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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 11 February 2025
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Displaying 600 contributions

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Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

First Minister’s Question Time

Meeting date: 9 January 2025

Jeremy Balfour

Pensioners across Scotland have faced freezing temperatures this winter, and they will continue to do so over the coming weeks. The SNP is shamelessly trying to hoodwink pensioners by pretending that it has brought back the full winter payment for next year when it has not done so. Only the Conservatives have provided the full winter payment to pensioners—[Interruption.]

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Migration System

Meeting date: 9 January 2025

Jeremy Balfour

The project of devolution is built on the idea that devolved Parliaments can carry out certain functions of government effectively at a more local level. Over the past 25 years of our history, the Scottish Parliament has been entrusted with many responsibilities—healthcare, education, transport and social security, to mention a few.

However, that model works only if the Scottish Government is actually focused on those issues. The system fails when we ignore our core responsibilities and, instead, spend time on functions that are reserved to Westminster. This debate is the latest example of the Scottish Government not being interested in making devolution work for the people of Scotland.

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Migration System

Meeting date: 9 January 2025

Jeremy Balfour

With respect to the cabinet secretary, I think that she has slightly jumped the gun. She might want to reflect on what I will say in the next few minutes.

Instead of focusing on providing high-quality public services, the Scottish Government would rather grandstand on reserved policy areas and deflect attention elsewhere. The consequences of that are plain to see: a suffering national health service, an ever-growing housing crisis, the social care sector on its knees, and the wider third sector looking for life support.

Should we be surprised that Scotland is struggling to attract migrants? If the Scottish National Party is not willing to put in the work to make Scotland an attractive prospect, why should migrants be willing to move here? Scotland is home to 8.4 per cent of the UK population, but we receive only 6 per cent of net UK migration. Regardless of the SNP’s attempts to deflect from that, the blame lies squarely at its feet.

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 8 January 2025

Jeremy Balfour

Happy new year.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted an assessment of the potential impact of the reported proposed budget reduction for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service on its ability to reduce any court backlogs. (S6O-04168)

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 8 January 2025

Jeremy Balfour

During the pandemic, the closure of courts meant that a large backlog of cases built up, including cases involving the most serious crimes. Back in March 2021, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service forecast that the backlog of cases involving the most serious crimes would be cleared by March this year, which is in just two months’ time. However, that forecast has now been revisited and a much less ambitious goal has been set out. Given that the Scottish Government’s budget appears to show that there is a cut in the cash settlement for our court service, can the cabinet secretary confirm that any hope of meeting the court service’s original targets for clearing trial backlogs is over and that people will have to wait longer for justice?

Meeting of the Parliament

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 12 December 2024

Jeremy Balfour

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to enhance regional transport partnerships over the coming year. (S6O-04118)

Meeting of the Parliament

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 12 December 2024

Jeremy Balfour

As Stephen Kerr just pointed out, figures that were revealed to us show that Sustrans received £97.9 million from the Scottish Government. That is at a time when the City of Edinburgh Council cannot deal with the potholes in our city. Does the cabinet secretary believe that it would be more effective to give the money to the City of Edinburgh Council to fix the potholes, rather than wasting money on an unelected body?

Meeting of the Parliament

Changing Places Toilets (Funding)

Meeting date: 11 December 2024

Jeremy Balfour

I am often asked which achievement I am most proud of from my time in Parliament. When I look back over my time here, one of the things that comes to mind is the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019, as we managed to secure a provision that any new developments over a certain size must include a changing places toilet. That amendment guaranteed that any new public space must be accessible to all, and gave people with profound disabilities the comfort of being able to toilet with dignity. It is regrettable, however, that some developments are dragging their feet on fulfilling that requirement.

For example, I recently visited the Edinburgh futures institute at Quartermile, which was set up by the University of Edinburgh. Despite significant engagement, it still has no plans to install a changing places toilet. I hope that it will see the error of its stance, and very quickly prioritise making the facility accessible to all.

Changing places toilets are not a luxury or a nice optional extra—they are an absolute necessity in order for many people to be able to participate in society. They bring not only help to the disabled but economic benefit to those that have such facilities in place. They are often the difference between a disabled person being able to go out or having to stay in.

I highlight amazing organisations such as PAMIS—Promoting a More Inclusive Society—which works tirelessly to promote changing places and to inform the public about the benefits and whereabouts of those facilities. Without that organisation, I do not think that we would have made nearly as much progress as we have done.

Turning to the motion, I am sure that members will be aware of a promise that was made by the then First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, in 2021. A £10 million fund specifically for the installation of changing places was to be created, following the lead of the United Kingdom Government. That money would make a real difference to the lives of disabled people, as has happened in England, where all the money has already been distributed. Unfortunately, however, no money has materialised in Scotland—it has been flushed away.

After three years of leading disabled people on, the Scottish Government finally admitted what many had suspected for years—that it had no intention of distributing the money. For three years, organisations, developers, charities and others were waiting for the much-needed funds that would allow them to put in changing places—and all of a sudden, that money was gone.

It is well known that the Scottish Government is very good at making big announcements and very poor at delivery. Even for the Scottish Government, however, this was a devastating betrayal. We should make no mistake about it—we are not talking about a lot of money. It represents a tiny fraction of the budget, but it would make a huge difference to disabled people across Scotland. However, the Scottish National Party Government took the decision to punish disabled people. Yesterday, in the human rights debate, we heard about what a good record the Government has, but of all the cuts that it could have made, it decided that disabled people had had it too good for too long.

However, there was then a glimpse of hope. At a recent meeting of the cross-party group on changing places toilets, we invited the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport to come and explain to MSPs, the third sector and other stakeholders and individuals why it had cut the funding, and what the SNP was going to do to make that disgrace right. We were encouraged that Maree Todd told us that we should wait for the budget, and that the Government was going to commit money for changing places.

We were perhaps not expecting that the whole £10 million would be reinstated, but we thought that some money would be better than nothing. However, I listened very carefully to the statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government last week; I scanned the budget documents; and I asked the Scottish Parliament information centre to do the research, and none of us could find a single mention of changing places toilets in the budget.

I accept that I, or SPICe, may have missed something. I would therefore like the minister to intervene at this point to tell members, and the disability stakeholders to whom she has spoken in recent weeks, what money is earmarked in this year’s budget.

Meeting of the Parliament

Changing Places Toilets (Funding)

Meeting date: 11 December 2024

Jeremy Balfour

I start by thanking the minister, and I look forward to seeing that money, but the problem is that we have heard that money promised before, and then it has been taken away.

Will the minister, in summing up, also tell us when that money will be available, when it will be spent and what the criteria will be? Most importantly, can she tell us that it will not go to organisations that do not need the money, but instead to the third sector, which desperately needs it? The third sector, and disabled people, are listening. They are tired of being left behind, and tired of not knowing whether or not they can go to the toilet with dignity in public. Most of all, they are tired of being promised the world and being delivered nothing.

I look forward to hearing the minister point out any inaccuracy in what I have said in the last six minutes and 58 seconds, because I believe that every word that I have said is factually true. The Government must make this right—get the funding, get it distributed and stand up for disabled people. That is what we want, and we want it now.

Meeting of the Parliament

Changing Places Toilets (Funding)

Meeting date: 11 December 2024

Jeremy Balfour

I am conscious that your time is running out. Can you tell us—