The idea of using longer-term Ukrainian resettlement funding for modular or prefab housing has been discussed, but it has been suggested that such housing could, in a sense, become camps, if I can use that expression, which I think we would all be quite uncomfortable with. Are you concerned that, if proper resourcing is not provided and we do not take a long-term look at the issue, we will end up in that scenario?

That is the concern that has been discussed. To go back to what you said previously, the issue is about how, universally, we create a situation in which people can access services that are well equipped. I represent West Scotland, so I had experience of the situation in Erskine. This is about how we bring people along with us and create a fully integrated community, rather than something on the margins of the community.

Willie Rennie makes an excellent point about the spread of ages at which loneliness can affect people. Does he agree that social media often compounds the sense of loneliness for younger people? We might expect social media to be a way of connecting young people, but many young people feel isolated because of what they see on social media or what they are expected to do in that space.

Like me, Emma Harper represents a community with both rural and town settings. Hers is perhaps a little more rural than mine in the west, but I think that we can both see the importance of tailoring our approaches for those communities where isolation manifests itself in different ways. Getting someone into a town or village setting can be quite challenging in itself. We need to look at particular needs and work with partners across the third sector and local government to do that.

In our communities, the role of the voluntary sector is critical in the delivery of services. Organisations are facing immense financial pressure, with the SCVO finding that more than 90 per cent of organisations have reported increased costs since August 2022. In tandem with rising costs, the third sector has experienced a significant increase in demand for services. In that respect, organisations are often operating with one hand tied behind their back: they are being asked to provide more support with less resource.

I think that that is why the SCVO has called for a new fair funding deal from the Scottish Government. Such a deal would mean longer-term funding of three years or more and sustainable funding that includes inflation-based uplifts, and it would allow for staff to be paid at least the real living wage. It would also mean more flexible core funding, which would allow organisations to plan more effectively and with greater security.

Our third sector needs greater stability, rather than being limited by continuous cycles of trying to secure short-term funding. The instability that is caused by short-term funding cycles is bad for the third sector, which is unable to properly plan for the medium to long term, and it is bad for communities, who benefit so much from the vital work of third sector organisations that are the life-blood of communities.

The £3.8 million social isolation and loneliness fund is, of course, welcome. However, having time-limited funds is not always helpful in addressing longer-term issues and the unsustainability that I have just spoken about. That has been part of the voluntary sector’s experience for a good long while; certainly, when I worked in the voluntary sector after leaving university in the early 2010s, we were discussing such issues. We have not made a huge amount of progress in dealing with three-year funding cycles and the associated short-termism.

Let me be clear: pressures are being compounded by decisions taken over the past 16 years that have chipped away at funding not only for the third sector but for local government—we have seen local authority budgets reduced and services cut.

I am conscious of time, Presiding Officer, so I will begin to draw my remarks to a conclusion. Scottish Labour supports the Government’s efforts to address social isolation and loneliness, but it is time to deliver on the 2018 pledge and recognise that the scale of the challenge is now larger and more significant, impacting a wider demographic of the population than prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is time to deliver on a commitment of building back better, which means recognising that, in the aftermath of the pandemic, we are facing endemic loneliness. It is a crucial public health issue, and it is time to start approaching it with the resources and urgency that reflect that, in order to give sustainability to the organisations that can make the most difference in our local communities.

I move amendment S6M-08758.2, to leave out from “welcomes” to end and insert:

“acknowledges the investment that the Scottish Government is making through the three-year, £3.8 million Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund, which will create opportunities for people to connect with one another in Scotland’s communities; commends the work of organisations and communities to tackle this issue; recognises that tackling this public health issue is a collective responsibility and requires a shared commitment across the public, private and third sectors; notes that precarious funding risks the third sector’s contribution and ability to deliver vital services for people and communities across Scotland; further notes that this can lead to disconnects between national policy and the implementation of policy at the local level, and understands that a long-term, flexible, sustainable, and accessible approach to funding is central to a sustainable voluntary sector, which can deliver measurable impacts on loneliness and isolation in Scotland.”

