 Mae'r tyfu'r cwestiynau. The next item of business is consideration of business motion 11042 in the name of George Adam on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau on changes to the business programme. Any member who wishes to speak against the motion should press their request to speak button now. I call on George Adam to move the motion. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and moved. i'w ddweud y fwyntiau i gael y fwyntiau, dwi'n ddweud. Gwyddoch chi'n ddweud? Fyntiau i gael? Fyntiau i gael? Fyntiau i gael? Yn y ogrifennu ymddangos, mae'n ddweud y fwyntiau i'r fwyntiau i 1127, yn y nifru Paul MacLennan, o'r ysgrifennu i Llyfrgellol i Gwyddoch chi'n ddweud? Felly mae'n ddweud i'r ddweud y fwyntiau i gael ymddangos, a'r ddweud i Paul MacLennan i gael i'r ddweud i'w ddweud? I'm pleased to bring today's debate to the chamber this afternoon to have this opportunity to provide an update on our approach to delivering the right homes and the right places for our rural and island communities. Access to high-quality homes that are affordable and meet the needs of people in the place that they want to be is central to the ambitions of the Scottish Government and critical to supporting the First Minister's three overarching and defining missions of equality, opportunity and community. Housing of the right type in the right place can have a powerful and generational impact. Supporting people to access the housing they need, enabling young people to stay in the communities in which they grew up and supporting local businesses to retain and attract employees. Our long-term housing strategy, Housing to 2040, has at its core an ambition for everyone to have a safe, high-quality home that is affordable and meets their needs in the place that they want to be. That applies as much to rural and island areas as it does in urban areas. Following the publication of Housing to 2040, we committed as part of the Butehouse Agreement to developing a rural and islands housing action plan. Over the summer, I met organisations including the Scottish Land Commission, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise, the Scottish Council for Development and Industry among others, and I want to thank them for their input and indeed to everyone who participated for sharing their views. The groups and individuals who are part of rural and island communities who know what works and what does not. They have seen the first standard difference that the right home and the right place makes. They have all shaped the content of our plan. One of the key things, as I talked around about meeting some of the organisations, was the challenges of Brexit. I will be a miss on me not to mention this, as it was mentioned on numerous occasions. We know that there are challenges ahead. Years of the UK Government's economic mismanagement, coupled with the hard Brexit, have had a long, lasting and devastating impact on our rural and island communities. However, that will not stop our ambition, which is set in this plan. Nor will it blemish a record of delivering thousands of affordable homes in those areas. The rural and island housing action plan provides a vital opportunity to take forward key actions to support housing and local economies and help to accelerate inclusive economic growth. We are making available £3.5 billion over this parliamentary term to support delivery of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, 70 per cent of which will be for social rent, and 10 per cent in our rural and island areas. As part of our £752 million programme this year, we have also committed to invest £60 million in the national acquisition plan to help to increase the pace of delivery of delivering affordable homes. There has already been a lot of good work achieved through joint working cooperation that is delivering good housing outcomes for rural and island communities. Since 2016, the Government has supported the delivery of over 10,000 affordable homes across our rural and island areas. During the summer, I visited projects in Gailoch, Fort Augustus, Shetland and Kelstone. Yesterday, I visited a new affordable homes development in Guildtown in Persia. I have heard firsthand about the differences that affordable homes have made to local communities. Let me share some examples of how strong collaborative work has delivered more homes for our rural and island communities. Working with North Ayrshire Council, we delivered the first new council homes in Arran for more than 20 years with 34 affordable homes in Prodig. Some of those homes were led by North Ayrshire Council to key workers, helping them to live and work in the local area. Working with Agil and Bute Council, 9th grade by new development, over 300 affordable homes have been delivered in Dunbeg. All of the homes have air-source heat pumps deliver affordable energy and tackle fuel poverty in an area that is off grid. I have also seen firsthand the 12 homes completed in Fort Augustus by the local community company, which is looking to deliver more community-led homes. I will touch on that later on. I heard directly from a tenant whose homes had meant to him, allowing him to stay in his own home within his own local community. He also supported Yildon housing association to deliver 57 energy-efficient homes in Churnside in the Scottish Borders. Through