Chamber and committees

I welcome the new panel.

My questions arise from the evidence that we heard from the last panel and relate directly to local government. One of the panel said that, should MCC appeals be disallowed, we may need to revisit the reliefs and support offered to businesses at the height of the pandemic.

My questions are about the knock-on effect on local government workforce pressures, which we know have been huge over the past couple of years. Would it be an issue if we had to revisit the reliefs and support that we have already given out, and should workload pressures form part of the decision-making process that we are undertaking?

Thank you. I should declare an interest, as I am a serving councillor on East Ayrshire Council and a former member of a valuation joint board.

My first question is for Pete Wildman and Alastair Kirkwood, to get the assessors’ perspective. Would additional resources be required to process the appeals? What impact would there be on other areas of work? We know that other appeals are being dealt with and that there is work on the next revaluation.

I also want to ask Martin Clarkson, David Magor and others who come at this from the property perspective whether workload should be a valid consideration when it comes to deciding whether to allow the appeals that we are talking about.

Having worked closely with the Chartered Institute of Housing and Scottish Women’s Aid on their report “Improving housing outcomes for women and children experiencing domestic abuse”, we are now waiting for implementation groups to be created. In light of the gold standard domestic abuse laws that we have, does Scottish Government policy use a sufficiently gendered approach to, and analysis of, homelessness response and prevention? Do we need to revisit some of it?

I ask Gordon MacRae for his opinion on that, as women will have come to Shelter for advice on homelessness through domestic abuse.

Thank you for the invitation to attend as a representative of the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee.

I worked closely with some of the witnesses during the pandemic when I was the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities lead spokesperson on housing. I thank them for their hard work.

As I listened to Gordon MacRae and Lorraine McGrath, I was struck by the fact that it was a collective endeavour. My grave concern is that we will start to slip back on that true multi-agency working and the step change that we saw in removing those institutional barriers. I am concerned to have heard Lorraine McGrath say that some bureaucracy is starting to creep back in.

Are we likely to see an increase in homeless presentations with the changes that are coming down the line, such as the end of the furlough scheme and the end of the longer notice periods in the private rented sector? How can we ensure that bureaucracy does not creep back in so that we do not again start to see bad results for people presenting as homeless to councils?

That question is for Maggie Brünjes and Gordon MacRae.

Actually, it is more of a comment just to wind up this section of questions.

I think that we need to put down a marker with regard to the policy implementation gap and fully recognise that situation. After all, as Gordon MacRae and others have said, we have world-leading legislation, rights and responsibilities in Scotland. In that respect, the cross-committee work will be truly important because, thinking of the work of my own Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, I suggest that the housing system as a whole has to come together if we are to have the supply of houses with which to respond to any increase in homelessness or, indeed, the level of homelessness that we have at the moment. That will be fundamental, but I think that national planning framework 4 will be vital, too, so we have to get that right.

I am just putting a marker down with you and the committee, convener, to ensure that we carry out that cross-committee work.

Thank you.

I thank our witnesses for making the time to come and speak to us today. As you know, a big part of community fiscal empowerment is participatory budgeting, which has been greatly interrupted by the Covid pandemic. Will you give a temperature check on the commitment that 1 per cent of council budgets will be given over to communities for fiscal empowerment on decisions? Does progress stand out in some areas? Do other areas need more support?

Before I ask my question, I will declare an interest: I am still a serving councillor on East Ayrshire Council.

In my council area, communities are supported to create their own community-led action plans. They need to get at least a 40 per cent return from households in their community for their plan to be a sovereign document, which is then represented in community planning and is the basis for local place plans.

How do your organisations ensure that all voices are heard within communities, not just the voices of those who have the confidence, experience or resources to come forward? We can sometimes see the usual faces around the same tables.

I am aware that some people might not have heard my question, so I will repeat the last bit of it. Can Rona Mackay tell us how the community council in her area ensures that all the voices in the community are being heard and that it is not the same people around the table all the time? I suppose that the question is about how you ensure wider recognition of every voice in your community.