Chamber and committees

It is good to hear that the Scottish Government is looking into that, and I also look forward to hearing an update on it.

Scotland’s historic environment provides huge support to Scotland’s tourism industry. Statistics show that, in 2019, the sector generated £4.4 billion, as well as supporting 68,000 full-time jobs. The towns and businesses around these historic sites benefit greatly from the increased footfall from tourists and visitors. Many businesses in areas such as Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders greatly rely on the revenue from tourism. However, at the beginning of 2023, those areas had some of the highest reported percentages of site closures or restricted access.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, we must ensure that our historic sites are able to remain open and to keep supporting local businesses and tourism in Scotland. That is not possible if 60 of them remain closed to the public. The Scottish Government’s most recent budget predicted an increase in commercial revenue for HES in the coming year. How will that happen if many of those important historic sites remain closed?

Scotland’s historic environment plays an important role in keeping Scotland’s culture alive. It tells a story of Scotland’s past and our cultural heritage. It supports the economy and thousands of jobs. The Covid-19 pandemic hit the arts and culture sector hard and investment and funding is still needed to help to rescue it. If many of those historic sites remain closed in the coming months, we cannot hope to revive that important part of our culture.

Thank you, convener. Good morning. How much involvement do the national performing companies have with third-sector organisations? As you probably know, the third-sector organisations work with different ethnic-minority organisations as well, bringing in ideas from different countries. What is your involvement in that, and how do you guys work with third-sector organisations?

I do not have any interests to declare.

Good morning.

I will ask a question on what you have just said, but I also have another question. Are we using the spaces that we have in schools? You have mentioned the Filmhouse’s difficulties and that you always find it difficult to attract people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Are they adequately informed? Do they know where they can perform or participate?

Do you believe that there has been a drop in cultural participation from individuals from typical low-income backgrounds or deprived communities?

I, too, congratulate the minister on her new role.

At the end of last year, the Scottish Government’s budget predicted a fourfold increase in commercial revenue for Historic Environment Scotland. However, at the beginning of this year, 60 Historic Environment Scotland sites remained closed or partially closed to the public. Can the minister advise how Historic Environment Scotland’s revenue will rise as predicted if so many of the sites remain closed throughout the summer?

My casework is currently inundated with constituents experiencing housing issues. Families are stuck on waiting lists for permanent homes. Individuals are stuck in unsuitable temporary accommodation, living with damp, mould, mice and rats. Students are presenting as homeless because they cannot find affordable accommodation where they study. With the appointment of a specific housing minister, it appears that the Scottish Government is beginning to take this homelessness and housing crisis seriously.

Scotland is experiencing a housing emergency, with a record number of children trapped in temporary accommodation. As of September 2022, 9,130 children were reported to be living in temporary accommodation, which is an increase of more than 100 per cent on the figure a decade ago. The number of families presenting as homeless has also increased massively, with 40 per cent more households in temporary accommodation than was the case in 2014.

The City of Edinburgh Council alone is facing a £65 million bill for tackling homelessness. Local authorities across Scotland will also be buckling under the weight of the overflowing housing sector. No local authority was able to meet its rapid rehousing aims within the projected five years. Without allocated resources from the Scottish Government, local authorities will continue to fall short of their housing aims.

The temporary accommodation task and finish group has made distinct recommendations about how to begin to solve the homelessness crisis, and the Scottish Government must take significant action now to address those recommendations. If it does not act now and provide resources to meaningfully implement the recommendations, they will not be worth the paper that they are written on.

Homelessness can affect any group. It is not just families that are suffering in the current housing crisis. Yesterday, I asked the Scottish Government what its response was to a recent report by NUS Scotland that said that a fifth of international students in Scotland had experienced homelessness during their studies. The report found that international students were almost twice as likely to find themselves homeless as home students were. That is unacceptable, and the Scottish Government must act now to ensure that international students are welcomed into Scotland and looked after during their studies.

In January this year, I hosted a student housing round-table event to address problems that students are having in sourcing accommodation. I was told a similar story of students being unable to source accommodation, with many having to sleep on friends’ couches or to source accommodation far outside the city that they were studying in.

