Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Thursday, January 18, 2024

Official Report 1033KB pdf

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Scottish Rural and Islands Youth Parliament

The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-11896, in the name of Mairi Gougeon, on the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament.

15:32  

As we approach a number of pivotal points for rural policy, including the emerging rural delivery plan and consideration of the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill, I believe that it is of the utmost importance that the voices of young people living in our rural areas are more than just heard. We have a duty to listen to young people, as well as to work in partnership with them, if we are to achieve better outcomes for our rural and island communities.

In November, I had the pleasure of meeting more than 70 delegates at the first Scottish rural and islands youth parliament in Fort William, which was part of the wider Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament. I welcomed the opportunity to discuss with delegates the priority issues that they currently face, how they are working to address them and how they want the Government to take action. This debate presents an important opportunity to discuss some of those issues in more detail. I am especially glad that we were able to support delegates from the first Scottish rural and islands youth parliament to attend the debate, and they are in the public gallery today. It is great to see some familiar faces from when we met in Fort William.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge that it is not just the conversations that we will have here in the chamber that are important; it is also those that young people have had, and will have, with one another as part of a network of rural and island youth. For my part, I am committed to continuing to engage with young people across rural Scotland following the debate. It is so important not only that their voices are heard but that they actively influence Scottish Government policies. Hearing them will help us to drive forward the First Minister’s policy missions of equality, opportunity and community. This is a critical time for doing that, as we build the key levers for future rural development.

We already have a strong track record of engaging meaningfully with young people in our rural and island communities, but we also have many future opportunities to look forward to. Those include the publication of a rural delivery plan, a full review of the national islands plan, the new Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill, the publication of the addressing depopulation action plan and the good food nation plan, and the implementation of the rural and islands housing action plan.

There has already been engagement with young people through groups such as the community-led local development youth local action groups, the Young Islanders Network and the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs. I want to ensure that young people have a voice in the decisions that affect them.

Following their discussions with each other and then with me, the young people at the Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament presented a number of key priority areas for action. I will take a little bit of time to address some of those priority areas. I look forward to exploring those topics further through the course of today’s debate.

One area that was identified as a key priority was housing. Housing of the right type in the right place can have a powerful and generational impact, enabling young people to stay in the communities where they grew up. Despite United Kingdom Government austerity and the fact that we are facing the worst budget settlement since devolution, the Scottish Government continues to prioritise housing and affordable housing in rural areas, with investment of more than £500 million in affordable homes planned for next year. We remain committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes, of which at least 10 per cent will be in rural and island areas.

As someone from a rural island area in the Highlands and Islands, I agree that housing is vital. We have a crisis in rural areas. How is cutting the housing bill by £200 million prioritising housing?

I reiterate the point that I have just made about us facing the worst settlement since devolution. We have had some very difficult choices to make, and we face a capital budget reduction of 10 per cent. However, we have continued to prioritise funding for housing—[Interruption.]

Can we hear the cabinet secretary, please?

The funding for rural homes remains unchanged, and that is vital.

Our demand-led rural and islands housing fund has now become a recognised feature of the affordable housing supply programme, and it continues to play a critical role in helping community organisations and others to deliver affordable homes.

In October, we published a rural and islands housing action plan. Many of the actions in that plan seek to address the key challenges and put in place systems and support for the delivery of the right homes in the right places, so that our rural and island communities can thrive.

Frequently, it is communities themselves that are leading the way in building new housing stock or freeing up and refurbishing existing stock so that it meets local needs. My colleague Paul McLennan, the Minister for Housing, is looking forward to attending Rural Housing Scotland’s conference, where he will highlight the importance of community-led housing in our broader approach to delivering more homes in rural and island communities.

Transport was identified as another important issue. Youth delegates asked for sustainable transport that works for everyone, and I could not agree more about the importance that that has for our rural and island communities. I know that many of the youth delegates participated in the Scottish rural and islands transport community workshop at the rural parliament, and I am looking forward to seeing the specific recommendations that came from that, as well as the views on a rural and island mobility plan.

I recognise the impact that recent disruptions have had on rural and island communities, and I underline our commitment to investing in ferry services and rural transport. Our national transport strategy is for all of Scotland, reflecting the different transport needs of island, rural and urban communities. Our planned islands connectivity plan will replace the ferries plan, and it will be broader in scope, taking into account aviation, ferries and fixed links, as well as onward and connecting travel.

On mental health and wellbeing, youth delegates called for empathetic interventions and recognition of social support spaces, as well as tailored solutions to specific age groups. All those are key components of the Scottish Government’s new mental health and wellbeing strategy, which was published in June last year.

In the Borders, which is a rural area, it takes young adults 39 weeks to get their first appointment for child and adolescent mental health services. That is unacceptable, and young people are calling for the Government to apologise to them because of that. What does the cabinet secretary say to that?

That is why the work that we are doing and the work that I just mentioned, which was published in June last year, is so important in trying to make a difference. I understand how critical those services are, and it is important that we provide access to them. That is why that work is so important. The action plan that will underpin that strategy is still in development, and it is important that the views of our young people in rural and island areas help to shape it.

On skills, education and employment, the youth delegates called for a youth-led reform of education. That is timely, given the developments both in our school sector and in our economy and skills sectors, especially as we transition to net zero. Education and skills provision must be tailored to what young people want, where they live and what they want their future to be. That is not just about employment but about their wider fulfilment and wellbeing.

Will the cabinet secretary give way on that point?

I am sorry—I will not at the moment. I need to make some progress.

We have opportunities to make that a reality through education reform, through the acceleration of flexible and remote learning and through apprenticeships and wider work to co-ordinate and deliver skills for rural Scotland, including as part of our response to the review of land-based learning.

In our discussions at the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament, the importance of arts and culture and their role in community development was also discussed, and we are exploring how that role will be recognised in the forthcoming rural delivery plan. We are increasing funding to the cultural sector by £15.8 million in the next financial year. That is the first step in demonstrating our on-going commitment to the arts, and it will contribute to the cultural richness and resilience of our communities.

Agriculture and our environment were also among the key areas that were highlighted and discussed by the youth delegates. They discussed the need to ensure that farmers and crofters have good livelihoods and that they can work their land in environmentally friendly ways and help to feed Scotland’s people.

We are due to publish our good food nation plan soon, and the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill is currently progressing through the parliamentary scrutiny process. Through those key pieces of work, we will explore ways in which to promote local produce, reduce food miles, ensure our food security and recognise the quality and high welfare standards of the food that we produce in Scotland.

Will the cabinet secretary give way?

I cannot at the moment.

Another key matter that was discussed was the role of carers. The Scottish Government absolutely values the support that Scotland’s young carers provide, and we want to ensure that there is appropriate support in place for them. We recognise that the issues that young carers face are often exacerbated when they live rurally. That is why it is so important that we hear from young people directly, in order to better understand and address those issues.

Finally, there was a very specific ask of me. I was honoured to have been asked to act as the spokesperson in the chamber for delegates at the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament, and to commit to publicly demonstrate what was learned from the event in Fort William last year and take tangible actions. That is why I am delighted to be holding this debate in the chamber today, and to bring to Parliament directly some of those issues that we discussed at the inaugural Scottish rural and islands youth parliament. I am delighted that the young people who are here in the public gallery today have also had the opportunity to put their issues directly to the First Minister and to each member of the Government just prior to this afternoon’s session.

