Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Meeting date: Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Official Report 1009KB pdf

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Topical Question Time

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Weather Warnings (Front-line Services)

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an assessment of the state of readiness of Scotland’s front-line services in response to the yellow warnings in place for freezing temperatures over the next 10 days. (S6T-01736)

The preparation for and response to severe weather in Scotland involves a wide range of partners, including emergency services, health boards, local authorities and utility companies, which have a responsibility to plan and prepare for the winter season. In recent months, partners’ plans have been thoroughly tested by exercises and by a number of storms, and I record my thanks, here in Parliament, for the work that responders do during these testing times.

We, in the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland, play our part, too. Through the winter, we have convened winter resilience meetings, bringing together partners to review our collective readiness for winter. We engage with partners directly and through the resilience partnership structures, supporting work to refresh and rehearse adverse weather protocols. Ahead of the current severe weather, officials held a meeting of the Scottish Government resilience room this morning. At this time, no significant concerns have been raised.

I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for her answer. In the teeth of freezing weather, more people are becoming more reliant on local government services, which, the Accounts Commission tells us, have had a £725 million shortfall in funding. Gritting, snow clearing and looking after the most vulnerable residents are all at risk because of the Scottish Government’s relentless budget cuts. Has the cabinet secretary made any assessment of how budget cuts have impacted on Scotland’s overall resilience? Does the cabinet secretary think that the response by front-line services to bad weather will be made better or worse by those cuts?

Local government and other partners provide vital services, particularly during the winter months. I would hope—as is demonstrated by the publication of our draft budget—that this Government continues to prioritise public services, despite more than a decade of austerity from the United Kingdom Government, and following the autumn budget statement, which represented the worst-case scenario for public services.

Mr Kerr raises a really important point, however, with regard to his example of gritting in particular. I reassure him that strategic salt stocks are available to support national resilience. Transport Scotland leads the Scottish salt group, and Mr Kerr may be interested to know that there is a stockpile of rock salt of 110,000 tonnes in Dundee, Rosyth and Leith docks. As for the resources held by local authorities, they have stockpiles of nearly 500,000 tonnes of salt at their disposal. I think that we can therefore say that we are in a good state of preparedness for winter.

I, of course, welcome the news about the stockpiling of grit salt that the cabinet secretary has referred to, but I do not think that the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the chief executives and the leaders of Scotland’s 32 local authorities would agree with her assessment of the recent budget proposals.

I return to the issue of vulnerable people as, in that respect, the Scottish Government is itself very much on the front line. I refer specifically to cold weather payments. A pensioner living in Penrith would have been eligible for £75 so far this year, with more money to come if the weather continues to be as cold as it is, whereas a pensioner in Polmont, in my constituency, will receive only £55 in total. Why does the cabinet secretary think that we do not need higher cold weather payments here in Scotland than those that people receive in England? Will she urgently review the absurd policy of not paying out cold weather payments based on temperature?

I remind the Parliament that my portfolio responsibilities are with respect to resilience—that is, preparedness prior to extreme events—the Government’s response and how we work with our partners during events.

Mr Kerr’s point about fuel poverty and cold weather payments would be for the social security secretary, and I will ensure that she responds to him, of course. I remind him, however, that this Government continues to do everything that we can, within our powers, to address the important points that he makes about fuel poverty. It is a shame that his colleagues in the Government south of the border do not do likewise.

On Mr Kerr’s point about front-line services, I point to the fact that the Scottish Government works very closely with COSLA, and we jointly produced the winter plan to address concerns for vulnerable adults.

There is much interest in this subject. Concise questions and responses will enable me to get more questions in.

For the benefit of those who are watching at home, will the cabinet secretary outline where members of the public can access guidance to support households to prepare for some of the challenges that winter weather can pose?

The Scottish Government and our partners go to extensive efforts to ensure that good information is publicly available. I point the member to the Ready Scotland website and to information on social media channels, such as that produced by Transport Scotland and Police Scotland, where they will receive regular updates.

It is imperative that we all ensure that, as individuals and as households, we do everything that we can to prepare for the weather that comes our way.

Presiding Officer, I am sorry that I am not able to join you today, but travel disruption to planes and the poor roads to Sumburgh have prevented me from getting any further than home.

We know that icy roads pose a danger, and we hear of people who have had slips on icy roads, pavements and lower-priority streets that do not get gritted. With the expectation that climate change will bring us more extreme weather, will the Scottish Government consider a review of the impact on local authorities of the gritting strategy, to avoid increased costs and visits to the national health service?

I firmly believe that a review of local gritting strategies would be far better placed at the local level rather than being done from St Andrew’s house.

The member makes a good point about the importance of climate change. To protect lives and livelihoods, the Scottish national adaptation plan is the policy programme that will give us the tools that we need to prepare for and adapt to the growing impacts of climate change.

In 2002, 210 babies were born to Caithness mums and 202 of them were born in Inverness, many after labour had been induced or born by elective caesarean. That is because mothers do not trust the A9 to be open, and it is the only route. Should the A9 north of Inverness close yet again, what contingency plans are being put in place to ensure that the people of Caithness have proper medical care?

Although it is outwith my powers to always accurately predict the weather, the member raises a good point about the importance of the A9 for transporting people to vital services. I assure him that Transport Scotland’s multi-agency response team was stood up this morning at 6 o’clock, and that will continue throughout today. It is a multi-agency team that works particularly closely with Police Scotland to monitor and respond to any situation and to avert difficulties as far as possible by providing good information and doing everything that we can safely to keep our roads open. As of this morning, all our major trunk roads remain open.

