Chamber and committees

Thank you for that.

I have a few more questions with regard to evictions, convener.

That is helpful. I am sure that there will be cross-party amendments on that as the bill progresses, and it will be useful if the Government legal team can assist with those.

Thank you, convener.

Given that there is an opportunity to look at opening up the bill to more amendments, I wonder whether the minister has considered work around void properties and different models to bring them back into use. We have a conversation almost weekly about the homelessness situation in Edinburgh, given the 3,000 empty properties that the City of Edinburgh Council has. Is there an opportunity to look at that in a different way? I know that there are significant issues with regard to the performance of utility companies in bringing those properties back into use, and with the investment that the council is asking for to enable it to look at some of the modernisation needs that are involved.

Given that we are considering the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which has very little housing in it, could we look at a different model for void properties, or at work that could be included, at this stage?

Finally, I note that the programme for government was a missed opportunity to develop opportunities to end child poverty. We need to work across parties to do that.

I move amendment S6M-14322.2, to leave out from “14” to end and insert:

“17 years of financial mismanagement by the Scottish Government; notes that 26% of children live in poverty in Scotland, and that this rate has remained largely unchanged since 2007; recognises that the number of children in temporary accommodation has reached 10,000, which has increased by 138% since 2014; urges the Scottish Government to recognise that child poverty has a detrimental impact on the health of children, and notes that, by September 2023, the percentage of children waiting over 12 weeks for medical care increased to 49.8%, and that the total number of paediatric waits was 10,512, which was a 114.6% increase from October 2012; calls on the Scottish Government to recognise that the poverty-related attainment gap poses another barrier for children, and notes that, in 2024, the pass rates at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher were at record low levels since 2016; urges the Scottish Ministers to accept the findings of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee’s report, Addressing Child Poverty Through Parental Employment, and calls on the Scottish Government to deliver a holistic strategy for tackling child poverty, which ensures that no child in Scotland goes without safe housing, modern and efficient local healthcare, and high-quality educational opportunities.”

Will the member take an intervention?

I welcome that, and I have been in constant discussion with the Minister for Housing.

We also need to look at the new models that have not been taken forward. For example, during the summer, I met the charity Right There in Glasgow. It works to prevent people from becoming homeless and being separated from their loved ones and it has taken over the leases of properties. Many charities are looking to provide extra-care housing, which would make a huge difference. In the past, councils have used such models, but we have not seen as many of those types of models being used. I hope that a new model can be used, because there should be no homes that sit empty for years on end, as there are in the capital. Perth and Kinross Council should be praised for the work that it has been doing with the PKC lets initiative in order to bring empty homes back into use. However, we need to see changes.

I turn to yesterday’s announcement that SNP ministers plan not to deliver on the commitment to expand free school meals to all primary-age pupils. The Scottish Conservatives championed that policy at the 2021 election, and there was—I believe—cross-party consensus that it would have a positive impact on child poverty and address stigma, as was raised during First Minister’s question time today. The promise to expand eligibility to all pupils was made in last year’s programme for government, and MSPs on all sides of the chamber were working to deliver on that.

We on the Conservative side of the chamber want to see the policy delivered, and we have looked to models to support the continuation of that, not just during the school week but in the summer holidays. I am extremely disappointed, therefore, that ministers have taken that action, and I hope that we see a change in that regard.

The First Minister said yesterday that the

“Government does not command a majority in this Parliament”.—[Official Report, 4 September 2024; c 23.]

Scottish Conservatives want to work cross-party in the Parliament to ensure that there is progress on the issue of free school meals, and that that is fixed at the time of the budget, if not before. Resources have been allocated to councils, and I hope that the First Minister will be open to looking at how we restore and deliver the policy and at the costs that are associated with its delivery—through, for example, a cross-party committee.

Finally, I am disappointed that the Government has decided not to proceed with a learning disability, autism and neurodivergence bill, nor with a human rights bill. Ministers had made pledges to many MSPs that both those bills would include important changes and legislative vehicles to deliver reforms—where they will now go, we do not know.

Bob Doris talks about cross-party solidarity. Will he, today, join in solidarity with those who want all primary 6 and 7 pupils to have free school meals?

I thank the many organisations that provided useful briefings ahead of the debate.

Yesterday, during the programme for government statement, the First Minister said:

“No child should have their opportunities, development, health and wellbeing and future curtailed by the material wealth of their family—not ever, and certainly not today, in a modern and prosperous society such as Scotland.”

I agree. We all want a Scotland where everyone and every child can realise their potential.

The programme for government was an opportunity to take stock of the Government’s successes and failures. I agree with the First Minister when he says:

“families thrive when they are supported by co-ordinated holistic services that meet their needs and are easy to access.”—[Official Report, 4 September 2024; c 24.]

That is why I am disappointed that health and housing have had such a low priority in the child poverty actions and are not even referenced in the Government motion.

