Chamber and committees

I will let the planning minister come back to the committee in writing on that, but I will mention the way that we have worked to date.

A number of the factors that you mentioned in your question will impact on different developments, and they are the types of barriers that developers are facing. As I mentioned, we are keen to look at why the barriers exist and what can be done. Why do we have so many sites that have planning permission but are not being built on? Why are those still there? If they are financially viable, why are they not being built on? If developers view them as not being financially viable, what can we do to work with developers in an open-book fashion with the reassurance that, if any public money goes in to support private developments, it is there not to increase private profit but to genuinely deal with financial sustainability? In those areas, we get down to the specifics about why things are not happening and what can be done. Is it to do with the planning system or to do with sites having planning permission but still not getting built on?

There are different stages, and it is one area where we are looking for more homes Scotland to step up. As an activist Government, I, the previous planning minister, the current planning minister and the chief planner have been looking at every stage of the process and challenging ourselves about why things are not happening and what can be done to ensure that we, our public agencies, our local authorities and developers move things along. We all want to see that further development. We just need to make sure, particularly if we are spending public money on it, that we do it in the right manner and in the way that will make the biggest impact.

You raise an important point. I said earlier that more homes Scotland will be an all-tenure agency, and that is one reason why that is exceptionally important. It is also important that we ensure that Scotland is an attractive place to invest in and that we attract different types of housing investment, including mid-market rent, build to rent and building for owner occupation. All of those are important parts of the housing system, they all need to work effectively, and it is the Government’s responsibility to be cognisant of the challenges that they face and the opportunities for them. I meet ALACHO regularly about several issues. I have had round-table meetings with private investors and others to talk about investing in Scotland. Those types of discussion happen regularly, with individual investors and with local authorities.

It is for local authorities, too, to consider what they can do to ensure that developments move forward. If a development is having a particular challenge—particularly if it is a large-scale development that is being held back or not going through because of a local authority’s policies—the local authority might look at offering flexibility, as the Government is doing, in order to ensure that the development happens.

That does not mean that we are giving carte blanche to development everywhere, in every circumstance. However, given the challenges with housing supply, it is right for us to look at ourselves and to ask others to challenge themselves about what more can be done to get developments over the line. In some such instances, the answer to what they ask will be no. However, we should challenge ourselves in order to make sure that we make the most of the opportunities that we have.

We have looked at the sustainability of social security. To give one example of the work that has been undertaken, we completed a review of reviews, if you like, to ensure that the reviews that are undertaken for individuals who are already in the system are working effectively, and to see whether more could be done to strengthen those reviews. Other pieces of work could be done that I would be happy to provide to the committee in writing, but I hope that that example reassures you that we have been looking at fiscal sustainability.

I mentioned that we are always keen to ensure the efficiency of the system. We are also keen to ensure that we run the system effectively, and the review of reviews was part of the work on fiscal sustainability that was undertaken in the previous parliamentary session.

Social Security Scotland has grown because the devolution of benefits has continued. The programme of the devolution of benefits has been closed, so we are now in a steady state; the final part of that process, in effect, was the movement of officials from Government to Social Security Scotland to allow it to have the capacity and capability to improve the functioning of the services. Head count has increased to ensure that the agency has the skills within it not only to keep the service up and running, but to consider the types of efficiencies that are taken forward.

I will bring David Wallace in to talk about this a bit, too, but several opportunities exist for public service reform: for example, we are looking to work with other organisations on signposting and referrals to make the most of what the agency does to support people in getting what they are entitled to. We are ensuring that the agency’s system is being continuously improved so that it is the best system that we can have, and we will continuously challenge ourselves to ensure that the system is working more effectively, not only within itself but in how it relates to other organisations. The work that we continue to do on automation is very important, too.

I am sure that Mr Kerr and I could go back and forward about the local connection legislative changes that have been made. I will politely say that I continue to disagree with his assessment of our local connection rules. That is probably the most polite way that I can put that at this point.

