Scottish Liberal Democrats set out plans for helping children and families

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today used a visit to the children’s hospice Rachel House in Kinross to set out a series of policies to help children and young people and their families and reflect upon his time as a youth worker helping some of Scotland’s most deprived communities.

His visit comes after the party secured an extra £14.4m for Scotland’s hospices across two Scottish Budgets.

The party’s manifesto commits to policies including:

• Championing Mother and Child Recovery Houses for those affected by substance abuse and new intensive community-based perinatal services, using the funding secured by Scottish Liberal Democrats in the 2025/26 Scottish Budget.
• Giving infants (as well as everyone 70+ and everyone with long-term health conditions) access to a named GP.
• Revamping the reform of care to transform outcomes for care experienced people, nurturing loving relationships and the knowledge that help is always here.
• Developing family support hubs, open to everyone but targeted towards those communities in most need, providing early and holistic emotional, practical and financial support to families.
• Helping working families with the cost of childcare.
• A Youth Work Bill to reach young people who are not engaged successfully in formal education.
• Enshrining the right of children to learn, and teachers to teach, by making every school a smartphone-free environment and recruiting 2,000 new pupil support assistants to give more in-class support to children who need it.
• Creating new dedicated mental health beds for children and young people north of Dundee, ending the scandal of long journeys for treatment and people being separated from their support networks and abolishing so-called rejected referrals by integrating Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services into a new wider system of multi-disciplinary support.
• Creating a Young Carers’ Lead in every school and college who can provide practical support to help young carers balance education and caring for their loved one.
• Increasing support for unpaid carers by £400 a year.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“Scottish Liberal Democrats believe in getting things done. That is why I got into politics.

“For nineteen years, I was a youthworker trying to make young lives better.

“It’s been a privilege to be able to take that experience into Parliament and get stuff done, like for the babies born addicted to drugs, suffering uncontrollable trembling, hyperactivity and distressed crying. I stood up for them when the SNP intended to cut the drugs budget and won new services for these newborns.

“I want to make Scotland the best place in the world to grow up. That’s why I am putting forward a package of practical and realistic policies to make that a reality, like giving infants access to a named GP, developing family support hubs or new help for young carers balancing education and caring for their loved one.

“In many constituencies this positive agenda means we are on the verge of winning against the SNP but wherever you are, every vote for the Scottish Liberal Democrats on the second peach ballot will deliver change with fairness at its heart.

“Scotland deserves better. And with the Scottish Liberal Democrats, you can vote for it.”

Praising the work of Rachel House, Alex Cole-Hamilton added:

“Rachel House does amazing work and makes a world of difference to hundreds of families a year.

“Scottish Liberal Democrat MSPs roll up our sleeves and get things done. I’m proud that our negotiations secured millions of pounds to help the hospice sector recruit the brilliant staff they need to support families like these. Now we want to help people with terminal illness with their energy bills and give people of all ages a legal right to palliative care.

“Too often politics is dominated by parties that oppose everything and deliver little. There is another way of doing things. Budget by budget, case by case, Scottish Liberal Democrats care to use our leverage as MSPs to deliver change with fairness at its heart.”