our affordable housing supply programme, our affordable housing investment benchmark, levels recognised the differential in costs to deliver affordable housing in rural and island occasions, as opposed to the city and Arnbranera, is not trying to be as flexible as possible. Our demand-led route— I want to lead the way. Michelle Thomson. Noting your point about the finance, I wonder if he could share with me what activities he's been doing to ensure that the right type of finance with the right risk profile is available for SMEs, given that we want that breadth and diversity in our providers. Minister. I thank Michelle Thomson for that question. A number of things. Just about two weeks ago, I met 25 institutional investors in London talking about opportunities to invest in housing in Scotland. That was a positive meeting, and we're meeting up again very soon talking about that. That doesn't MMR and BT also includes social housing. I also met recently with the Scottish Financial Enterprise, and I have a round table coming up with them talking about the opportunities for how we help finance rural housing, in particular in housing in general. I am happy to feed back on the round table once we have that. Just coming back to the point that we mentioned about the demand-led rural island housing fund, which has been described as a game changer, has now become a recognised feature of the affordable housing supply programme and is backed up by £30 million funding this parliamentary term. I try and have met the local authorities as possible, since I've been in role and probably met over two thirds of them. Again, the issue was raised when I talked to councils. I'm grateful to Minister for Giving Way. On 1 September, I wrote to the minister, suggesting that, in order to meet the laudable aims of 11,000 affordable homes by 2032, he should work very closely with farmers and landowners, and he should use permitted development of up to five new homes, not simply conversion of existing, but new homes per farm unit. Given that farms cover 71 per cent of the land mass of Scotland and that the average farm has an equity of around £1 million, is that not a sleeping giant, desperate to be woken up by the Scottish Government? Why is the Scottish Government not including this proposal in the plan? I think that it would be considered in terms of engaging with stakeholders. We met with NFU, we met with the Crofting Commission as well, we also met with the SLE and talked about those particular issues. Again, those are things that are mentioned in the plan, which we will try and develop. I would agree with Fergus Ewing, and I think that there is a great opportunity of working with landowners and farmers in terms of that. The discussions with them will continue as the plan moves forward. Just coming back to that in talking about the rural and islands housing fund, I talked about £30 million funding in this parliamentary term. That continues to play an important part in helping community organisations and others to develop affordable homes, while complying to delivery through our mainstream programme by councils and housing associations in rural and island areas. We have a strong track record having delivered over 10,000 affordable homes since 2016. However, we recognise that we need to do more. The rural and island housing plan sets out our next steps. We know that providing affordable housing in rural and island areas can be complex, and that one-size-fits-all does not work. Many of those action-including action plans seek to address key challenges and put in place the systems and support for the delivery of the right homes and the right places so that rural and island communities can thrive. I would also like to highlight some of the key actions that are included in the plan. I know that the issues have been raised and corresponded to myself by a number of members. The plan recognises the importance of employers being able to attract and retain key workers in rural and island areas, not only to support service delivery for communities, but also to support economic growth and prosperity. I have met a number of employers already talking in the back about some of the schemes that have come forward, and we continue to work with them in that regard in close partnership. It also includes an action to allocate up to £25 million from our affordable homes budget over the next five years to fund a purchase or a long leasing of properties, including empty houses, to be turned into key homes for key workers and others who need affordable housing. There are 67,000 unoccupied properties in Scotland right now, and we all know in our constituencies that they are unsightly and there are blight on Scotland. Does the minister agree that there should be a compulsory introduction of compulsory sales order to ensure that those properties are given to people who are needing homes? I think that that is a good point, and it has been raised by Rachel Hamilton. I think that there was a report out by the Empty Homes Partnership, which touched on that issue, and they sent it to the Scottish Government. That has been considered at the moment. They did mention that at that particular time, so it would be good to come back to yourself on that particular issue, but that is something that Empty Homes Partnership and ourselves are working on, and the