Chamber and committees

A written response from the cabinet secretary would be greatly appreciated.

Following the reviews that were conducted by the fatal accident inquiry, and its findings, there will be significant concern, anxiety and anticipation among women and families who are expecting. Can the Scottish Government provide assurance on the additional measures that are being considered to enhance that patient safety—I understand that the cabinet secretary has just outlined some of those—to improve oversight and address staffing levels in our maternity and neonatal services in order to alleviate those concerns?

The cabinet secretary has provided a timescale for that, but could he also consider whether any changes that have been made to neonatal services, in particular in relation to the downgrading at Wishaw general hospital, can also be taken into consideration, given the findings of the fatal accident inquiry?

It has been 10 months since the Scottish Government was forced into declaring a housing emergency. Local councils, of course, followed suit, referencing the growing number of people declaring themselves as homeless and the fact that they have to place families in temporary accommodation as they do not have the supply to meet demand. At the same time, measures such as the introduction of rent controls have led to £3.2 billion of lost investment, with a significant drop in house building. Something has gone dreadfully wrong, and I have no confidence that this Government will be able to produce a plan that will tackle the housing emergency before the end of this parliamentary session.

Scottish Labour has rightly focused its debate today on the impacts of temporary accommodation and the affect that it has on children and young people.

Will the minister accept any responsibility for the actions of his Government that have led to a housing emergency and the issues of temporary accommodation for children?

I appreciate the response that the cabinet secretary has just provided, because the most heartbreaking conclusion of the inquiry is, of course, that the deaths of Lea, Ellie and Mira-Belle could have been avoided. My deepest sympathies go to the families who have been impacted by the inquiry findings.

While we cannot undo the pain and distress that those families have endured, we must ensure that their experiences lead to meaningful change. The report highlights defects in the system of working in hospitals, pointing to a lack of guidance for midwives in assessing preterm labour symptoms and a lack of effective means of flagging risks on hospital systems.

Given the inquiry’s recommendations, although I was listening closely to what the cabinet secretary has just said, what further assurances can the Scottish Government provide to pregnant women and families that those recommendations will be fully implemented in order to prevent similar tragedies in the future?

I do not have time; I have only four minutes for my speech.

The figure of 10,300 should shame the Scottish Government into action, and action is exactly what this Government promised to deliver following 15 recommendations from the temporary accommodation task-and-finish group in 2023. At that time, the Government said that it would

“prioritise action in response to the recommendations that will have the greatest impact to reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation by 2026.”

That is what it promised, yet here we are, with the number of people in temporary accommodation rising exponentially.

To add insult to the Government’s injury, the publication of “In Their Own Words: Children’s Experiences in Temporary Accommodation” lays bare the scale of the problems. I accept that a pilot programme is being rolled out to five local authorities with the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures to increase supply through buying back properties and bringing long-term empty homes back into use.

I submitted a written question to ask what immediate steps are being taken to

“guarantee that all temporary accommodation meets the basic standards of safety, cleanliness and suitability for households with children”.

The minister’s response is to advise that the Scottish Government published a standards framework in 2023, although it will need to further consult on whether the framework can be legally enforced. The framework was published back in 2023, so if the minister has time in his concluding remarks, will he answer the question of what exactly has been done?

It would be remiss of me not to mention the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which represents the Scottish Government’s biggest missed opportunity to tackle the housing emergency. The legislation should be about housing, but it will not result in the building of one single home. I will leave the issues that I have with rent controls to one side for today, but I gently remind the minister that, should billions of pounds of investment continue to be lost, that will be on his watch.

That being said, I welcome the minister’s amendment to the Housing (Scotland) Bill on the introduction of Awaab’s law, which I called for in the chamber just last week. However, that shows that many issues that could have been included in the bill have not been. I am still unclear why the amendment that the minister has lodged does not include the private rented sector, because the private rented sector will be included in the bill that is going through Westminster. Why is that not the case here? Perhaps the minister can expand on that in his closing speech. He was only too happy to tell me that most of the mould and damp instances occur in the private rented sector, despite the issue that I raised directly with him relating to a social landlord.

I am out of time, so I will conclude. The only way out of the housing emergency is to build more homes. Until this Government gets a grip on the housing situation that we face in Scotland, my fear is that more children will be stranded in temporary accommodation, which will not allow them to go on and live full lives.

I move amendment S6M-16844.2, to insert at end:

“; believes that the report underlines the urgent need for the Scottish Government to outline an action plan to address the housing emergency, and notes that the Housing (Scotland) Bill is a missed opportunity to encourage more investment and housebuilding in Scotland.”

