Refugees (Housing)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has determined the number of homes that are immediately available to house refugees in Scotland. (S4T-01161)
Scotland is expected to take around one third of the refugees who are expected to arrive in the United Kingdom before Christmas through the Syrian refugee resettlement programme. That is testament to the work of the members of the refugee task force and all our partners around Scotland.
Local authorities are responsible for identifying accommodation for refugee households, and local authorities that will welcome refugee households have identified housing as part of their on-going preparation. They will also ensure that other services are ready to support the wider needs of refugee households.
As co-chair of the accommodating refugees sub-group of the task force, I am very aware of and welcome the great lengths that local authorities have gone to in order to ensure that accommodation and support are in place for refugee households.
I presume that the minister has included Bute house in the number of homes that are available, given the First Minister’s declared intention to provide accommodation for a refugee.
Many communities across Scotland want to be part of the process and look forward to welcoming refugees, but there are currently an estimated 173,587 households on local authority or common housing register lists. With waiting lists of that size, is the minister confident that she will be able to allocate refugees around Scotland in such a way that will achieve a fair distribution and avoid the terrible error of putting them all in the same place, with the pressures that that may bring about?
Local authorities across Scotland have very much indicated their willingness to accommodate refugees. It is up to the local authorities, which work directly with the Home Office, to determine the best accommodation for them.
We have to make it very clear that the work is not just about the accommodation; it is about finding houses and ensuring that other services are available for the refugees. We are very confident that, through the task force sub-group that I co-chair, refugees will be taken into local authority areas across Scotland and they will all be accommodated and have support services to go with that accommodation.
The minister and other political parties are making plans for how they will construct more social and affordable housing in the next session of Parliament. Can the minister make a commitment at this time that the local authorities that have dug deepest, have the biggest waiting lists and are willing to do their part will be given an appropriate level of support to ensure that additional houses can be built in those areas during the next five years?
The Scottish Government and the First Minister have already made very clear our commitment to increasing housing across all tenures in Scotland, and we continue to do that.
As I said in my earlier answer, local authorities work directly with the Home Office in accommodating the refugees, and our responsibilities to the people of Scotland do not prevent us from taking the right humanitarian approach on housing and housing refugees.
We are looking very carefully at the matter and are working closely with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the 32 local authorities to ensure that refugees are accommodated across Scotland in good accommodation, as any other person on the waiting lists in Scotland would expect.
Does the minister agree with the approach that Stirling Council has taken in recently holding a summit of all interested parties in the Stirling area, including registered social landlords and private landlords in the council’s own housing area, on how to provide services for the refugees who will eventually arrive, and in working together to come to an appropriate conclusion on how best to provide services for refugees in the future? I recommend that approach to others across Scotland.
Yes, I very much welcome the approach by Stirling Council and other local authorities across Scotland. Community planning partnerships are taking the same approach. Communities are coming together, and housing services, voluntary agencies and members of the public are all looking together at how best we can support refugees when they come to Scotland.
Does the minister agree that a welcome change in this round of refugee settlement is that so many local authorities are coming forward? In the past, it seemed as though only Glasgow City Council was responsible for rehousing refugees, because no other local authority would come forward. Does she welcome the efforts being made not only by local authorities across the country but by organisations such as the Maryhill Integration Network, which provides such wonderful support to new and existing members of our community and ensures, wherever it can, that those relationships remain harmonious?
Yes, I very much support what the member said. I welcome local authorities looking at taking refugee families into their communities. Local authorities have learned a lot from what Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Housing Association have done in the past. Their experience has been shared, and other local authorities are confident that they can provide the required services and a support network like the one in Glasgow.
Marine Renewables (Saltire Prize)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the awarding of the saltire prize for marine renewables. (S4T-01155)
The saltire prize challenge committee—the independent committee that oversees the prize—has been keeping the prize criteria and competitor progress under review. It is considering options for reshaping the prize to better reflect the circumstances of the wave and tidal sectors.
Trade body Scottish Renewables is supporting the Scottish Government with the review and has convened a focus group of industry representatives and other marine energy experts to discuss revised prize options. A report with the conclusion of the group’s discussions is expected next year; it will then go to the saltire prize challenge committee for consideration and approval.
There was a time when ministers were all over the saltire prize—barely a month went by without a press release or, indeed, an invitation from the former First Minister to join him at the great hall in Edinburgh castle. However, we did not hear anything this summer or autumn, even though a decision was taken to dismantle the prize; we had to learn that from the small print on the Government’s website.
I absolutely understand the pressure that marine renewables is under. Companies are closing down or scaling back their involvement in the sector. Does it not make sense for the minister to say today that he will bring forward the money that has been put aside for the saltire prize and use it this year to protect the fledgling industry?
