Second week of campaigning underway in build-up to Holyrood election

The second week of campaigning towards May's Holyrood election is off and running.

Politicians will be making their cases for why their party deserves your vote over the next five weeks, with plenty of promises and policies on their way.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is keen that ending child poverty becomes a "national mission statement" in Scotland.

The SNP leader is to make the statement as she announces her party's intention to double the Scottish Child Payment.

She says the SNP plan to double the Scottish Child Payment, which is currently provides #10 a week to low-income families - initially those with children up to the age of six - and is set to expand to all children under the age of 16 by the end of next year.

But the First Minister will confirm her intention for this to be doubled to #20 per week, benefitting more than 400,000 children in 250,000 households.

Scottish Labour is unveiling plans for "life-saving'' mental health workers in every GP practice as part of a recovery plan for Scotland's NHS.

Party leader Anas Sarwar says it's part of a national recovery plan for the NHS which will be published at the party's campaign launch.

The move follows calls from the Royal College of General Practitioners for the Scottish Government to commit to transforming mental health with more focus on the use of mental health clinicians in primary care teams.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie says delaying the age children start school till seven will help give youngsters a "flying start'',

As the first full week of campaigning for the Holyrood elections began, the Lib Dems focused on their plans for education, with what they hailed as a "historical, radical and positive change'' in Scotland's school system.

They want youngsters to have a "truly play-based education'' up to the age of seven - when more formal schooling would begin.

The expanded early years education would be mandatory, Lib Dems stressed, and would focus on areas such as child development, social skills and outdoor learning, as well as physical and mental health.

The Scottish Conservatives would build 40,000 homes for social rent over the next parliament if they are elected, party leader Douglas Ross has said.

Setting out the party's housebuilding manifesto pledge, Mr Ross said he would set a target of 8,000 socially rented homes to be built each year.

He said the Conservatives would introduce a new Communities Bill to ensure new housing developments lead to increased funding for roads and schools.

The coronavirus pandemic led to delays in the construction of new affordable homes with Mr Ross saying the Government had missed its target.

The Scottish Conservative leader said: "The health crisis may soon be over but the economic crisis is looming. We have to break ground quickly and start rebuilding Scotland right away to avoid a jobs catastrophe.

"We are setting bold targets for the next Scottish Parliament to launch the biggest social housing drive since devolution began and to restore the construction sector to the housebuilding levels we saw pre-SNP and pre-financial crash."

The Scottish Greens have called for spending on mental health services to be increased, so that this receives 10% of the health budget by the end of the next parliament.

Party co-leader, Patrick Harvie, said there was a need to invest in treatments that "people often wait too long for''.

Green proposals to improve mental health care include investing an additional #161 million into Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

In addition, the party wants access to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and social prescribing - which can see people referred to groups offering practical and emotional support - to be expanded.

Speaking out about the issues as he campaigned in Glasgow, Mr Harvie said: "Just like physical health, everyone can have poor mental health at some point in their lives, and the pandemic has been a difficult year for so many.

"We've seen how important access to green space and the outdoors is to our wellbeing.''