I am pleased to open this important debate on behalf of the Scottish Labour Party. The Government motion is right to recognise the impact of the Covid pandemic on social isolation and I agree with much of the minister’s contribution.

It is undoubtedly the case that, by its nature, the pandemic exacerbated social isolation as people practised physical distancing, limiting their social interactions to those within their own household bubbles. It can sometimes be hard to recall those days, which were, of course, only a few years ago and impacted us all in such a profound way.

The Scottish Government took an important step when it published its strategy on social isolation and loneliness in 2018, but it is frustrating that, five years later, we are still debating its implementation rather than examining its impact. I understand that the implementation of the strategy was delayed by the pandemic, but it is needed now more than ever, which is why I welcome the publication of the delivery plan and the minister’s commitment to that in her opening remarks.

Throughout the pandemic, we were acutely aware of the impact of social isolation and loneliness. There was a concerted focus on stopping people feeling disconnected, isolated or lonely. However, at the reopening of our society, the epidemic of loneliness did not end with the end of the restrictions. In the latter days of the pandemic, as we started to think about our Covid recovery, the political discourse was infused with hope and it focused on building back better and how to establish a better new normal. However, the British Red Cross found that, in rebuilding after the pandemic, two in three Scots agreed that tackling loneliness should be a priority for the Government.

The pandemic revealed everyone’s vulnerability to loneliness. New research from the British Red Cross found that 37 per cent of people in Scotland feel lonely always, often or some of the time. As I have said already, for some, the pandemic exacerbated an underlying sense of isolation. For many others, it was people’s first or perhaps most profound experience of a despairing sense of loneliness.

It is concerning that there remains a persistent stigma around feelings of loneliness, with the Mental Health Foundation finding that 39 per cent of adults in Scotland would never admit to feeling lonely. People’s loneliness is being compounded by silence, with too many not able to access the support that they need because they feel too embarrassed or ashamed to speak out. It is therefore right—and I think that there is consensus around this in Parliament today—that we must treat loneliness as a public health issue.

Loneliness is more than feeling isolated or disconnected. It has a profound impact on our general health and mortality. For example, the National Institute on Aging has estimated that social isolation and loneliness can shorten someone’s life expectancy by up to 15 years, with loneliness increasing the risk of stroke and heart disease by around 30 per cent.

During the Easter recess, I took the opportunity to visit some projects in my region that are seeking to reduce social isolation in the community. I had the great pleasure of visiting a local knit and natter group in Giffnock library. The group has helped local people to reconnect and reintegrate into society as they come out of the pandemic. It is helping a range of people who are still dealing with the effects of long Covid and those who are suffering from residual social anxiety, as well as helping those who have moved to a new area during the pandemic and have struggled to meet new people to integrate into the wider community. The knitting is secondary to the nattering, which was just as well, given my lack of ability with the needles, but the importance of the group is rooted in its ability to bring people together and provide them with their own space to make social connections, and to engage in general chit-chat, which is so important in people’s everyday lives. It was a privilege to listen to the many members of the group explain the profound impact of dealing with their feelings of isolation and doing so in an informal way. Many of them also told me about the improvements that they have seen in their mental health as a result.

That group might be an example in one town, but I know that there are groups like it across Scotland and I am sure that we will hear about many examples of that from across the chamber today. Such groups are helping people to rebuild their confidence, tackle their loneliness and create new friendships. Those are the types of intervention that we need to deal with this endemic loneliness.

Of course we need big bold action to address these issues, but that does not mean that all resources should be targeted towards centralised or national campaigns. We need strong support for local initiatives that are rooted in communities and which reflect the needs of specific communities around the country. Any initiative to tackle social isolation and loneliness must be rooted in removing all the barriers that hinder social interaction, and that must be holistic in its nature. For example, when looking for a location in the community, we must consider whether the venue is accessible, affordable or free, warm and easy to travel to on foot or by public transport as well as by car.

