5-6 October 2024 – the weekend press releases

  • Children with developmental concerns almost doubles
  • McArthur launches probe into proposed use of live facial recognition tech
  • New survey lays bare crisis in social care

Children with developmental concerns almost doubles

Scottish Liberal Democrat communities spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP has today urged the SNP government to do far more to support children from poorer backgrounds, as new figures revealed that the percentage of children with developmental concerns has almost doubled since 2019.

Child health reviews are offered to all children in Scotland. These reviews refer to assessments of a child’s development at 13-15 months, 27-30 months and 4-5 years.

The figures from Public Health Scotland published this week show:

  • Of those children who received a 4-5 year review, the percentage with developmental concerns increased from 11.87% in 2019 to 17.71% in 2024.
  • 16.68% of children who received a 27-30 month review (1,915 children) had a concern noted about at least one area of their development;
  • There were high numbers of children who had a concern noted in the following areas: gross motor, speech, language and communication and emotional and behavioural;
  • 11.53% of children who received a 27-30 month review had a new or previous concern recorded for speech, language and communication, while 8.1% of children who received a 13-15 month review had a new or previous concern recorded for gross motor.

Mr Rennie said:

Scotland’s children should be growing up in the best environment, but on the SNP’s watch far too many are showing developmental concerns.

The pandemic was incredibly challenging for parents and children. Rather than invest to support families, SNP ministers have fallen short.

The government must put in place extra support for all those children who have had a developmental concern noted. I want to see ministers doing everything in their power to ensure that issues are identified and addressed as early as possible so that every child can flourish, no matter their background or circumstance.

McArthur launches probe into proposed use of live facial recognition tech

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur has filed 40 parliamentary questions on Police Scotland’s proposed use of live facial recognition as he bids to force the Scottish Government to explain how the measures are compatible with equalities and civil liberties concerns.

His questions come after Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell vowed to utilise artificial intelligence technology and live facial recognition technology as part of the service’s forthcoming six year strategy, despite police services in England facing legal challenges over its usage and the use of live facial recognition by South Wales Police producing 2,833 false alerts, compared to only 72 resultant arrests.

Campaigners have identified a series of problems with the technology, from the possibility of misuse to the propensity for errors, particularly in misidentifying ethnic minorities and women. Professor Angela Daly, from the University of Dundee’s Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science has described live facial recognition as “not fit for purpose”.

Mr McArthur’s questions ask the Scottish Government about its engagement with the Chief Constable on this issue, the impact on equalities and civil liberties, how the government will prevent hostile actors from providing or exploiting this technology, how information generated by the technology will be stored, accessed and utilised and how the technology can be compatible with a host of stated policy goals.

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP commented:

I am concerned that decisions that dramatically reframe the relationship between the police and the public are being treated as an inevitable consequence of the march of technology.

There needs to be a compelling need, an appropriate legal basis and a proper public debate before the police can consider moving forward with measures like this. That simply has not happened.

If the Scottish Government share these concerns, then they have been awfully quiet about it. Certainly they are concerns that the Justice Committee heard loudly and clearly in the previous session of parliament.

Ministers and senior officers need to set out why these decisions are being taken and answer for the consequences.

Scottish Liberal Democrats believe the police need to be provided with the resources they need to do their jobs. At the same time, the public should have confidence that their rights will be protected. These proposals should not simply be waved through. I look forward to a comprehensive response from the Scottish Government to my concerns.

New survey lays bare crisis in social care

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today said that the SNP are ignoring the immediate needs of staff and service users by continuing with their ministerial power grab of the social care sector, after a survey revealed big drops in satisfaction with care services.

The Health and Care Experience Survey included respondents who said that in the last 12 months they had received help for themselves with personal or household tasks, help for themselves with activities outside the home or help such as adaptations and/ or equipment for their home.

Comparing the results of respondents between 2015/16 and 2023/24, the survey showed:

  • The proportion of people who agreed that they had a say in how their help, care or support was provided decreased from 80% to 53%;
  • The proportion of people who agreed that they felt safe decreased from 85% to 66%;
  • The proportion of people who agreed with the statement that ‘the help, care or support improved or maintained my quality of life’ fell from 85% to 62%;
  • The proportion of people who rated the overall help, care or support they received as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ dropped from 82% to 63%;
  • The proportion of people agreeing with the statement ‘I was supported to live independently as possible’ fell from 85% to 65%.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

It couldn’t be clearer that Scotland’s care services are in crisis. Staff have been let down and service users are telling us how badly it is impacting upon them.

The SNP’s only answer is an ill-fated power grab that would wrench away control from local communities and completely fail to tackle the core problems in social care.

My party is the only one that has opposed this legislation from day one. We’ve now been joined by the unions representing frontline staff and councils. They can all see that waiting for the wrong solution in 2029 isn’t going to fix the care crisis that thousands of families are struggling with right now. It’s a billion-pound bureaucracy that no one wants.

We can’t begin to fix the care crisis until the Scottish Government admits their pricey power grab is doomed. They must drop it and put the money into frontline services and staff instead.

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This entry was posted in News, Press releases and Scotland.
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