In closing, I say a massive thank you to all the youth delegates in the gallery today and those whom I met in November. I thank them for their ideas, energy and passion. In particular, I thank Ellie Moore, who I know is also in the gallery today, for representing the youth delegation and presenting the statements to the audience on the final day of the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament.

Finally, I reiterate the Government’s commitment to listening to rural community and youth voices and acknowledging the important contribution that the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament makes in influencing policy development. The Scottish rural and islands youth parliament is a unique success in the UK—

I must ask you to conclude, minister.

—and without the dedication and hard work of adult and youth volunteers, it would not be possible. I say a final thank you to them and to our youth delegates; I look forward to continuing to work with them.

I move,

That the Parliament acknowledges the important contribution that the Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament (SRIP), including the Rural and Islands Youth Parliament, makes, particularly in influencing future policy development; notes that the SRIP, which held its fifth gathering in November 2023, is unique in the UK; welcomes the opportunity that young people from rural Scotland now have to engage with the Scottish Ministers; recognises the value and importance of hearing the experience and ideas of young people who live and work in Scotland’s rural and island communities to inform Scottish Government policy priorities and of ensuring that their voice is heard, and welcomes the involvement and commitment of youth and adult volunteer delegates who made both parliaments a success.

15:43  

The Scottish rural and islands youth parliament serves to unite people. Unfortunately, however, the cross-party groups in the Scottish Parliament were not invited to meet the youth parliament. Nevertheless, I welcome its delegates to the chamber today, and I hope that they have enjoyed their day.

The youth parliament offers a platform for young people in Scotland to have their voices heard on the issues that matter most to them. That is important, because it stimulates discussion and debate and allows ideas and inspiration to take root and grow, which is what our rural communities—one of which I represent—need most. However, I believe that the Scottish National Party is more interested in sowing the seeds of division than in building the backbone of tomorrow’s rural Scotland. We have to double down on our engagement with the next generation. Too often, the voices of young people in rural and island communities are ignored and overlooked by the Scottish Government.

The youth parliament seeks action on several priorities that the cabinet secretary highlighted, such as transport, education and the environment. Many of those challenges are similar to those experienced across urban Scotland, but there is one difference: the Scottish Government is not delivering on those objectives for the people of rural Scotland.

Young people in rural areas are equally entitled to a good education, and a rural upbringing should not detract from their access to opportunities. Given the ferry issues, the Scottish Government is denying people in island communities the opportunity to travel.

If Rachael Hamilton is concerned about young people being able to travel, does she regret the loss of the Erasmus scheme?

It is clear that Jim Fairlie has missed the UK Government’s delivery of the Turing scheme. I am quite surprised by that.

With 13.2 per cent of schools in rural areas being classed as in a poor or bad condition compared with just 5.2 per cent of schools in urban areas, students and teachers in rural communities have been unfairly forgotten about. The Scottish Government has failed to invest in the fabric of the next generation’s future.

On housing, the SNP has presided over unprecedented depopulation in our rural communities by failing to deliver on the affordable home targets for the next generation.

Does Rachael Hamilton think that many rural communities would find it helpful if local authorities had the power to consider whether a given community had too many second homes? Would that help young people who are trying to find a house?

It is, of course, important that the economy is driven by tourism. A lot of accommodation in Scotland is important to rural areas, particularly the Borders, because it attracts people to visit and stay here. Families want to come to Scotland to enjoy it. People with a pension are ensuring that they can buy a second home and rent it out. That could be a good thing.

Dr Allan has raised an important issue. Does Rachael Hamilton think that what he said was slightly hypocritical, given that the health secretary has a second home? [Interruption.]

Perhaps somebody should register their interests while they are chuntering from the sidelines.

In 2016, the Scottish Government pledged £25 million to boost rural housing. However, as of 2023, only £18 million of that had been spent. The Government is failing to secure affordable homes for young people. I say to Alasdair Allan that young people are being forced out of their communities for that very reason. By failing in its commitment to invest in rural housing, the Government has failed to support young people.

We must value our rural communities. With their strong traditions and sense of belonging, towns and villages on our islands hold an important role in the culture and history of Scotland. If we are to continue the cultural and historical nature of our rural communities and allow people to contribute to rural and island communities, we must offer them every opportunity to stay.

The cabinet secretary mentioned transport among the list of challenges highlighted by the youth parliament. That is one of the key areas in which the SNP has failed. It has not sorted out the A9, which is a lifeline for many rural communities in Scotland. We recently found out that works to dual the A9 will not be completed until 2035. Tragically, 83 people have lost their lives on that road since the SNP promised to dual it by 2025. That is just another example of the SNP letting down rural Scotland.

To list all the transport failings of the Government and their impacts on young people would take up a lot of time. However, a key issue that the cabinet secretary did not mention is ferries. There were 689 ferry cancellations across Scotland between 1 January and 16 May 2023. That is just appalling. We have heard about the issues that islanders have in running businesses on the islands and ensuring that they are able to stay, work and live where they grew up.

On farming and agriculture, many farmers and crofters are deciding on their future right now, while the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill is being considered by the Parliament. Farmers and crofters want to take the next steps to secure Scotland’s food future, agriculture future and crofting future, but the Government is blindfolding our young farmers and crofters by failing to give them the ability to plan for the long term. If we want Scotland to be a market world leader that produces wonderful high-quality produce, we must back the next generation. There has been a £78.4 million cut to the rural affairs and islands budget and a further £33.2 million cut to the agriculture budget. The message is not a positive one for young people.

I know that I have only limited time, Presiding Officer, but if you were to place yourself in the shoes of a young person growing up in rural Scotland, I think that you would be as worried as I am about what the future held for you. I speak to many young people who are not positive about their future because of the Government’s crumbling schools, unreliable local transport, poor employment opportunities and lack of investment in their future. Those are a number of challenges that they face.

On a positive note, I want to ensure that we can provide the young people of Scotland with a good vision, with ambition, not a stale and foostie Scottish National Party Government that has let them down.

I move amendment S6M-11896.2, to insert at end:

“, and notes that the Scottish Rural and Islands Youth Parliament raised a number of issues affecting young people in rural Scotland, including the Scottish Government’s lack of long-term commitment to the rural and island environment, the lack of mental health support for people in the Highlands and Islands, a transport system that is not fit for purpose and a housing sector that fails to meet the needs of the population.”

15:51  

I was glad to be able to attend the rural and islands youth parliament in Fort William. To see so many young people there was really refreshing. The parliament gives them the opportunity to talk about the issues that have had an impact on them. It is very important that we listen to young people, because they are the very people we need to retain in our rural and island communities to address depopulation.

I welcome the tone of the cabinet secretary’s comments in that regard, and I hope that they lead to a step change in dealing with young people’s very real concerns. At the moment, we are forcing them out of rural and island communities, rather than retaining them.

Rightly, housing was one of the main issues that the youth parliament talked about, and it called for reform of the housing market to meet the needs of rural and island communities. The market is failing those communities, and there needs to be a rebalancing of power between communities and the market. Those communities need to be empowered. They need affordable housing. However, by “affordable housing”, we are not talking about what urban communities would see as housing association housing or council housing, although rural and island communities need that, too. The truth is that price inflation is so great that it does not reflect the market conditions in those areas, and it does not reflect the average wages there. A lot of people in rural and island areas simply want to buy, like everybody else, and to be able to enter the market.

