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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 17 June 2025
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Displaying 895 contributions

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Criminal Justice Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 6 November 2024

Fulton MacGregor

That would be good—any progress in that area would be welcomed by this committee and others.

Malcolm Graham, I will give you a chance to come back in on some of the stuff that you talked about and which both of you had begun to reflect on in previous answers. Could there be more efficiency in other areas of the criminal justice system? You had started to talk about some of the IT systems, for instance. Can you give some practical examples of how that work might create efficiencies, perhaps with social work or health services?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Emergency

Meeting date: 5 November 2024

Fulton MacGregor

I think that that was for the previous panel, but I am happy to ask it if you want. That is absolutely no problem.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Emergency

Meeting date: 5 November 2024

Fulton MacGregor

Excellent, thank you. I will keep my questions specific to Stephen Llewellyn from North Lanarkshire Council. I declare an interest in that I know and work well with Stephen in his role as chief housing officer.

Stephen, I will ask about something that it might be helpful for the committee to know about. I note that North Lanarkshire Council has a quite an ambitious plan to acquire 100 properties this year via the open market purchase scheme. Will you share the lessons that you have learned from that and say what else you think your council and other councils could do to extend and improve the buy-back scheme to increase stock levels?

11:00  

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Emergency

Meeting date: 5 November 2024

Fulton MacGregor

Sorry, convener. There have been some connection issues here today—I am not sure why.

I was saying that the Scottish Government has consistently called on the UK Government to abolish the bedroom tax and permanently uprate local housing allowance. Do the witnesses think that those reforms are needed? What impact do they think that they might have on the housing emergency?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Emergency

Meeting date: 5 November 2024

Fulton MacGregor

Thank you, convener, and good morning to the witnesses.

I hope that you can hear me okay now and that the network issues have been resolved.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Emergency

Meeting date: 5 November 2024

Fulton MacGregor

That answer was really helpful. I have one further question. I do not want to step on other members’ toes, because I know that we will be coming to the issue of voids, but can you talk about the void situation in North Lanarkshire? How are you ensuring that the situation is managed effectively? I know that North Lanarkshire Council has a good story to tell on voids, so could you elaborate on that?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Emergency

Meeting date: 5 November 2024

Fulton MacGregor

Good morning. The time definitely seems to have gone by very quickly in this evidence session.

I wanted to focus my line of questioning on the interplay of the relationship between the Scottish and UK Governments. Obviously, we have a new UK Government in place now. One of the things that the Scottish—[Inaudible.]—consistently called on the UK Government—[Inaudible.]—I wonder whether the panel agree that those reforms are needed, and can they elaborate on what they think might be the impact—[Inaudible.]—on the housing emergency of such reforms?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Emergency

Meeting date: 5 November 2024

Fulton MacGregor

Hello, convener. I did not ask to come back in.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Emergency

Meeting date: 5 November 2024

Fulton MacGregor

That was a wee surprise that I got an additional question.

The Scottish Government has emphasised the need for UK Government involvement and more joint working in arguing for the abolition of the bedroom tax and the restoration of the LHA rates. If those measures were implemented, how could that help to solve the underlying housing emergency in Scotland, particularly in the witnesses’ local areas?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Emergency

Meeting date: 5 November 2024

Fulton MacGregor

Yes, convener. In the interests of time, I will roll my last two questions into one. Do the witnesses think that there are any other short-term actions that the UK Government could take to help address the housing emergency in Scotland? I wonder also what they think about the forthcoming Scottish Government budget with regard to that issue, following the UK Government budget last week.