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Empty Homes

I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which shows that I was previously the owner of a private rented property in the North Lanarkshire area.

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to bring more homes back into use, in light of reports that the stock of empty homes is valued at an estimated £3.4 billion. (S6T-01731)

We are strongly committed to returning empty homes to use and are already acting to support owners in doing that. Since 2010, our £3.2 million investment in the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership has helped to bring more than 9,000 homes back into use. The approach is anchored on building capacity to work with owners in each local authority area. We have interest from Wales in emulating our lead, following the modest impact of a grant-led scheme in Wales.

Mr Griffin will be aware that I wrote to the Parliament last year, confirming the publication of an independent audit and setting out further actions to enhance our approach to empty homes, to reflect the wide range and complexity of circumstances that have to be addressed.

The number of empty homes is now the second highest on record, having jumped by 3,500 in the past year. The numbers are going in the wrong direction.

In October, the Government published a consultation finding that backed Labour’s proposal for an empty homes council tax escalator, which would increase the charges on empty homes for every year that they are empty, potentially raising £30 million for councils. When does the Government plan to lay regulations so that councils can increase the charges on the most problematic empty homes and end the farce of billions of pounds’ worth of homes lying empty while kids are stuck in temporary accommodation?

The reasons behind homes being empty are complex. It could be that owners have died and there is an intention to renovate; it could be that owners are in hospital or a care home; or it could be that owners are overseas.

The 100 per cent premium was introduced by this Government. Prior to that—this was the position that we inherited from the previous Labour Government—local authorities could increase the discount by between 50 and 100 per cent. As Mark Griffin said, last summer we consulted on enabling the premium to be increased, but that would require primary legislation. The consultation analysis is being considered by the joint working group on sources of local government funding and council tax reform. Once the group has done its work, the Government will proceed.

Councils in England seem to be ahead of where we are in Scotland with the powers that they have. Salford, Cumbria and Bolsover councils are all using enforced sale powers, which we do not have, to get indebted empty properties on to the market and sold. The adjudication powers that we have here are archaic, complex and very rarely used.

Does the minister not see that empty homes with inconsiderate owners should be forced on to the market? Will he declare a housing emergency and agree to work with Labour members so that enforced sale and rental powers can be included in the housing bill, to get empty homes back into use by families who are desperate for them?

As Mr Griffin knows, we meet regularly to discuss that and other issues.

At the moment, local authorities across Scotland already have broad powers to compulsorily acquire vacant and derelict properties. The powers are well used in some areas and used less in others. When I meet local authorities, the issue of empty homes always comes up and we look at how we can work with them specifically. For example, there was a discussion with City of Edinburgh Council about its empty homes partnership. The issue was in trying to get workmen to work with voids and empty homes to bring that work forward. That was Brexit induced, because there are not enough workers to go around. We are working very closely with City of Edinburgh Council on that. [Interruption.]

Let us hear the minister.

That feedback was directly from City of Edinburgh Council, so the members who are shouting across the chamber should take it up with the council.

On the issue of compulsory purchase legislation, we are working with an expert advisory group this year. In parallel, we have committed to considering a justification for powers to compel the sale of empty properties. We will be able to discuss that with Mark Griffin later this year.

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests. I was a local councillor for Aberdeen City Council at the start of this parliamentary session.

Through the course of the pandemic, the number of empty council properties in Aberdeen grew significantly, and efforts to bring them back into use have been hindered by labour shortages and supply chain issues. What support is available to local authorities to bring empty council housing back into use?

The Scottish Empty Homes Partnership launched an empty homes framework toolkit last year, which was co-produced with local authorities. The toolkit aims to support local authorities to develop a more strategic approach and ensure that resources are deployed for maximum impact.

In Jackie Dunbar’s area in Aberdeen, the council has been awarded £6.15 million through the Ukraine longer term resettlement fund to bring 500 empty social rented homes back into use, with work already complete on 400 of those. That provides a much-needed boost to the social rented housing supply in the city, with homes being retained in the long term to meet demand from people in other forms of housing need when they are no longer required by people who have been displaced from Ukraine.

The percentage of empty properties in rural and remote areas is higher than the Scottish average. In a written response to me just before Christmas, the minister outlined how the Scottish Government’s £25 million of rural affordable homes funding had generated zero homes. What work is the minister doing to use that money to target and audit empty homes, especially those in the social rented sector?

I have a number of points to make. The rural housing plan was published last year and we are working on that with key local authorities. There are active discussions with local authorities at the moment about the rural housing fund. In December, Richard Lochhead and I met with a number of stakeholders in the sector to discuss the issue of empty homes and the workplaces that have concerns about that.

A number of discussions are taking place. There are active discussions with some local authorities, and I am happy to pick that up with Mr Briggs.

I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests in respect of my ownership of rental properties.

What work has the Scottish Government done to evaluate the impact that further increases in the council tax on empty homes could have on bringing those homes back into productive use? Is there any reason why the power to set council tax levels for those properties is not completely devolved to local authorities to enable them to set surcharges at a level that suits local circumstances?

We introduced legislation to ensure that new owners of properties that have previously been empty are protected from the empty homes premium for at least six months. That is intended to encourage the re-occupation of empty properties.

We have also consulted on increasing the council tax premium beyond 100 per cent. As I said before, any change in local authorities’ discretion to increase property charges on empty homes beyond 100 per cent would require primary legislation. We will reflect on recent analysis of the consultation on council tax treatment of second and long-term empty homes, in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and as part of the joint working group on council tax reform.

That concludes topical question time.