Chamber and committees

I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement.

A year ago, the Scottish Government was forced to admit that Scotland has a housing emergency. Sir Tom Hunter has said that Scotland’s housing shortage could be resolved “tomorrow” if the Government listened to the sector. He said that he knows of developers who are choosing to take build-to-rent projects to Birmingham and Manchester because of Scottish National Party rent controls. Yet, here we are, progressing a bill to bring in permanent rent controls that is bad for investment and will not result in one home being built. Sir Tom Hunter is right, is he not? We need to “build, baby, build”.

Instead of continuing with plans to push damaging rent controls, will the Government focus on building more affordable housing? Is the cabinet secretary confident that the Government will reach its target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, considering that it is miles off its target and that today’s statement did not mention the word “build” once? Finally, will the cabinet secretary confirm today that the Scottish Government will not cut the affordable housing supply budget next year, given that it has already been cut by £218 million in real terms since 2021?

Falkirk Council cannot afford 20 per cent of the funding. The Grangemouth flood protection scheme cannot come to fruition. Falkirk Council cannot contribute more than £100 million: like many councils, it does not have sufficient funds to commit to such a scheme. What options are available? Is the cabinet secretary suggesting that, if councils cannot meet the 20 per cent requirement, no protection can be put in place? If that is what the Government is saying, communities will suffer as a result.

On the back of my colleague Stephen Kerr’s question, will the cabinet secretary commit to considering a bespoke plan for Grangemouth to safeguard those communities?

The statement tells me that the Scottish Government is not confident in delivering the outcomes and targets that have been announced by the minister. If the new national contingency resource facility had not been opened last month, there would be no beds available for children who require secure accommodation. That is not progress.

Members have asked about data in relation to young people who have not been able to be placed into secure accommodation because of the lack of beds. It is simply nonsense for the minister to respond by saying that the Scottish Government does not hold any data on that whatsoever. The minister has known that we need such data in order to scrutinise the work of the Scottish Government. Why has she not looked into that?

We are talking about matters relating to the Promise, so why has it taken the minister so long to introduce the bill, given that her party gave its word to care-experienced young people that it would be introduced before the end of this parliamentary session?

Will Ross Greer take an intervention?

That is why we need to look at the whole of our housing sector. We need to build more homes in order to tackle the housing emergency. We are not going to do it otherwise, because, as it stands, supply is completely outweighed by the demand of people who need homes. I think that we can all agree on that point.

Just before the debate, I had a look at what properties are available in certain areas, including north Ayrshire, which Ross Greer represents. I discovered, from looking at the website of just one selling company, that, on Arran—to take that as a silo—there are 81 properties available right now. Therefore, there are homes available, but we need to look deeper into the reasons why people are not buying in those areas. That is an important point to make in the debate that we are having today.

We need to look at the facts. Second homes equate to just 1 per cent of the total number of dwellings in Scotland. People tend to buy second homes in areas that they would like to move to permanently when they retire, which means that they contribute to not just one but two economies. We have had discussions about exemptions and all the rest of it. It is in the interests of people who have second homes to play an active role in supporting both the community in which they have their primary home and the one in which they have their secondary home.

The best way of ensuring that communities that have particularly high levels of second home ownership are able to thrive is to make sure that we have a sufficient supply of homes to meet demand. That is the biggest point that I can make today.

We also need to look at how we approach the housing sector from an ideological perspective, given the need to ensure that we have enough homes to tackle the housing emergency. If we put in place policies that stifle investment and development and constrain the provision of more affordable homes in the private rented sector or elsewhere, we will not be able to tackle the big problems that we face with housing today.

I will leave my remarks there, in case I get a telling-off about timing from the Presiding Officer.

I hope that you feel better soon, Presiding Officer.

One of my favourite comic strips when I was growing up was “The Broons”. “The Broons” is a staple in many Scottish households, with generations eagerly awaiting the next edition. It is published in the Sunday Post each week, and many people collect the annuals.

Why on earth am I talking about “The Broons” today? The Broons, fae Glebe Street, have their but and ben,

“a rare wee beauty spot wi a difference”.

It is a second home, which is the topic of the debate today. A but and ben, for those who are unfamiliar with the term, is a traditional Scottish residential house featuring two rooms—the but being the outer room or kitchen area and the ben being the inner room or living space.

The Broons, a typical working-class family who live in a tenement flat, have that second home in the Highlands, which is a relatively short distance from their home. The Broons belong to more than one community. Second home ownership is intrinsically Scottish.

The fictional Broons enjoy their weekends there and, although the younger Broons need some encouragement to enjoy their short breaks, the family have many an adventure while enjoying some time away with the family. One short comic strip section even shows how the family renovated the but and ben to bring the property back into use.

The point that I am making is that second homes are not always for the rich and wealthy. I hope that that is taken into consideration during the debate, because ordinary working Scots are also involved in second home ownership.

We must never forget the brave men and women who fell during the conflict of world war two and those who fought to secure freedoms and liberties that we all take for granted today. We will forever be indebted to our second world war veterans for the sacrifices that they made, the friends whom they lost or the stories that they have told.

This momentous occasion marks the 80th year since the end of the war in Europe. In my short contribution, I wish to focus on why we need to keep marking that occasion. In every community across the country, names are etched into stone, alongside a rank and the date on which those soldiers died. Those are the names of family members and loved ones who will never be forgotten.

Every year, we stand at those memorials and fall silent. Among the crowds that gather are veterans of past wars and more recent conflicts, armed forces personnel, community groups, members of the public and, of course, politicians. We attend those events because we understand the significance of past conflicts and how fragile our world is. That is why I intend to introduce a member’s bill to protect our war memorials. It is important to ensure that they survive for years to come because, one day, there will be no more veterans left to attend such important occasions. We must encourage our younger generations to learn what people in our communities fought and died for—the triumph over totalitarianism.

Often we are told that there is an overfocus on world wars in our education system. However, given current global conflicts, it has never been more important that we reflect on our shared history in order to ensure that our future is one of peace. The values of victory in Europe day are as relevant now as they were then.

In the time that I have left, I will share an uplifting incentive that I read about. It is a fantastic example of how schools can connect with our armed forces and veterans community while learning about the VE day commemorations. Through the Together Coalition, 1,300 schools requested a letter from a veteran setting out their wartime experience and what it means to them 80 years later. Passing that baton of memory and meaning to the next generation will not only have helped to close the generational gap, but will have left a huge impression on the young people, who now have memories of being able to speak to a veteran who lived and fought through the second world war. The Commonwealth War Graves Foundation is the proud custodian of those letters, which have captured those moments in history and which form an additional piece of the picture that members of the public will be able to reflect on in years to come.

I think that that is wonderful. It is what we should strive for in our society—connecting older generations with younger generations, in order to learn from past mistakes. Sharing those experiences can ensure that our future generations do not repeat the mistakes that were made by previous ones.

There is only one thing left for me to say, and that is that we will remember them.

The best way to make housing affordable for Scots is to build more homes, but we know that the Scottish National Party Government’s housing policy has led to the loss of £3 billion of investment from the private sector. Will the cabinet secretary work with the sector to ensure that housing providers can do their job without further interference from the Government?

Farmers in Scotland could face devastating consequences as a result of the UK Government’s proposed inheritance tax changes. As Labour has let farmers down, farmers will now be turning to the Scottish Government for its support, but the last budget saw a real-terms cut for rural affairs, and yesterday’s programme for government will have given Scotland’s farmers little confidence or certainty. What new action can the Scottish Government take to support our farming sector?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is challenging the United Kingdom Government’s proposed inheritance tax changes for farmers. (S6O-04608)