recommendations that they made of that, not just in rural areas, but right across Scotland as well. It is a key part of that, and I am happy to discuss after this as well. Again, it is an issue that is really important in terms of the key workers. We are seeing economic development opportunities, but we cannot really expand or try to maximise opportunities around these without having housing. It is there that I was up visiting an individuig, and then we are going to see the number of houses that will be required to accommodate workers up there, so it is incredibly important around what we need to do in that role. The plan also recognises that employers, including those in the public sector, have a role to play there, including through the better use of resources. Properties and land may be owned to meet shared interests of supporting provision of homes for key workers. We know that availability is suitable. I take one, because I am conscious of the time. I thank the minister for taking the intervention. Given that 17 per cent of Scotland's population lives in rural areas and we are seeing de-population, do you think that people in rural areas should be satisfied with only getting 10 per cent of the 110,000 homes that have been promised for Scotland? I think that we talked about a minimum of 10 per cent, and that is one of the key things now. Obviously, I meet with local authorities, we meet with developers, we meet with economic development partners as well. I try to identify the right houses in the right places, so 10 per cent is a minimum for being achieved more than that than fantastic, but that includes closer working as mentioned here in the rural house and action plan. That is a minimum that I would like to deliver if we can deliver more than fantastic, but I think that at the moment the target that has been set is realistic. I think that we have proven that in the delivery that it said, but if we meet more than that, I think that that would be great. I talked about land for housing, so I know that availability of suitable land on the right occasions is also vital to enable a delivery of more homes where they are required. Building on the range of activity that we have already under way, the plan commits to working with public sector agencies to consider the land and building assets that they hold that may be appropriate for housing. We held a round table in Perth, probably around about two or three months, probably around about 10 stakeholders, and that was a key issue that we discussed at that particular time. Our national planning framework for sets out policies that include strong support for sustainable rural development. That includes a new national planning policy for rural homes that will encourage, promote and facilitate delivery of more high-quality affordable and sustainable rural homes. The plan also recognises and delivers alongside the delivery of new homes for our rural island communities. It is important that local authorities have tools available to allow them to make the best use of existing housing. I want to touch a little bit on second homes in short-term lets. I know that those have been a lot of issues, and we have had that debate. Second homes in short-term lets can also bring benefits to those who own and use them, as well as to the tourism, business and local economy that they support. However, where those kind of ownership patterns impact on the availability of homes to meet local needs and on-community sustainability, we are considering what additional powers could support local areas to take action. That was mentioned to myself on the tour that I undertook in the summer on numerous occasions. That includes intent to bring forward legislation, giving local authorities the power to charge up to 100 per cent premium on second homes. On short-term lets, there is now a new legal requirement for short-term lets to be licensed, which provides assurance to guests that short-term lets can meet safety standards and that people providing them are suitable. That brings short-term lets in line with the regulation of other accommodation sectors such as hotels, caravan parks and houses if multiple occupation. It also provides local areas with the option to apply additional conditions to address local use with short-term lets, where those are causing problems for neighbours and residents. Touching on the point that Rachel Hampton made, I just want to say a bit more on any empty homes. We know that every empty home brought back into use can make a big difference to the sustainability of these committees, and we are committed to working with the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership local authorities and owners to bring back more empty homes in rural and island areas back into use. The Scottish Homes Partnership and local authorities, dedicated empty homes officers, continue to deliver great results with more than 9,000 homes returned to use. On community light housing, and you know that this is incredibly important, now the plan recognises community light housing plays an important role in our broad approach to deliver more affordable homes in our rural and island communities. Enabling the role of organisations including South of Scotland community housing and community housing trust to have both met amongst others have been and continue to be vital in