they cannot just go in it. Those schools are St David’s RC primary school in Dalkeith and St Andrew’s RC primary school in Gorebridge. The St Andrew’s design was called “Our heritage mining garden”, because Gorebridge has a huge mining history. St Andrew’s also won a certificate of recognition in the 2023 competition.

The competition links to Eco-Schools Scotland’s work on food and the environment, biodiversity, school grounds, climate action, health and wellbeing and the new heritage topic. Participation in the pocket garden competition can be part of their green flag application.

Winners will be invited to display their pocket garden in the online showcase—not in their pockets; they are not that small—so that people across Scotland can enjoy them and vote for their favourite three. Previous pocket gardens have been displayed at the “Gardening Scotland” fair in Edinburgh, where they have been visited by the BBC “Beechgrove Garden” team and the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform. All winners will also be judged for three discretionary awards: interpretation of the themes, wildlife friendly and food for people.

The garden needs to be ready to be photographed in the week beginning 26 May 2025, when it should look at its best. It should be grown without using pesticides and fungicides, be peat free and use renewable materials. The gardens are truly pocket sized, with a rectangular footprint of 120cm by 100cm or, in old money—which I need to talk in—3 feet by 11 feet. That really is a pocket-sized garden. They can be any shape and any material can be reused to create them. It is really imaginative. I might have a go—although not in the competition, as that would be unfair. What a challenge it would be for us to try it.

I look forward to seeing the imaginative entries that engage children, not just to keep Scotland beautiful—which it is—but to contribute to the sustainability of the planet.

Good luck to St Andrew’s and St David’s. I hope that you will give them your votes.

I just wanted to let members know that I have now googled the question about blankets, as I perhaps should have done before the debate. The search result says that

“empty crisp packets can be repurposed into survival blankets by fusing them together using heat, creating a reflective layer that helps keep people warm”.

There you are, Mr Hoy.

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Borders about extending the hospital at home provision throughout the Borders. (S6O-04593)