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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.

Mr Briggs will be aware that there are inconsistencies in kinship care itself, and in what some kinship carers are entitled to and what others are not. Over and above the disparity between kinship care and fostering that you have alluded to, there are other issues with regard to what kinship carers themselves are entitled to. There are also issues with definitions and legal matters. I am looking into how we can best support kinship carers, because I believe that they are fundamental to our delivery of the Promise.

I have certainly heard those concerns before, and I am very aware of them. I will bring in Iona Colvin in a second, but I will say that I appreciate the member’s points about our messaging in that regard. It is not strictly part of the Promise bill, but we can certainly continue to work on that.

That brings me back to some of the points that Iona Colvin made about ensuring that social workers have the experience that they require when entering the role and have people with experience to draw from. I do not know whether Iona has anything to add about recruitment.

Well, I imagine that, as we work to deliver the Promise and we provide appropriate support for children and young people, and we keep more children at home, more children would have less reason to act out or engage in behaviour that would mean that they would be excluded from school.

That is in line with our work to deliver on the aims of the Promise. However, I am not aware of the council paper that you have brought to me, convener. I am more than happy to go away and look at that, and to discuss it with officials and look into what action can be taken around that.

I think that that goes back to my position around inconsistencies with local authorities and the need to really drive best practice forward across all 32 authorities. If discussions have to be had around how best to enact practice around exclusions, that can absolutely be taken forward.

We are in 2025, and there is still a way to go—

Absolutely—I believe that that should happen at the beginning. I believe that there should be an understanding of over how long that would take place, and whether 15 minutes would grow into an hour, three hours or whatever period may be right for that child. I believe that a plan should be in place for that child to ensure the journey of travel back to the school day.

I know of many cases where that is happening—to go back to virtual schools and virtual headteachers—and I have spoken to children who have made that transition back into school. However, I believe that a plan is important to ensure that that is effective and that everybody knows what is expected of them.

I believe so. I appreciate that there are difficulties, and I know that some areas are finding it to be more complex than others. That goes back to what we spoke about at the beginning of the meeting in relation to the Promise progress framework and sharing best practice across the country. Sometimes, things seem too difficult until you see how other people are doing it, and then that can have a really big impact. Really positive things are going on. We still have a way to go with regard to bringing about transformational change, but I know that it is happening and I have seen some of the benefits that it is having already.