supporting communities to bring forward housing projects. The plan includes a joint funding package with Nationwide Foundation of almost £1 million over three years to communities housing trust in South of Scotland community housing to enable them to continue to support rural and island communities, enabling them to grow their knowledge, incapacitate and deliver more affordable homes to meet the needs of communities. The action plan obviously touches on what we need to do, but this is all around about collaboration and partnership. The delivery of the ambitions and action plan cannot solely be achieved by the Scottish Government and will require commitment, collaboration and dedication by wide range of organisations, including Government agencies, local authorities and others. The private sector also has a vital role to play, and I have met with Homes for Scotland on this issue also, as both employers and businesses with land and assets. I know that some are already engaging in providing quality homes for the employees. I believe that the delivery of the commitments of this action plan further enhance our commitment to addressing the key challenges that will enable the delivery of more homes across rural and island communities, supporting them to thrive, and I look forward to seeing its progress. Less than one week on from the revelation that our former First Minister could spare just one slot in her diary to the whole of rural Scotland over the past two years, can I start by saying that I'm pleased to see rural affairs back on the agenda Furman Square here in Holyrood today? Scotland's towns, villages and rural communities and islands will be paying attention to this opportunity to listen to what this parliament can do to tackle the challenges that they are facing, and I know there are a few greater challenges for them than stemming the tide of rural day population, which poses a threat to the sustainability of so many of our communities. Rural day population has been driven by years of neglect, years of not using devolved powers within this place, not just by the former First Minister, but by an SNP Green coalition that has shown time and time again that it does not understand the needs of rural communities. But the cabinet secretary is right, or the minister is right, to say that housing is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to solving this issue and setting out a plan to support the delivery of affordable homes, homes for key workers, and addressing supply chain issues in building homes in rural areas is, in my view, a genuinely positive step. I would add that acknowledging the fact that a one-size-fits-all approach does not always work and is not always progress, but too often we've seen this government take a copy and paste approach by using urban solutions to fix rural problems. The rural housing and islands action plan is a welcome departure from that approach, but whilst it is a start and no doubt a hard fought one in the face of government that has shown little interest in rural communities or solving the issues around rural day population, the facts and figures that underpin this action plan show that the government remain as out of touch with rural Scotland as ever. Before I go into the details of that, it is important to set the debate in the right context. We must not forget that this plan is being launched on the back of £170 million cut in Scotland's housing budget. It is also being launched with a backdrop of damaging rent controls that have done nothing but other than drive up rents, drive away investment and place a greater burden on people who want to rent a home than anywhere else in the UK. The private rented sector will be key to resolving housing shortages, but this government's rental measures have undoubtedly had a negative effect on the market. Increasing input costs has forced landlords to put prices up in a second between tenancies, while the disinvestment driven by the policy has reduced stock and increased competition. The budget at the start of the parliamentary session was £3.5 billion, and that has not been cut. As you said, the private rented sector met John Blackwood on a number of occasions talking about that and how we worked with him to take that forward. I would agree that that is an important area going forward. In terms of the rent controls, the longer-term issue will be addressed in the forthcoming housing bill, but working very closely with the private rented sector not only in this area, but in other parts of Scotland as well, but recognising the importance of the point that you raised. I thank the minister for the intervention, but I am just looking at the Scottish Government figures for 2022, where there is an actual cash terms cut in the housing budget, and this has done nothing to help the rural allocation, as highlighted by my colleague, Finlay Carson. Can I make some progress and perhaps take an intervention later? Against what the minister has just said, that they are working with the private sector, it is absolutely key that the actions that we take away from today, from rural organisations such as the Association of Landlords and SLEs, Scottish Land and Estates, who have provided a brief today, are taken forward. It is important that we work with them and we listen to the voices of those people who are integral to providing