Chamber and committees

That is great.

I thank the witnesses for joining us today. How do social landlords monitor complaints, specifically about dampness? Are any improvements needed, such as recording some of the issues that the witnesses on the first panel mentioned?

We have touched on the briefing note that you and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations developed. Is any follow-up work planned? The issue of follow-up surveys was raised earlier. Are you looking at taking that forward?

That answer brings me on nicely to my question. Good morning, and thank you for joining us.

The Scottish Housing Regulator and other organisations recently published a briefing on how the social housing sector can respond to problems of dampness and mould. We touched on that, just then. Is there anything else that might be useful, for landlords or tenants, to improve how landlords respond to complaints? Specifically, what else could be included in the tenants charter, which the committee recently approved? Shona Gorman mentioned new indicators. Is there is anything else that people want to raise on that? Debbie, I will bring you in first.

I absolutely agree with that. A key aspect is that, although we do not need to look towards this, there is a preventative spend issue for our health service as well. GPs often tell me that many people come to see them consistently about loneliness issues. If there is an opportunity to fund services and get people reconnected, that will make a huge difference for our public services and ensuring that people lead fulfilling lives.

Stuart McMillan made the most important speech in the debate. I hope that the minister will meet others who have been working on an aspect that he raised. Bereavement counselling and support groups are invaluable, and I congratulate Ben Kane on the work and campaigning that he has done. I have long advocated the inclusion of bereavement in the school curriculum. Establishing support groups in schools is an easy win in looking at the work that is going on in schools. I hope that the Scottish Government will work on that across portfolios, and I am sure that the minister will find that she works on that a lot. There is an opportunity to make a difference there, and I hope that it will be taken forward.

There is also an opportunity for young carers who have similar asks in relation to support needs. Some good work has been done on that recently. I hope that that is taken forward.

I think that the minister mentioned social media at the beginning of the debate. I have long been concerned about social media. When I was first elected, I organised a summit with Twitter and Facebook. The conclusion that we drew was that young people need to switch off social media and get away from it—many politicians would probably agree with that, too. One of the key messages is that we have to look at where people are investing too much of their lives in social media and get back to resilience building. Sadly, we have not seen that in the generation of today.

On older citizens, one of the biggest mistakes that was made related to the Royal Voluntary Service and changes to meals on wheels from a daily hot meal service to the delivery of frozen meals once a week. Often, it was not the frozen meals that people wanted; it was a personal connection with another human coming into their home once a day. I hope that we can look at that issue again. That service was expensive to deliver, but it is important that we do that.

To conclude, a lot of good opportunities are coming out of the debate. We will support the amendments. I hope that this is the start of a conversation about how we can really tackle loneliness across our country.

Is the Scottish Government therefore saying that only £5 million, not £10 million, will be delivered over the course of this parliamentary session?

Is there any time to take an intervention, Deputy Presiding Officer?

As has been said, the debate has been helpful, and it has presented us with the opportunity to discuss the impact that loneliness and isolation have on different groups across the whole of society. It has been really powerful to hear the various messages coming from different colleagues.

For many of us, a specific issue has been the impact on young people, and on elderly citizens, during the pandemic. The statistics that we have heard today have shocked me to the core. The idea that loneliness can increase the risk of death by 26 per cent is massive. We should all take account of what is—and I welcome the minister saying this—a public health crisis around loneliness, which we need to work to address.

When I was first elected in Edinburgh, I was shocked to learn that the city is classed as one of the loneliest places to live in the UK. Changing Britain research found that 33 per cent of my fellow Edinburgh citizens do not feel that they are involved in our community and do not feel part of it. Interestingly, here in the Holyrood community—the people who look at us as we come into this building—87 per cent of people said that they do not feel part of the community and are socially isolated, so we have a problem around this building. That is something that I have worked to address since I was elected.