The Scottish Government must also do more to hold universities accountable for the housing needs of their students. Further investment in overpriced purpose-built student accommodation will not solve the problem. The Scottish Government must act now to begin solving the multitude of problems in Scotland’s housing sector.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I am not sure whether my vote has been registered. My app is not refreshing.

NUS Scotland’s study also found that 29 per cent of international students have considered leaving their course because of financial difficulties, and, shockingly, that 49 per cent skipped meals due to their financial circumstances.

In January, I hosted a round-table event on student housing in the Parliament, where many international students told me that they have faced racism from private landlords when looking for affordable housing. If they cannot secure a United Kingdom-based guarantor, purpose-built student accommodation is the only option for many of them. Such accommodation often has associated difficulties, including term length, and it is far too expensive for most students to afford. Will the minister agree to meet me to discuss the housing situation of international students in Scotland?

In closing this afternoon’s debate on behalf of Scottish Labour, I reaffirm our opposition to what is an abhorrent bill. The UK Government’s Illegal Migration Bill paints a picture of irresponsible refugees who seem to delight in travelling to the UK in dangerous small boats. That is simply not the case. Actually, the bill could achieve the opposite of ensuring the safe passage of asylum seekers across the Channel, by forcing many vulnerable asylum seekers into the hands of human traffickers and criminal gangs.

Many of my colleagues have already addressed today the dehumanising and immoral proposals in the bill. As the cabinet secretary’s motion addresses, there are deep concerns that the bill is not consistent with the European convention on human rights. The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, cannot even guarantee that the bill does not break international human rights law. As my colleague Paul O’Kane addressed, the UK Government should be focusing on creating more safe and legal routes for people seeking asylum, instead of vilifying those who arrive via alternative means.

As many members mentioned, the right to seek asylum is a universal human right that is enshrined in the refugee convention. It is a right that all those who enter and live in the UK should have access to. The bill takes that right away from some of the most vulnerable people in Scotland.

The UK Government’s bill has received widespread criticism from numerous third sector and international organisations. All condemn the immoral and unreasonable proposals in the bill. Amnesty International UK has predicted that the bill is expected to reach into various devolved areas of competence—most worryingly, those involving child protection and anti-trafficking legislation. The anti-trafficking provisions in the bill are incompatible with the anti-trafficking obligations under article 4 of the European convention on human rights and article 12 of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

The scope of the duties requires the involvement of Scottish ministers, Police Scotland and the Lord Advocate. The bill will not only directly impact those people and their commitments in Scotland, but specifically undermine the protections contained in the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. The Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland has advised that the bill gives the Home Secretary the power to disapply existing statutory duties in Scotland owed to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

As my colleague Kaukab Stewart mentioned, local authorities in Scotland have a responsibility to provide children in need with support and accommodation, regardless of their current immigration status. The Scottish Refugee Council has advised that the bill removes the right of survivors of trafficking or modern slavery to seek asylum in this country when entering by what the UK Government has termed “illegal means”. It also removes their right to safety, assistance and recovery and the prospect of temporary leave to remain.

My colleague Donald Cameron said that we should not be debating this issue, as it is a matter that is reserved to the UK Government. However, as I have addressed, the bill will have ramifications in Scotland that are likely to overwhelm many of Scotland’s sectors. The number of asylum seekers who will need pro bono assistance is expected to be very high, which has the potential to overwhelm Scotland’s legal aid services. That is not to mention the impact that the bill could have on Dungavel immigration removal centre, which is the only immigration detention centre in Scotland and currently has the capacity to detain 130 men and 12 women. Although legal professionals are monitoring the situation, they suspect that the consequences of the bill will very likely overwhelm the centre and the neighbouring community.

If provisions are not put in place to support the centre, it is likely that we will see asylum seekers being shipped elsewhere in the UK, with little regard to personal or family ties.

The bill not only contains immoral and inhuman plans that will endanger thousands of vulnerable people trying to seek asylum here in the UK; it seeks to shut the door on those who have entered the country as victims of human trafficking, who will receive no compassion or protection from the UK as a result. It will also directly impact a number of devolved areas of competence. It is likely to contradict commitments made by the Scottish Parliament and have a serious impact on sectors here in Scotland. We should remain committed to the international agreements by which the UK is bound. I hope that Scotland will remain committed, and welcoming to those entering this country, seeking asylum.