First, I have not put out a flurry of press releases—I have been too busy getting on with my job. Secondly, I would have thought that Liam McArthur, who has pursued these matters as a supporter of marine energy, would acknowledge that, in setting up wave energy Scotland with a £14 million budget, we have made a very solid commitment to supporting the marine sector. Thirdly, it is absolutely right to review the prize in the likelihood that, because of the criteria set, it cannot be won. That is happening. The industry is leading the recommendation about how to reshape the prize in a way that will achieve its objectives but not unduly hit the taxpayers’ pockets.
I hope that Mr McArthur and I can continue to work together to promote marine energy, in which Scotland, particularly with the European Marine Energy Centre in his constituency, is recognised as a leader and as the world’s only grid-connected, accredited testing centre of marine devices.
I acknowledge the minister’s passionate commitment to seeing marine renewables play a part in our future energy mix, but he has just conceded that the saltire prize will never be awarded. Companies are not far enough ahead in their development for that. The minister has the opportunity to use that money to help develop the industry further. The choice for the Scottish Government is whether it prefers to save the former First Minister’s reputation or, instead, to save the industry. Will he commit to use the money to save the industry?
I have always been more interested in results—in particular, the results of success in the marine sector—than in reputations. In that regard, I am delighted that Scotland is leading the way with companies such as Albatern, Nova Innovation and Atlantis Resources. Indeed, the Atlantis corporation is the architect of the world’s largest tidal array—which is currently being deployed, as Mr McArthur well knows—and whose success will give the most tremendous fillip to a sector that has had hard times, as the member well knows.
In addition, as well as the headline prize there are saltire-related activities such as the saltire prize lecture and medal, the junior saltire prize, which promotes activity and innovation among schoolchildren and students, and the saltire prize website.
Lastly, it was always anticipated that the prize would be awarded in 2017 and there has been no allocation in the existing budget in respect of meeting the cost of paying out the prize. Therefore, we have achieved all the success with none of the cost.
Loganair (Safety, Reliability and Maintenance)
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Loganair regarding safety, reliability and maintenance. (S4T-01160)
I met Loganair officials on 15 September 2015 and sought assurances about the reliability of Highlands and Islands air services. Loganair officials accepted that their engineering support was not good enough and they have embarked on a significant programme of improvements. I hope that passengers will start to see the benefits of those changes as soon as possible.
The minister will be aware of cross-party concerns about the robustness of Loganair services within the Highlands and Islands. Constituents have written to me this weekend expressing worries about the reliability of the services, which as the minister knows are vital for business and tourism. Will the minister raise those issues with the airline as a matter of urgency?
Yes. I agree with David Stewart on the issue of reliability. I have raised that issue specifically with the operator in the past. I am happy to do so again and to ask for a progress report on how its plans are going.
All members are well aware that the Government has increased the subsidy and support to 50 per cent in relation to the cost of air fares. I expect enhancements around engineering; Loganair has plans for that and I want to see them realised. I agree that the reliability issues have not been acceptable—that point has been made by islanders, politicians and the Government.
The pilots’ association has also expressed concerns that aircraft have been returned to line in poor condition. Does the minister share the pilots’ view?
I go by what the pilots and the company have told me. We express concern about reliability but we must not put safety in question. No pilot will leave the ground unless they are convinced that it is safe to do so, as the pilots’ trade union has made perfectly clear. No Loganair pilot would fly if they thought that the aircraft was unsafe.
There is certainly more of an issue to do with reliability. All necessary checks are made on aircraft before they fly, which might have an impact on reliability if an aircraft departs later than it should have done. However, safety must never be compromised. On that, the operator, pilots, politicians and communities all agree.
I am sad to have to assure the minister that the situation is the worst that it has been in my 15 years of getting on planes to and from Shetland. I agree with him on safety, but will he undertake to meet the Civil Aviation Authority, if that is appropriate?
Will the minister also undertake to meet Stewart Adams, the chief executive of Loganair? Although Stewart Adams is making best endeavours to improve things, on Sunday night at Sumburgh the Aberdeen plane went technical and the Glasgow incoming plane went technical. People are putting up with that every day, as David Stewart rightly said, and we need genuine improvements.
I agree with Tavish Scott. That is why I have met and will continue to meet Loganair, to push the company on its engineering commitments. There are matters of commercial sensitivity, but Loganair might be able to share its plans on investment in engineering to address a number of the issues.
The Civil Aviation Authority is the industry regulator. As Tavish Scott is aware, aviation safety is reserved to the United Kingdom Government, but that has not prevented me from raising relevant matters with the operator. I will continue to do that, because the situation has got worse. I will do everything that I can do, from the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland point of view, to ensure that there is a more reliable service.
I repeat that I do not think that safety is compromised. No one should scaremonger to that effect, and that has not happened today. People should be reassured about the service that is provided, but we expect a better service, and that is the case that I will put to the operator.
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