Chamber and committees

I thank members from across the Parliament for their support for the motion, which has allowed this debate to take place, and I warmly welcome to the public gallery campaigners and those who have shared their letters to loved ones.

In my time as an MSP, I have opened and spoken in many members’ business debates, but this one is very different and very personal. I know that it will be the same for other members who will speak today. At the outset, I thank everyone who will speak in the debate, and I pay specific tribute to Monica Lennon, because, if it was not for her and her brave decision to speak about her dad, Gerard, in 2017, I do not think that I would be leading this debate today or have shared my story.

I think that I speak for all of us as elected representatives when I say that our first instinct, quite rightly, is to protect our families and loved ones from public scrutiny. After all, they have not put themselves forward for the scrutiny that we rightly should face. Perhaps most critically, we all want to protect our loved ones from what will often seem to be the negative prism of social media and strangers commenting on our family members. Therefore, when I agreed to speak about my dad, Jim, and my experiences growing up, it concerned me how people would judge him, judge me and judge my family. That is exactly why I felt that I needed to tell my dad’s story.

The stigma that many individuals and families face when they are supporting someone who is battling addiction is very real, and the stigma and judgment that people often face need to be addressed if we are to break down the barriers to people accessing help and support, and for our loved ones to have the confidence and self-worth to come forward.

I have genuinely been overwhelmed by the number of constituents, colleagues, journalists and people in different countries who have reached out since I wrote my letter and we launched the campaign.

For many people who experience problematic alcohol or drug use, there will often be a life event or trigger to that behaviour and any problematic addictions and issues that go on to develop. I can only imagine how difficult it was for my dad to lose my mum to breast cancer and to be left as a single parent with three children between the ages of seven and 14. My dad was a dreamer. He would often speak about his lifelong dream of moving the whole family to live in a wooden hut in the forests of the great Canadian wilderness. To be honest, I suppose that I am lucky that he made it only as far as Perthshire. My dad was entertaining and charismatic; arguably, he was at his best socially in the pub or at the races. As in many cases, that is probably where a problem with alcohol developed.

The message behind the campaign “See Beyond—See the Lives—Scotland” is that everyone knows someone. As the debate will demonstrate, everyone does know someone.

The campaign was launched in May by the University of Stirling, Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems and the Salvation Army. Alongside Monica Lennon, I was pleased to help to launch the campaign in the Parliament, with 14 other people who have shared their letters to their loved ones.

When I spoke to families after that event, it was telling that many of their experiences were the same as mine and my family’s. Stigma is still attached to our loved ones speaking about problematic alcohol and drug use, not only from how people talk about that but from the judgments that they bring to it.

The notion that someone has done this to themselves and the labels that society often attaches to people are harmful. When they seek treatment and support, our loved ones face conscious and unconscious bias, sometimes even from overworked medical professionals.

In its briefing for the debate, Crisis said:

“Stigma Kills!

Stigma impacts on a person’s self-esteem, their mental wellbeing, limits their willingness and ability to engage with support services and ability to sustain changes in their lives.

People can change—but stigma holds them back.”

I hope that today’s debate will present an opportunity to change the conversation about alcohol and drug issues and to address the devastating impact that the loss of a loved one to alcohol or drugs has on their family and friends. I hope that people will visit the “See Beyond” website and support the campaign by agreeing to sign the pledge. I ask people to

“pledge to be respectful and compassionate towards those affected by substance use, including the families and friends of those who have died from alcohol or drugs”

and to pledge to

“show respect by using kind and non-judgmental language about those affected”—

our friends in the media in particular need to consider that when reporting stories. I also ask people to pledge to

“show compassion by reaching out to someone who has lost a loved one to alcohol or drugs”.

Many of us in Scotland have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, and the role that alcohol plays in our culture and our society is often at the heart of that—from wetting the baby’s head and giving a good send-off at a wake to drowning our sorrows when times are tough and having alcohol at the heart of all our community, sporting and social lives.

Over the past 10 years, Scotland has lost more than 20,000 people to alcohol and drugs. I lost my dad. I know that we can make a difference, and that starts with ending stigma.

Thank you for that. Last week, the Withers report was mentioned, and we heard about what still seems to be a lack of connection between workforce planning in our college sector and local authorities, and a missed opportunity to look at different pathways into different jobs. That leads me to my next question on reports that often highlight the fact that most local authority staff are women, and the inequalities around pay and progression in councils. What actions have been taken around that issue and the gender pay gap? Is that improving? Which councils are not managing to make progress on that?

Does anyone want to add to what has been said?

Thank you for that. On future budgeting, do you know what equal pay claims settlement issues are outstanding across local government? Some councils have moved to do it, but what financial level are we are talking about for authorities that have not done it to date?

I have a couple of questions about what the workforce in local government looks like. Our predecessor committee looked at workforce planning in 2018 and noted that local authority workforces tend not to reflect the communities that they serve. What progress has been made towards making our workforce more representative, specifically at senior local government levels? What work has COSLA or the Scottish Government done on that? I will bring in Councillor Hagmann to start.

I rise to speak against the approval of the SSI. The decision to implement rent controls was taken by Parliament under emergency Covid-19 legislative measures. Since the policy was implemented, we have seen record-high rents for new tenancies in Scotland; they have increased at the highest rate anywhere in the United Kingdom—there was an average 12.7 per cent increase in the year to July.

Asking rents in Edinburgh and Glasgow have risen at a rate of 15.5 per cent and 13.7 per cent in only one year—the highest rate of increase of any UK city. We have warned Scottish National Party and Green ministers that new renters across Scotland will see rents increase at that alarming rate. The managing director of Citylets, Thomas Ashdown, has said:

“We are living through unique times for the Scottish Private Rented Sector. Never before have we recorded such steep and sustained annual price appreciation across a single region, never mind across the country as a whole.

A vicious circle of low supply leading to higher rents for new tenancies and less movement within the sector seems to have been set in motion as the rent gap between open and closed markets grows.”

He went on to say that

“evidence of landlords leaving and pressures on would-be property buyers”

make it

“clear we have a difficult path ahead in achieving balance.”

SNP and Green ministers do not seem to understand how the rent control policy is impacting the housing market in Scotland, especially in our cities. The policy has been deeply damaging for the private rented market, with many buy-to-let developments, for example, now being put on hold or abandoned. In the social rented sector, business plans are being rewritten and the level of social rental completions is at the lowest that it has been for many decades.

The Scottish Government must recognise that the continuation of the policy will lead to counterproductive outcomes for many people and will directly lead to significant future rent increases for everyone in Scotland. We will therefore not support the latest extension at decision time.

I do not know whether the minister is coming on to this point, but the real concern in the sector relates to the significant increases for new entrants. Does he recognise that, in his community in Glasgow, the policy is leading to one of the highest rent increases for new entrants—13.7 per cent? That is a direct result of the policy.

That is grand—thank you.

Thank you.

We have heard a lot about changes that the pandemic brought about. How is local government measuring staff wellbeing in relation to those changes, particularly among individuals who may now work permanently from home? What opportunities have been opened up for the workforce?