Chamber and committees

I know that a lot of this is technical, in particular when we are asking about the two systems.

Finally, what data, if any, do you have on what are often referred to as potential “orphan buildings” in Scotland? What exposure do SMEs have to that issue, which could present a significant cost for those companies that they might not be able to meet in the future? Are you aware of any data on that?

I welcome Shirley-Anne Somerville to her new position in Government. I am sure that she will be delighted that she now has two Mileses in her life. In a few weeks, I will ask her who is the most annoying.

I also welcome Paul O’Kane to his role on the Labour front bench.

A number of organisations and charities provided useful briefings ahead of the debate, for which I thank them. I also thank them for the work that they undertake across our communities to support some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

This debate is an opportunity to reaffirm the cross-party consensus and objectives that were set out in the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. The act was passed unanimously by Parliament and set an important target for us all for reducing child poverty rates across our country. Eliminating child poverty must be a priority for all of us. I hope that, as the new cabinet secretary starts work in her new role in Government, she will genuinely reach out across Parliament to develop the next steps and listen to the new and fresh ideas that many of us are trying to ensure that the Scottish Government takes forward.

New pressures on the cost of living aggravated by the effects of the pandemic—such as rising food and fuel costs—and the war in Ukraine have had a negative impact on families across the country. We need a critical focus on the powers that we have to help to support those families.

I return to an issue that I have raised consistently in the Parliament: children who are homeless and living in unsuitable and temporary accommodation. The housing emergency in Scotland is contributing to levels of child poverty. None of us wants children and families to be stuck in unsuitable, unaffordable homes or temporary accommodation or believes that it is appropriate in this day and age.

Last March, we debated the issue and I pointed out that Scotland had more than 7,500 children living in temporary accommodation. For many families, a typical stay was more than 58 weeks. Such families are housed in hotels, former guesthouses and bed and breakfasts. Often, they have to share toilets and cooking facilities with strangers.

None of us approves of that or believes that it is appropriate to place young families and pregnant mothers in such accommodation. However, today, the situation is worse. There are more than 9,130 children living in temporary accommodation. That represents a 17 per cent rise in the space of one year alone.

We all want those children to have a permanent and safe home, which is vitally important to a child’s wellbeing and development. The cabinet secretary will know a lot of detail about that from her time with the education portfolio. We need decisive action on that, which we have not seen, so I hope that, in her new role, the cabinet secretary will refocus her efforts on it and make it a personal top priority for the years ahead. We on the Conservative benches will work with ministers on any vital reforms that we can make, and I hope that the cabinet secretary will agree to urgent cross-party talks on the issue. I believe that we need to introduce legislation to ban councils placing children or pregnant women in temporary accommodation, as I have outlined. I hope that we can pursue that with the cabinet secretary in the future.

The Scottish Government’s preventing homelessness duties present a good opportunity for Scotland to further develop some of the best protections in the world for people who are at risk of homelessness, but we need those protections to be embedded and delivered through a preventative model, especially here in the capital, which will take significant work and resources to achieve.

In recent months, I have been working with campaigners and hospices across Scotland to highlight their call to action on the additional energy bills that are faced by the families of children with life-shortening conditions and people with terminal conditions in our society. Children with a life-shortening condition are 50 per cent more likely to be living in the most deprived parts of Scotland compared with the least deprived, yet the families of seriously ill children incur unavoidably high household energy costs.

Together for Short Lives, the UK-wide body that supports children with life-shortening conditions, has said that research shows that families with seriously ill and disabled children already pay almost double what an average UK household pays on their energy bills. That cannot continue. The reasons why that is the case are the running of life-saving equipment, the running of other energy-intensive equipment and the need to keep their home warm, often because they are providing a hospital-at-home service.

The Children’s Hospice Association Scotland is calling on the Scottish Government to do more to provide direct and targeted support to families, in particular for a scheme to be developed to enable families to recoup some of the running costs of life-saving energy-intensive equipment.

