Official Report 745KB pdf
Social Justice and Housing
Good afternoon. The next item of business is portfolio question time, and the portfolio this afternoon is social justice and housing.
Question 1 has been withdrawn.
Homelessness Prevention Pilots
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the pilot of the proposed “ask and act duty” related to the Housing (Scotland) Bill. (S6O-05508)
The 15 pilot projects that will test out the ask and act concept started in mid-November last year, and they will run until the end of December this year. The pilots cover half of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas, including cities, towns, rural areas and islands. More than 70 organisations are taking part, from large health and social care bodies to small charities. The pilots will report at quarterly intervals and at the end of this calendar year. The first round of iterative reports are due this month. I thank everybody who is involved in the pilots for their commitment and leadership.
For the pilots to be successful, it is essential that support services and specialists serve communities. What steps has the Scottish Government taken to improve such services?
The 2025 public service reform strategy commits to enabling communities to shape the services that matter most to the people living in the area. The pilots demonstrate that reform in practice. For example, Renfrewshire’s whole-system approach provides early assistance in communities and mental health wards; in North Ayrshire, early years services and health visitors refer families in need to upstream support; and, in North Lanarkshire, existing partnerships are being built on to support families through a collaborative hub, which includes those from health, social care and the police.
Learning from the pilots will improve services in communities so that people do not have to navigate multiple systems or repeat their stories a number of times, and so that they can get the support that they need early, before a point of crisis.
Adult Disability Payment (Application Process)
To ask the Scottish Government what measures are in place to ensure that the adult disability payment application process is fully accessible to people with aphasia. (S6O-05509)
Social Security Scotland is committed to inclusive communication so that people with diverse communication needs, such as people with aphasia, can apply for adult disability payment in a way that is accessible to them. People can apply online, by post, over the phone or through face-to-face contact with local delivery staff, who can support people practically with the application process. The agency also funds independent advocacy services, which support people through the application process.
The Scottish Government’s positive and compassionate approach ensures that access to adult disability payment is as straightforward as possible, so that more disabled people can get the support to which they are entitled.
In Strathkelvin and Bearsden, my constituents value the dignity that has been built into Scotland’s system. Does the cabinet secretary agree that that stands in stark contrast to the approach of the United Kingdom Labour Government, which has retained the toxic Department for Work and Pensions culture that it inherited from the Tories, proving that, for disabled people, the only thing that changed at Westminster was the colour of the rosette?
I call the cabinet secretary to respond on matters within her responsibilities.
The Scottish Government is exceptionally proud that the values of dignity, fairness and respect were built into the social security system by my colleague Jeane Freeman.
Rona Mackay has elaborated on exactly what a Labour Government does when it is in power. It cuts the level of fuel payments for pensioners and cuts benefits for disabled people. The cuts to universal credit are still in place, and it removed the two-child limit only when it was eventually shamed into it.
The First Minister has made it clear to disabled people’s organisations that we will not move away from our system, which is based on dignity, fairness and respect, and we should rightly be proud of that.
Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (Aberdeen)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on properties impacted by reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in Aberdeen. (S6O-05510)
I understand that Aberdeen City Council committed to making an enhanced voluntary acquisition offer to home owners in November last year. Since then, I understand that it has completed the purchase of 61 privately owned properties and that the remaining owners are obtaining and considering enhanced offers. I understand that the council is undertaking preparatory work ahead of demolition in Balnagask and that it is putting in place additional safety measures. I am assured that it is engaging with the Torry community campaign group to ensure that residents are supported throughout that process.
Future demolition works will be done in compliance with all necessary guidance and legislation, with a particular focus on not impacting existing properties with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
A report out today suggests that pressure will soon be applied to Aberdeen’s RAAC victims to accept the council’s final offer and move out before the bulldozers move in. Many want to accept the offer but do not have savings or are too old to qualify for loans to help them to find a new home. The report states that Aberdeen City Council, which is ever more out of its depth, needs help to get this right for the people of Torry.
