The final item of business is a debate on motion S4M-09069, in the name of Nigel Don, on Scotland’s traditional housing stock. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes that Scotland’s traditional housing, including that in Angus North and Mearns, which was constructed prior to 1919, is the group of dwellings most likely to be in disrepair; recognises that Historic Scotland’s strategy for sustaining and developing traditional building skills focuses on promoting a better understanding of the value of traditional building skills; welcomes what it sees as this emphasis on traditional building skills in Scotland; notes the Scottish Government’s traditional building health check pilot scheme, which aims to address the state of the country’s housing stock, and considers that quality repairs will also tend to reduce fuel poverty.
17:06
I was pleased, yesterday, to be able to sponsor an event in the Parliament on behalf of Construction Scotland, which brought together many people who are involved with traditional building skills and materials to show us what they do. The Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs kindly graced the event with her presence, and I think that a good time was had by all.
It was particularly good to meet a number of apprentices and to see examples of their handiwork. Those of us who hesitate to climb a ladder, never mind work on a roof, are grateful to those who can and will and who bring professional skills with them when they do.
Our buildings are, obviously, a significant part of what makes Scotland the place that it is. Many of our buildings are old and are constructed in ways that are now regarded as old-fashioned, and are built from materials that are now either difficult or expensive to source, or are simply no longer used, given modern construction methods. However, buildings are not only part of the landscape; in many contexts, the buildings are the landscape.
It is also the case, unfortunately, that many of the older properties—usually defined as those that were constructed before 1919—are in some disrepair. That is an understatement, actually, because the latest figures suggest that three quarters exhibit some disrepair to critical elements, and that about half need urgent repairs. Many of the buildings are in private hands—indeed, most of them are, although some of the very large ones are in public care.
Most worryingly, a survey has indicated that, although more than £2 billion was spent between 2009 and 2011 by 732,000 private owners or tenants to improve the state of their properties, there was a minimal change to the overall state of the buildings across the country. It seems that we are content to put in a new kitchen and ignore the leaky roof, or repaint the lounge while the chimney pots are waiting to be blown down and the masonry needs pointing.
Quite apart from the long-term deterioration of the fabric, there are significant implications for the energy efficiency of properties as a result of that kind of behaviour. Homes that are not wind and watertight are not good places to live in general. Clearly, they are not good places in which to bring up children and, equally clearly, they are not good places for those with health problems. In short, warm homes that are wind and watertight are a basic necessity for a healthy society. Of course, energy efficiency helps to reduce fuel poverty, which is often a problem for people in traditional housing, and it also reduces our carbon footprint. I suspect that my colleague, Mike MacKenzie will say more about that later.
It is good to know that Historic Scotland is on the case. It funds refurbishment projects across the country through its conservation areas regeneration scheme. As far as I can see, it has awarded more than £12 million between 2007 and 2013, and another £13 million or so is available up to 2018. Historic Scotland has produced highly respected free guides and, as yesterday’s event demonstrated, it is clearly engaged with the building industry. It has also produced a very helpful analysis entitled “Establishing the Need for Traditional Skills”, which is an exemplary document, and “Traditional Building Skills: A strategy for sustaining and developing traditional building skills in Scotland”, which is, of course, the Government’s main document. I am sure that the cabinet secretary will want to refer to it.
The Scottish Government has funded an increasing number of modern apprenticeships; there are around 25,000 per year currently. Over 3,000 of those are in the construction and related fields. With that number of modern apprenticeships, it is clear that there is plenty of scope for traditional building skills to be incorporated.
I recently visited Forth Valley College to see its new facilities. I was even allowed to try my hand at masonry. Once again, a wee try was enough to remind me that those who have had some practice have the real skills and it would be best if I kept out of the way. I have also visited the engine shed nearby, in Stirling. I share the excitement that it will provide a centre of excellence in design.
Historic Scotland has also created a traditional building health check pilot scheme, which began in April 2013. That is a subsidised subscription scheme that provides independent inspections, which then provide the stimulus for repair and maintenance and thereby increase the demand for traditional skills. I note that the scheme has already raised approximately £2.9 million for projects.
There is no doubt that the continuing imposition of VAT on building repairs is not helping. Essentially, a building needs to be being converted into residential accommodation to attract a zero or reduced rate of VAT. It is widely held in the industry that reducing VAT on repairs would provide a welcome stimulus to our economy and work to address the backlog of necessary repairs. I note—and have checked—that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has once again failed to take the opportunity to do that in his budget today. I say to the cabinet secretary that I hope that we would look at that matter very quickly post-independence.