On top of that, we need to consider a range of options, such as council housing, affordable housing through housing associations and croft housing. However, the croft housing grant does not allow for such things as an office, an extra room for bed and breakfast or a room to work as a weaver. It does not allow for remote working from the croft house. We need to consider different solutions for different people, and there has to be a diverse range of solutions for young people.

Investing in housing is good at the moment, and that can have an impact on one person. However, if we do not consider ways to retain that housing for the population who live and work in rural and island areas, we are wasting that money. We need to take rural housing burdens into account to ensure that the houses cannot be sold on as second homes or holiday homes.

The young people at the youth parliament rightly talked about health and wellbeing. We can understand why when we listen to young people talking about their access to health services and their distance from them. The parliament focused a lot on mental health—as young people do—and talked about self-help and online support. There is no such thing as privacy in a rural area. There is no access to public transport. People cannot go to access services on their own. They need to involve others, and that comes with stigma.

The youth parliament talked about the desperately long waiting lists for CAMHS and about young people’s transitions to adult services. My colleague Pam Duncan-Glancy tried to address that issue through her Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions to Adulthood) (Scotland) Bill. Sadly, this Parliament voted it down, but it would have addressed some of the young people’s concerns.

We also need to look at transport in relation to health. Once again, the A9 north is blocked because of the snow. Imagine being in labour and giving birth while on the A9 when it is blocked because of a snowdrift. That is a possibility. We have been told that it is unsafe for any pregnant women with complications to give birth in Wick. We need to make sure that local services are in place so that people never face that situation.

It is the same with ferries and buses. There are very few buses, and ferries are often cancelled, which means that young people cannot access the services that they need.

However, it was not all doom and gloom. The young people talked about there being lots of opportunities. They saw themselves as being involved in reform to address the problems. They wanted to be directly involved in the reform of education, which does not meet their needs. They were very clear that there are opportunities, not just in traditional industries but in new technologies, which they want to be able to access. There is no reason why they cannot do that, because of the way in which those are delivered. That would give them a huge opportunity to be able to stay in their communities and access not just traditional jobs but new and different jobs.

The Scottish Labour Party brings those issues to the Parliament every week. We need the Scottish Government to listen to young people and to support them to attain their ambitions for themselves. Their ambitions are for the survival of our rural and island communities, because, without young people, those communities will not survive.

I move amendment S6M-11896.1, to insert at end:

“; considers that access to health services, homes and opportunities are essential to young people in rural and island areas; believes that young people who live in these areas are best placed to advise on what is needed, and urges the Scottish Government to address the issues highlighted and put in place a strategy and timeline to address them, as it is vital to halt depopulation and retain young people in rural areas.”

15:56  

I welcome the debate and the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. First, I express my disappointment at not being able to join members in the chamber. I had hoped to meet with some of the youth delegates who are in the Parliament, too, but Arctic weather conditions have defeated me and Ellie Ratter from Shetland, who had also hoped to be present.

Our rural and island areas can often feel distant from Holyrood and even distant from bigger settlements where local decisions are often made. We should not allow such a feeling to arise from the entrenched means of conducting politics and decision making. The Scottish Liberal Democrats fundamentally believe that decision making should be done as close to the people as possible, empowering communities and individuals. The Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament and the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament are a great means of allowing direct contact between rural and island community members and the Scottish Government, supplementing more traditional mechanisms of contact. The fact that they are the only projects of their kind in Scotland reflects the unique challenges of Scotland’s geography.

Those who have involved themselves in the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament are particularly to be commended. To those delegates, I say that in giving up your time you are helping others in the best civic tradition. I hope that the experience will encourage you to continue to engage—after all, it is those who turn up who make the decisions.

The rural and islands youth parliaments fly in the face of popular opinion that young people do not want to be involved, or have no interest, in politics. Rural and island areas have their own needs and challenges, but, ultimately, residents want a good life with reliable services and connections.

That makes the asks of the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament not unexpected. Those are: long-term thinking to protect nature and the environment; sustainable transport that takes people where they want to go; a focus on sustainable food, reducing food miles and carbon costs while promoting Scottish produce and our high animal welfare standards; a desire for greater community empowerment in local housing sectors, which others have highlighted; youth-led reform of education with the freedom to choose, incorporating life and work experience; out-of-school support for young carers; and accessible mental health support with empathetic interventions.

We find ourselves in a world of spreadsheets and algorithms that cannot estimate the dramatic difference that long-term investment can make for smaller communities. Young people do not want that model to govern their lives; they want long-term compassionate thinking as the road map to change. I hope that the voices of the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament will continue to steer the Scottish Government in such a direction.

Before I conclude, I will highlight the work of other grass-roots movements that are attempting to steer Government policy. It is no secret that I am a long-term advocate of short subsea tunnels to connect islands in Shetland. At the end of last year, I brought the wider debate on that idea to the chamber. We heard in that debate about the transport connections of rural and island Scotland and about local residents’ appetite to have their voices heard. The island tunnel action groups that have been set up in Shetland highlight that appetite. I hope that their engagement with Shetland Islands Council, local representatives and the Scottish and UK Governments will result in the investment that they are pursuing. Tunnels would reinvigorate the local economies of Shetland’s islands and present opportunities for a more prosperous future for the young people of those communities and a reversal of depopulation in our islands.

The young people who are getting involved in the youth parliament and their contemporaries are our future. Investment in them and their communities is an investment in all our futures.

We move to the open debate.

16:01  

In gathering 75 young people from across Scotland, the inaugural Scottish rural and islands youth parliament was a real success. The feedback has been resoundingly positive, and it is clear that attendees gained a great deal.

One of the asks from the 2023 parliament was about leadership, engagement and participation, which I will focus on. The delegates asked to have a voice in Parliament, and I was pleased that the cabinet secretary spoke to that. It is great that a number of the delegates have been here today and have met the Cabinet, the cabinet secretary and the First Minister.

All of us in the Parliament have a responsibility to act on behalf of our rural and island youth in everything that we do, because so much that happens here will impact them. We need to ensure that that impact is positive and is informed by young people’s views.

When it comes to engaging young people, the issue is not the need to support them to develop their ideas, as they know exactly what they need. Their understanding of the challenges and opportunities for their communities is sophisticated. When school students from my constituency visit me, their questions are thoughtful and incisive. The issue is how we change our processes to include young people. The Government has taken excellent steps towards that through the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament, as well as the Cabinet takeover by the Children’s Parliament and the Scottish Youth Parliament. I would also like to see conversations about widening participation in consultation processes. Young people in my constituency have started the Forth Valley youth local action group, and they join us today. It was lovely to chat with them earlier about how their day was going. They were really enthusiastic about the Government’s work.

Members of the Forth Valley group attended the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament, and, ahead of our debate, one member talked about making it easier for young people to find out about and contribute to local consultations. They highlighted the need to make consultations less hostile to those who do not have professional lobbying experience. Children in Scotland says that young people should be given the opportunity to influence the methods of their engagement in policy making, and I call on the Government to work with young people to allow them to shape how they engage with our consultations.

