Chamber and committees

The cabinet secretary has alluded to this, but colleagues in local government have told me that deliveries of orders of interlinked alarms are being delayed, in part due to the global semiconductor shortage, but also because of the disruption to trade due to the pandemic. In short, there are not enough alarms to go around.

What flexibility is there? We have spoken about a reasonable period, but people are worried about breaking the law after 1 February. What more consideration has the cabinet secretary given to a fixed delay to the coming into effect of the legislation?

To ask the Scottish Government when the self-referral breast screening programme will resume for non-symptomatic women over 70 who have had breast cancer. (S6O-00520)

I have been contacted by three different women in their 70s who have all previously had breast cancer and were advised by their clinicians that they needed regular screening. Now they have been told that the only way for anyone over the age of 70 to be screened is if they find a lump. Does the cabinet secretary understand how worried those women are about not being screened regularly? Their fears of a recurring breast cancer being missed do not go away when they turn 71. What does he plan to do to reinstate the screening programme in order to give those women the protection and reassurance that they deserve?

Another £137 million in real terms has gone, which includes money for local bin collections, fixing potholes, keeping libraries open and cutting grass. When will our towns and cities get the resources that they need to recover and grow after the pandemic and a decade of SNP cuts to our communities?

I have another question on a different subject. We have touched on the different community responses to short-term lets. Some communities in Edinburgh, parts of the Highlands and Fife have expressed concern about the number of short-term lets in the area. However, in areas such as the south of Scotland, communities have expressed real support for short-term lets, because of the economic benefits to the area, and they would like the number of short-term lets to grow. I know that witnesses have spoken about wanting to avoid a situation in which there are varying regulations across the country, but I ask for the witnesses’ views on the potential for a pilot project that could be done in an area in which communities are looking to see regulations introduced or are looking for the powers to be devolved wholesale to local authorities so that they can choose how best to respond to the needs of their communities, rather than having a one-size-fits-all approach across the country.

Good morning. A lot of the discussions that I had over the summer, before we came to consider the regulations, involved the definition of short-term let. I have concerns about what our starting point is for the regulations if we do not understand the volume of short-term lets in the country.

The Government has used the figure of 32,000 properties, based on data that was gathered from Airbnb, but the non-domestic rates roll shows only 18,000 properties in the sector. Will the witnesses say what their view is of how many short-term lets there are in Scotland and how that compares with the Government’s figure? If the figure of 32,000 is out of step with the actual situation, how could that affect the starting point for the regulations and the impact that they could have?

Good morning. If the project was rolled out nationally and scaled up, we would expect unit costs to come down. As we move to mixed tenure models that involve owner-occupiers, or in relation to the example that has just been given, would you expect the burden of the initial cost of the project to fall on tenants through increased rents or on owner-occupiers? Would it be reasonable to expect the social landlord or the owner-occupier to pick up all the costs? Would that be feasible or would there need to be greater incentives through Government grants to cover the costs? Would that hold back a national roll-out?

I am grateful for the First Minister’s answer but, with social sector arrears growing by £9 million just between July and September this year, it is clear that arrears are set to dwarf that £10 million grant fund. To my surprise and the surprise of those in the sector, that is not even new money; it has been raided from the ending homelessness together fund. Also, the loan fund appears to be completely useless. It offers tenants in arrears more debt, and most applicants are simply refused. In the first four months of this financial year, just £42,000 was paid out.

Tenants fear a tidal wave of evictions and homelessness, yet last week’s report says that landlords want notice periods for arrears to be slashed to the pre-pandemic level of 28 days. Can the First Minister assure tenants that their rights on notice periods will not be slashed? Can she commit to rent controls in next year’s housing bill—not by 2025, as she suggested in her previous answer?

I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests, as an owner of a rented property in North Lanarkshire.

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to support tenants, in light of University of Glasgow research indicating that around a quarter of private tenants are in arrears, totalling around £126 million. (S6F-00463)

If the order were not to pass and coronavirus-related MCC appeals were to continue, what would be the implications for processing existing appeals and future appeals, and would that have an impact on preparation for the next valuation?