I am pleased to speak in this debate on young carers action day 2025, and I congratulate Paul O’Kane on securing it.

The reason why I want to speak in this debate is that, on Tuesday, I received an email from a young adult carer development worker at Falkirk and Clackmannanshire carers centre. The centre sent through a letter from young adult carers in Falkirk and Clackmannanshire to make sure that we, as MSPs, raise the point of the action day in relation to “geezabreak” and that we address the need for universities, colleges and employers to provide better support in education and work for young carers. Those points have been raised throughout the debate by Martin Whitfield, Jeremy Balfour and other members.

Young adult carers’ caring responsibilities mean that they do not always have time to see their friends, enjoy hobbies or focus on education or work. Their minds are usually elsewhere—on their families and on the people they care for—because that is what they feel is important and they want to make sure that they provide the best possible care to the people they love so much.

However, because young carers are thinking about the people they care for, it can be hard for them to take a break or a moment to enjoy whatever it is that they want to do. It is important that we raise these issues in the chamber today to ensure that their voices are heard and that the Parliament and the Scottish Government continue to improve the lives of young carers right across Scotland.

Paul O’Kane raised an important point about the need for accurate data so that we have know the number of young carers. I hope that the minister will address that point in her summing-up speech.

Many members reflected on their attendance at the young carers festival, which I visited back in 2023. It was a fantastic day. I remember the photo booth, the inflatable bouncy castles—I was really disappointed that I did not get a shot on them—the activities, the sports and the hair and make-up. The queue for the hair and make-up went on for miles, but I can understand why that was so popular, particularly among the young girls and women who were there.

When we sat down to speak to the young carers, they rightly challenged us on what more we, as parliamentarians, could be doing to improve their lives. They then told me that they were off to a disco, which shows how good those festivals are. However, it also stresses the importance of the theme of young carers action day, which is “geezabreak”, because that was an occasion when young carers were able to enjoy a break, which is so important.

I reiterate how MSPs can show their support, particularly this week, given that young carers action day was yesterday. We can share information and content on social media using the hashtags #youngcarersactionday, #ycad2025 and #geezabreak.

As Martin Whitfield highlighted, we can sign up to the young carers covenant, which is a commitment to support outcomes that will improve the lives of young adult carers.

We can also speak to our councillor colleagues and ask them to lodge motions to make sure that our councils are going as far as they can to ensure that our young carers are supported across all our local authority areas.

I wish all our young carers in the gallery a very happy and successful young carers action day. I reiterate the words of Karen Adam: we appreciate you more than you will ever know.

My point is similar to those that have already been made. It is an issue to be mindful of with regard to the present scope of the Housing (Scotland) Bill and what we might need to look at as we approach stage 2. It is for individual MSPs to look at the matter further and engage with those who might be impacted.

I sympathise with the issues that are raised in the petition. In past years, we have seen a number of leisure and cultural facilities disappear from our communities up and down the country. That relates directly to funding. We should regularly debate the council funding that is being delivered by the Scottish Government and the impact that potential service reductions across the board will have on communities.

I would like the committee to return to the issues that the petition raises and explore them at a future date, because we really need to look at public services, the landscape across the country and which areas have been heavily impacted by the reduction of leisure and cultural facilities. I hope that we will explore the issue in the future, because it is one that I really sympathise with.

As we can see by looking at the petition, a lot of this ground is covered in the Housing (Scotland) Bill. It is important to look at the concerns that have been raised, but they could be debated at a future stage. I am sure that we will have such conversations when we approach stage 2 of the bill.

We are finding out about the mess only if someone has a new fire safety system fitted. That is not good enough.

To take a case study, a mother from Hamilton has been told by an expert that her two-year-old son is lucky to be alive after he vomited in his sleep due to living in a mould-infested home. South Lanarkshire Council has said that it has been working hard to carry out and alleviate any dampness in the property, and that the home is now habitable. However, the expert disputes that outcome and has since called for the family to be moved to a new, permanent and safe home. The issue involves not just the private rented sector but social landlords.

That shows the scale of the problem and why we need to look at how to address discrepancies, because people’s lives depend on that being done. The United Kingdom Parliament introduced Awaab’s law, which requires all social and private landlords to investigate and remediate damp and mould within a suitable timeframe and to a high-quality standard. Given that we do not have that type of legislation in Scotland, will the minister look to introduce such legislation to ensure that everyone can live in a safe and warm home?