Scotland’s Future

As an amendment to motion S4M-08707 in the name of Alex Salmond (Scotland’s Future), leave out from "deplores" to end and insert "recognises that free school meals help tackle child poverty and promote child welfare and educational attainment; further recognises that free school meals save families at least £330 per child per year; notes that free meals will be available to all reception and infant pupils in England from September 2014 and that the Scottish Government has received a Barnett consequential from this policy; further notes that, from September 2014, 40% of two-year-olds in England will be entitled to early education provision for 15 hours per week; notes that the Scottish Government has also received a Barnett consequential from this policy; is concerned that the Scottish Government has refused to match these early steps on childcare and has stated that it will not do so until it achieves a Yes vote in the independence referendum; believes that this position is neither sustainable nor in the interests of young people in Scotland and that the Scottish Government should embrace change, and looks forward to a positive future in Scotland where children growing up are not treated as political pawns and receive early education equipping them for a lifetime of achievement, where their parents benefit from the resulting increased flexibility allowing them to take up more employment, adding to the record numbers of people in Scotland currently in work, and all are supported by further income tax cuts for workers to add to the £700 already saved per person because of the action taken by the UK Government since 2010 with the combination of such policies lifting families out of hardship and poverty."