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Seòmar agus comataidhean

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 1 July 2025
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Displaying 2321 contributions

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Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 8 March 2022

Willie Coffey

Good morning, minister and colleagues. The Scottish Association of Landlords told us that the temporary change to make all evictions discretionary has had little impact in terms of the tribunal’s refusal of eviction orders. If that is the case, why would making that a permanent arrangement benefit tenants?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 8 March 2022

Willie Coffey

Some respondents to the committee have said that there is little evidence to support the claim that pre-action protocols will have a positive impact. How do you see such measures working? Will they help us to reduce overall rent arrears or prevent eviction cases going to tribunal? Can you say a little about that?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 8 March 2022

Willie Coffey

My second question is probably for John Blackwood. To what extent do you think that the proposal to remove the mandatory eviction grounds provides us with the right balance between the rights of tenants and the rights of landlords?

Public Audit Committee

“Social care briefing”

Meeting date: 3 March 2022

Willie Coffey

On retention, your briefing gives us a statistic that one in four staff—25 per cent—leaves within the first three months. That must be quite a worry. Will you give us more information about why that happens? Is it pandemic related or was it happening before the pandemic? What can we do to turn that around?

Public Audit Committee

“Social care briefing”

Meeting date: 3 March 2022

Willie Coffey

Auditor General, your briefing also reminds us that £500 million extra was awarded to local government in 2019-20. The big question is: do you know how much of that funding was used for social care commissioning purposes—or did it find its way elsewhere?

Public Audit Committee

“Social care briefing”

Meeting date: 3 March 2022

Willie Coffey

I turn to issues to do with the commissioning of services. Your briefing tells us that we tend to

“focus on cost, rather than quality or outcomes”.

That is despite spending £5 billion on the overall service. Is there a case for getting in those who are involved in the commissioning process at an early stage so that the tension between cost and outcomes could, to some degree, be avoided?

Public Audit Committee

“Social care briefing”

Meeting date: 3 March 2022

Willie Coffey

Okay. My final question was going to be about the competition issue that the Auditor General raised, but I think that he has adequately covered that. If there is a more collaborative approach and people are involved at an earlier stage, we might gain more and, rather than focusing on costs, we might focus on quality.

I will hand back to the convener and allow other members to come in.

Public Audit Committee

“Social care briefing”

Meeting date: 3 March 2022

Willie Coffey

Good morning. Before I ask about workforce issues, Auditor General, can you say something about how the briefing complements, reflects, mirrors or does otherwise in respect of the Feeley report that was published about a year ago? How much does the briefing find itself in harmony with that report’s recommendations, and what progress has been made?

Public Audit Committee

“Social care briefing”

Meeting date: 3 March 2022

Willie Coffey

That kind of leads into my next question. Last year, we had an evidence session on Scotland’s colleges. In it, the principal of Edinburgh College set out some of the more innovative approaches that the college is taking to address the increasing demand for a social care workforce. They include enabling students who are studying social-care related disciplines to undertake a mixture of studies, skills development and work-based opportunities, and provision of dual qualifications in childcare and social care. Is such thinking being considered across Scotland? If so, is it having a positive impact?

Public Audit Committee

“Social care briefing”

Meeting date: 3 March 2022

Willie Coffey

I turn to the workforce issues that are mentioned in your briefing, which tells us about the difficult environment in which the paid social care workforce operates. It also refers to the increasing demand for social care, which is coupled with a wide range of recruitment and retention challenges. What has the Government been doing and what is it doing to respond to that challenge and to ensure that we increase the number of people with social care skills?