After 17 years of the Scottish National Party being in government and having full control over those policy areas, the facts speak for themselves. The percentage of children in Scotland who are waiting more than 12 weeks for medical care has increased by almost 50 per cent. The total number of children on waiting lists sits at more than 10,000, which is a 114 per cent increase. To borrow from the cabinet secretary, those are SNP waiting lists. The number of children who are homeless and living in temporary accommodation has reached more than 16,000—that is SNP child homelessness.

The Government is not making the progress that it promised. The health and housing situation for children—often the most vulnerable children in our society—is only getting worse. There is a cross-party consensus in the Parliament and, perhaps more importantly, in the charities and public bodies that work in communities across Scotland, that we should take action to make change in that area.

The Government motion states:

“sustained and cohesive effort is needed across all levels of government and in all parts of society to deliver on this national mission”.

I agree with that. However, if ministers are serious about eliminating child poverty and about that being the Government’s number 1 priority, we need a renewed focus on outcomes, not on Government processes, which is all that we have seen to date.

Alongside Jackie Baillie, I recently co-chaired a parliamentary round table that was organised by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health to discuss the recommendations in its report “Worried and Waiting: A review of paediatric waiting times in Scotland 2024”. I have to say that, along with many MSPs who are in the chamber, I was concerned by what the professionals had to say. I make the sincere plea to the First Minister to meet the RCPCH urgently to consider some of its recommendations on the need to make child poverty and child health outcomes go hand in hand. We need action. The waiting times that we see are the next big scandal facing the Government.

I know that, since the pandemic, many MSPs will have started to receive examples in their casework of unacceptable failures to deliver health and mental wellbeing care and support on time. We need to see action on that. I request that the First Minister urgently looks at the recommendations that the royal college has outlined, which it would be fully realistic and affordable for the Scottish Government to take forward. One of those recommendations is to conduct a full review of the child health workforce to ensure that it is sufficiently resourced and funded, and specifically to look at the creation of a bespoke child health workforce strategy. We can all agree that those things would make a difference. I would also ask the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care to consider the challenges and make a statement to Parliament on them, because they are only getting worse on the Government’s watch.

I have been disappointed to date in the limited progress that has been made by Government to end the practice of children and young people being placed in adult mental health services. I have held round-table meetings and we have had meetings all summer, yet ministers have not acted on the challenges and the practice continues. We need leadership. I hope that the health secretary, although he is not here in the chamber, will look at how we act on that.

The housing emergency is one of the key areas that the Government needs to act on. I welcome some of the changes to the Housing (Scotland) Bill outlined in the programme for government and I look forward to meeting the Minister for Housing to discuss them. In many ways, however, the changes that have been proposed are fixing the mess that was created during the period of the SNP-Green coalition Government. During the consideration of the national planning framework, I, alongside industry leaders, warned ministers that without a pipeline of land supply for new homes, we would see housing developments and home completions significantly reducing, which is what has happened.

As the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations points out in its briefing, the pipeline of new social homes is slowing to worrying levels. Housing association starts were just 2,073 homes in 2023, which is the lowest number since 1988. The proposals that the Government is now making look almost identical to what I tried to get into the national planning framework, so I welcome much of that. However, the mid-market rent sector has collapsed in Scotland and the pledge for 2,800 homes is low in comparison with what can, and should be, achieved.

The rent controls policy, although politically well meaning in the short term, has had long-term consequences, which we need to accept. As a result, renters, particularly in the capital, are being priced out of homes—that is especially the case for new tenants who are trying to find a home.

Missing from the actions to tackle the housing crisis are new actions on void and empty properties, and I know that many SNP members who serve on the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee are as frustrated about the issue as I am. In Edinburgh, there are 3,000 council-owned properties that are sitting empty. That is totally unacceptable. That number has remained at that level for years now, including during the housing emergency we are experiencing in the capital. One of my requests to ministers is for them to take forward a joint piece of work with councils to urgently audit and allocate those properties to get them back into use.

During the summer, I met a number of developers who have highlighted the total collapse in the mid-market rent sector in Scotland following its inclusion in the Scottish National Party-Green rent controls policy. I am sorry to say that those developers are saying that Scotland is not open for business and we are seeing those developments and investments going to the north of England. Will the Scottish Government now agree to remove mid-market rent developments from the rent controls so that we can make sure that those homes are actually built?

Thanks for that. I have a question about the potential to reform housing first, specifically extra supported accommodation and homes, as part of the bill. Several charities that I met with over the summer would like to see that addressed in the bill, specifically in relation to people for whom the housing-first approach does not work and who need a sustainable tenancy with supported living in respect of finance and often medication, too.

In the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, I asked the former cabinet secretary a question about how many people the housing-first approach does not work for and she picked a number of about 3,500 people in Scotland. What could be in the bill to establish a better framework or model to support the development of things such as live-in peer-support housing and other things that we need to see more of? In Edinburgh, for example, we have a waiting list of 50 people with alcohol-related brain damage who are looking to get into accommodation that does not exist. Those people often end up in our homeless sector. Is there a missed opportunity within the bill to do something bespoke around that?