Finally, I note that building work has a high economic multiplier. That has been estimated at 2.84, which somehow seems to be slightly too precise a number, but it is the one that I have. That means that, for every pound that is spent on such work, £2.84 is generated in the wider economy.
The huge advantage of capital investment in general is that the money that is spent not only delivers a tangible project of economic value—we all know that we simply do not have the money to waste on projects that do not have that—but maintains construction skills and provides training opportunities. Given the large number of traditional buildings that we have and will need to maintain, everything that we can do to encourage owner-occupiers and landlords to get on with the job would be good. There must be a building equivalent of “A stitch in time saves nine.”
In summary, our traditional buildings are a national asset, but they need to be looked after. The challenge is to get those who are responsible for their upkeep to rise to that challenge. It seems to me that the Scottish Government is doing all the right things and is heading in the right direction. I look forward to other members’ comments on what else we should be doing.
I call Alex Johnstone, to be followed by Mike MacKenzie. [Interruption.]
17:13
Excuse me, Presiding Officer. You surprised me.
I welcome the debate and congratulate Nigel Don on bringing it forward.
As someone who was brought up in a 200-year-old farmhouse, I am used to the cold and am well aware that the wind can sometimes blow between the stones. However, we have to take the matter seriously in the future if we are to bring our traditional housing stock up to the standard that is required in order to achieve energy efficiency standards in the longer term.
Although the 2012 Scottish housing condition survey threw up the rather alarming statistic that 92 per cent of homes that were built prior to 1919 had some disrepair, we should take into account the fact that very minor faults can put them in that category, so we should perhaps prioritise the 27 per cent that have serious disrepair.
Maintaining property of such age can be a daunting and expensive duty. The situation is made worse by the fact that many such buildings are listed, which gives rise to confusion and uncertainty about what can and cannot be done. For that reason, it is essential that we understand the needs of the individuals who live in such properties and are able to fund the necessary repairs, but who find themselves simply not knowing what they can and cannot do.
There is another problem that takes us into employment and training, but which is also a geographical problem that fits with something that I have stated in the chamber many times before. We know from what we discovered at last night’s event in Parliament that there is a need—that is to some extent being satisfied—to train young people in the jobs that have the traditional skills that are necessary to maintain property. However, there are areas across Scotland where there are extreme shortages of such skills. In addition to training young men and women to take on traditional skills roles, we must ensure that we encourage and support individuals to move around the country and take their skills with them. For that reason, it is extremely important that we consider how we make the skills available.
Nigel Don raised VAT in his opening speech—it is an issue that I am keen to address. I realise that house repairs and upgrading of property would be significantly facilitated by a reduction in VAT on such work. I am prepared to continue to lobby for that and will happily work with other members to ensure that we get some movement on that in the longer term.
I am sure that Alex Johnstone is aware that one of the things that George Osborne did in a recent budget—it might have been the most recent one prior to today’s budget—was to make it more difficult to apply the dispensation in favour of older listed buildings whereby approved alterations to them could be zero rated for VAT. I understand that the sense of that dispensation was to help to give new life and new use to older buildings. Unfortunately, Mr Osborne is travelling in the opposite direction to the one that Mr Johnstone suggests.
I will, of course, reimburse Alex Johnstone’s time.
When we are talking about Mr Osborne, we must remember that he is the Chancellor of the Exchequer who has taken us from a position where this country was on the verge of economic ruin to a position where we now have the fastest-growing economy in the developed world. As a consequence, the money and the opportunity to take forward major changes such as the one that we are discussing in this debate are far more likely to happen under George Osborne’s tenure than they are under any of the alternatives.
That is the line on which I will close. As with so many other things that we have discussed in the chamber, the line that comes from the Scottish National Party—that somehow in an independent Scotland every tax will be halved and every budget will be doubled—is one that simply has no credibility.
17:17
I congratulate Nigel Don on securing this debate and on sponsoring the excellent event in the Parliament last night, which I thought was really terrific. I know that a lot of other members enjoyed it and felt the benefit of it.
I am pleased to speak in the debate because I spent much of my previous career as a builder renovating, repairing and improving traditional buildings. I am glad to say that over my lifetime we have learned much about how best to treat and deal with our older buildings. That knowledge could be spread more widely, because the problem is not lack of knowledge but lack of dissemination of that knowledge. Perhaps the most important of the lessons that have been learned is one that Nigel Don touched on earlier, which is that it is critical to attend first to the exterior fabric of a building. Too often the priorities of householders and building owners are new kitchens and bathrooms, for example, so much less of our attention and resources are directed to the external fabric of our homes and other buildings.