The Scottish rural and islands youth parliament and the Forth Valley youth local action group—that was a lot of words; it would be nicer to have shorter titles—have both highlighted the importance of resources. Research has found that engagement work with young people has had big impacts, but those impacts could still be increased. Children in Scotland notes that, when projects have long-term or permanent funding streams, participation work tends to be more meaningful.

More resources would allow for increased participation, deeper engagement and, crucially, greater impact. Secure funding streams would also ensure a wider range of views. It is important to remember that, although there are a lot of commonalities across our rural areas, there are also specific needs and challenges. For example, Strathard, in my constituency, has been working hard to design community life plans. However, in this one community council area, four separate life plans have been developed because the needs, requirements and priorities of our rural areas, even in one small area, are very different. It would be wrong of us to homogenise those rural areas—they must all have their voice.

The SRIYP is a great way to identify shared issues and common themes, but it must prompt us to hold space for more specific challenges. Children in Scotland has also highlighted that including the views of young people whose voices are seldom heard requires time, resources and planning. Large engagement events are useful, but they do not work for everyone. I am eager to hear how the Government intends to find a balance. We know that consensus is powerful, but we also know that it is not always there. It would do a disservice to the vibrancy and diversity of our young people and our island and rural communities to homogenise them.

Like many, I am looking forward to the national islands plan and progress on the implementation of other plans. I am also eager to hear how the Government will increase engagement with rural and island young people and, crucially, how that will be resourced.

16:06  

Evelyn Tweed hit the nail on the head in her last couple of sentences. It is not good enough to produce lots of plans and strategies and have lots of talk and not actually implement anything.

I welcome the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament to the Scottish Parliament. I do not think that I will be very controversial in saying that it is absolutely vital that we, as parliamentarians, are committed to engaging with our young people. We need to give our young people reasons to trust and have faith in our democracy and democratic institutions. It is also important that we do everything within our power to foster aspiration among our young people.

I hope that we will have generations of young Scots, like the generations of young Scots before them, who want to change the world for the better, who believe in equal opportunity, justice for all and freedom of choice. Those are the things that have imbued this country with the energy that we have needed through our long history to make progress. So much rests on the shoulders of the rising generations.

I say gently but directly to the cabinet secretary that lots of talk about listening is not the same as delivery. Lots of talking about talking is not the same as delivery. The making of announcements does not presuppose that the thing that is being announced has suddenly happened. If only there were an Olympic sport for speaking, making announcements, issuing strategies, having reviews and talking about setting up this body and the next body—my goodness!

This Scottish National Party Government has created a clutter of public bodies in Scotland in the past 17 years. None of that adds up to delivery. It is not the same thing. We must not patronise our young people by talking to them and engaging with them and pretending that that somehow automatically brings through a bunch of implementation or delivery. Audit Scotland has repeatedly pointed out to the Cabinet that, although it is great at producing strategies, lots of paper and lots of consultations, those things do not actually deliver, and it is very hard to measure anything as delivered.

I have great concerns, as I am sure the young people of Scotland do, particularly those who live in our rural areas and on the islands, about depopulation. We have to give young people who live in rural Scotland and on the islands the real belief that their future can be lived out in the places that they are growing up in. Currently, too many of them make plans on the basis that they will not be in the place that they are growing up in.

That is why I welcome the important priorities that the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament has come up with, which are published on its website. It is talking about the right things. We have already mentioned issues to do with housing. I believe that it is a good thing to inculcate into every young person that it is a good thing to desire to own their own home.

I absolutely agree that the ambition to own their own home is a great ambition for people to have, but does the member recognise that there are parts of Scotland where the free market in houses that currently exists means that owning a home is entirely outwith possibility for many young people?

Dr Allan raises an important point and I think that he may have mistaken me for someone else. I do not believe that the market is the answer for everything; I believe that Government has a very important role to play. That is why I am a Conservative—I believe that there needs to be a partnership in our country, in our society and in our economy to make good things happen. One of those good things is housing and we need to instil within our young people the worthy ambition and aspiration to own their own home.

Would Mr Kerr accept that we do not have a free market in housing? We have incredibly restrictive planning rules that mean that, for example, in rural areas, farmers who want to earn some extra income by selling off building plots and young people who want to access those building plots to build their own homes cannot access that land, because planning rules make it so difficult. If we freed up our planning system, we could create more low-cost housing, which would be accessible to the families that Dr Allan is referring to.

I am grateful to Murdo Fraser, who invites me down a rabbit hole, in a sense, because he knows very well that I feel passionately about the fact that, although I speak about a partnership between the people and Government, between business and Government and between communities and Government, I think that at the minute we have too much Government in this country. We need to look at how we rebalance things in Scotland so that more power is devolved to communities and so that some of the things that he described in his intervention can happen.

I have run out of time and I have not had a chance to talk about education, which I am passionate about, or the need for local services and for connectivity. Connectivity is such a big issue. I will wind up by saying this: when the cabinet secretary talks in such a flowery way about listening to the young people of rural Scotland, she should remember that much of rural Scotland does not think that this Government cares tuppence about their concerns. I just hope that these young people, when they were speaking to the cabinet secretary, got through, because so many other people have tried and failed to do so.

16:12  

I start by congratulating Finlay Shand, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association young gamekeeper of the year, who is from the Angus glens.

There are questions to ask. Why would the young get involved? What would be their incentive and how would that be encouraged? Those are perfectly valid questions that require action and engagement if we want to be truly representative. I have to say that—remarkably—I found myself agreeing with an awful lot of the ambition that Stephen Kerr was just talking about.

I remember meeting a young lad in my constituency by the name of Beinn Grant not long after I was elected to this place. He was attending the Auchterarder community action plan community engagement day, which is a fantastic event allowing the community around Auchterarder to voice their opinions and develop plans for what is happening in the town and what they would like to happen. Beinn was there with his colleague Hannah Lewis and, as members of the Scottish Youth Parliament, they were encouraging the young folk of Auchterarder to get involved.

Beinn was a member for Perthshire North and I was struck by his enthusiasm and his determination that the voices of the young should be heard. Despite him being a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament as opposed to the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament, he was absolutely advocating for those in rural areas, who face different challenges to their peers in the more urban areas. It was striking and also refreshing to see such a fresh-faced pair of young folk being so passionate and engaged in a sea of middle-aged folk like me.

Jim Fairlie is making a really important point and it is a point that I did not get to in my speech. I hope that he will agree with me that it is good that we have a rural and islands parliament for our young people, but we need people who live in rural parts of Scotland and people who live in urban parts of Scotland to come together and try to understand each other’s ways of life better, surely.

As the person who started the farmers market in Scotland in Perth in 1999, for exactly that reason, yes, I can only agree.

The youngest member of my office staff in Perth, John Redpath, stood as a candidate for the Scottish Youth Parliament in the Scottish Borders constituency of Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire. He was just pipped to the post. The whole experience for him was bruising, which I am sure we can all relate to, but it was also extremely inspiring, and it enthused him to get more involved going forward. He now uses as many opportunities as arise to encourage young folk and his peers to get involved, so that there is not that malaise that is all too common these days—the “But what can I do?” syndrome.

That is the crucial point about the Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament and the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament. Their purpose is to give a voice and to change that phrase from, “But what can I do?” to simply, “What can I do?” I must, of course, give credit to Alastair Campbell, because that is exactly the tack that he is promoting in his excellent book of that name.

