At this election we have committed to doubling funding for Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). This would pay for more staff and improve access. For example, there are currently no dedicated mental health beds for children and young people north of Dundee. We will open up new CAMHS centres in Aberdeen and Inverness so they can be treated closer to home. The latest statistics show dozens of young people waited over a year for treatment. You wouldn’t expect a child with a broken arm to wait that long so we’re calling for parity of mental health and physical health too.

We will fight for equal consideration for mental and physical health. We support the Declaration of Rights for Mental Health. We will support programmes aimed at providing young people with confidence and self-worth and campaigns to reduce stigma and social pressures on children. We will support action on identifying child mental health issues early and addressing – and resourcing – child trauma, bereavement and loss. Tackling child poverty and the impact of Westminster benefit cuts on the people they have put at risk is also important in helping prevent the development of mental health problems.

Waiting times for children’s mental health services have improved significantly over the last few years, despite a large increase in the number of people being seen – but we’re committed to doing even better. We will invest an additional £150m in mental health services over the next five years, with part of this investment designed to improve child and adolescent mental health services and to drive waiting times down further. We will implement “Ask once, get help fast” so that anyone who needs support gets it.

If the waiting times we see for mental health were replicated in our A&E wards there would be an outcry. Since the 18-week target came in for CAMHS the SNP government has failed to deliver that, and the performance in 2015 was worse than 2014. We know early intervention is key which is why Scottish Labour is committed to investing in educational psychologists and community mental health professionals. We also know austerity has an impact on poverty and poor mental health, that is why our plans are to use the powers of the parliament to halt the conveyor belt of Tory austerity being passed on by the SNP.

There’s no question that mental health has to start taking the same priority as physical health. It’s taken society a while to come round to that view. The waiting times young people face for support are simply not good enough, and going private is extremely expensive and not possible for many families. But the UK government is investing billions more in health, and that will free up hundreds of millions for Scotland in Barnett consequentials over the next few years.

Under the SNP the attainment gap has widened. Scottish Liberal Democrats’ priority is a penny for education. This will raise £475 million for investment in Scottish education. By investing that money in nurseries, schools and colleges we can close the attainment gap. However, we realise many young people become disengaged with formal education. That’s why businesses and youth work organisations need to become more involved in shaping how the skills needed in our workforce are delivered. We need to support them to work with young people looking for more hands-on experience.

We have to tackle the attainment gap both through formal education, and complementary services like youth work. We encourage and support youth organisations as key players who can complement statutory services, not just in relation to the attainment gap, but inequality more widely. The Attainment Scotland Fund provides extra funds to pupils from deprived areas, but thousands of pupils experiencing poverty miss out. We must target pupils in need who do not qualify for the Attainment Scotland Fund. We will campaign for a Scotland guarantee of a job, training or education for every school-leaver.

Youth work can play a hugely important role in driving up educational achievement. Our Cashback for Communities fund will invest £17m from 2017 to 2020 to organisations working with young people. Tackling the attainment gap will be one of the key priorities for the SNP if re-elected –which is why we’ll invest an extra £750m in schools specifically to close the gap. We will bring together informal learning, youth work and adult learning resources to support families with their literacy and numeracy skills and we will introduce three-year funding wherever possible, including to invest in facilities for young people.

We will use Scotland’s income tax powers to bring back the 50p top rate for those earning over £150,000 a year. This will fund Scottish Labour’s Fair Start Fund, giving primary heads £1000 and nursery heads £300 for every pupil from a deprived background. Scottish Labour would encourage head teachers to consider partnerships with youth work as part of their programme to use this funding. We have also committed to introducing a Scottish graduation certificate. This would recognise achievement and attainment gained through youth work and informal education, alongside exam results.

Closing the attainment gap is an absolute priority for the Scottish Conservatives. We’ve repeatedly campaigned on the issue over the last couple of years, including raising it consistently at First Minister’s Questions. We don’t believe university tuition should be universally free, so a modest graduate contribution from those who can afford it would help free up cash and places for the less well off. We would also give schools more control over their own running, which will hopefully provide more opportunities for those from poorer backgrounds.