houses within the private rental sector. They have argued strongly that arbitrary rent freezes and eviction bans harm both landlords and tenants, and that is really important, because whilst making it harder to solve Scotland's housing crisis, the red tape in bureaucracy that we are seeing is having a huge impact. We have seen a £12 million underspend in rural and islands housing funds, and we have also seen repeated failures to meet targets for building affordable homes with approval rates at their lowest level in 10 years. We have seen a 25% reduction in the delivery of social housing and a staggering 48,000 empty homes across the country, which the minister addressed in the intervention. Of those, 1,000 properties in my constituency in the borders have been empty for over a year. It does not go unnoticed by my constituents. They cannot understand why those properties cannot be brought back for integral homes for them and their families in the next generation. I am not sure how you expect the Scottish Government to be able to deliver more homes with a £500 million cut in its capital budget in 9.7 per cent in real terms this year with 7 per cent to 2028. Also, if the Scottish Government is doing so badly in delivering affordable homes, why are we delivering 13.9 homes per 10,000 population when the UK Tory Government is only managing two thirds of that? What a shame that Kenny Gibson has to devolve his responsibilities to another Government. Scotland has two Governments. This place has huge devolved responsibilities, but it has a record block grant. Unfortunately, that is all that it has to criticise. I just think that people watching this debate today will look at that and think that the SNP does not understand how to deal with the issues in rural Scotland, particularly around the lack of housing. It is such a shame. However, it is important that we consider the housing action plan in the context of this debate today. The reality of the plan is that, regardless of that context, rural areas are being shortchanged. Rural Scotland, as my colleague Finlay Carson said, accounts for 17 per cent of Scotland's population, yet it has only been promised 10 per cent of that affordable housing development budget. That falls hopelessly short of their fair share. If the minister can tell people that live in rural communities why they are being shortchanged, yes. It comes back to the point that I made to Mr Carson. The 10 per cent is a minimum target. It is not around a budget around that. We continue to speak to local authorities on that. 10 per cent is a minimum. If we can get more than that, it is not a budget to spend. If we can deliver more than that and there are opportunities to deliver that within the wider programme, we will deliver more than the 10 per cent. The 10 per cent is a minimum target that we have set, so it is not a budgetary target around about 10 per cent. If there are opportunities to work with local authorities on that and development groups in local communities, we will deliver more than that. It is not a budget impact on that. It is a 10 per cent target. I am delighted to hear that the minister wants to be more ambitious. Why are we not transparent and clear about what those ambitions are rather than misleading people and shortchanging rural communities? The result of the deficit that we are talking about here for rural Scotland is an embedding inequality. It is widening the gap between what the SNP aspirations offer delivering for the central belt and what is failing to deliver for those small towns, those small villages and rural communities and our islands. How many more ways is rural Scotland being let down by this coalition of SNP and green members? Access to healthcare, road upgrades, broadband connectivity, ferries to name, but a few. Housing is key to tackling the problems they are facing, but, as I said, it is only one piece of the puzzle. If we cannot even tackle this issue with a fair allocation of resources, but we have hope for that because the minister has just articulated that, what hope is there for the rest of the challenges that people face in rural communities? We cannot keep treating rural Scotland as an afterthought in policy making as second-class citizens. That is exactly why we will be bringing forward the Scottish Conservatives plan to bring rural Scotland at the heart of our decision making. On housing, we will be pragmatic in our approach. Encouraging investment rather than stymying its flow, we will cut red tape and bureaucracy to speed up housing delivery, and the Scottish Conservatives would ensure that decentralising legislation is assigned to the circular file. We will announce plans to overhaul the planning process to make it easier to build new homes in the right places, and we will do a lot more. First and foremost, we will ensure that at least 17 per cent of that housing budget and the building of affordable homes would be delivered in rural areas. Thank you. I now call on Mark Griffin to speak to and move amendment 11027.2 up to nine minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Before I begin, draw members' attention to my register of interests, which shows that I ceased to be a landlord this summer. Today's debate is as much about housing as it is about the future prosperity and, in fact, the very existence of rural communities. While