For reference, I am chair of the trustees of the Neilston War Memorial Association, and a member of Enable Scotland.

I am, convener, but I do not appear to be on screen. Can you hear me?

I thank the witnesses for an interesting discussion so far. Under theme 3, we will try to pull together a lot of what we have been discussing. Many of the themes that we are interested in have already been touched on.

Ruth Boyle spoke about long-term structural solutions and, under this theme, we want to focus on longer-term approaches. In recent times, we have lived through national emergencies—the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis—so we are interested in how we can restructure and look across the board at policy interventions that could make a long-term difference in protecting people, particularly disabled people, people living with long-term conditions and unpaid carers, and in allowing them to absorb shocks when they come. The committee is also interested in your views on any implications that the design of Scottish social security benefits has for carers and disabled people.

We expect inflation to increase, and prices are still high. What are the implications of that on how Governments should support people during a cost of living crisis that is not abating any time soon?

I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to this extremely important and timely debate and to speak in support of the motion in the name of my colleague Michael Marra.

As we have heard from the opening speakers across the chamber, we face two huge crises in Scotland. There is the cost of living crisis, which has been created in part by the Conservatives’ reckless attitude to the economy, and there is the crisis across the NHS in Scotland, which is widely seen and felt. In fact, the crisis is not just in our NHS but across all our public services.

The reality is that Scotland is being failed by two Governments—a Tory Government that has become morally bankrupt, has not taken the action that is required to support and protect people and has contributed to economic recklessness that has driven our economy over a cliff edge, and an SNP Government in Scotland that has grown bloated and out of touch and is now mired in internal party scandals.

Why is that important? It is important because the people of Scotland are being left behind. I will read out a quote:

“I already have days where there is no gas or electricity in the property, and we already skip meals and go without basic items. I am worried that this is going to happen more often and on a lot more days of the month.”

That testimony is the painful reality that is felt by thousands of Scots every day. New research by the Trussell Trust has revealed that the need for food banks in Scotland has reached its highest ever level. Parents are skipping meals to ensure that they can feed their children.

However, that issue did not arise solely from a cost of living crisis. The Trussell Trust has concluded that

“neither the Covid pandemic nor the cost-of-living crisis are the key drivers of need for food banks.”

I think that we all know that they are symptomatic of wider issues including the wide and deep, endemic poverty that pervades in Scotland, which has not been sufficiently addressed across our communities.

Indeed, people who were already in poverty have been pushed to the margins. They are being ignored by both Governments—the one at Westminster and the one at Holyrood. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found that 460,000 people in Scotland are now living in very deep poverty. That figure has increased significantly over the past two decades.

Presiding Officer,

“making poverty history in Scotland will be the core of everything our Government does.”—[Official Report, 31 January 2008; c 5744.]

Those were the words of the then Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, in 2008. Of course, every member in the chamber should share the aspiration of making poverty history, but it is one thing to say it and another to focus all the Government’s attention and resources on doing something to make it a reality.

After 16 years, the level of child poverty remains the same as it was when the Government came to power. It has had 16 years with access to the levers of power to make fundamental change, but the reality is that, since entering government in 2007, the SNP has failed to address the issues in a serious and substantive manner. That is why we are seeing these issues. Of course, as we have heard, that is also against the backdrop of a Conservative Government at a UK level that has made matters worse.

The reality is that we need change. We need a Labour Government at a UK level that will invest in a meaningful windfall tax, take action on the cost of living and support families across the country. We also need change with a Labour Government here at Holyrood that will reprioritise and move away from waste and Government bloat, finding the triggers and levers and using them to make a difference.

Next week, we will participate in the poverty summit that was announced by the First Minister. We welcome any action to address poverty. However, let us be clear that there have been many summits and this is yet another one. It must not be another talking shop. Despite all its encouraging and positive rhetoric and all its photo ops, the SNP has failed over the past 16 years to use the powers of this Parliament effectively—the Parliament that we created—to make tackling poverty a top policy priority. After 16 years, people need less talk and more action from this Government.

Will the member take an intervention?