I could not attend the conference last year, but I took great comfort from looking at the website, which gave details of the programme for the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament that was held in Fort William, and there were some key asks from that session. There is no getting away from the fact that we face significant challenges, but one particular challenge for young folk is the ability to live in a rural location that does not require staying with mum and dad until they save enough money to get a deposit to compete with second-home buyers who have much deeper pockets and only inhabit their home for a few months of the year.

With that in mind, I was delighted to see the Government proposals to allow local authorities to increase council tax on second homes by 100 per cent, with the proceeds going to help to build more rural homes for the future. I might have gone a bit further, but at least it is a good start. If someone cannot get a house there, they cannot live there, so I am keen to see how the £20 million fund for purchasing unused rural housing stock will help to deliver more rural homes. On top of the commitment that the cabinet secretary talked about regarding 10 per cent of the planned 110,000 homes, I hope that that will improve the number of homes that are available for young people.

I was also intrigued by the proposal from the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament that said:

“Supermarkets must have a target imposed that a percentage of produce must be offered for sale from their region to reduce food miles and carbon costs, promote food security, recognise quality, and high welfare standards of Scottish produce. For example, seafood, protein, fruit and veg, meat, dairy, and eggs.”

That proposal is well worth drilling into—not just to have a pop at supermarkets but as a method of finding out how much that already happens and, more important, what more can be done.

It will be very interesting from my point of view—

Will the member take an intervention?

I will not—I have only a minute and a half left and I want to get this point out. I apologise.

It would be very interesting if the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament instigated an inquiry and, in the same way as committees in this Parliament do, took evidence from the stakeholders and presented the findings in a report for us all to scrutinise. If it takes up that challenge, I will be fascinated to find out exactly how it gets on with engaging with the supermarkets and how the supermarkets deal with the very direct questioning that comes from the confidence of youth—I speak from experience. I look forward to hearing whether that develops, and I wish the members of the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament every success in their endeavours.

I will pay close attention to the deliberations of the young people who represent the future of rural Scotland, who will have many ideas of what that future looks like.

16:18  

The Scottish rural and islands youth parliament provides a great opportunity for young people to help to shape the future of Scotland’s rural regions and islands. Those young people who attended the inaugural parliament in November should be commended for the invaluable insights that they shared on the challenges that our islands and rural regions face and what we can do to build stronger, more vibrant communities. I welcome many of them here today.

The parliament has to be more than just a platform for young people to voice their concerns and share their ideas; it needs to lead to action. However, when it comes to action, the Government does not have the best track record. We have had strategies and working groups, but delivery has not been good enough.

The themes raised by those young people who gathered in Fort William have been flagged over and over again: the need for affordable housing at a time when homelessness is on the rise but housing budgets are falling; better public transport at a time when bus route after bus route is being axed in rural areas; improved mental health support at a time when CAMHS waiting lists in areas such as the Borders, as we have heard, are at record levels; better support for young carers in rural areas; further and higher education opportunities in rural communities, not just in our big cities; and, crucially, the high-skilled, well-paid jobs that are needed to keep young people in those rural communities, when low pay plagues far too many of those communities.

If we fail to act, young people will continue to leave our rural towns and villages for the cities and the crisis of depopulation will grow and grow.

I will always remember a conversation that I had with a sixth-year class when I was a teacher at Stranraer academy. It was just before the end of term and I asked them what they planned to do when they finished at the academy, and many said, “leave Stranraer”. They did not believe that they had the opportunities locally to stay or, if they left for college or university, the opportunities to attract them back home.

That echoes concerns that were raised almost eight years ago, during a workshop in Dumfries and Galloway that was organised by the National Council of Rural Advisers in 2018. One young person said:

“Young people want to have a purpose to stay, live and bring up their families.”

Another said:

“We need affordable housing for young people who want to stay, to bring up young families, to stay for education.”

Those concerns have grown. Last year, Dumfries and Galloway Council’s excellent youth work team surveyed in excess of 10,000 young people aged 10 to 25. The majority said that they wanted to leave the region—unlike in 2018, when the same questions were asked and a majority wanted to stay.

Will Colin Smyth give way?

If I have time, Deputy Presiding Officer.

I call Jim Fairlie.

We hear about the problems in rural communities and that people want to leave. However, one of the biggest problems that farmers have is the fact that they have no certainty of funding from the UK Government post-2025. Will the Labour Government that is due to come in next year or later this year give a commitment to on-going funding on a five-year basis?

I am delighted to hear from Jim Fairlie the phrase that the Labour Government is “due to come in”. I very much look forward to that.

We need to give rural communities certainty, both at UK level and in this Parliament. We have not had that when it comes to the legislation coming forward and future agricultural support. As we have heard, we have commitments around a depopulation action plan, and a rural delivery plan is apparently also on its way. However, we have been here before. We cannot have more recommendations and strategies left on a shelf to gather dust; we need to see action being delivered.

In 2018, the National Council of Rural Advisers published an economic blueprint for the rural economy. When it examined the legacy of rural policy making and listened to the voices of rural Scotland, it became clear that, although there had been ambitious recommendations in the past, “the same challenges remain.”

The conversation that I had with young people in Stranraer has stayed with me for more than two decades. It drove me as a local councillor, when I chaired the local economy and connectivity committee, to campaign for what is now the South of Scotland Enterprise agency, which I very much welcome. It was also one of the reasons why I stood for the Scottish Parliament—in order to fight for better opportunities for young people in a rural part of Scotland that, frankly, is too often forgotten.

The voices of young people in that survey of 10,000 people, and the voices of the members of the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament, have shown us all that so much more work still needs to be done. We need to channel the passion and energy of those young people into action and deliver the real change that they need.

Is the member concluding? I was generous with the time for the intervention, so could the member please bring his remarks to a close?

Absolutely.

One of the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament’s asks was that we need to be their spokespeople in this Parliament. That is a message for the cabinet secretary, but it is also a message for all of us who have the privilege to represent those young people in this Parliament. We need to start to deliver for them.

I call Kate Forbes, who joins us remotely.

16:23  

I start by congratulating all the members of the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament for the work that they do. I got involved with politics in the first place because I was particularly exercised by the way in which young rural people—particularly from the Highlands and Islands, but the point extends to all rural parts of Scotland—felt disenfranchised and disempowered, with decisions being taken that felt like they were being done to them, without thought for them.

That is why the Scottish Youth Parliament and the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament are so critical in offering a mechanism by which young people in rural parts of Scotland, as well as in communities in general, can have a say on the issues that are of particular importance to them.

It is important to reflect on just how critical that is for rural Scotland. I am sure that the census figures will be unpacked in greater detail over the coming months and years, but what we are already seeing in the initial figures confirms what most forecasters, including the Scottish Fiscal Commission and the National Records of Scotland, have been warning us about—namely, that we are facing enormous demographic challenges. In rural areas, especially in coastal parts of Scotland, our population is set to decline quite considerably over the next 40 years.

We also know that, in some rural areas—the Highlands and Islands in particular—those figures are probably masked by growth in some parts, especially in the cities; Inverness is an example. The figures also do not tell us that it is primarily the working-age population that is in decline. The current generation of young people who are growing up in rural parts of Scotland such as the Highlands and Islands will have to choose whether to leave those rural areas or to stay in ever-declining numbers.

