Chamber and committees

My point is more on the back of Elena Whitham’s question. Paul Togneri mentioned that 400 pubs—that is 10 per cent of the total number of Scottish pubs—failed during the pandemic. Through the small business bonus scheme, rates relief is in place for rateable values of up to £15,000, so smaller businesses with smaller premises would not necessarily benefit from other measures. In the panel’s experience, what sort of businesses failed during the pandemic? Is there a connection with their rateable value? I namechecked Paul Togneri, so perhaps we should start with him.

I will if I can get some time back.

Will the minister take an intervention?

I take the opportunity to again put on record my thoughts and sympathy for all those who have lost their lives to drug and alcohol addiction in Scotland. It is equally important that Parliament acknowledges the strength and campaigning of the many families and friends who are left behind.

For years, I have been calling on ministers to support those families, so I welcome today’s announcement regarding family network funding. It is long overdue and will make a difference in allowing people’s families and friends to support them.

As has been outlined already, access to rehab and treatments is absolutely critical, and I welcome some of the positive steps that are being taken as we look towards putting these reforms in place and, I hope, establishing a right to rehab, including through the bill that is to be introduced by my party leader, Douglas Ross.

In the time that I have today, I will touch on a key issue that I believe is missing from today’s debate, but which is critical if we are to develop a policy solution that will genuinely reduce drug deaths and harms. That issue is housing. Housing is at the heart of stability for each and every one of us across Scotland. For many people living with an addiction, or for individuals who are homeless, a lack of housing often results in the escalation of substance misuse, or issues developing or returning, not to mention the negative impact that that will have on an individual’s mental health.

The housing first model is a good one, but it has not delivered the outcomes that we all want to see from councils. There needs to be more funding for housing. Councils report that they simply do not have the resources to deliver the accommodation that is needed, particularly in the capital.

I strongly believe that housing must be at the heart of the drug deaths strategy—it can, and does, provide the stability that is needed by vulnerable individuals, from people who are homeless or rough sleeping, to individuals leaving prison—

Will the minister give way?

I very much welcome that announcement. Over the past five years, Alex Cole-Hamilton and I have visited services for adults in the capital that are, quite frankly, in crisis. Sometimes there is a two-year wait to see a mental health specialist. In relation to mental health services, people in crisis who are homeless or sleeping rough have been at the bottom of that list, so I welcome the announcement. However, a two-year wait for other residents across the capital is still completely unacceptable. What professionals will be recruited to deliver that service? Currently, we do not have those professionals working, and they need to be put in place if we are to meet any service expectations.

I agree with those points, but they do not address what I said about getting people into different models of housing—I am thinking of homeless people who want to get into a supported model that includes rehab, for example. I know that the drugs minister has been reaching out to a number of rehab and housing providers across Scotland, including the hugely impressive safe as houses project, which is run by Alternatives in West Dunbartonshire community drug services. That is a great model that could be extended across Scotland. We have not heard anything about it in the debate but I want it to be part of any future strategy. It is important.

I would be grateful to hear from the minister in his closing speech how housing will be an integral part of the response. The safe as houses project is one example of an approach that works in a different part of the country from Edinburgh, where we do not have such a model. I would like to see it here.

The amendment that was lodged by Alex Cole-Hamilton but not selected for the debate makes an important point. I have already raised concerns about the potential for drug and alcohol partnerships to be destabilised by the impact of being brought into a national care service at a point when they are fragile. I note that they are not included in the response that I received from the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care to a question in which I asked the Scottish Government

“which powers and responsibilities it plans to remove from local authorities under its proposed National Care Service.”

I am interested to find out whether ministers have already had a rethink on that. I hope that they will listen to the concerns and not introduce a top-down reform of drug and alcohol services, which would destabilise them.

I hope that we will develop a genuinely person-centred approach to mental health and substance abuse. If we are to do that, housing must be at the heart of delivering stability and a safe space for people who desperately need it in their lives.

For too long, individuals and their families have complained that trying to access support and drug and alcohol services has been complicated. In some cases, support networks have been cut out and individuals’ decision making for themselves or their family member has been disrespected. People often do not feel that they are in control of decisions about their care, recovery programmes or access to services. That needs to be reformed and I hope that that reform will be delivered.

We are only at the start of the journey to deliver the reforms but I hope that what the minister outlined will make a difference.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My app disconnected, but I would have voted yes.

Thank you for joining us. As my colleague Pam Duncan-Glancy said, the briefing that you provided has been really useful in helping us to get into the granular detail of the cost projections for new benefits and the setting up of services.

I have two specific questions, the first of which is about Social Security Scotland’s costs and your original forecasting on those, in which you looked at the Government’s potential costs. I believe that those were set at £307 million, but the figure has now doubled to more than £651 million. Do you have any insight into where the Government’s forecasting on the initial set-up costs may have gone wrong?

My second question is about adult disability payment. From the information that you have given the committee, the scale of uncertainty around that is such that the costs are not clear. What impact might that have on Social Security Scotland and the benefits that it currently administers?

That was very helpful—thank you. You answered my question about when you expect the uncertainty to be cleared up. Your projection for that is five years, once the benefit is established.

I want to look at some of the drivers for increased costs. You outlined additional successful applications and higher average payments. Are there any other areas that you think that it is important to make the Scottish Government aware of—and, perhaps, for the committee to investigate—with regard to the long-term sustainability of payments?