Chamber and committees

If Jackie Baillie will bear with me for a couple of paragraphs, she might be encouraged by what I have to say—as, I know, she always is. [Laughter.]

Some members have expressed concern about whether the temporary ban on evictions that was in place in areas that have been in levels 3 and 4 should be extended to areas that are in level 2 and below. Through the extensive range of protections and support that we have already put in place, including the ban on evictions, we have been seeking to encourage landlords and tenants to work together to ensure that sustainable tenancies are secured, and that evictions are prevented altogether and not just delayed.

The Scottish Government has taken action from the outset of the pandemic to support tenants. I am delighted to announce that we will go even further by committing to introduce a new £10 million grant fund to support tenants who have fallen into rent arrears as a direct result of the pandemic. We will work towards making the grant fund available later in the year, and we will work with stakeholders over the coming weeks to develop the details. We will deliver a new national awareness-raising campaign to ensure that all tenants are aware of their rights. Those crucially important interventions will help tenants and landlords to move towards a sustainable and fair recovery from the impact of the coronavirus.

Since developing the bill, we have listened to the views of stakeholders. As a result of that engagement, I confirm that I will lodge a stage 2 amendment to extend rather than to expire the anti-irritancy measures in relation to commercial leases. It is clear from discussions with the Federation of Small Businesses that extending that measure will assist small businesses that might face short-term cash-flow difficulties over the summer, into the autumn and beyond.

Over the summer, we will consult on proposals to make permanent some of the temporary measures that have been put in place by the coronavirus legislation, where that will improve delivery of public services without any significant detrimental impact. As part of the wider lessons that we have learned from the pandemic, we will consider whether further legislation is required as we seek to recover and rebuild. I encourage all parties in the chamber to contribute their thoughts to that process.

I had better make some progress. I will be happy to give way in my closing speech.

Progress has been made in our fight against the pandemic, which enables us to expire some measures by way of the bill, but there remains a need for some measures that were introduced by the Scottish coronavirus acts to be extended. The bill will expire a range of measures whose continuation has been deemed to be unnecessary beyond 30 September. The bill will also extend the Scottish coronavirus acts, initially for up to six months. The bill provides for the acts to be extended once more up to 30 September 2022, should that be needed in order to respond further to the pandemic. That will, of course, be subject to Parliament’s approval of the required regulations.

I emphasise to members that the bill will ensure that the safeguards of the first two Scottish coronavirus acts will also be extended. That means that the Government will continue to report every two months to Parliament on the use and status of provisions, and on the relevant equality and non-discrimination duties. The Government will also be required to keep under continual review whether provisions are no longer necessary and can be expired early.

I believe that that is a strong package of protections that will ensure that Parliament and the public will be informed about use of the powers, and that the powers will not last longer than is proportionate or necessary.

As I have already made clear, the bill will not add any new temporary measures, nor does it seek to amend any of the measures that were introduced in the Scottish coronavirus acts.

Let me first cover expiry. The bill will, on the basis that they are no longer necessary, expire some of the measures that were brought in to respond to the immediate emergency that was created by the pandemic. We seek to expire 12 of the measures through the bill. I note that all 12 of the provisions are contained in the two Scottish acts that have already been expired in line with the Government’s commitment to remove provisions that are no longer required in our response to the public health emergency.

Extension is being sought for measures that have been used or, for measures that have not been used, for when expiring them would have a significant impact if they were to be needed—for example, in respect of emergency directions for care homes. Extension is also being sought when it is necessary because of direct or indirect impacts of the pandemic, such as in the case of the backlog in courts, and when there is broad support of key stakeholders for extension.

The bill seeks to extend part 1 of each of the Scottish acts, thus extending the measures for enabling hearings in criminal and civil courts and tribunals to be held remotely, and continuing an increased notice period of six months to protect private and social sector tenants from eviction up to the pre-pandemic 28-day notice period.

