Chamber and committees

I agree with the member. For me, the point that came out was that health and social care partnerships in every other local authority area outwith Glasgow have considered funding the Food Train. That is concerning to me.

I am grateful for the opportunity to take part in the debate about the public health problem of loneliness. To demonstrate the scale of the issue, 3.6 million adults in the UK live alone, of whom 2 million are aged 75 or older. Moreover, 1.9 million older people have indicated that they feel invisible or ignored.

Although loneliness and social isolation are all too common among our older population, they do not remain relegated to any one age or social group. Although the elderly population experienced the greatest increases in loneliness, various other groups were found to have the highest rates of loneliness. As we have heard, those groups included 16 to 24-year-olds, people who were living on lower incomes, disabled people, and Scots who were living with pre-existing mental health conditions.

Loneliness and social isolation have existed as public health concerns before, during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. The same has applied to the efforts of people and support groups over the same period. In both the pre and post-Covid eras individuals in communities across Scotland came together to support others in whichever ways they could.

In my region, a charity called New Rhythms for Glasgow has provided valuable services that aim to achieve the betterment of people’s lives through access to the creative arts. This community-led organisation has done that for more than 20 years in the service of many of our most vulnerable people, including children and people with disabilities. However, due to the Scottish Government’s funding cuts, the future of New Rhythms for Glasgow remains uncertain. Should the charity disappear from its community’s social fabric, the potential for greater social isolation and loneliness would inevitably increase because of that decision to cut funding.

Unfortunately, that is not the only charity in such a position. The same can be said of Food Train Glasgow, which is a volunteer group that provides vital food and meal delivery services to more than 400 Glaswegian over-65s. Those elderly residents would face difficulty in procuring such essentials otherwise. Following the announcement of possible funding cuts spearheaded by Glasgow City Council, more than 2,000 people have signed a petition to help to save the organisation. I hope that the minister will reflect on that in her closing remarks.

Christine Grahame rose—

I do not have enough time; I have only four minutes—sorry.

The number of open homeless applications is at its highest level since data collection began in 2002. There are 14,450 households in temporary accommodation, the number of children in temporary accommodation has reached a record high and—worst of all—more than 14 homeless people die in Scotland each month.

It is past time for action to address this crisis; everyone deserves a roof over their head. There must be affordable housing to help people who are struggling to make ends meet and there must be clear, accessible routes for people to get on to the property ladder.

The Government does everyone in the country a disservice when all that it does is try to deflect blame and dodge responsibility on this issue. The Parliament has the power to tackle the housing crisis and to help people out of homelessness. It has the budget and it has all the levers that it needs to act yet, too often, all we hear from SNP ministers are excuses and passing the buck. They make excuses and blame others because the Government’s record is one of failure after failure. Targets have been missed; the number of affordable homes started has decreased by almost a quarter in the past year; the number of affordable homes approved has fallen to its lowest since 2013; rents in Scotland are rising faster than in the rest of the UK; and a £1 billion plan designed to address the housing crisis was halted because of the short-sighted SNP-Green rent cap.

What has the SNP Government done in response to the crisis? It has cut the housing budget by £166 million in cash terms, making the problem even worse. That record should shame ministers, but the SNP Government seems to be so out of touch and detached from reality that it will not even accept that it can and must act.

As my colleagues have said, there are actions that the SNP can take to start tackling this crisis. The Scottish Conservatives have outlined what could be done. The Government could develop new extra-care housing models to provide for people with additional support needs; it could spearhead an urgent Scottish housing emergency action plan; it could introduce compulsory sales orders for long-term unoccupied properties to bring them back into use; it could relax planning laws and allow the redevelopment of unoccupied businesses into housing; and, most simply of all, it could provide the funding to build more affordable and social homes.

Emma Harper rose—

I am out of time.

Instead of pointing all the powers of this Parliament towards tackling the housing crisis, the SNP Government wants to point the finger of blame elsewhere; I urge MSPs to back Miles Briggs’s amendment to force the Government to accept its responsibility.

We should all be deeply troubled by the housing crisis in Scotland today. We are a rich country with so many resources at our disposal, yet homelessness still continues to shame our country. It is 2023, but there are still people on the streets who have no other option, no roof over their head and no place to call home.

I know, living in Springburn, that so many people are struggling to access homeless services. They feel let down—even abandoned—by a broken system that seems to be working against them and not for them. I hear from constituents every week who, almost always through no fault of their own, are struggling to get a home of their own or, in many cases, who are struggling to find somewhere to stay—even just for that night. It is heartbreaking, and in this day and age it should not be this way.

Beyond Springburn and Glasgow, the scale of the crisis is apparent across Scotland in dozens of tragic statistics.

I thank Stephanie Callaghan for lodging the motion and congratulate her on her extremely powerful speech.

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate concerning the indispensable work that has been done for individuals in Scotland living with autism. I am also happy to see the Parliament acknowledge world autism acceptance week and world autism month, which have been celebrated to raise public awareness of autism and aid in creating a more welcoming world for autistic individuals.

Over the course of my career as an MSP, I have been able to work closely with a wide array of colleagues and organisations to help make Scotland more accommodating to the needs of autistic people. Personally, I have been contacted by many parents and family members of people with autism in Glasgow, who have asked that more be done to support their loved ones’ needs.

In my capacity as an MSP, I have sponsored numerous parliamentary motions on subjects relating to autism, including motions on the Glasgow founder of educational Dekko Comics winning a national award and Glasgow mums launching a playgroup for kids with autism. Additionally, I have had the honour of attending events that have been held by groups at the Parliament, such as the event to celebrate 25 years of the National Autistic Society Scotland and an event to mark Scottish Autism’s 50-year anniversary. Furthermore, before the Covid-19 pandemic, in collaboration with the National Autistic Society, I called on the Scottish Government to introduce a three-month national health service waiting time target for autistic patients. NAS has found that 27 per cent of patients were misdiagnosed and that 42 per cent indicated that the process had been stressful. The move was designed to expedite the autism diagnosis process and align it with measures that already existed in the rest of the United Kingdom.

Aside from various roles in which I have served, being a member of the cross-party group on autism has been particularly rewarding. During the pandemic, I was delighted to see the launch of its report, “The accountability gap”, which reviewed the Scottish Government’s strategy for autism.

After eight years of the Government’s strategy being implemented, it has become evident—through the statements of most of the hundreds of individuals who participated in our review—that, although progress has been made, obstacles remain, particularly in relation to employment and diagnosis support.

Among the recommendations of our report, I supported the creation of a new commissioner to safeguard the rights of autistic people in Scotland, which would facilitate bridging the gap between advocacy and policy making. I believe that that will help to address on-going obstacles for autistic people, as 72 per cent felt that they lacked sufficient support, 78 per cent stated that they had difficulty in securing local support, and 69 per cent believed that greater support would help with feelings of isolation.

That leads me to highlight the potential of the forthcoming learning disability, autism and neurodiversity bill. The bill, which will establish a learning disability, autism and neurodiversity commissioner, will open to public consultation in the latter half of this year. I welcome increased engagement between the Scottish Parliament and organisations that perform invaluable work on behalf of autistic individuals. More specifically, I encourage more robust dialogue with the groups that I have been privileged to work with, such as Scottish Autism.

Like Stephanie Callaghan, I know that everyone in the chamber will join me in working tirelessly to address the continuing challenges that are endured by people with autism.

We have been hearing that as well. Does Councillor Heddle have anything to add to that from his local point of view?

Will that continue to be monitored throughout, and will you come back to the committee with anything that changes?

Perfect. Thanks, minister.

Thank you.