Holyrood can be challenging for working parents but I see move to a family friendly parliament and Covid has made people adapt to home working Mum of three Siobhian Brown MSP

As a large batch of MSPS with young children settles in for new

Despite its intentions of being a family- friendly parliament, Holyrood has in the past year seen the loss of a significant number of MSPS due to a lack of work life balance.

Aileen Campbell, Jenny Marra, Gail Ross and Ruth Davidson are among the MSPS who decided not to seek re- election because they wanted to spend more time with their children.

Now with a record number of women elected to the Scottish parliament, and politicians warning that Holyrood will continue to lose talented people unless it tackles the issue, The Sunday Post speaks to four newly- elected MSPS with children about the challenges they face and how they believe politics can only benefit from having a more family-friendly culture.

In one of the election’s most dramatic results, the SNP’S Siobhian Brown won the constituency seat of Ayr that had been a Tory stronghold for 21 years. The South Ayrshire councillor and former legal firm office manager has three children, the youngest fiveyearScarlett.

She said: “When I had my two older kids, l i f e w a s m o re difficult because we didn’t have the free childcare that the SNP government has brought in. More than half my wages were going on childcare. I think it is challenging for all working mums, but I do see a progression towards a familyfriendly environment.

“With the Covid pandemic and people working from home and having to adapt to online meetings, I think there is potential as we move forward for flexibility in working. I don’t think we’ll be going back to the way we used to work.”

Brown said allowing MSPS to attend meetings or vote remotely after the pandemic should be considered by Holyrood.

“Especially when you live quite far away from Edinburgh, it makes family life a little bit easier. Not necessarily working from home the whole time, but enough for a balance between work and family life.”

She now faces having to spend up to three nights a week in Edinburgh away from her family.

“Getting up at 6am to be there for 8.30am and not getting home until 8pm would be exhausting in itself but is of no value to family life. I would be away before the children wake up and the youngest one would be in bed by the time I got home.

“My husband and 17- year- old daughter have been helping, and my mum is taking my youngest daughter to nursery in the morning for me. Everyone is chipping in, but it does show that you do need the family support structure.”

She added: “We still have a distance to go, as we know from the number of MSPS from the last parliament who left. In her departing speech, Gail Ross said that she had been told before the pandemic it was not possible for her to work virtually, but as the pandemic progressed everyone adapted. It is a possible way of working, and I would like to see flexibility not just for politicians but for all the workforce to make it easier for working mums.”

Karen Adam made history as the first MSP to take the oath in sign language, which she did in tribute to her father, Len, who is deaf.

The mum- of- six and single parent has been an Aberdeenshire councillor for the past four years.

The Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP said: “Being a councillor was really good for me as a carer and a mother of young children at school.

Meetings would start later in the morning so I had time for the school drop- off. I was on a committee that only occasionally ran past the school pick-up time, so I only had to arrange childcare a couple of times a month.

“This past year going online has worked out quite well. I was able to sit in meetings and attend briefings and workshops while folding my laundry. Remote working opens a lot more avenues and gives more flexibility to people, especially those with younger children.

“It’s so good to have been in parliament this week and to see people in person. I don’t know if that’s because after a year of being in lockdown you want to see other human beings.

“But going forward, we have to have some kind of blended approach, particularly for those MSPS, like myself, who have a few hours’ travel to get to parliament.”

Karen is a mum- of- six, of whom the youngest is nine-year-old Isaac.

She said: “I co-parent my youngest children with their father, so they would spend time with their father on their own anyway.

“I won’t be there mostly for the school days, but I might have more weekends and recess with them, so I’m quite happy about that. I went for this because it was good timing for myself, but I can see for other people where difficulties could lie.”

SNP MSP Siobhian Brown and

‘ I don’t think we’ll be going back to the way we used to work