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It is worth saying, first, that at the heart of the licensing scheme is a set of mandatory standards for all short-term lets in Scotland, which are geared towards protecting the safety of guests and neighbours. The approach was brought in because of the concerns that were being raised. Many hosts and operators are already meeting the standards, as a matter of compliance with existing law and best practice, and we do not consider the standards to be onerous.

We considered registration as part of our 2019 consultation. Having considered the findings of the research and consultation, in January 2020 we announced that we would proceed with a licensing scheme, using powers under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982. Registration would not offer the same protection as licensing offers to guests, neighbours and local communities.

On the timescale for legislation, I expect to be able to provide an update on progress shortly, when the relevant committee has been established and its convener appointed.

A number of concerns about short-term lets were raised, including the impact on local housing supply, noise and antisocial behaviour, and the issues were not confined to our cities.

The important point is to ensure basic safety, which is an important factor in every let in Scotland. I hope that the member agrees that there should be basic safety standards for all lets, of whatever type, including B and Bs.

Local authorities have been involved in the discussions and will set the fees to cover their costs in establishing and administering the scheme. I reassure the member that we do not expect the fees to be onerous. The business and regulatory impact assessment contains an estimated range of between £223 and £377 to cover a three-year licence, which I do not regard as overly onerous.

The Scottish ministers remain committed to undertaking joint work with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to develop a rules-based fiscal framework to support future funding settlements for local government. Due to the pandemic, work has been delayed, but the Scottish Government and COSLA officials have now recommenced discussions to determine the scope of work required, and we understand that COSLA has convened a cross-party working group to consider its position. Any changes to the way in which local government is funded would need the agreement of COSLA.

I thank Natalie Don for her very important question, and I absolutely agree with her and the children’s commissioner.

While this Government is focused on tackling poverty through significant investment, including the introduction of the Scottish child payment, the UK Government’s planned £20 cut to universal credit will push 60,000 families, including 20,000 children, into poverty across Scotland. That is not the only policy that penalises families; there is also, among other issues, the benefit cap, the two-child limit and the five-week wait for universal credit.

We have written to the UK Government on numerous occasions, asking for the uplift to be made permanent and extended to legacy benefits. The sheer scale of its cuts makes mitigation by the Scottish Government unsustainable. Because these policies hold back families in need, they must be scrapped, which is why we in Scotland need full powers to tackle child poverty.

Tenant participation must be at the heart of developing the new rented sector strategy. Our regional network of tenant organisations already helps us to involve tenants who live in the social rented sector, and we have committed in “Housing to 2040” to establishing a tenant participation panel for private tenants. The forums will help us to ensure that tenants’ voices are heard in the development and delivery of the strategy and future policy making.

I am keen to meet tenant representatives and organisations that support tenants. Invitations for meetings with shortly be issued to representatives of both those groups as we begin work on the rented sector strategy.

I think that I caught the gist of that question. I am keen for the PRS resilience group to continue. It provides a useful forum for open discussion of the issues and challenges that face everyone, including tenants in the private rented sector, so it is wise for the forum to continue for the foreseeable future.

Will the member give way on that specific point?

The member will be aware that we are introducing a new rental strategy and, of course, affordability of rents is part of what we have to consider. I am happy to meet with her about that issue, as I want to work with the chamber on all these things.

We want to deliver a further 100,000 affordable homes by 2032, and our aim is that at least 70 per cent of those homes will be for social rent to help tackle child poverty and homelessness.

To tackle poverty effectively, however, we must deliver a fair work future for Scotland. We are working hard to do that now, but we are constrained in the powers that are available to us. We cannot accept a future in which two thirds of children who live in poverty come from working households and people are forced to rely on benefits to top up their earnings. We have to transform workplaces to tackle poverty and long-standing labour market inequalities, such as the disability employment gap and the barriers to employment that people from minority ethnic backgrounds face.