A lot of the important external fabric of our built environment has been neglected, including that of some relatively modern buildings—it is not all about pre-1919 buildings. That situation is not helped by the United Kingdom Government’s long-term insistence on maintaining at 20 per cent VAT on repairs and improvements. An iron-clad case has been made for a reduction in VAT on building repairs, and fiscal modelling strongly suggests that that would give rise to an increase in the overall tax that would be raised, and in employment.
However, there is an important point about taxation that the Opposition parties should consider. The financial modelling suggests that not all the return would come through a change in VAT, although there would be a Laffer curve effect. Much of it would be recouped through taxation on employment. I hope that the Opposition parties will bear that in mind.
I must touch on the related issue of fuel poverty, which afflicts Scottish islands at the wholly unacceptable level of 50 per cent—in some cases, in excess of that. That does not sound to me as though we are better together. The reason for that level is largely that there is a much higher proportion of traditional housing on our islands and there are profound difficulties in properly insulating those hard-to-treat properties, not least because there is no “magic wallpaper” insulation solution—if I understand physics correctly, there may never be one.
To place the matter in context, it is appropriate to make a comparison with modern dwellings and the building standards that pertain to them. For a new home to meet the energy efficiency standards that are demanded, it needs to have a whole envelope of insulation, with insulation not just in the roof and the walls, but under the floor as well. To give members an idea of what that means in real terms, I point out that it requires about 8 inches of loose-quilt insulation all round the house, or about 6 inches of more modern rigid-board insulation.
We talk a lot about insulating cavity walls, and that is certainly a good thing to do. It is worth people’s while to put 2 inches of polystyrene beads into cavity walls, but that does not come close to the insulation standards of a new home. If we are to deal properly with fuel poverty, we must not just take buildings and their occupiers out of fuel poverty today—we must introduce an element of future proofing through insulation.
If insulation is difficult, we are forced to look at other innovative measures. That entails a flexible approach from those who produce and administer building regulations, from planners and, most important, from those who are responsible for fiscal policy.
We are replacing our housing stock at a rate of 0.5 per cent per annum. At that rate, it will take 200 years to replace the whole stock. We therefore need our traditional buildings to remain in use, and to achieve that will require a Government that recognises where market failures lie, and that provides appropriate fiscal corrections and a supportive policy framework. Unfortunately, I see little sign that the UK Government recognises or has registered the problem, so the sooner the Scottish Government has the full powers that are necessary to drive meaningful solutions, the better.
17:23
I thank Nigel Don for raising this important issue and for his recognition of Historic Scotland’s efforts.
This month, alongside introducing to the Scottish Parliament the Historic Environment Scotland Bill, which will build resilience, sustain the functions of Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and create new opportunities for collaboration and partnership across the sector, I published “Our Place in Time – The Historic Environment Strategy for Scotland”, which is the first such strategy. It is an exciting move that will help to ensure that our historic environment is cared for, valued and protected in a sustainable way.
The strategy, which was developed following a long process of intensive stakeholder discussion and engagement, recognises the importance of traditional skills and identifies skills and capacity as one of the key cross-cutting priorities for the sector to address over the next 10 years. In particular, it makes it clear that, in order to ensure that there is appropriate care, management and promotion of our historic environment, we need to support the many professional and specialist skills that are required to carry out the work, upgrade existing skills, and develop, deliver and accredit new skills across the public, private and third sectors. I am excited by our new strategy and confident that it will deliver positive outcomes for the care and management of our historic building stock.
Scotland’s traditional buildings make an enormous contribution to our economy and our national identity. Around 20 per cent of Scotland’s buildings are traditionally constructed; although those buildings include iconic sites, the majority are the buildings that we live and work in and love. The 450,000 traditionally constructed buildings in Scotland form a rich backdrop to our lives, but they are so much a part of our environment that they sometimes go unnoticed by many and the evidence shows that too many such buildings are being taken for granted by too many people. We have long suspected—and have now identified—a clear market failure in relation to the repair and maintenance of traditional buildings. However, although that situation presents a bleak picture for the future of our traditional buildings and all they contribute to Scotland’s character, it also presents a good opportunity.