the debate is welcome, it has taken the SNP Government 16 years to produce a rural housing action plan that speaks for itself. People in rural communities have waited far too long for workable solutions to this Government's housing crisis, and yet the Government motion offers little new. We cannot support a motion today that does not face up to reality or an action plan short on action. It is a missed opportunity. It is no understatement that housing is a lifeline to rural communities. The shortage of rural, remote and island housing is having devastating impacts on local economies. Just like the ferries, fiascos and creek and transport infrastructure, the shortage is both the symptom and the cause of depopulation, driving people away from their local areas, from their families for their support networks and the jobs that they want to work in. Although I appreciate what the minister had to say in his opening speech, I want to ask him and the Government, will they admit, as the empty homes partnership has put it, that we have a rural housing emergency? I ask that because there seems to be little urgency to address rural Scotland's needs or the package of policies and funding that is fundamentally needed to stem the decline. That rural housing strategy is built on crumbling foundation. It is tacked to housing targets. The Government's own risk register warns that there may be a high risk of being missed altogether. Given the... A couple of things to pick up on. I think that it is key to give a bit context and give some talks that are in about 40 per cent more delivery per 100 households than in England, but also 70 per cent more than in Labour-controlled Wales. Coming back to the empty homes partnership, I think that I already mentioned that they produced a report and we are working very closely with them, but one of the key points, and this is what I wonder where Labour would support us, our budget is £3.5 billion. If I could increase that budget, if we had the authority from the UK Government to increase that boring to £10 billion, we could move a lot quicker. Would Labour support that if we went to the UK Government and asked for additional boring or if Labour would, in the next election, increase the boring powers of the Scottish Government to achieve delay us to build more homes? Mark Griffin We would absolutely support more capital spending on housing. I come on to some of the policies that we have been suggesting in this chamber for years now, that the SNP Government is dragging its heels on. The reason I talked about the numbers and the Government's own risk register warns that there is a high risk that those targets might be missed is because the Government's own house building programme is now defined by decline, with 2023 starts and approvals at their lowest point since 2015. We need a renewed commitment that those homes will be delivered and that rural communities need to know that the Government is focused on securing the homes for them. Labour's amendment today calls for the Government to cement its ambition and to set an interim target of 5,500 rural homes being delivered by 2026. It is just not credible to say that we will do it by 2032 when this Government might be long out of office, it is just kicking the can down the road. Regardless, the Government is proposing to undercut rural communities, which could in itself accelerate the de-population that action plan is meant to tackle. As Rachael Hamilton and Finlay Carson point out, rural, remote and island communities comprise 17 per cent of Scotland's population. In 2021-22, 16 per cent of the affordable homes that the Government supported were built in rural communities. Why, when the Government said that it delivered 10,000 rural homes since 2016, will it take almost a decade to deliver almost the same number? From the Minister's contribution, it seems that the 10 per cent target is just a figure plucked out there so that the Government can say that we hit our target when, in fact, they have performed better than that in 2021-22, and in the past seven years it seems that it is just an easy target to hit, paying lip service to our rural communities rather than delivering the real ambition that they deserve and need. There is more that can be done to raise funds directly for rural housing and give those communities a chance to grow and succeed. I recently met with Salmond Scotland—not to talk about Salmond but to hear about how badly wrong the basics of the housing market are. The lack of affordable housing is stopping the Highlands and Islands becoming a northern economic powerhouse, with workers unable to live near their work and their families causing depopulation. If we ever needed an example of how something so bad for business, jobs, growth and the economy is, it is the housing crisis that we are experiencing in rural Scotland. I also met Salmond Scotland in our discussions on going around about that and the proposals that he put forward at Mark Griffin. He knows about it and I think that he met us on the same day that I remember having that discussion. I fully recognise and obviously seen the amendment by a fully recognised importance of housing and the role it plays in economic development. I mentioned about the visit to Niggen and Burgorn and obviously met employers up there about what we can do to work more closely