The former First Minister outlined where she wanted action to be taken forward. We have not seen any progress on that, but I would like the cabinet secretary to also commit to that being one of her top priorities in the weeks and months ahead. It is a critical issue and one for which both the Scottish and UK Governments can deliver better support packages. I am currently organising a cross-party round-table meeting on the issue with UK ministers, and I hope that the cabinet secretary will agree to attend and be part of that.

No one doubts that addressing the level of child poverty is a complex issue and one that requires the focus of both our Governments.

A recent Audit Scotland report states:

“The Scottish Government has not ... demonstrated a clear shift”

towards

“preventing child poverty.”

What is the member’s assessment of that report?

I want to ensure that the event gives us an opportunity to look at all these issues. I hope that, in the interest of the two Governments working together, which I hope that, with the new First Minister, we can move forward on, it will present such an opportunity. The event is specifically about the energy crisis that many families are facing. I recently held a round-table event on hospices, and it was welcome that many Scottish National Party members attended. I know that they are acutely aware of the pressures that families are under.

In the time that I have left, I want to touch on black and minority ethnic children in Scotland, who child poverty figures show to be disproportionately affected. I want to ensure that the Scottish Government is live to that, because many organisations that have provided briefings have outlined the areas in which there has been very limited progress to date.

Earlier, we discussed a national minimum allowance for children in kinship care, which we need to see progress on. In 2016, the Scottish Government committed to implementing a national allowance for foster carers, as well as a national minimum allowance for children in kinship care, but that has not progressed, and it is currently sitting with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. It is another priority issue that I hope that the cabinet secretary will take forward soon.

I welcome the appointment of Natalie Don as Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise. There is an awful lot of work to do in that area, and I hope that a delivery programme will be developed as soon as possible to help to achieve all the outcomes, which we support, and to ensure that our young people have the best possible start now for their future.

It is critical that we hold the SNP-Green Government to account, and we will continue to do that from these benches. However, there are many areas in which we can work to make a difference, and I hope that the cabinet secretary genuinely wants to reset that relationship. We desperately need a Government that focuses the resources that we have in Parliament on delivering the outcomes that we all want to see, and I wish her well in doing that.

I move amendment S6M-08589.1, to leave out from the second “acknowledges” to end and insert:

“; recognises the fact that child poverty levels have remained the same since 2007, with 9,130 children living in temporary accommodation; expresses disappointment in the Scottish Government’s failure to close the attainment gap and to deliver free school meals for all primary school children; recognises that the Scottish Government has missed its deadline of devolving all social security benefits, and calls on the Scottish and UK governments to work together in order to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry.”

In my time as an MSP, one issue has been about what street furniture starts to look like, especially during the festival, with A-boards and things like that. My concern is whether the order relaxes the approach in many businesses’ views and how things will change. People want assurance about how that will be enforced by the council at what could be an incredibly busy time.

My other question is about the electric vehicle charging infrastructure. What consultation has taken place on that with stakeholders, specifically the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the stakeholder groups on cladding?

I am specifically concerned about wall-mounted charging and what that now presents. If I live in a block of flats and have an electric car, can I attach a charger to that building without there having been proper pre-planning?

That was helpful. I know that capturing resource in kind is sometimes quite difficult to quantify with a financial figure.

I want to ask a couple of specific questions, because many blind and visually impaired Scots are concerned about this, and charities have raised concerns. The fact that there is no specific guidance attached to the order is an issue, especially when you think of what my city of Edinburgh will look like during the festival, with businesses potentially just setting up roped areas. That is one of the main concerns. Why was specific guidance not developed to go along with the order so that councils could look at it in more detail before it is rolled out, especially, for example, in Edinburgh during the festival?

That is helpful. Thank you.

It is the wider issue of attaching electric charging points to buildings. I wondered whether consultation had taken place on their being freestanding under the changes and whether the issue has been discussed with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the stakeholder groups that are still undertaking significant work on cladding issues in Scotland.