When the Baby Box was piloted in Orkney in early 2017, it was hailed as a great success. First Minister at the time, Nicola Sturgeon, said Scotland’s Baby Box was ‘a strong signal of our determination that every child, regardless of their circumstances, should get the best start in life’.

I was delighted last year to welcome a revamped Baby Box to mark the delivery of 250,000 boxes since that Orkney pilot scheme.

It is clear now that the Baby Box and other policies of the SNP Scottish Government are benefitting Scotland’s children at the start of their lives.

New research has found a clear difference in the health of Scottish and English children. The Academy of Medical Sciences has said England should follow Scotland’s example in preventative healthcare and that ‘urgent action is needed’ to tackle worsening health in children under five years of age in England.

And the chief executive of the Institute of Health Visiting (IHV) has said that there is ‘a natural experiment’ happening between Scotland and England because of the contrasting approaches to providing health visitor services.

If you are a baby in Scotland, the Scottish Government’s Universal Health Visiting Pathway means you should receive 11 home visits, starting with an antenatal appointment. Eight visits are in the first year of your life, and parents of bairns with additional needs are offered more.

In contrast, the IHV says England needs 5000 more health visitors to meet the basic of five visits – required by regulation – between a child’s birth and starting school.

Emergency department attendances by young children in England are also at an all-time high after rising 42% in a decade. No such steep increase has been seen in Scotland.

It is clear from this that the SNP’s priority of ensuring children have the best start to life is having a significant impact.

Beginning at birth with the Baby Box, other support offered to parents include the Best Start Grant, and we also have the Scottish Child Payment, unique in the UK, which is lifting an estimated 90,000 children out of poverty.

With this in mind, the SNP is calling on Jeremy Hunt to support families in his Spring Budget, as it is clear then can’t wait any longer as the cost-of-living crisis hammers folk across the country.

For example, an Essentials Guarantee as part of Universal Credit, providing those who need it the most with the basic necessities, would benefit 8.8 million UK families.

Secondly, the Chancellor should reverse cruel welfare cuts like the Bedroom Tax, the two-child cap, and the reduction to Universal Credit.

And last, but not least, the Tories should match the SNP’s Scottish Child Payment across the UK – a policy that Scottish charities have called ‘game-changing’.

The Scottish Government is doing everything in its powers to mitigate cruel Tory welfare policies, but we cannot mitigate everything.

It’s time for the UK Chancellor to deliver bold and progressive action needed due to this Westminster-driven cost-of-living crisis. Families can’t afford to wait any longer.

This is a regular column by SNP MSP Emma Roddick. All Highlands and Islands MSPs have been offered the same space in The Orkney News to share their personal views.