in that regard. Of course, there is that contact and we will continue. The key workers fund is something that we are encouraging local authorities to apply to. At the moment, there are some discussions, but we have not had any active conversations about that or proposals coming forward. It is again something that we are working with Coslaw and I ask them to make sure that the proposals come forward and I will end about that particular fund. Mark Griffin, I can give you the time back. It is good to hear that the Government is doing some thinking because when I did ask the Government, I submitted written questions about what the Government was doing with the estimated £20 million in additional funding that the Crown of State expects to raise from increased fees from fish and tents. It seems to have no plans, and that is an example of a pot of funding that could be aiding rural house building. So, too, our amendment calls for a council tax escalator on long-term empty homes. By giving councils powers to increase council tax each year a home is empty, we estimate that it could raise up to £30 million. Still, it could be that catalyst to help owners of empty homes, of which around 28,000 lie empty, to bring them back to the market so that those properties are lived in their homes and are valued again. As the plan says, it is better to use the stock that we have and endorse the points that were made by Conservatives about the need to introduce compulsory sale and compulsory rental orders to get those empty homes back in use. However, the Government's recent consultation backed increasing the council tax on empty homes and a stepped approach. Again, another revenue stream that the Government has put to good use but seems to be dragging its heels on when urgency is key. While we welcome the Government backing our call to give councils powers to apply a surcharge on second homes, had powers been introduced when the First Minister came out in support of those proposals, councils could have raised £35 million this financial year. Going back to the minister's initial intervention, taking together as a part of a package that could have abolished small business rates for short-term lets and powers for surcharges on empty homes and second homes, that is a package that could have raised £85 million per year. That is a substantial sum of money that could have gone towards addressing housing market failure that affects rural areas. The de-population of rural areas should not be seen as the status quo and economic prosperity at the front and centre of ensuring that rural communities can survive and thrive. Today has been a missed opportunity and worse for us. We feel that this long-awaited rural and island housing action plan is desperately short on action and I move the amendment in my name. Thank you very much indeed, Presiding Officer. It gives me great pleasure to speak to the Liberal Democrats in this debate. I am grateful to the Government for making time for it on this important subject. Between this and last March, construction began on just over 6,900 affordable homes. That represents a decrease of 15 per cent on the previous year. It is the lowest annual figure since 2015, before I was in Parliament. Those disappointing figures come amid what is undeniably a housing crisis in Scotland right now. It is a crisis that is well documented. We have heard about it today and it is deeply felt across this country, but no more so in our remote rural and island communities. I see the impact of housing issues every day in my own West Edinburgh constituency. In fact, the bulk of my case work relates to that. That is why next week I am convening a summit in Parliament on housing issues affecting those who live in the capital, but the learning points from that will have ramifications, I believe, for remote rural communities as well. I will take an intervention from the minister. I think that there are a couple of things to give us a piece of context. Completions were at a 20-year high just recently. Not just in rural housing but in Edinburgh and other parts of the country as well. The biggest barrier at the moment to house building is the cost of borrowing and also in terms of construction inflation. That is the biggest barrier. I am speaking now in the Association, speaking to developers, speaking to Homes for Scotland, the cost of borrowing, where interest rates are and construction inflation, is the biggest barrier that we face. We cannot do anything about that, because we do not have the powers here to do that. Alex Cole-Hamilton I hope that I can get some of that time back. The minister is not wrong. The cost of borrowing has increased, but there is still a competitive development market out there. In my constituency, there are many applications that come in all of the time. It is just where developers choose to put their investment rather than where the need is greatest. We need to reset and recalibrate that very urgently. However, as I said, there are serious issues right now across the country. We have accumulated a shortfall of 114,000 homes built since 2008, since before the credit crunch, before the cost of living emergency and the increase in interest rates to which the minister eludes. Nowhere can this shortage be felt more acutely than in our rural and island communities. That is leading to extreme