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Absolutely. That takes me back to the fact that we all have a responsibility in delivering the Promise. The Government is working at pace to deliver our aims and priorities, but we need local authorities and a range of third sector organisations to put in effort, as I know they are. People are absolutely committed to delivering the Promise. However, some of the unforeseen issues that we have faced, such as the cost of living and the pandemic, have undoubtedly impacted not just the Government’s work but people’s living standards and situations.

I believe that, if we all take the actions that are needed to drive forward the change and progress that we want to see, we will deliver the Promise. I am not saying that we can deliver the Promise by 2030; I am saying that we will deliver it.

You will appreciate that, this afternoon, I will give a statement on secure care, in which I plan to give a little more detail on our response to the capacity issues that there have been in secure care.

Yes.

The capacity challenges are not a result of the 2024 act. When I was sitting here—

There are indeed challenges in relation to foster care. I have already referred to the consultation on foster care that we have undertaken, which aims to ensure that foster carers are supported in the way that they need to be and to ensure that foster care is fit for the 21st century.

We had a fair number of responses to the consultation, and we have undertaken extensive engagement with foster carers. I have been out with foster carers and have spoken to them regularly. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, following the consultation, I was at an engagement event in Renfrewshire, and I heard about the challenges that foster carers face regularly. Independent analysis of the consultation response is under way. The consultation set out a vision for the future of foster care, homing in on the support that is required and on the unique skills and qualities of foster carers.

Aside from the consultation, I have heard about and witnessed different models of foster care in our communities. For example, several weeks ago, when I was at Barnardo’s, I heard about an innovative model that it is trialling called the mockingbird model, which aims to provide extended support to foster families. It is a sort of community for the foster family. I heard directly from the foster families, care-experienced young people and members of staff who were there about how transformational that model has been for their way of working and for the support that they have. I am looking into that, and it forms part of my response to the consultation and my work informing the forthcoming bill.

I absolutely appreciate that recruitment and retention is an issue. We are funding a national foster care recruitment campaign to drive up the number of foster carers. Coupled with the work that will follow the consultation, that will be instrumental in providing the right support and the right avenues for people entering into foster care and in ensuring loving homes for our children and young people.

I am sorry, but I will have to turn to officials for detail on that. I appreciate the member’s point, which is important. Ensuring that we recruit a diverse range of foster carers to suit all children’s needs will be part of the recruitment campaign.

That comes back to my earlier point about lifelong support and the need to ensure that people with care experience can access support wherever they require it. I imagine that that might be different from what Mr Mason is talking about, which is the situation in which a child has been with a foster family or kinship family and will likely have built up a relationship—I have witnessed that on many occasions.

That might not be as easy to do with other arrangements, although I visited a residential home a few weeks ago, and people there spoke to me about how they had built relationships. It was quite a small home and there were not too many children in it at one time, so the staff had a strong ability to build and form relationships with the children and young people. I heard about examples of children and young people coming back and interacting with others who were there. That presents an example of what Mr Mason is referring to, in terms of building lifelong relationships. However, that is another angle that I am looking into to ensure that people get support when they need it, no matter what age they are.

We have given a multiyear commitment to the whole family wellbeing funding, and we have increased that funding to children’s services planning partnerships by £6.1 million this year. As well as providing an increase in funding, we have provided certainty in terms of multiyear funding. Having discussed that with children’s services planning partnerships, I know that that is absolutely fundamental. I completely understand that, if we are asking organisations to make transformational change on the ground that will have a long-lasting impact, there is a need for some certainty on their finances to ensure certainty with regard to staff and programmes of work, for example. I believe that the certainty was very well received.

I will pick up those further conversations.

I have made it very clear that keeping the Promise is all about a cross-portfolio approach, and a number of areas—education, housing, health and justice—all have a responsibility. I will, of course, look into the concerns with regard to that specific case, but it is for all of us in Government to drive forward the changes that are required to deliver on the Promise.

I can say what I say to them every time I meet them: I am committed to bringing forward a Promise bill in this parliamentary session, and it will cover issues that have been brought to me and which young people feel need to be changed for us to deliver on the Promise. I can also speak to the consultations that have gone out in relation to children’s hearings redesign and advocacy; aftercare; foster and kinship care; and the definition of care experience. Those four areas that we consulted on are informing the bill, and there are other areas that have been brought to me by children and young people. I reached out across the parties to get an idea of what members’ priorities were, and I discussed those areas at the meetings that I had.

I find it difficult to hear, therefore, that people think that the bill might be used as a delay in delivering the Promise. As I have said, I have been very open and transparent in saying that a Promise bill is coming, but we want to get it right.