Chamber and committees

I know that Maggie Chapman does not want to hear it from me, but has she read the Institute for Economic Affairs report that examined 196 studies in 100 countries over 60 years and drew the conclusion that rent controls do far more harm than good?

I congratulate Stuart McMillan on securing this debate and welcome his constituent Jill Best to the public gallery, along with other campaigners who have joined us in Parliament this evening.

In June, I was pleased to host in the Parliament a cross-party round-table meeting that Stuart McMillan and other members attended and at which we were able to discuss the regulation of invasive cosmetic procedures. I thank the minister and her officials for attending, too. At that round-table event, we heard very clearly the very emotional stories of many people across Scotland whose lives have been impacted by these procedures. We heard not just about the impact of the procedures themselves but about the impact on people’s mental health and the other procedures that they now need to undergo regularly.

Gillian Mackay made a really important point about the motivation for having these treatments. I know from speaking to constituents that, often, they become blind to the reality of what they are doing and, in many cases, what they are receiving. The fact that what they are getting might cost less than treatments using the substances that should actually be used is what really motivates them to have such treatments. Moreover, the social media images that they will have seen of the often fantastic results of these procedures by those advertising them makes people feel that there is a safety net and, as members have mentioned, believe that there is regulation in place.

As other members have said, we have seen these procedures grow and get out of control, and I worry about other potential impacts. For example, in the United States, we are seeing the growth of hangover injection therapy, with people receiving intravenous treatments from friends and others, and we really need to get ahead of all this before it becomes a huge public health emergency in Scotland and across the UK.

The previous UK Conservative Government affirmed its commitment to improving safety, and, since the election, I have written to the new health secretary, Wes Streeting MP, to ask about the Labour Government’s plans to take forward those proposals. In that respect, I very much welcome the Scottish Government’s plans for a consultation. As members across the chamber have said, we are at present seeing individuals with minimal training—sometimes it is only a one-day course, or even just an online course—administering prescription medications, including injectable treatments, and often with an insufficient understanding of the complications involved.

Even more concerning, though, is the prevalence of the use of certain black market products, with poisons being injected into people’s bodies. We simply need to see this as a patient safety concern. As we heard from practitioners and patients at the round-table meeting that I held—and, indeed, as we have heard since—this is rapidly becoming a public health emergency. Those people raise those concerns not because they want that business but because they are picking up the pieces from the impacts on those individuals. That needs to be addressed.

One point that has not been raised in today’s debate but that we also need to recognise is the number of people who seek surgical treatments abroad—for example, for tummy tucks or medical dental surgery—which is otherwise known as health tourism. From speaking to NHS professionals, I know that significant numbers of patients for whom such procedures have failed, or who have had complications abroad or when they have got home, now present to the NHS in Scotland.

I ask the minister whether there has been any progress in recording such cases. We do not have the data on how widespread the issue has become or on its negative impacts not only on individuals but on the NHS, which has to pick up the pieces. I hope that the Government will move forward quickly with the consultation and, what is more important, with actions that can be taken before the end of this parliamentary session.

Before closing, I ask the minister whether the Government will look towards some sort of public health advertising campaign on all that has been raised. It is clear that the issue will not be resolved quickly. Action is taking place, but we need to start raising more concern at Government level and across social media about the implications for people, and to try to warn them against using these procedures.

I will if it is very brief.

I will if I can get some time back.

The fundamental question for the two of us, who represent the city of Edinburgh is: why is the Scottish Government not asking why Manchester is seeing a huge increase in house building and Edinburgh is seeing it collapse? That is fundamentally the question that ministers and SNP members should be asking themselves today.

This debate is about the Scottish Government taking responsibility. The fact that ministers were dragged to the chamber to do that at the previous debate on this topic tells us everything that we need to know about the Scottish Government’s record on the matter.

As Anas Sarwar said, we have just heard words from the Government—we have not seen action. The Scottish Government might have declared a housing emergency, but we have not seen an emergency response from the Scottish Government. I do not think that even the Scottish Government’s greatest cheerleaders would say that what we have seen from ministers to date is anywhere close to the response that we need. Instead, we have a situation that is getting worse. It is clear that, without action, homelessness levels across our country will increase further.