With full powers over employment, we could as a minimum ensure that all employees receive the real living wage and that their wages represent the true cost of living; outlaw unfair fire-and-hire tactics to prohibit employers from dismissing employees and subsequently re-employing them on diminished terms and conditions; and ban inappropriate and exploitative use of zero-hour contracts to give people certainty about their working hours and to ensure that they can plan their lives and incomes. That is why I have asked all party leaders to support our request to the UK Government for the full devolution to this Parliament of employment powers, so that we can make the changes that are needed if we are to tackle poverty.

Social security, too, is an important tool in tackling poverty. Again, the powers in that regard do not all lie in our hands. Some 85 per cent of spending remains at Westminster, alongside income replacement benefits such as universal credit and employment and support allowance.

The pandemic provided further evidence—if evidence was needed—that the UK welfare system is not fit for purpose and risks undermining hard-won progress. It is the system on which people in Scotland have to rely, and we should not have to mitigate the effect of policies with which we disagree. For example, last year we spent £80 million on discretionary housing payments, to mitigate in full the bedroom tax and support people with their housing. We could be investing that money in other measures. We need to move beyond mitigation, and if we had the powers here, we would be able to do so.

The removal of the £20 uplift to universal credit will be a callous act, which will push 60,000 families in Scotland, including 20,000 children, into poverty. It will result in families who are unable to work receiving, on average, £1,600 less per year than they would have received in 2011—a decade ago. That is a massive threat to the progress that we can make here. We could double the Scottish child payment, on one hand, only to see, on the other, the money removed by Westminster welfare policies. Surely no one in this Parliament thinks that that is in any way a good idea or a fair system. We need to make significant investment, putting money into the pockets of the people who need it most. That is why the Scottish child payment is so important; it does just that.

We have urged the UK Government to make the changes that are needed and to scrap harmful policies such as the two-child cap, the rape clause, the benefit cap and the five-week wait for universal credit. It is unfortunate that our calls, as well as those of many charities and organisations and even the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, have been ignored.

It is time for full powers to come to this Parliament, so that we can make a difference. We have shown what a difference we can make, with a public service that is based on human rights, has respect and dignity at its heart and is viewed as an investment in the people of Scotland—we enshrined those principles in law. We are using our powers to tackle poverty head on. The Scottish child payment is currently £40 every four weeks for every eligible child under six, and we are committed to doubling the payment to £80 so that it has an even greater impact. That, alongside our best start grant and best start food cards, means that we provide more than £5,300 of direct financial support to a family by the time their first child turns six—and there is further support for subsequent children, because we do not put a cap on the number of eligible children.

Those payments are making a difference to low-income families and helping them to access the essentials that they need. The support is unmatched anywhere else in the UK.

Yes.

Our next steps will build on the strong foundation that we have set. We will take changes forward at pace. No member of the Parliament, whatever their political beliefs, should underestimate the scale of the challenge that we face. I want to take things forward, and I will be pleased to work with any member who wants to join me in doing so.

I move,

That the Parliament agrees that tackling child poverty and building a fairer, more equal country should be a national mission for the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament and society; acknowledges that action is required across all the drivers of poverty reduction, including delivering fair flexible work, affordable, accessible childcare, sustainable transport options, affordable housing, and reductions in the costs of living; commits to tackling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on poverty and inequality; recognises the impact of UK Government welfare cuts and policies that exacerbate poverty, including the two-child cap, which could remove £500 million from the incomes of families in Scotland; recognises the positive action of the Scottish Child Payment and notes the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland’s assessment that removal of the £20 uplift to universal credit will effectively “knock out the benefits that the Scottish Child Payment brings into families”, undermining the work and mission of the Scottish Parliament to eradicate child poverty; urges the UK Government to devolve all employment and social security powers to the Scottish Parliament, in order that it may take the further steps needed to make workplaces fairer, including through payment of the real Living Wage, and to establish a Minimum Income Guarantee, so that everyone has enough income to live a dignified life, and calls on the UK Government to match the ambition of the Scottish Parliament to eradicate child poverty.

Will the member take an intervention?