Chamber and committees

I agree with Kenneth Gibson that the construction of affordable housing in the local authority sector is an essential part of our approach to recovery. Since 2007, the Government has demonstrated a commitment to that agenda, with more than 105,000 affordable homes having been delivered in that period, of which more than 73,000 were for social rent and nearly 17,000 were council homes.

The Government is committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which 70 per cent will be available for social rent and 10 per cent will be in our remote rural and island communities. Those commitments are part of an ambitious investment package of around £18 billion that will create 15,000 jobs each year, some of which will be in the sectors that Katy Clark has just asked me about.

I congratulate Evelyn Tweed on securing this important debate and, as Michael Marra has just said, providing the opportunity for members from across the country to reflect on the implications of the very challenging instances of weather that we have had to face in storms Arwen, Barra, Malik and Corrie. Evelyn Tweed was correct, in her motion and her comments, to pay tribute to the significant contribution that has been made to the resilience effort by countless communities and community organisations. I will come on to say a little bit more about that.

As members have indicated, in the aftermath of storm Arwen, the Government undertook to review the experience of the handling of the storm. That review was carried out expeditiously by the Government’s resilience division, and the report was published last week. It is a comprehensive report, which contains a number of recommendations on how we should address and improve the resilience effort that is in place.

None of that should in any way detract from the enormous efforts of a range of organisations and the staff from power companies who worked in atrocious conditions to restore supply in complex circumstances. I saw that for myself when I visited Gillian Martin’s constituency in the north-east of Scotland in the aftermath of storm Arwen. It should also not detract from the efforts of local resilience partnerships and volunteer groups who put in such an effort to improve the situation. However, in all those instances, we must be candid enough to reflect on performance and identify how it could be improved.

Having spent most of my weekend involved in calls and discussions relating to storms Malik and Corrie, I have reflected on the fact that, following storm Arwen, two important factors changed in the handling of storms Malik and Corrie. The first is that resilience partners were notified earlier by the power companies of their identification and recognition of the scale of the challenge. We were therefore clearer, earlier in the handling of storms Malik and Corrie, that we had significant challenges to overcome in the restoration of power supply. In broad headline messaging to members of the public, it was clearer than was the case with storm Arwen that people might be off supply for a long period. That does not help anybody if they are off power, but it allows people to make alternative arrangements, and it commits the power companies to making alternative arrangements to support those individuals.

The second difference is that, as a result of that notification, the local resilience operation that has been put in place has been available more timeously than was the case for storm Arwen. Welfare support, access to hot and warm food, and access to leisure centres for phone charging and showering purposes and for a place to get warm have been more readily and quickly available during storms Malik and Corrie than was the case during storm Arwen.

Those are two areas in which the swift review of storm Arwen has helped us to improve the delivery of the resilience operation to members of the public in the course of the past few days. Having said that, there are important additional areas in which we must continue to build on the strong foundations that we have for resilience in Scotland. We have well-established and tested resilience arrangements, but we must constantly improve those arrangements because of the nature of the challenges that we are likely to face. Members are right to highlight the fact that crucial tests will be thrown at us by the weather due to changes in the weather systems that are becoming all too familiar.

In her speech and her motion, Evelyn Tweed made particular reference to the role of volunteers and, in particular, the Killin Mountain Rescue Team, the Trossachs Search and Rescue Team and the British Red Cross. I reiterate her thanks to those organisations and many other voluntary organisations—Gillian Martin and Karen Adam also referenced organisations in their constituencies in the north-east of Scotland. Those organisations are making a huge contribution to resolving the difficulties faced by individuals.

Colin Smyth raised an important issue, which I discussed yesterday with the Scottish resilience partnership, about the necessity of communities having the capacity to contribute to resilience efforts. In some communities, that capacity exists and does phenomenally well, but in others it is not so mature. I am therefore interested in Colin Smyth’s suggestion of an eighth duty to formalise, perhaps, the role of community capacity building. In saying that, though, I acknowledge the importance of that being adequately created and supported to ensure that it is effective in meeting the needs of individuals in their communities.

A significant issue that Evelyn Tweed talked about extensively is the work of the power companies. Power company staff are working extremely hard in very cold and challenging conditions to restore supplies to people affected by storm Malik and storm Corrie. Before I came into the chamber tonight, I was advised that Scottish Power has restored all supplies and that SSEN is optimistic that it will get very close to restoring full supply by the end of this evening, although it might well be late in the evening before that happens.

I thank those members of staff for all that they are doing and all the communication that is under way. In these circumstances, clarity of communication is essential to alert people to the likely challenges, but it is important to acknowledge that our network must be resilient to meet them, and Mr Smyth and Mr Marra made fair points in that respect. We lost power lines because of the amount of overhead cables that we have, and that issue will have to be resolved by Ofgem in dialogue with the power companies.

