Chamber and committees

The committee has not seen that yet.

My question is not about policy but about giving the committee enough time to deal with whatever is in front of it. I have not mentioned the policy behind the bill.

Lovely, thank you.

I was talking about not the UK Government, but you, Mr Adam.

The cabinet secretary says that she will be in discussions with COSLA, which is entirely right, because most of the recommendations in the report relate to councils. However, some of them are aimed at the Government, one of which is that the Scottish Government should

“establish a common and consistent definition of accessible housing.”

Will the cabinet secretary say which of the recommendations she will be able to take forward?

I congratulate Bob Doris on securing this important debate and on his speech, which was very considered. I know that he feels strongly about the issues.

I thank MND Scotland for giving a presentation to the cross-party group on housing, which I am lucky to convene, about the report “No time to lose”. It was a powerful presentation indeed. I welcome representatives of MND Scotland and their guests to the public gallery.

As Bob Doris said, today is global MND awareness day. Actually, every day should be MND awareness day, because we should be alert to the issues all the time—full stop—and be doing something about them. We should not need to give the issue a special badge to do that.

The report raises a number of issues, and there are some stark statistics in it. There is a one-in-300 risk of a person getting MND in their lifetime. That sounds quite high to me. As Bob Doris said, the average life expectancy after diagnosis is just 18 months. That is a really short period of time. That tells us that, when someone is diagnosed, they need fast action. In too many parts of Scotland, we do not get that.

The research was carried out in 2021 and the report makes a number of points. There are extensive waiting times for adaptations. Waiting times for ramps are particularly lengthy. Across local authorities, the wait for getting something done to a person’s property was, on average, 149 days. One council reported an average wait of 256 days to fit a wet room, which is a vital facility, and 11 per cent of people with MND waited a year for a wet room.

People with MND face barriers to accessing adaptations. I will mention some figures from my own patch of North and South Lanarkshire. Bob Doris mentioned Marie Cartwright, who featured on the BBC news talking about her situation with her husband Ian. She stood outside her house and demonstrated how she had to throw buckets of water over Ian to wash him outside. It is heartbreaking that someone had to do that.

North Lanarkshire Council and South Lanarkshire Council were asked for their definitions of accessible housing. North Lanarkshire Council did not reference external documentation. South Lanarkshire Council referred to “Housing for Varying Needs: a design guide”. They were asked what percentage of their local authority or social housing stock is accessible or wheelchair accessible. North Lanarkshire Council said that wheelchair-accessible properties were only 0.45 per cent of council stock and 0.34 per cent of all social housing stock. That is not good enough. In South Lanarkshire Council, only 0.8 per cent of housing, including sheltered housing, is wheelchair accessible.

Those are really poor figures. I could go on, but I am aware that I am over my time. The figures across both councils on my patch are not good enough. The postcode lottery must end. Government and councils must work together to address the problem so that we do not have to put up with it any longer.

First, I take the opportunity to congratulate the minister on her recent marriage. [Applause.]

The minister mentioned funding. The network support grant plus has been keeping bus operators afloat, in particular in rural areas, but it is due to end next month. Industry experts have said that that could lead to a cut of 20 per cent on some routes, as well as rising fares and depot closures.

Bus operators are calling for the fund to be extended at its current rate by three months, as that would allow passenger levels to recover. Will the minister agree to that?

I do not particularly want you to, but—

The DPLR Committee said that the default position should be the affirmative procedure. It did not completely rule out the made affirmative procedure, but it recommended that certain things should be put in place if that procedure is to be used. That was the purpose of amendments in my name that you have voted against, Mr Mason, despite saying that you agree with me.

Given that the committee rejected those amendments, I will not move the amendments in my name in this group and force a vote. However, I am keen to work with the cabinet secretary—if he is up for it; it is up to him—to see whether we can improve things in the area. I make that offer.

In listening to what you have said about Mr Whittle’s amendment 4, I wonder whether there is room to work with Mr Whittle to improve the amendment for stage 3. You have commented that you feel that it is too restrictive at the moment, but maybe it could be improved.