Since 2019, the Scottish Government has set up 10 homelessness working groups: the homelessness prevention and strategy group, the homelessness ministerial oversight group, the homelessness temporary accommodation standards framework working group, the temporary accommodation task and finish group, the homelessness prevention task and finish group, the measuring progress—ironically—task and finish group, the rapid rehousing transition plans sub-group, the Scotland prevention review group, the homelessness and rough sleeping action group and the youth homelessness prevention pathway. I do not question ministers’ hopes that those groups would deliver, but they have not. Ministers need to be honest that they have failed and that things are getting worse on their watch.

Fundamentally, that is because local authorities are not delivering and cannot deliver their statutory duties. Ministers say that local authorities must play their role, but that entirely misses the point. Local authorities have no options left. There are no more former B and Bs and guest houses—they are all now full. We need a plan, and we need ministers to lead on delivering it. I welcome the fact that the sector has made some really important emergency response proposals to the Government. The minister should be driving forward those actions now.

Every empty council home and social housing property should have been audited and a return-to-use plan should have been developed by now. There are 3,000 empty properties here in the capital alone. We need to urgently build the homes that Scotland needs. The data on home completions points to a fundamental collapse in the housing sector, and we need that to be turned around. Homes for Scotland says that the housing and homelessness figures underline the collapse in house building, and that that is having devastating consequences. Speak to any home builder and they will tell you that the planning and consenting processes are the biggest inhibitor of housing delivery in all tenures.

We need an urgent review of national planning framework 4 and council planning policy. Ministers have ignored the concerns that have been expressed about land supply. It was simply not good enough for the minister to say yesterday that planning responsibilities sit with Ivan McKee. In March, the former UK Conservative Government started work on proposals to introduce a new accelerated planning service. We need that in Scotland, as well.

I am in my final 10 seconds.

Ministers have 18 months left to try to turn the situation around. They should take responsibility and address this national emergency. There are ideas across the chamber. It is time for ministers to understand that they have failed and to help to turn the emergency around.

I move amendment S6M-14719.2, to insert at end:

“, following repeated calls from charities and local authorities to take urgent action to alleviate rising cases of homelessness and to tackle Scotland’s affordable housing shortage; notes that homelessness in Scotland has climbed to its worst level in more than a decade, with over 40,000 applications, and that, out of the 33,619 households assessed as homeless, there were over 15,000 children recorded; recognises that housing is a wholly devolved issue that the Scottish National Party (SNP) administration has mismanaged and exacerbated through rent controls and financial mismanagement, such as cutting £200 million from the housing budget; believes that by working together with developers, local authorities and landlords, more houses could be made available to buy and rent across Scotland; acknowledges that the SNP administration’s cladding remediation scheme has yet to complete work on any affected properties in Scotland and has only spent £9 million of the £97 million given by the UK Government to fix unsafe cladding; understands that the Scottish Government has failed to provide financial support for residents living in properties built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) that are at risk; notes that the SNP administration has presided over a collapse in the housebuilding sector, with a 17% decrease in all sector starts and completions in 2023-24; echoes the concerns expressed around land supply and the planning system, and that the Scottish Government has failed to produce a clear plan setting out how it will properly fund and implement the policies contained within the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4), and calls on the Scottish Government to take responsibility by addressing this national emergency.”

I agree with Emma Roddick that the Housing (Scotland) Bill contains some good policies, but those policies already exist. People should not be in temporary accommodation for more than two weeks but, in many cases in Edinburgh, they are in such accommodation for two years. The Government is failing, and the Housing (Scotland) bill is sweeping all that failure into a new bill.

I know that the sharing of resources, co-location and so on are happening in many council areas, and Police Scotland has been looking at some of that, too. It is all about bringing your infrastructure together and looking at the associated costs. I just wonder whether the councils that Keith Yates and Bill Howat were associated with ever did that. If so, was it more about improving services, or was it just a way of making savings?

I was about to ask about your views on the integration of health and social care, but perhaps that is going too far. [Laughter.]

Finally—this is my million-dollar question—how would you like to see the Verity house agreement taken forward? We have touched on the council tax freeze, which was thrown into the conversation when the ink was not even dry on the agreement. Do witnesses have any views on why it is taking so long to implement or on what could be useful to take forward the fiscal framework between the Government and local authorities on the principles that are set out in the agreement?