Given the information that we have received back—especially from Citizens Advice Scotland—about the timings, about individuals’ ability to pay and about the liability that applies when they fall behind, and given the increasing awareness that the whole idea of funds and support for individuals who are finding it difficult to pay is a very important topic, I think that we need to get more clarity from the Scottish Government as to how it is attempting to address that and whether there is an opportunity to undertake the review that is being sought. That would give us the chance to see and hear what the Scottish Government is planning to do under the process.

As Mark Whitfield indicated in his presentation, we have an opportunity here to engage with the third sector. We talk about dignity, fairness and respect, and I think that it fits those criteria for us to at least investigate this matter for those individuals going through the horrific experience of being given such news and having to cope. The third sector organisations have a wealth of knowledge and experience of what takes place with individuals who are suffering, so it would be very beneficial to have their input as well as to find out from the Scottish Government how it wants to progress this. We should keep the petition going so that we can clarify that and take further information and evidence.

I, too, indicate my disappointment at not having a response from the Scottish Government. It is very much in our favour if we invite the cabinet secretary to comment on the evidence that we have received. It is useful to have the photographic evidence as well. Ms Baillie has taken an informed approach. It would be useful to get the cabinet secretary to answer some of the questions that she posed.

I agree that the information that we received from the organisations and individuals is very comprehensive. Once again, if the cabinet secretary comes to the committee it would give us the opportunity to put some of those questions to him and allow him to respond to the evidence.

I very much concur with that. We have looked at the petition in depth, but from the information that we have received, it seems that there are more questions than answers.

It would be useful to get the petitioner in. There are also questions to be asked of the CAA about what it is doing with HIAL. It would be useful to have some correspondence with the CAA about the co-operative radar system that has been discussed in the papers. If we are to understand the situation, we require more information. Liam McArthur and Rhoda Grant have given us a lot of detail. That has been very useful, but there are still questions that we can ask of the petitioner and the CAA.

I am grateful for the opportunity to close the debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives.

Reducing and preventing homelessness should be a priority for Governments of all colours. Preventing homelessness is not only already a statutory obligation in many cases, but clearly a moral obligation.

We have heard much about the context of homelessness in Scotland today. It is clear that there is much more to do to tackle the problem. The latest figures, which were released today, are a stark reminder of the situation, and make for uncomfortable reading. It is not acceptable that nearly 5,000 adults in Scotland sleep rough at least once a year and that thousands of individuals are in temporary accommodation the length and breadth of Scotland.

Given that situation, I welcome what is to be, and has been, discussed in the prevention of homelessness duties consultation, which was launched jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA last month. The consultation is right to talk about the fight against homelessness being a shared responsibility, and to stress the importance of intervention in cases of possible homelessness. It also mentions the importance of protecting women who have been made homeless as a result of domestic abuse. That is vital, because there might be many more such women than we are aware of from statistics.

There is much to be done to ensure that the proposals become a reality. We are talking about reality; not words, but actions. For example, although Shelter Scotland has welcomed the £10 million that has been committed to ending homelessness together in next year’s budget, it says that that does not go far enough and that more is required.

It is right that councils are expected to carry out their duties to deal with homelessness, but their budgets are being cut. They know their responsibilities and are trying to do the best they can, but they need resources behind them, which many members have spoken about in the debate. Councils will take on more duties and obligations, so they must be given support to do that.

On the measures that are proposed in the consultation, Shelter Scotland has expressed the opinion that the only way to deal with the cycle of homelessness is to build more homes. That is a fact, but there remains a significant difference between what is needed and what is talked about in relation to social housing. The problem has not been helped by the Scottish Government’s having missed its target for building affordable housing in the previous parliamentary session.

The level of investment needs to be greater. The Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland has said that the £831 million that has been committed to affordable housing in next year’s budget is “still not enough” for the SNP to meet its target of building 110,000 affordable houses by 2032.

It is clear that the battle against homelessness continues and is a struggle. As far back as 2018, the Scottish Government stated its target in the “Ending Homelessness Together: High Level Action Plan” that it had put together, but that plan still needs to ensure that homelessness is tackled.

Following on from that, three years later we see that housing first has been talked about and praised, but much more still needs to be done to ensure that housing first is a reality. It is not happening across Scotland—only pilots and projects are taking place. If we are to tackle the issue, we need to ensure that the funding is there. There has been £10.8 million of investment in the housing first scheme, but more needs to be done. We have talked about measures such as our proposed help to rent scheme. That would help to move things forward.

I thank all those who have given us briefings, including Shelter Scotland and other charities. I also want to talk about some of the contributions from members. My colleague Miles Briggs talked about suitable and stable homes. They are part of the process, but to ensure that there are such homes, there has to a balance between what is taking place and the funding that goes with it.

We must also talk about drug misuse, mental health issues, the lack of funding, sustainable accommodation and social care. We see that three to six times more people are falling between the cracks and are even dying in Scotland because of their situation. They have mental health issues and social housing issues; those are part of the mix. Mark Griffin said that there is collective responsibility; the Government and councils have a collective responsibility to deal with the issue of sustainable accommodation.

Willie Rennie gave us some stark statistics. He mentioned 27,000 homeless people and 13,000 in temporary accommodation, including 7,500 children. Action needs to be taken, but we cannot do that when hundreds of millions of pounds are being removed from budgets.

Tess White gave a passionate speech about her region, and talked about housing first being escalated across Scotland. She also talked about applications, but we need social, health, children’s, police and prison services to work together to make sure that we can achieve that.

Jeremy Balfour talked about cross-party support. There is cross-party support, but we cannot cope when one individual every 19 minutes becomes homeless. We want homelessness to be eradicated by 2026 and we believe that that can be achieved.

We are all aware that there is no single cause of homelessness or single solution to it, but my party believes that it is possible to end rough sleeping by 2026. It is clear that that is possible only with significant action on and investment in the issue.

I conclude by urging the Government to use a multipronged approach to tackle homelessness, and I urge it to leave no stone unturned, because the people of Scotland deserve that approach and we should provide it.

NHS Tayside’s inability to recruit replacement breast cancer therapists and clinicians is putting a huge strain on individuals, especially when they have early stage breast cancer. The cabinet secretary identified that people are going to cancer centres in Glasgow, Aberdeen and even Forth Valley, all of which also have staffing issues. What additional measures can be put in place to ensure that the disruption to those patients is kept to a minimum?

Thank you. Angela, in your opening statement, you talked about how individuals and organisations were affected across the piece. How do you see the priorities changing and having to be adapted to ensure that people are not lost or that they do not fall through the net?

Thank you. Chris Birt, did you want to respond?

You talked about the pressures of transparency and the journey that we are on to ensure that equality and human rights budgeting processes are delivered. However, there are challenges and major pressures that will affect the delivery of equality and human rights budgeting in the coming years. We also have the added difficulty of managing the pandemic and its effects, which might unwind the priorities that were set. It would be useful to get a flavour from Emma Congreve and then Angela O’Hagan of what they think the challenges are in relation to allocating funds and supporting the way forward. Those priorities may be derailed, knocked back or knocked off course, so how can we manage those difficulties?