That is why I have previously described the issue as a national emergency, in that we need to focus very much on how we bolster and support rural parts of Scotland to ensure its very survival. Whether we want to unpack policy areas such as housing, transport or digital connectivity, all those issues are part of the approach that Government and others need to take in order to change the trajectory that I fear that those of us in rural Scotland are on, which will only exacerbate inequalities and is likely to increase poverty. It will certainly put a strain on public services, because when the working-age population reduces, we end up in a vicious cycle of struggling to recruit and retain staff in our public services to support the people who need them, especially those who are ageing.

I commend the work that the Rural and Islands Parliament has already done in raising those issues, but the extent to which the importance of their work is recognised will lie in the extent to which decision makers in this Parliament—decision makers such as me, the cabinet secretary and others—take their requests and considerations seriously and genuinely deliver on policies that will transform lives.

The number 1 issue that is constantly raised is, of course, housing. I heard the exchange about that between Stephen Kerr and Alasdair Allan. Although the supply of housing is increasing significantly, we need to make sure that there is a diversity of tenure available to young people in rural Scotland, including housing for rent, which we know is one of the most affordable routes to being in safe accommodation. That is at the heart of how we rebuild such communities.

As I said in an interview that I did with the West Highland Free Press this very week, our focus should be on retaining the population that we have, because it is a lot harder to attract people in once we lose that critical mass.

I call Ariane Burgess, who joins us remotely. I hope that Ms Burgess has her camera on—or, indeed, that she is there at all.

16:29  

I am here.

Hello, Ms Burgess. Please proceed.

It is a pleasure to participate in this debate and discuss the priorities of young people across rural communities. As I participated in the first Scottish Rural Parliament in 2014, I know what a fantastic place it is to share ideas, and it is inspiring to see how it has developed.

This year, the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament has taken form. I had hoped to attend last year’s Rural and Islands Parliament in Fort William, but parliamentary business, including a Rural Affairs and Islands Committee meeting, kept me away. Perhaps next time and going forward, the committee might benefit from attending the Rural and Islands Parliament as part of our formal business.

My Green colleague, Orkney councillor Kristopher Leask, did take part in discussions at the first Scottish rural and islands youth parliament meeting and remarked on the value of young people coming together to work on finding common solutions to common challenges.

The priorities of the rural and islands youth parliament will be familiar to all members who have engaged with young people in rural constituencies. We have heard that today. In some regard, they are the concerns that we hear about from all residents: a lack of warm affordable homes, poor transport links and a failure to fully grasp the challenges of the climate and nature crises that we face.

If we look deeper, though, we will see new solutions as well as common challenges. Those young people’s priorities for transport are sustainability and reliability. They do not want to build more and bigger roads but to look at all the ways that we travel, not only by car. On housing, the parliament identified the market failings that need urgent solutions and spoke of the importance of community-led solutions, which is something that I have highlighted by championing the community-led housing trusts that are challenging the failed commercial status quo and creating the high-quality, affordable homes and community enterprises that rural Scotland urgently needs.

We cannot overstate the importance of the arts to young people in rural Scotland. As well as providing a key economic driver, the arts are vital to creating vibrant communities and often underpin hubs such as village halls and local cinemas. Creative practices enhance the sustainability of rural communities and are vital to quality of life, community development and social cohesion. The sector is also integral to our changing employment landscape and has a huge potential for growth in the just transition to a low-carbon economy.

Young people have been seeing the failings of the short-term approach to tackling our climate and nature crises and are rightly calling for long-term funding to support rural communities in prioritising nature restoration. The nature restoration fund is an important step along that path.

Our carbon-neutral islands project has employed many local young people to lead community approaches to tackling climate change. I was fortunate to meet some of them, including Tom and Rosie, on Raasay this summer. Their vision it is absolutely inspiring. They are working hard to take the project forward and bring much energy and real-life experience to their development work.

That kind of work offers opportunities to young people who are seeing many of the industries that provided employment for previous generations become increasingly automated. Youth-led reform of our education system could create a generation of young people with flexible life and work skills that would enable them to adapt to the changing workplace as well as to our changing environment. Depopulation and ageing need not be the defining characteristics of our rural communities, which are extraordinary places to raise families, start enterprises and build communities.

Let us heed the youth parliament’s request to listen with purpose, not only acknowledging young people’s priorities but looking at how well we can deliver on them. For too long, young people have been at the periphery of our ideal of rural Scotland. Let us take this opportunity to move their concerns and priorities to the heart of what we do.

Alasdair Allan will be the final speaker in the open debate.

16:33  

As others have said, ensuring that young people in Scotland’s rural and island communities have a say is not only a good idea but essential for the survival of those communities. My island constituency often faces unique challenges that have an impact on all age groups, and one challenge that has already been alluded to—demography—has been compounded even more since Westminster’s decision to take Scotland out of the European Union against our will.

Historically, my Western Isles constituency has faced the serious consequences of having a decreasing population, whether because of the impact of global conflict such as the first world war, if one wants to look that far back, or because of a more general perception of a lack of opportunity for young people. However, if we listen genuinely and actively, we can hear many good news stories to tell about young people in rural Scotland.

I am thinking, for instance, of Uist Beò in my area. It represents a group of young people who have dedicated themselves to making Uist a home for their families and a base for their businesses in the face of the sometimes daunting challenges to those things. Members of Uist Beò were in attendance at the recent meeting of the Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament and its youth counterpart. Indeed, many of the younger islanders from Uist were in attendance and, to use their words, they “did not hold back” in providing their valuable input and experiences to help ministers to strengthen future generations of island communities.

To some extent, of course, young people can already express their views to legislators, either directly or through their members of the Scottish Youth Parliament. However, the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament has a different function. It provides young islanders and young people aged between 16 and 30 from throughout rural Scotland with opportunities to assemble and discuss and agree policy ideas. As MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, I believe that the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament can play a hugely important role in constructively collaborating and influencing policy making.

There are many successes that show the ways in which Scotland values its young people. I am thinking, for instance, of Scotland’s investment in social housing in rural areas, free bus passes and the imminent introduction of free ferry journeys for young islanders. However, there is still a great deal to do, and I am sure that the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament will have a role in achieving that. When it met most recently, in November 2023, it was able with one clear voice to express young people’s desire for the housing market to be reformed in rural communities and to ask members of this Parliament to develop housing policies that will empower them and their communities. The Scottish Government’s continued support, including up to £30 million for the rural and islands housing fund, will be helpful in that respect.

However, it cannot be overstated how critical affordable housing is to ensuring the future of young people in our rural and island communities, so I welcome the Scottish Government’s acknowledgement of what the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament has said on that and many other issues.

I hope that we all recognise the work that the body does, its unique role, and the way that it involves young people directly in how our policies are developed and pursued. In that vein, and as a member who represents an island constituency, I am delighted to support the motion that the minister lodged to recognise the work that the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament does.

We move to closing speeches.

16:37  

It is a privilege to close for Scottish Labour. “There should be nothing about us without us” is a mantra of the disability movement and it is one that applies to the subject of this debate. The people who live in rural areas are the best placed to know what their communities need, and that is especially true for young people, whose future is at stake. I am pleased that the minister stated a commitment to that approach in her opening remarks and that other members did so in their speeches. I note in particular Evelyn Tweed’s comment that rural areas are not all the same.