I helped the Government to find £10 million to help to resolve the issue. Now, the people of Balnagask need the Government’s time, as well as its money. Will the Government step in and assist the council, or has it washed its hands of the matter?
I understand very well the stress and strain that residents who have RAAC in their properties have been living with. That is why I sat down with residents in Aberdeen and with members of the council to seek to broker progress, and it is why I pressed the council to conduct one-to-one meetings with residents and to continue that approach. It is also why I carefully considered Aberdeen City Council’s request for funding flexibility, which has allowed it to free up £10 million. It is now for Aberdeen City Council, working in concert with local residents, to take matters forward in a locally appropriate way.
Social Security Scotland Staff (Training to Support Disabled People)
To ask the Scottish Government what training Social Security Scotland staff receive in supporting disabled people to be physically active. (S6O-05511)
Social Security Scotland staff training focuses on disability awareness, equality and trauma-informed practice, which helps staff to understand how conditions affect daily living. The training is kept under regular review to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of disabled people and staff.
Although Social Security Scotland is not a healthcare provider and therefore does not deliver physical activity training, the Scottish Government encourages disabled people to improve their wellbeing through suitable physical activity. To support that, Scottish Disability Sport has invested £750,000 to expand opportunities nationwide.
As the cabinet secretary knows, I asked her a similar question in writing, and I was told that Social Security Scotland does not deliver such training because it is not a healthcare provider. It is true that physical activity benefits physical and mental health, but to suggest that the national health service is the only service that can provide such advice is absurd. If the purpose of Social Security Scotland is to help people with disabilities to have a better quality of life, rather than just being a vehicle to put money into their pockets, surely its staff should be trained to do something as basic as supporting people to lead a healthier life. We need to assure those with a disability that being active will not impact their benefits.
I agree with Brian Whittle’s last point, which is that we need to encourage and support disabled people to be active. I do not doubt his sincerity on the issue one iota, but he is part of a Scottish Conservative Party that wants to place parts of the inhumane Department for Work and Pensions system back into the Scottish social security system. I have heard directly from disabled people that that will increase stigma and their fear.
In all honesty, I am quite happy to work with Brian Whittle to see what more can be done overall, but he must reflect on how his party is increasing stigma for disabled people across the country.
Social Security Scotland was established to deliver a more holistic approach to social security, including through preventing further decline in wellbeing. What active training do staff receive in order to understand the needs of disabled communities and groups such as veterans? Such training should include awareness of the impact that isolation and reduced physical activity can have on general wellbeing, physical and mental health, and recovery.
The agency, social security officials and ministers have had direct contact about particular aspects of how veterans access the social security system. The Scottish Veterans Commissioner has views about that, and Social Security Scotland is alive to those issues, because we want to ensure that everyone who is entitled to a benefit—which very much includes veterans—is encouraged and supported to apply. I would be happy to provide Paul Sweeney with further information about the work that the agency is doing with veterans on exactly that.
I welcome the Scottish Government’s first annual joint meeting between the Cabinet and disabled people, which took place at the start of February. Will the cabinet secretary tell us more about the outcome of that meeting and about how disabled people’s lived experience is helping to inform the work of Social Security Scotland?
I thank the disabled people’s organisations and disabled people who came along to take part in the Cabinet takeover, which I hope will be the first of many. It was an informative discussion on a wide variety of issues.
I mentioned to Brian Whittle the fear that is being created by the increasing stigmatisation of disabled people and the way that they are discussed by certain sections of our media and by certain politicians. The Scottish Government is determined to ensure that we never move away from our principle of working with disabled people to ensure that our policies are right for them. I am proud of what we have done in relation to social security, and I am keen to work with disabled people to see what more we can do in the future.
Private Sector Tenants (Discretionary Housing Payments)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the support provided through discretionary housing payments for households in the private rented sector that rely on local housing allowance to pay their rents but face a shortfall due to LHA rates. (S6O-05512)
The Scottish Government invests significantly in discretionary housing payments to support households that are struggling with housing costs. In the current financial year, we have made available £100 million, including £10.9 million to mitigate the impact of the frozen local housing allowance rates and more than £79 million to ensure that no one in Scotland pays Labour’s bedroom tax.
The United Kingdom Government’s decision to maintain the freeze in LHA rates in 2026-27 is more than disappointing. It will widen the gap between housing support and rents, and it will cause harm and increase homelessness in Scotland. The Scottish ministers have repeatedly urged the UK Government to act on LHA rates. On 30 January, I wrote to my counterpart in the UK Government to highlight the impact of the freeze on homelessness and poverty, and I reiterated my calls when I met Steve Reed on 4 February.
The cabinet secretary’s answer highlights the fact that the UK Government’s flawed approach to local housing allowance for the private rented sector means that low-income households in receipt of benefits do not receive enough money to pay their rent, with the Scottish Government seeking to plug that gap through discretionary housing payments. Will the Scottish Government consider reforming DHPs—some councils have called for greater flexibility and additional resource—and will it continue to urge Westminster to review LHA rates, which are currently frozen and which significantly penalise the under-25s?
I agree with Mr Doris. We will continue to act where we can within devolved powers, but our call is clear: the UK Government must unfreeze local housing allowance rates and ensure that they permanently reflect at least the 30th percentile of local rents. Research by the Resolution Foundation estimates that doing so would lift 75,000 children out of poverty by the end of the current parliament at Westminster. The fact that a Labour Government refuses to take action that could free 75,000 children from the pain of poverty tells us everything that we need to know about UK Labour.
Homeless Households (Permanent Accommodation)
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to help people in homeless households into permanent accommodation. (S6O-05513)
To support people into permanent homes, the Scottish Government is supporting implementation of rapid rehousing and significantly increasing the supply of affordable and social housing.
The Scottish budget will deliver £926 million of investment in affordable housing in the next financial year, which represents the largest single allocation on record to affordable housing. It also includes £15.5 million in measures to address and prevent homelessness, including £8 million to deliver rapid rehousing transition planning, which is vital.
The establishment of a new housing agency will advance progress towards our housing ambitions and will help us to deliver our new target of providing 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, at least 70 of which will be for social rent and 10 per cent of which will be located in rural and island Scotland.
The reality is that the Scottish National Party has been in power for nearly two decades, and we currently have a record-breaking number of 10,480 children in temporary accommodation. Does the cabinet secretary accept that that crisis requires a significant increase in the delivery of social housing, which has fallen to its lowest level since 2017? Does she recognise that, when housing shortages are so acute, the Scottish Government should be prioritising those who already have a local connection to Scotland?
I am exceptionally proud of the Scottish Government’s record on the delivery of affordable homes. Since we came into government, 141,000 affordable homes have been delivered in Scotland, 101,000 of which are for social rent, which is the most affordable form of rent.
The recent homelessness statistics, which were published last week, continue to point to the strain in supply and demand of housing in Scotland, which is similar across the UK, but there are signs in those statistics that the Government’s investment is working. In particular, I draw attention to the fact that we are now seeing substantial drops in the number of households with children that are in unsuitable temporary accommodation.
However, I reassure Murdo Fraser that a combination of that record funding for affordable homes, coupled with the greatest multi-annual certainty that we have ever offered and the development of the agency, will mean that supply and demand are brought back into balance.
I have a constituent who is homeless and is staying with his mother following the break-up of a relationship. He has applied for permanent two-bedroom accommodation, which is required for him and his two children, because he shares residency on an equal basis with their mother. However, Midlothian Council will allocate only one-bedroom accommodation because he does not receive child benefit. That is usually okay as a test, but I would argue that that is not so in this case. Does the cabinet secretary agree that my constituent requires two-bedroom accommodation because he shares residency equally with his former partner, and that allocation should not be based simply on which party receives child benefit?
I thank Christine Grahame for drawing my attention to her constituent’s case. The decision about housing allocation will be determined by the local authority, which is the authority with the statutory responsibility for housing. However, I will take away the point that Christine Grahame made about the interaction of housing allocation and social security, and I will write to her about that.
People can find themselves homeless for a variety of reasons and they deserve a warm, habitable space as well as being treated with dignity. This week, I heard from a constituent who was moved from emergency accommodation six years ago. He describes now living in an old, cold and damp house. What more can the Scottish Government do, considering the average age of housing stock, to ensure that both permanent and emergency forms of accommodation are in good condition?
I could point Beatrice Wishart to a number of measures and I am grateful to her for raising the matter with me. Perhaps the most relevant example involves the regulations to implement Awaab’s law in Scotland, which I recently put before the Parliament. These regulations are intended to ensure that cases of damp and mould are inspected quickly and dealt with promptly by landlords in the social and private rented sectors. We would all agree that the roll-out of that law across Scotland will ensure that no one has to live in a damp and mouldy home.
This SNP Government is committed to ensuring that everyone in Scotland has access to a warm, affordable home. Can the cabinet secretary explain how the 2026-27 Scottish budget invests significantly in homelessness prevention and measures to help people to remain in their homes? Will she join me in calling on colleagues across the chamber to vote for those measures in the budget process that will follow in the coming weeks?
I absolutely join Willie Coffey in that call to support the Scottish Government’s budget. There are very clear reasons to do so if members are concerned about the housing conditions of people in Scotland. The budget contains the largest allocation of capital funding for affordable homes that we have on record since 1989. It includes a record £106 million for discretionary housing payments, which is an increase of £6 million, and a series of other measures that will improve the housing situation in Scotland and do what this Government is determined to pursue, which is exactly as Willie Coffey put it, that everyone should have the right to a warm and secure home.
Seasonal Workers (Accommodation)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to ensure that seasonal workers can expect to be provided with accommodation which meets agreed standards during their stay in Scotland. (S6O-05514)
I thank Richard Leonard for his question and his continued interest in this important area. As we discussed in our meeting on 29 January, the Scottish Government simply will not accept that people should need to live in substandard accommodation in Scotland. As I indicated during our meeting, I am committed to addressing the gap in legal standards, but that will take time for officials to complete. In the meantime, I have also made it clear that I expect local authorities to exercise their duties to create byelaws to further protect seasonal workers.
As I committed to Richard Leonard to do, I will be writing to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on this matter very soon. By way of an update, since our initial scoping work concluded, officials have been exploring what provisions are already in place and the potential to include seasonal worker accommodation standards in the existing regulatory framework.
I thank the cabinet secretary for that reply and for meeting me and the Worker Support Centre just last month. I have raised the absence of any accommodation standards for migrant seasonal workers repeatedly in this Parliament. Low-paid migrant seasonal workers, crammed six to a damp, mouldy, dilapidated, unsafe caravan, are having £2,000 deducted from their wages every month for rent. Now we are told that local councils and national Governments have had the power to introduce standards going all the way back to 1987, but, in four decades, nothing has been done and no protections are in place.
No other housing standards in Scotland are left to the discretion of local authorities or to the vagaries of local byelaws. What is it about those migrant workers that they are being discriminated against in this way?
The Government has always been clear that there are existing provisions. They are in sections 314 and 315 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 and they oblige a local authority to make byelaws with respect to accommodation for agricultural and seasonal workers. Where there is extant law, my first priority is to make sure that it is being used, as opposed to layering on top of that further law that complicates the scenario. I again call on local authorities that have such practices happening in their areas to use the existing law and to make provision in their areas.
Mr Leonard and the Worker Support Centre are absolutely right that current housing standards do not cover agricultural seasonal workers’ mobile homes. As I have committed to him and to the Worker Support Centre, we are currently working to develop that.
That concludes portfolio questions on social justice and housing. There will be a short pause before we move on to the next item of business, to allow front-bench teams to change position.