I thank Ms Adamson for highlighting the important issue of the child safety week campaign, which runs from 3 to 9 June this year. I echo the words and sentiments of Jackie Dunbar, Bob Doris and Martin Whitfield in relation to Ms Adamson’s commitment and dedication.

Keeping children and young people safe from accidental harm at home or in their communities is, and will remain, an important issue for the Scottish Government. I know that keeping our children safe from harm is a huge worry for parents and carers. We have a shifting landscape, and perhaps less obvious dangers than previously. Members have noted some of the key dangers, including road safety and safety in the home, but we also have newer concerns such as vapes, online safety and off-road vehicle usage, as members have noted.

I see the Scottish Government’s focus as imperative and I truly value the hard work of groups and organisations to raise awareness around certain safety issues, many of which—as I said—we have heard about in today’s debate. We recognise the important role that independent charities such as the Child Accident Prevention Trust play in raising awareness of child safety issues.

Accidents can happen at home, but there are lots of things that we can do to lower the risk of them happening. We have used the Scottish Government’s parent information platform, Parent Club, to provide up-to-date advice on the topic to parents. The team that developed it have also been working with our partners the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and CAPT to produce advice to help parents and practitioners keep children safe.

I am particularly grateful to CAPT and RoSPA for supporting our action to strengthen the safety messaging for parents in Scotland’s baby box on the dangers of button batteries. Since October 2022, every baby box supplied to parents includes a leaflet highlighting the dangers of button batteries, as well as practical safety advice to keep children safe.

We have also taken action to ensure that no loose button batteries are provided in Scotland’s baby box. With our baby box managing agent, we introduced a measure to ensure that all button batteries are fitted before inclusion in the baby box, to remove any possible risk of a child being able to access a button battery in the packaging.

CAPT also contributed to the building safer communities strategy that ran from 2016 to 2022. During that period, CAPT helped raise awareness of important issues such as the dangers of button battery ingestion, choking and falls. It aimed to provide parents with helpful resources to manage those risks.

Alongside promoting the topic as part of the annual child safety week, CAPT has, in previous years, run community-based activities with partners. That included delivery of child safety talks to local baby massage groups, home and car seat safety groups for new mothers and supporting the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to distribute child safety information at local breakfast clubs in Glasgow.

Although CAPT plays an important role by campaigning to raise awareness during child safety week, the business of keeping children and young people safe from harm needs to be at the forefront of parents’ and practitioners’ minds all year round. The building safer communities strategy initiative was completed in 2022. Since then, the Scottish Government strategy for supporting parents has evolved, and child safety is now embedded in a range of core strategies.

Similarly, how parents access information about child safety has changed over time. As a result, partners in health and early years work closely with the Scottish Government to maintain and promote content via the Parent Club website and NHS Inform. Those platforms and associated social media ensure that parents and practitioners have access to the most current safety information and guidance all year round, and I have heard at first hand what a hugely valued resource that is for many parents. From my experience, I know that little ones have little hands that like to get in everywhere—they treat the house as a soft play. When I let go of my two-year-old’s hand now, when I turn around, he is off, so I definitely have a runner; therefore, any advice on keeping children safe is very welcome.

Supporting parents of young children to understand how to prevent accidents in the home is an important message. Some families might require additional support to make changes. Health visitors, family nurses and other services that are provided in the home are vital routes to get those key messages shared and acted on. Those contacts provide opportunities to discuss a whole range of topics, including home safety. Optimising home environments is part of our ambition to improve early child development, alongside supporting parents to act on other known prevention activity, such as car safety.

As has been noted today by some members, according to the most recent Public Health Scotland statistics, unintentional injuries continue to decrease over time, but children and the elderly are most vulnerable to accidents, and there is a strong deprivation gradient for them in children. In 2022-23, children aged under 15 living in the most deprived areas were more likely than children in the least deprived areas to have an emergency admission to hospital for an unintentional injury.

I believe therefore that we still have work to do in this regard, but I am positive that actions that we are taking through our focus on prevention and child poverty and through our early child development transformational change programme are and will be instrumental in shaping policies and interventions to give all children the best start in life.

Ms Adamson and Mr Whitfield were right to bring up UNCRC legislation and the positive impacts that it could have.

I once again thank Ms Adamson for raising the profile of child safety week and I thank CAPT for its work on the building safer communities strategy. The time and energy that all partners put into raising awareness of potential risks and the practical steps that parents can take to avoid child injury or hospital admissions are invaluable.

The Scottish Government will continue to support child safety week and help amplify key messages and resources, and we remain committed to child safety and supporting parents, carers and practitioners on a year-round basis. Going forward, we will continue to work with parents and practitioners on the issues that matter most and on the creation of accessible information on the Parent Club platform. I encourage all members to share that information, because we all have influential and wide-reaching connections in our constituencies.

At a policy level, we will continue to learn and ensure that we are staying abreast of emerging issues, for the benefit of our children, our young people and our families.