I am grateful to Evelyn Tweed for the opportunity to reflect on what has been a very stormy period in Scottish weather and what have been very challenging circumstances. A huge amount of effort from communities, local resilience partnerships and the power companies has gone into addressing the challenges, but assure Parliament of the Government’s determination to lead a process of constant improvement, to build on our strong foundations for resilience and, most of all, to act to remedy the challenges that members of the public face as quickly and as effectively as possible.

The strategic framework is the means by which we set out our overall approach to the Covid-19 response. It explains what we are doing and why.

The update that the First Minister announced in Parliament will be published in the coming weeks. That first update will set out the detail of our approach to managing the virus in the medium to long term, as the virus starts to exist at more manageable and consistent levels.

We will engage with COSLA, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers and individual local authorities on the development of the strategic framework in advance of its publication to Parliament.

The bill that is before Parliament aims to do two things. It aims to embed necessary and practical steps that have been appropriate to sustain public services in the pandemic and to make them permanent when the case for that is arguable.

The bill is designed to update the statute book so that we can respond quickly to any development of the pandemic that could be acute and threatening to public health. The bill contains the appropriate safeguards and caveats to ensure that such measures are used only in exceptional circumstances. It is designed to equip Scotland with the necessary legislation to take into account the experience from the pandemic of dealing with an emergency situation and with practical issues and consequences that arose from the implications of our decisions.

Face coverings remain an important measure in reducing the spread of Covid-19, and they are required in most indoor public settings. However, an exemption from wearing a face covering applies for those who are leading an act of worship, and for performers. The exemption applies if the person is separated from other people by a screen or maintains a distance of at least 1m from other people.

We understand that many people are keen to see restrictions regarding face coverings removed entirely in places of worship, and we continue to engage closely with faith and belief organisations on the issue, most recently on 26 January. We are required by law to regularly review all protective measures that are currently in place, and our most recent review concluded that the regulations on face coverings remain proportionate. We will continue to review that regularly and have been clear that protective measures in places of worship, as in other settings, will not be in place for any longer than is necessary.

I give Mr Mason that assurance. I express my warm thanks to those in our faith communities who have been assiduous in applying the necessary restrictions that we have had in place and who, as a result, have enabled members of the public to participate in public worship, which I acknowledge to be immensely important for many people in our society.

I assure Mr Mason of our determination to continue to engage with faith and belief organisations. I give the assurance that we will not keep the restrictions in place for any longer than we judge to be appropriate and necessary for the continued suppression of Covid.

Again, the best thing that I can suggest is that Mr Rennie drops me a note with all the details, and I will have it looked at immediately. The logic of Mr Rennie’s point is that the gentleman concerned has had two vaccinations, which should be enough to satisfy the requirements for certification through the Covid status app. If Mr Rennie would be good enough to send me a note with the details, I will have the matter addressed and remedied.

The bill supports the Covid recovery strategy by embedding reforms in Scotland’s public services that, though necessitated by the pandemic, have delivered improvements for people who use public services. It also addresses systemic inequalities that have been made worse by Covid.

The bill maintains the possibility of remote registration of deaths and stillbirths and gives licensing boards the flexibility to hold remote hearings. It extends provisions that allow virtual attendance at court or tribunal hearings. The option to communicate digitally might help people with limited mobility who cannot travel or who encounter difficulties in doing so. The bill also provides additional protection for debtors with unsustainable debt and maintains provisions that have supported tenants and prevented evictions.

Yes, that is the case. Our Covid-19 certification scheme allows people who have been fully vaccinated elsewhere in the United Kingdom to show either their NHS Covid pass or Northern Ireland Covid certificate for entry to events or travel from Scotland. If someone has received one of their coronavirus vaccinations outwith Scotland, they can upload official proof of vaccination from that country to their Scottish vaccination record through NHS Inform. That will allow individuals to receive a combined fully vaccinated status on Scotland’s Covid status app to show for travel and domestic purposes.

I agree with the analysis and focus of the Covid recovery plan that Katy Clark has put forward. At the heart of the Covid recovery strategy is the tackling of endemic poverty, particularly child poverty. During the pandemic, those issues became worse, and the people who were suffering prior to the pandemic suffered more during it. Therefore, they must be the focus of our attention after the pandemic.

I assure Katy Clark that the heart of our strategy is about supporting young people to achieve good outcomes. One of the best outcomes that they can achieve is an apprenticeship, so we are supporting a range of different companies and organisations, and we are working through Skills Development Scotland, to ensure that apprenticeships are available in all localities in Scotland, particularly in areas of deprivation.

I recognise that some young people who have experienced poverty might require additional support to gain access to some of those opportunities. Support will be available through ventures such as MCR Pathways, on mentoring, and others that can support young people to achieve their potential.