The richness of Scotland’s historic environment draws millions of tourists to our shores. The repair and maintenance of the traditional buildings that form the fabric of our streets, squares, towers, castles, tenements and houses are often seen as a specialist and expensive activity, but the fact is that the heritage construction sector supports up to 20,000 full-time equivalent employees and generates up to £1 billion gross value added for the Scottish economy. As a result, the proper maintenance and repair of our traditional buildings provide an ideal shovel-ready project as well as being of benefit in themselves, and the opportunities for stimulating demand in construction maintenance can have pay-offs in youth training opportunities and skills development and can engage a new generation in the training of essential building traditions.
We in the Scottish Government and its agencies are doing all we can within our current powers to strengthen the economy, to create and bring jobs to Scotland, to stimulate growth and to create the most supportive business environment in the UK. Measures that create demand for routine maintenance will also help to stimulate the economy and safeguard jobs. Securing the swiftest possible economic recovery is the key priority for this Government.
In the spirit of consensus, therefore, I want to take up Alex Johnstone’s offer to work with those of us who are trying to achieve a reduction in VAT on repairs. Mike MacKenzie was absolutely right to point out that George Osborne has recently gone in the opposite direction, but the economic and financial case can be made that such a cut in VAT would provide more income by stimulating growth and the economy and by ensuring that money could be recouped through different types of tax returns to the Treasury.
The issue is certainly worth looking at, and I will send Alex Johnstone information that I hope will make him decide to be part of the collective approach that is being taken to tackling the matter. As I have said, the case has been made, but there needs to be either a change in the Westminster Government or a vote in September to give powers to this Parliament.
The Scottish Government’s sustainable housing strategy, which we published last year, sets out our aim to create warm, high-quality and affordable low-carbon homes across Scotland’s housing stock. For houses in the social sector, we will work with the Scottish Housing Regulator to monitor landlords’ progress towards ensuring that social rented homes meet the Scottish housing quality standard by April 2015.
For houses in the private sector, we have introduced amendments to local authorities’ powers to address disrepair in private rented and owner-occupied homes and we are looking at how we might set minimum energy efficiency standards in existing private sector housing. We will encourage home owners to work together to improve and maintain their properties and, as part of that approach, we will publish proposals for a forum on the development of a cross-tenure housing standard.
Sustainability, energy efficiency and carbon reduction principles shape our attitudes to the upkeep of traditional buildings. Historic Scotland is breaking new ground in developing more effective insulation of traditional buildings, but there is universal agreement that there is little or no point in insulating a poorly maintained building. Most of the traditionally constructed buildings that we are talking about have been in place for more than 100 years. They have stood the test of time and popular approval; I predict that most of them will be among those that are still here in 2050, and ensuring their sustainability will be a key part of achieving our carbon goals for 2050.
In November 2012, I held a summit meeting to agree a joined-up approach to stimulating demand for people with the appropriate skills to repair and maintain our historic environment. Since the summit, Historic Scotland has continued to work with many partners to deliver hands-on skills training, support a range of projects through grant funding, and deliver education and outreach events. It has recruited an additional 30 apprentices and remains the largest trainer and employer of stonemasons in Scotland.
The experience in other countries convinces me that we do not need to accept the inevitability of deteriorating building conditions. As the motion states, Historic Scotland, in partnership with the Construction Industry Training Board Scotland, has developed a pilot project for a traditional buildings health check scheme for Scotland. Nigel Don talked about the scheme. The pilot in Stirling aims to promote proactive building repair and maintenance and stimulate demand for skilled tradespeople.
The aim is to establish a model for the rest of the country to follow, with inspections due to start this summer. The new Historic Scotland national conservation centre in Stirling will be at the forefront of the approach, creating a hub that brings together the construction and heritage sectors to inform and enthuse people from all sectors of society about the importance of conservation, repair and maintenance.
We have a long-term commitment to tackling the issue. The key to success will be a co-ordinated approach. This is a long-term endeavour; there are no quick fixes. The evidence suggests that home owners do not prioritise maintenance of what is probably their biggest asset, although maintenance makes good sense in the long term. There is evidence of a complex set of interlocking circumstances, but if we do nothing we face an ever steeper downward spiral of decay. We need to stop the rot—literally, in some cases—before it is too late.
If something is complex, that does not mean that it is impossible. There are opportunities for growing the existing market for repair and maintenance work and for partners to work together. I am delighted that the traditional buildings health check scheme is taking off this year. We are committed to the process, and if Scotland embraces the challenge and sees the opportunities, we will see benefits for many years to come.
Meeting closed at 17:31.Previous
Decision Time