Towards a Scotland that Cares Report by Oxfam Scotland

That the Parliament welcomes the report, Towards a Scotland that cares – a new National Outcome on Care for the National Performance Framework, by the University of the West of Scotland and supported by Oxfam Scotland, Carers Scotland, Scottish Care, the Scottish Women’s Budget Group and One Parent Families Scotland; recognises that the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the foundational importance of care to all lives, as well as to society and the economy as a whole; notes with concern that too often caring for someone, whether paid or unpaid, and whether for adults or children, results in significant personal and economic costs for individuals and their families, including poverty; acknowledges that what it considers to be the systemic undervaluing of care is inextricably linked to care work being overwhelmingly carried out by women; welcomes the report’s blueprint for a new national outcome on care; endorses its ambition to build on existing policy initiatives to drive deeper policy and spending action to better value and invest in care, while quantifiably tracking progress, and urges the Scottish Government to consult on the proposed national outcome, to enhance it where necessary, and then to speedily embed it within the National Performance Framework, making Scotland one of the first countries in the world to include such an explicit, cross-cutting and comprehensive commitment within its performance framework.