The Scottish rural and islands youth parliament does crucial work to ensure that young people’s voices are heard. As colleagues have said, including Beatrice Wishart, those who take part give up their time to do so. I put on the record my thanks to them, including those who are in the public gallery this afternoon.

We must value the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament not just because it allows those voices to be heard but because it is often at the forefront of highlighting and offering solutions to the challenges that are faced by the communities that it represents. As my colleague Rhoda Grant said, those challenges have in some cases forced young people out of rural areas. I think that we all agree that we have to address that, and a good place to start is, of course, with the issues that the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament has highlighted: housing, transport, the arts and culture, food and agriculture, the environment, mental health, depopulation, young carers, and skills and education. We in the Scottish Labour Party believe that all those areas are crucial to protecting the future of our rural and islands communities.

I want to spend a bit of time talking about education before I reflect on some of the speeches that we heard in the debate. Young people across Scotland must have the opportunity to reach their potential, through high and rising standards in our schools, and to aspire to change the world, as Stephen Kerr noted. As Rachael Hamilton said, young people in rural areas have an equal right to education. However, as elsewhere in Scotland, education faces considerable challenges in rural areas. That is recognised by the rural youth parliament as an area of concern.

I went to a rural school—Milne’s high school in Fochabers—and loved it, but I know only too well the challenges that we faced. Many challenges remain. Despite that, rural schools punch above their weight. However, we know that they are struggling with recruitment, the conditions of the school estate and, for some staff, access to wraparound childcare. The youth parliament is right that we need to embrace technology and innovation, to ensure that young people in rural areas can access the education for the jobs of the future that they cannot currently access. As my colleague Colin Smyth has said, ensuring that young people feel that there are opportunities for them in rural areas is essential to encouraging them to stay there.

Key to that, of course, are colleges. That is why I am deeply worried about some of the cuts to budgets for further and higher education. Those are having real-life impacts, not just on the number of Scottish students who can go to university but on colleges. One example of that is the impact of the proposal by UHI Shetland to offer voluntary severance to 18 full-time lecturers—one third of lecturers at Shetland college. The two worst-hit areas will be community learning and business and creative courses, both of which are needed for the future of our country. That represents a loss of opportunity. In addition, many of those courses include students with additional support needs, so the impacts do not fall equally. Despite that, I understand that no island communities impact assessment has been carried out and that no equalities groups have been consulted. I hope that the minister will reflect on that and confirm that she will look into it.

In addition, we need to mention the incredible organisations that work locally. One such organisation is the Usual Place in Dumfries, which I have had the pleasure of visiting. It works hard to support education and young people, including on transitions, as my colleague Rhoda Grant mentioned. I thank it again for all that it does. It has not been immune to cuts so, please, we must remember the importance of not allowing such organisations to feel precarious. They are needed to support young people across the country—specifically, in rural areas.

We have heard a lot about the lack of suitable housing in our island and rural communities, which is a factor in the challenges for the people who live there and for the numbers of people who come to live, work and study. Kate Forbes and others have focused on that. I encourage the minister to consider seriously Rhoda Grant’s suggestion that we introduce rural burdens to ensure that homes cannot be sold on for holiday lets. That could also help to address some of the points that were made by Jim Fairlie, who is my new favourite prophet.

As many members noted, good transport links are also crucial. Fears of being stuck on islands do not encourage people to come or to stay, and they encourage the people who live there to leave.

Access to culture, which we also heard about—in particular, from Ariane Burgess—is crucial. There is a growing culture sector in our rural and island communities, but the impact of Covid restrictions and budget cuts has weighed heavily, including in rural areas. We have to address culture cuts and teacher shortages in those areas.

We need not just to encourage more people to live in rural areas but to ensure that the people who are already there do not leave and that they have the services that they need, such as health and social care. Key to that is sustained and connected action on depopulation, as members have said, including Alasdair Allan, who spoke just before me. That is key to keeping people in, and attracting them to, rural areas.

The debate has shone a light on crucial issues that young people face on the islands and in rural areas, and has given us a chance to recognise the key role of the young people who live there. Scottish Labour believes that a full strategy—listening to young people and putting them at the heart, covering access to health services, homes and opportunities, and with a timeline attached—must be developed in order to address the challenges, so that we can halt depopulation, retain young people in our rural areas and deliver the reality of opportunity for all across Scotland.

16:43  

Given the subjects that I intend to cover in my speech, I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests as a partner in a farming business. In addition, I am a member of NFU Scotland, Scottish Land & Estates and the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. I am also somebody who lives in rural Scotland, on one of our islands, and who was, a very long time ago, considered youthful, although I appreciate that those days are long gone.

The debate has been interesting and important, and has highlighted many issues that I have raised a number of times in this place, as a Highlands and Islands MSP. We all know that it can be challenging to live and to grow up in rural Scotland or on one of our islands. That is why responsible Governments recognise the need to support rural and island communities to overcome or reduce those challenges, where they can do so.

However, that is not the record of the Scottish Government, for which rural Scotland has too often been an afterthought, as other members have said. That does not appear to be about to change any time soon. Holyrood’s Finance and Public Administration Committee, of which I am a member, is currently scrutinising the Scottish National Party-Green Government’s latest budget. As I raised last week with the Deputy First Minister, it is one that will see rural Scotland being hit hard. Agriculture support has been cut by more than £33 million; a similar amount has been cut from forestry; £7 million has been lost from the marine budget; nearly £2 million has been slashed from islands funding; and land reform funding is down by £3.5 million. That amounts to nearly £80 million in cuts to the rural affairs, land reform and islands budgets alone.

However, that is not all. Next year’s budget for Highlands and Islands Enterprise has been cut by another £8 million, while South of Scotland Enterprise will lose £7 million. Those bodies are important, because they are tasked with supporting businesses, creating jobs and driving economic growth in much of rural Scotland and on our islands.

As other members across the chamber have mentioned, at a time when we have a housing crisis across much of rural Scotland, the Scottish Government has cut the housing budget by £200 million. Although the SNP is pushing ahead with its plans for a visitor levy, making visiting parts of Scotland more expensive, even for those of us who live here, it has cut the tourism budget by nearly £6 million, yet tourism is important to so many rural and island communities.

Education has not escaped either, with college funding being cut by nearly £60 million, while 1,200 fewer Scots will be able to attend Scottish universities.

Local council budgets have been under increasing pressure for years, hitting public services and councils that have to deliver them to our most remote and vulnerable communities.

Therefore there is pressure on housing, farming, crofting, fishing, tourism and support for higher and further education, and on local government and the services that it delivers. That is the record of the SNP-Green Scottish Government—it is not one to be proud of.

The Scottish rural and islands youth parliament is right to raise concerns about housing provision. As other members, including Rhoda Grant, Stephen Kerr and Kate Forbes, have highlighted, more must be done to ensure that housing meets the needs of local people so that they can stay in the communities in which they grew up.

The Scottish rural and islands youth parliament is also right to push for transport that meets the needs of local communities. I repeat my support for access to our islands ferries being treated as we would buses on the mainland, so that young people on our islands are not disadvantaged. As a farmer, I certainly welcome calls for supermarkets to ensure that more local produce is available on our shelves and that we continue to meet high welfare standards.

