LibDem MSP Duncan Dunlop, who has experience of being in care, Maree Todd, Minister for Children and Labour spokesperson Katherine Sangster
by BILL HEANEY
Scottish Liberal Democrat children and young people spokesperson Duncan Dunlop MSP has today (Tuesday 29th September) said that the SNP are “failing the country’s most vulnerable people”.
This follows a new report by the Promise Oversight Board which highlights that too much of the government’s commitment to overhaul the care system “remains on paper, not in practice”.
Ten years ago, failed First Minister Nicola Sturgeon promised major changes for young people with experience in the care system by 2030. This was known as The Promise.
The embargoed report from the Oversight Board highlights that the improvements promised to care-experienced people have not been “real enough, fast enough, or for enough people”.
It states that: “Too much of the promise remains on paper, not in practice, with unnecessary barriers standing in the way of true care for those who need it.”
The report is clear that whether the Promise is met depends on what action is taken in the next 6 to 18 months.
Duncan Dunlop has now written to the Scottish Government and urged them to publish the number of care-experienced people who die because of drugs.
There were 1,133 drug deaths in 2025- 116 more than the previous year. No data, however, currently exists on how many care-experienced people die because of drugs.
Duncan Dunlop said: “This damning report shows that the SNP are failing some of Scotland’s most vulnerable people.
“10 years after it was made, the Promise is at risk of becoming just another political platitude, gathering dust instead of meaning or momentum.
“The SNP’s broken Promise is causing people to lose their lives. It’s also undermining efforts to tackle crises like the drug deaths emergency and the spiralling prison population, both of which disproportionately affect people who have been in the care system.
“I am in politics to transform the lives of Scotland’s care-experienced people, and it’s why I have repeatedly urged the Scottish Government to sit down with me and work on this.
“Ultimately, whether we finally improve the lives and outcomes of care-experienced people depends on how serious the government is about delivering the Promise. That work must ramp up now, or lives will continue to be lost.”
With the party’s spokesperson for health, Adam Harley, Duncan Dunlop has also written to Drugs Minister, Maree Todd, to ask if the government will publish the number of care-experienced people dying from drugs.
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour Education spokesperson Katherine Sangster said, “This report is a stark reminder of how much work we have left to do to deliver The Promise.
“Care experienced young people, care leavers, and all those who support them engaged in good faith in the Independent Care Review. They have put their trust in politicians to respond and to deliver The Promise, and that trust and good faith are wearing thin.
“It is a moral imperative that the Scottish Government put their words into action. There are clear actions in this report that can and should be delivered. Get on with it.
“I have asked for a Ministerial Statement to be brought before Parliament on this Report. It is the responsibility of the whole Parliament to keep The Promise, and Scottish Labour will take every action it can to see it done.
“For the Oversight Board to say that “the evidence available to us does not yet give confidence that the promise will be kept by 2030” should be a wake-up call to the SNP.
“Time is running out, and faith in the government is running out just as fast. The Promise must be kept – the government must deliver.”
The text of the LibDem letter to the Minister is as follows:
Dear Maree,
We are writing to you following the release of new figures this week showing that 1,113 people died because of drugs in Scotland in 2025. It is a disturbing 11% increase in the number of deaths from the year before. There is, however, no record of how many of these drug deaths relate to those with care experience.
People with experience of the care system disproportionately struggle in life. The trauma that goes along with that experience is precisely what makes them more susceptible to drugs, prison and mental ill-health. Indeed, it is impossible to fix any of these problems without also fixing the care system.
The information collected on care-experienced people still falls grossly short of what is needed. It’s why Scottish Liberal Democrats have already called for ministers to commit to publishing the premature death rates of all care-experienced people, but we need to go further.
Having clear information about the number of care-experienced people who are specifically dying from drugs would provide us with a helpful baseline for monitoring progress and identifying gaps in action.
Will you, therefore, commit to publishing this information so that we can understand the scale of the problem, count every death and track the change?
By taking steps like this, we can start to reinvigorate efforts to transform care and, ultimately, save lives.
We look forward to receiving your response.
Yours sincerely,
Duncan Dunlop MSP
Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesperson for children and young people
Adam Harley MSP
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson
ENDS