The bill represents one part of a wider range of measures that the Scottish Government is putting in place to protect the people of Scotland. It includes some important protections that are essential for those who most need them, and it is important that they continue to be available after 30 September.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees to the general principles of the Coronavirus (Extension and Expiry) (Scotland) Bill.

All that I would say in answer to Mr Whittle’s question is that the Government has set out clearly over many weeks and months the focus that we have had on applying restrictions where it is appropriate, based on the development of the pandemic. Increasingly, in the past few weeks, we have begun to focus, as vaccination rates have increased, on the relative balance between case numbers, levels of hospitalisation, levels of intensive care unit presence and admittance, and the level of cases around the country. As we see the effect of the vaccination programme, that will continue to be the basis on which we make our decisions. That has informed the decision making that the Government has undertaken in this particular case as well.

In some circumstances, Mr Greene’s point might be valid in relation to children’s hearings, were it not for the fact that we are expiring some of the provisions. They will not be extended by virtue of the bill that I have introduced.

The point that I am making is that there are deeply practical and operational issues concerning the running of public services that have been disrupted by Covid and will not have recovered by 30 September because of backlogs.

I will finish this point and then give way to Mr Kerr and Mr Cole-Hamilton. We have to make it practical and possible for those services to operate in the disrupted circumstances, which will not have disappeared by 30 September.

There may well be an argument for a specific point of that nature. However, on what we cannot be certain about, the First Minister made a statement today that was, I accept, more optimistic than the statements have been for a while, but there were still caveats in it about what the circumstances might be in August. If we are trying to provide clarity for the delivery of public services, we have to put in place a framework in which everybody understands where they stand. The powers can, of course, be readily expired, because they can be expired by subordinate legislation without recourse to primary legislation, and a number of the powers have already expired, of course.

That is the argument for proceeding just now. The Conservatives have spoken with some fairly exaggerated language in the debate. The Law Society of Scotland has stated:

“Although short in terms of parliamentary time the provisions are relatively straightforward. The principle of extension has been considered by the Parliament over the past year in the context of the motions to extend to the present day and the regular reports by Scottish Ministers.”

I have given an assurance that that regular reporting will continue. The bill provides for the expiry of the provisions. Clare Adamson made the point that, if the bill is passed, the provisions will expire six months after 30 September without anybody lifting a finger. There is provision for there to be a further six-month extension, but if that is not enacted, the powers will disappear six months after 30 September.

Well, it did not run out.

I think that all the organisations that Sarah Boyack mentioned benefit from public funding to carry out their activities. It is clear that there is a need for constancy of support provision for survivors. Survivors need to be assured that they have access to that constancy of support in which they trust. Specific assistance will be available through the channels of redress Scotland as well, but it is important that survivors are supported by individuals whom they trust and have confidence in.

Over the next few months, as staff are recruited to redress Scotland—staff will be recruited to fit with the values of compassion, dignity and respect—I suspect and hope that there will be a lot of collaborative working with organisations that are supporting survivors, to ensure that individuals are assisted to bring forward and be successful in their applications. That has very much been the working ethos of the advance payment scheme.

That will be one of the requirements that we will build into the operating processes of redress Scotland. We will gather evidence from the extent of contributions made by organisations. That will be supplemented by individuals’ and applicants’ experience, and we will gather data, evidence and perspectives on the significance of the waiver in the judgments that individuals are making. Over that 18-month period, there will be a need to gather evidence of the effect of the waiver and to formulate a review that will be published and which Parliament will, of course, be able to consider. If any action is required in the light of that review, Parliament will be able to take the necessary action.

We will ensure that digital considerations are not a barrier in any way to individuals applying to the scheme. Paper copies of all application forms will be available. As I indicated in my answer to Sarah Boyack, there will also be support available to individuals to assist them in the gathering of information and detail in that process. We will ensure that we have relevant discussions with organisations that can support us in ensuring that all those requirements are fulfilled.