I also very much recognise the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament’s concerns over the provision of mental health support in rural areas and the need to provide better support to young carers, who often face additional challenge—but with less support—because they live in rural Scotland.

I turn to other members’ contributions. Rachael Hamilton and Pam Duncan-Glancy rightly highlighted the appalling condition of many rural schools. Only last week, my Scottish Conservative colleagues on Highland Council lodged a motion calling for a school estate emergency to be declared in that area, but it was voted down by SNP and Green councillors—one even blaming the poor state of Highland schools on Ukraine, Brexit and Liz Truss. What a shambolic and shameful deflection of responsibility. Rachael Hamilton was also stark in her warnings that the SNP-Green Government has failed young people and our rural and island communities.

My colleague Stephen Kerr was absolutely right when he said that the problem is not that the people of rural Scotland do not have a voice but that the SNP and Greens often do not listen to it. We have seen that time and again across a myriad of issues, from the ferries crisis to the contempt shown to Highland communities over Government ministers’ reluctance just to admit what everybody knew—that they would miserably fail to hit their targets to dual the A9.

One recommendation of the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament with which I respectfully disagreed was on leadership, when it called for the cabinet secretary to be its spokesperson in the Scottish Parliament. That highlighted an area on which the youth parliament must engage more widely in future. As far as I am aware, there has not been widespread engagement by either the Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament or the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament with MSPs other than those in government. However, I say to them that those of us who shout loudest for our rural and island communities are not sitting on the Government benches; they are here among the Scottish Conservatives and among Opposition members. To Humza Yousaf’s frustration, they are even on the SNP’s back benches. That is from where Scottish ministers are held to account, and where pressure is exerted on them to deliver on their promises and to meet their responsibilities to rural Scotland.

It is important that the voice of rural and island Scotland and of those who are the next generation of—in my region—highlanders and islanders are heard in the Scottish Parliament. However, hearing is not the same as listening. They must be listened to, as well, and their concerns must be acted on, and ministers must deliver on actions and promises. The SNP-Green Government has never been very good at that.

16:50  

It is a pleasure to close what has mainly been a constructive debate. I reiterate my gratitude for the opportunity to address some of the critical issues that our rural and island young people face, and I pay tribute to and welcome to the public gallery the delegates from the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament. It was great to meet many of them in the Scottish Parliament earlier. The points that they raised at the Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament, which I, too, had the privilege of attending in November, have been integral to shaping our discussions here today.

The debate has been a testament to the collaborative spirit that defines our shared commitment to better outcomes for all our rural and island communities. I should say at this point that we will accept the Labour amendment but reject the Tory one. The debate has provided an opportunity to discuss in more detail how the Scottish budget, which I presented to the Parliament on 19 December, will support our rural and island communities. It is a budget that is a reflection of some of the stark consequences of the UK Government’s spending decisions. I will point to two, in particular, that have been touched on in the debate, because the spending decisions of Whitehall departments flow directly into the Scottish Government’s available budget.

One such decision was the decision at Whitehall to cut the housing and communities budget by nearly 53 per cent, which has had a direct impact on the housing budgets that are available to the Scottish Government. The second was the decision to cut the environment, food and rural affairs budget by more than 12 per cent. It is fine for members to make demands of the Scottish Government, but it is a bit rich when they do not follow through in the funding and budget decisions that they make in their own Government, given the impact that those have on our budgets.

Rachael Hamilton rose—

I will give way in a moment.

Despite that, our budget aligns very much with our commitment to tackle many of the issues that we have discussed today, where we have the power to do so. I will come to a couple of those in a minute, but I will take the intervention just now.

The SNP promised to dual the A9 back in 2007. That was more than 15 years ago. Can the cabinet secretary still use the same grievance and excuse—about the highest block grant ever—for that particular failure?

Màiri McAllan has laid out the plans for the A9. What is not helping the infrastructure investment plans in Scotland is the more than 10 per cent cut to capital budgets that we will see over the next five years. What also does not help is the reduction in the financial transactions budget that is available, which has supported the affordable housing supply programme over a number of years.

Housing has been mentioned a few times in the debate, and it is important to recognise that the affordable housing supply programme has delivered more than 10,000 affordable homes in rural and island communities since 2016. However, there is more to do. In recognition of the importance of housing for key workers in rural and island areas, we are making up to £25 million available from the affordable housing supply programme budget over the period from 2023 to 2028. That is in addition to the £30 million that we are making available for the rural housing fund.

Kate Forbes was quite right when she pointed to the need for diversity of tenure. Rhoda Grant also raised some important points about the practical issues of crofting housing. We would be happy to look at those further. She also talked about rural housing burdens. Some organisations, such as housing associations and rural housing community trusts, have been able to deliver rural housing burdens, but, again, we will be happy to look into those further.

Will the minister take an intervention?

No—the member did not take any interventions.

The point that was raised about second homes is important, because the point that too many homes in rural communities are lost to second homes was made by a number of young people at the parliament that I attended. It is good to see the widespread political support from most parts of the chamber—with one obvious exception—for empowering local government to take action on second homes.

We have also sought, in the budget, to address some of the challenges that the hospitality sector faces in island communities. In 2024-25, we will offer 100 per cent non-domestic rates relief, capped at £110,000 per business, to hospitality businesses that are located on islands. We will also invest a further £12.1 million in our rural and island communities to support community-led local development and similar initiatives, in addition to the £24.5 million that we have invested since the closure of the European Union LEADER programme in December 2021.

Some action has been taken, but I acknowledge the need to go further. That is why I am working with Mairi Gougeon to take a cross-Government approach, so that every part of Government is interrogating the work that it is doing to ensure that it is delivering for rural and island communities, and to challenge ourselves and our agencies—

Will the minister take an intervention on that point?

No, thank you.

We will do that to ensure that we and our agencies are delivering for rural and islands Scotland—[Interruption.] Jamie Halcro Johnston did not take any interventions, but, in the spirit of consensus, I will do what he did not and let him intervene.

I am grateful to the Deputy First Minister for taking an intervention, given the greater amount of time that she has in comparison with mine.

She has talked about collaboration across a number of departments. How does that work when the rural affairs and islands budget is being cut by £80 million? How helpful can collaboration across departments be when that amount of money has been taken out of the budget?

As I set out at the Finance and Public Administration Committee on Tuesday, we have prioritised the spend on front-line services—such as health, local government, police and fire—on which those in rural and island communities rely. If Jamie Halcro Johnston thinks that that is the wrong priority, he has the opportunity to come forward with alternative spending proposals. I will await his doing so.

I welcome support from across the Government to enable younger generations to thrive in rural and island places. We have more work to do to ensure that that is the case, but it is already clear—as my attendance at the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament in Fort William confirmed—that there is an incredible opportunity across rural Scotland to build fairer, stronger communities and a stronger rural economy in which the opportunities are shared.

The energy in the room at the very first Scottish rural and islands youth parliament was palpable, and that is a testament to the delegates who attended and their ideas. We want to work with all those young people and with that institution so that they hold us to account for the delivery of the aims and ambitions that we have set out.

As I said at the start of my speech, the debate has, in the main, been constructive. It is the start of a process of listening and then delivering what needs to be delivered, focusing on the key priorities, and working with young people and being held to account by them for the delivery that we will take forward.

That concludes the debate on the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament.