Chamber and committees

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve the provision of GP services in the north-east. (S6O-00616)

Perfect. Good morning, cabinet secretary. I have three questions. The first is on the overall budget allocations to different areas. As far as I can tell, there is a big disparity between agriculture and aquaculture. It looks as though there is about £36 million for agri-environmental measures alone, versus £20 million for fisheries as a whole. Will you tell us a bit about the thinking behind that?

Thank you. There are no further questions from me for now, convener.

Thank you, convener. Is it working now? Can you hear me?

Thank you for going into that.

My next question is about the Marine Scotland budget. It looks as though that has grown by around 45 per cent since last year’s budget. Targets have been missed or pushed back for important policies such as the marine protected areas network, which was due in 2015, and for ensuring good environmental status and ending wasteful practices such as discarding. Has the additional funding that Marine Scotland received in previous budgets been appropriately spent?

Ambitious commitments are definitely important, but the most important thing is that they are actually met and delivered. I hope that we can look forward to that.

My final question is on the marine fund Scotland, which I believe is £14.5 million. Around the world, in the wake of the 26th United Nations climate change conference of the parties—COP26—the environment and sustainability are increasingly being seen as important, and citizens and campaigners are calling for them to be prioritised. However, funds are being targeted at things such as getting larger trawlers in order to be more energy efficient, or getting more efficient nets, rather than looking at moving away from unsustainable practices such as dredging and trawling.

Will there be conditions attached to the £14.5 million for the marine fund Scotland to ensure that there is a drive to use more sustainable measures in fishing?

My first question relates to fisheries. The cabinet secretary will be aware that the EU has taken action to put an end to the practice of discarding in fisheries. I understand that it is the Scottish Government’s stated position that it wishes to rejoin the EU. Is the Scottish Government committed to a discard ban? If it is, what steps is it taking to introduce such a ban?

My second question is about the management of fisheries. I understand that UK fisheries are currently managed under the UK Fisheries Act 2020 and that the SNP in Westminster opposed that legislation but the Scottish Government in Holyrood gave it legislative consent. Does the Scottish Government intend to introduce its own legislation to govern fisheries in Scotland—for example, a Scottish fisheries bill?

The pandemic has exposed what decades of failed housing policy have done to the rented sector in Scotland. Many tenants are being driven into debt by unaffordable rents and are being forced to live in damp, cold, poor-quality housing. Therefore, I welcome the Scottish Government’s publication of a consultation on a new deal for tenants.

However, let us be clear. It is thanks to activists in tenants unions such as Living Rent, and to campaigning members of the Scottish Parliament such as Pauline McNeill, who lodged a proposal for a fair rents (Scotland) bill, that there are proposals for rent controls in the consultation.

I am concerned by the Scottish Government’s approach to implementing a system of rent controls. The co-operation agreement with the Greens commits to introducing rent controls by the end of 2025, which means that tenants must wait another four years for action to be taken on rents and that landlords will have another four years in which to raise rents with impunity.

Living Rent is calling for urgent action from the Scottish Government. In support of that, the Labour amendment calls for a commitment that

“the legislation establishing the framework for these rent controls must be included in the forthcoming Housing Bill in the second year of the current parliamentary session.”

I hope that all members will support our amendment.

The minister said earlier that no legislative change can come until the consultation has concluded. However, we are in the middle of an unaffordability crisis and every month in which rent controls are delayed is another month in which renters experience increasing debt and insecure homes. I ask the minister to look again at urgent interim measures that can be taken right now to address unaffordable rents.

Rent controls will be vital if we are to improve the quality of rented accommodation and security of tenure. Scotland’s housing stock is in a state of disrepair, with every second home failing the Scottish Government’s quality standards, but tenants have no real power to force landlords to make repairs and, too often, complaints are met with the threat of eviction. Even if a landlord cannot evict a tenant through a no-fault eviction, they can increase rent and use cost as a weapon to pressure tenants to get out.

In Germany and the Netherlands, rent controls are used to force improvements and repairs to rented housing. We should adopt a similar approach in Scotland, with rent controls serving to incentivise improvements and deter unscrupulous landlords from refusing to make repairs or hiking up rents to secure evictions.

Unaffordable rent is not unique to the private rented sector. In 2019, the Scottish Housing Regulator found that up to 80 per cent of tenants in the social and public rented sector were concerned about their ability to pay rent. Too many social landlords leave tenants with no choice but to accept rent increases. We must democratise social landlords and put tenants at the heart of social landlords’ decision making. That is why the Scottish Government must make rent consultations statutory, and the results binding on registered social landlords.

Although my remarks have focused on the need for rent controls and proper consultation on rents, those measures cannot be implemented in isolation. They must be matched by significant improvements in enforcement and measures that enhance tenants’ rights, such as ending the practice of tenant reference fees. Given that landlords received 14 times more in financial support than tenants during the pandemic, the Scottish Government now needs to prove to tenants that it is on their side by introducing those changes as a matter of urgency.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer.

At the start of my speech during the debate on a new deal for tenants, I forgot to declare my interest as a member of Acorn Tenants Union and Living Rent tenants union.