When it comes to the other work that we are doing to address housing pressures, one aspect that is particularly important to continue investing in is our affordable housing supply programme. We are committed to investing £4.9 billion over the next four years, including a record £4.1 billion of public sector funding. That is an important area that we continue to work on. If memory serves me right, more than £900 million is to be invested in the affordable housing supply programme this year.

It is also important that we continue to look at the work that can be done on current stock. The support that we have given to our empty homes fund, and that we have provided to assist social landlords with their voids, has been exceptionally important. The ability to assist councils with acquisitions has also been an important part of our policy and one that I will continue to consider as I look at how best we can provide support in the future. We have done that, in particular, by encouraging local authorities to look at larger homes that will assist families, because the number of families in temporary accommodation and the length of time that they spend there are far too high. Part of the challenge is due to the lack of larger family homes, which is exactly why acquisition funding was exceptionally important.

I have touched on the planning work that we do directly with the chief planner and the Minister for Public Finance to look at particular sites across Scotland, to understand why they are not progressing and to identify what can be done to ensure that they do. Some of those sites are larger ones in our cities, but we absolutely recognise that reasonably small sites in smaller towns or rural Scotland will have as big an impact, if not a bigger one, as large-scale sites in our cities. It is not simply about the numbers.

My final point is on the work that we continue to do to support those who are looking to move into owner occupation, because it is important to have a fluid market. Encouraging or supporting people into owner occupation, should they wish to move into it, is another part of the work that we are doing to respond to current housing pressures.

The numbers are challenging, but we are making strong progress in our work on the affordable housing supply programme. We continue to update the committee on the numbers, and we are focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032.

From 23 March 2022 to 31 March 2026, 35,368 homes have been delivered towards the target. Seventy-seven per cent of those homes are for social rent, and since 2007 we have supported the delivery of more than 146,000 affordable homes, of which 104,000 have been for social rent.

We continuously check that we are maximising the use of our affordable housing supply programme budget and progressing with the spend on that. I can confirm that the budget for 2026-27 is £925 million, so I was £25 million short when I tried to remember earlier.

Childcare is an important example of why a policy has to work across Scotland. The ministers who will be leading the work on the expansion of childcare will ensure that the proposals fit the needs and challenges of rural and island Scotland. We are very aware of the challenges with access to childcare in some communities, which is why, as we look at the expansion, it will be exceptionally important, as in all areas of policy, that island communities impact assessments are completed and that there is a recognition of the challenges and the opportunities as the policy develops. There will be an expansion of the workforce and the development of new skills, which will bring opportunities. I am sure that the minister who is taking the work forward will be able to provide more detail to the member. We would also welcome her thoughts on how childcare could best be expanded.

We are seeing further development in the work that we are undertaking on the housing emergency action plan. The vast majority of that work has been completed, and the Government is continuing to work with housing organisations to look at the outcomes that they want, and to deliver a statement of intent. However, the challenges vary from place to place, which is why we have a place-based approach to the issue, as opposed to a national yes or no approach, because local authorities would expect the Government to be working in a more sophisticated fashion than that.

As Mark Griffin will appreciate, the different policies that I have mentioned are at different stages of development. For example, how we expand childcare will make a difference as to how many children and families we can lift out of poverty. As those policies are developed, the usual impact assessments will be undertaken. We obviously have the work that we undertake within my portfolio to bring together the assessments as part of our review process, which usually happens at the end of March. That is when we will bring them together within my portfolio, but each portfolio, when it presents policies, will be delivering its own equality impact assessments as the policies go through and will also assess their impact on poverty.

The whole Cabinet heard that point clearly when it met DPOs. We discussed the impact that ADP can have and the support that it can provide to allow a person to go to work or stay in work. That was an important part of the meeting.

Clearly, there are other aspects to the matter, such as the access to work scheme, which is a reserved scheme run by the UK Government. We heard clear evidence from DPOs that that system is not working and is actually preventing disabled people from getting into work timeously. We heard examples of that from the DPOs.

You are right to highlight the fact that disabled people point to ADP as something that can support them into employment or volunteering or that can help to ensure that they are not socially isolated. All those aspects are exceptionally important.