Many members have raised good examples of local charities and organisations that are trying to turn the problem around, and by the sounds of things the minister will have a lot of visits coming out of the debate. I will highlight two organisations. Vintage Vibes provides a Christmas card-writing service, and it got me involved in writing cards. I was shocked that some people who live in Scotland will not receive any Christmas cards. Vintage Vibes tries to correct that by asking people who are otherwise strangers to write to individuals. Last year, after the pandemic, it started doing a Christmas dinner event to bring people together.

A lot of good work is going on, but it often comes down to where events will be hosted and how they will be taken forward. One issue that has been discussed in the debate is how we take capacity forward. The Eric Liddell Community centre in the south of the city is a real community hub. It supports more than 500 unpaid carers, 2,000 people use the community hub each month, and 117 volunteers help to deliver those services. It is a wonderful community facility, but we need more of that, and we need more capacity to be built.

That brings me to one of my pet projects, which members who have served with me on committees will know that I never stop pushing, which is the school estate. For some reason, we still have the situation where, when the school bell goes, that is it. We need to consider how our school estate could be utilised by many groups that want to move into that space and use it to support people. In many rural communities, that might be the only potential facility that could be used. As strategies are developed and funding comes forward, I hope that ministers will consider that.

We have heard complaints about council cuts in the debate. Sometimes the key thing is the extra time for janitors to be able to keep schools open, which are often the first cuts that are made. We need to consider that issue. Jeremy Balfour talked about fostering community, and day centres and church halls are key to that.

Christine Grahame mentioned feeling disconnected. I have met many constituents since the pandemic who have told me a similar story. Some have told me that they have not gone back to their lives, even though they feel confident enough to do so. In the past, they would have attended libraries and different groups, but they have not reconnected with their old lives. We need to consider that.

It is clear that something good is going on in the north of Glasgow, with all the rattling and rapping that seems to be going on. There is something in that. We need to develop the opportunity for older citizens to reconnect with the groups that they have stopped attending.

We need to focus on many areas of society. It was mentioned that college and university support workers are a key group. I have always said to the Scottish Government that I want to see it press ahead with general practice link workers, and I welcome the recruitment that has gone on around that. I have met many of them in the most deprived communities here in Edinburgh. One thing that struck me is the work that they have to undertake to build capacity. They have had to go out and establish walking groups, book clubs and gardening and growing groups, which can take capacity away from their work. The debate needs to consider how those workers do that and how they get funding for that. Small grants are often key to achieving such work.

In 2018, ahead of the Government strategy, Scottish Conservatives published our strategy to help tackle loneliness. I congratulate Annie Wells on her consistent work and campaigning on the issue, and on the publication of the loneliness action plan. It is clear that small grants are still a problem and need to be addressed. Christine Grahame and Bob Doris touched on that. I raised with the minister the issue of the Scottish Government’s £10 million commitment. I hope that it has not gone down to £6 million, and I hope that the Government will take that away and look at it again, because the third sector and local organisations that I know have not applied for or looked at that £3.8 million.

I also think that the UK Government has a role to play, with UK levelling up funding potentially being part of the discussion. Let us try to take forward the funding opportunity, as it is really important, especially when we consider the pressures on delivering many of those local services.

The Government also committed to providing £10 million of funding over the five years of this parliamentary session. Having looked at the Government’s announcements, I have been able to find commitments for only about £5 million of funding over this parliamentary session. Is the Government still committed to providing £10 million to address social isolation and loneliness?

I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. The danger of toxic asbestos is common knowledge. Despite that, however, over 1,700 schools across Scotland still contain this hazardous material. It is critical that the Scottish Government and councils act as quickly as possible to remove asbestos from the Scottish school estate to ensure that pupils, teachers and staff across Scotland are learning and working in a safe environment.

What progress has the Scottish Government made on removing asbestos from schools? What impact assessments have been undertaken to look at where there is currently asbestos in the school estate and where it should be removed? What timescale will the Government develop to make sure that that happens?