Chamber and committees

It has long been our policy to make sure that that happens, but we must go further. Because people who can afford to buy a second home have a fair amount of free cash, they will be able to pay that extra council tax, so we must consider other measures that recognise the fact that they have a lot more money than local people have.

Local people cannot get a mortgage, because they often work in seasonal jobs. They also have unstable jobs. Banks demand a monthly salary—a stable income is what they lend against. People who have three or four different jobs simply cannot provide that to get a mortgage.

We need to take into account the fact that the cost of living in rural areas is much higher. In good times, it was 30 per cent higher, but it will be much more than that now. That means that people in rural areas are less able to compete for homes in their communities.

We also need to look at the cost of building in rural communities, which is hugely different from the cost in other areas. I have often quoted—and I continue to quote—the unit price for a socially rented house in Barra, which was £233,000. The Government grant to housing associations for building in rural areas is less than half of that, at £111,640.

I have already given way and I want to make progress, if I may.

Not only do rural areas not have enough grant from the Government, but they have the higher cost of materials. A house costs 25 per cent more before building it even begins due to the cost of transporting materials on ferries alone.

Housing associations are also bound to put their projects out to tender, and only large companies can afford to tender for them. Those large companies do not employ people in island or rural communities, which also adds to the cost, because they bring in workers from outside. Any economic benefit that could have been given to the rural community disappears, because all the profit from building the unit goes elsewhere. We have to look at how we rural proof our policies, because planning is very much urbanised.

Many people have welcomed the Government’s commitment to 10 per cent of affordable homes being built in rural and island areas, but I want to pick that apart a little. Seventeen per cent of people in Scotland live in rural areas, as defined by the Scottish Government. However, the definition includes small, remote towns and accessible rural areas, as well as remote rural areas. The problem with that is that communities such as Barra are competing for that 10 per cent with the leafy suburbs of Edinburgh. That cannot be right, because most of that building will happen in the central belt.

To compensate for its financial mismanagement, the Scottish Government is raiding budgets that are essential to meeting our net zero targets. It is also kicking the can down the road on when it will repay the farmers their missing millions. What impact will those budget cuts have on meeting our net zero targets and when will farmers get their missing millions?

I, too, would welcome a direct award. However, to run lifeline services—which always should be run as public services—we need ferries that are fit for purpose. Can the cabinet secretary tell us when the Scottish Government will publish a ferry replacement programme in order to provide the lifeline services that our islands require?

As the First Minister will know, yesterday the BT Group confirmed the closure of its Alness base. Some 100 jobs will be lost, which will impact one in 50 local residents in the town. What talks has the BT Group had on preventing those job losses, given that it has benefited from and enjoyed hundreds of millions of pounds of Government funding?

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to the creative industries in the Highlands and Islands region. (S6O-02719)

The cabinet secretary will be aware that the First Minister pledged £100 million in extra funding for Creative Scotland over the next five years. Summer festivals in my region, such as Belladrum Tartan Heart festival, HebCelt, Tunes by the Dunes, Under Canvas by Eden Court, and many others, bring millions of pounds to the area. However, the costs that are associated with running those events are rising. Can the cabinet secretary provide a timetable as to when that money will become available? Will some of the funding support smaller or new events that cannot make multiyear funding applications to Creative Scotland?

For clarification, are trustees under an obligation at the moment to sell to the highest bidder, or can they take a lower offer? Jeremy Balfour said that amendment 47 clarifies the law, but I wonder whether the law, as it stands, does what he suggests?

I do not think that I have any relevant interests but, for the record, I am a Unison member and a member of the Co-op Party.

That does not really answer my question. I wonder what the obligation is on charitable trusts at the moment. Does amendment 47 change it, or does it remain the same?