pressures in affordability. The figures bear this out. Over 8,500 new homes were delivered in 2007. By 2022, that number had fallen to 6.5. That is 24 per cent of a fall. Some local authorities have it even worse than others. That is a postcode lottery. Shetland has seen a 39 per cent decline. A new housing in the borders has declined to a staggering 65 per cent shortfall. Our rural and island communities are further suffering from a lack of new, high-quality energy-efficient homes, which is impacting on their long-term sustainability and their marketability. While I am grateful to see the Government finally giving the attention that it so desperately needs with the publication of the rural and island housing action plan that we are discussing today, I am concerned by a lack of focus when it comes to the quality of that housing. One issue that we and Liberal Democrats would like to see given more attention to is fuel poverty, which is an issue that has an outsized impact on rural and island communities but only gets the very briefest inventions in relation to the existing housing stock. Fuel poverty is indeed a major issue. It exacerbates poverty and stretches tight incomes. Apart from the lack of rural and island housing, which threatens de-population and the viability of those communities, fuel poverty is perhaps the most persistent and pernicious issue when it comes to discussing rural and island housing. The latest data that we have at a local authority level shows that our rural and island communities consistently top the list for fuel poverty, sitting way above the national average. Orkney, your own constituency, and Shetland, 31 per cent, Argyll yn Byw, 32 per cent, Hyland, 33 per cent and the Western Isles at a whopping 40 per cent of homes in fuel poverty. Those figures are not even up to date, though. They are from 2019, and the Scottish Government does not actually know how many people in our rural island areas are currently fuel poor. However, if national modelling released earlier this year is anything to go by, coupled with the cost of living emergency and the energy crisis, those figures will only be far higher. In the 21st century, it should go without saying that heating your home should not cause or exacerbate poverty. Scottish Liberal Democrats therefore want to see a programme of Scottish Government support for emergency home insulation that would reduce energy costs by improving efficiency and have a positive impact on our climate targets and objectives towards the climate emergency in the process. We also want to see a news if I have time. I can give you the time back. Minister, could you put your microphone up a bit? Just to address that point, I think that that is a really important point. Each local authority will need to be producing its LHE strategy by the end of the year, which will include the authorities that you mentioned. I am working very closely with Patrick Harvie on that particular issue and with other local authorities. It is an incredibly important issue that I am very cognisant of. Just to give him that reassurance, it is not something that has been forgotten about in the action plan. It is a much broader subject than just a rural house in the action plan itself. To give him reassurance, that is not a problem. Mr Cole-Hamilton, I can give you the time back for both interventions. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am grateful for the intervention. I also take the minister's remarks in good faith. That said, his predecessors have not measured up to the task. This Government has been in charge for 16 years now. We have not seen movement to the extent that we need it to, to address remote and rural fuel poverty through these mitigation measures in all that time. I think that it is high time that we took it seriously. I am glad to hear the rhetoric coming from the minister today. It now needs to be met with action. We also want to see a new substantial Scottish housing standard. That means a proper Scottish equivalent to the passive house model standard for environmentally friendly buildings and climate friendly materials and design. However, this Government must listen to the concerns that have been raised and ensure that the standard does not impede efforts to build the number of houses that we desperately need. My colleague Willie Rennie has met Donaldson Group in Fife to discuss their work on a standard that uses lower carbon materials and leads to lower running costs than the original passive house standard. I encourage the Government to look at that work in detail. It goes without saying that, as we tackle this crisis, it is absolutely critical that we do so in a sustainable and environmentally coherent way by building homes that will remain affordable, which are designed and built to last. Presiding Officer, we need to consistently highlight the negative impact that planning delays are having on housing delivery as well. Delays to planning often result in increased costs and fewer housing sites being opened altogether. Last year, the average protest in time for major housing applications was over 42 weeks. Let us not forget that the statutory target is just 16. That is nowhere near good enough, and it is getting in the way. If the Government is to take meaningful action on rural and island developments, we need to improve that now. Thank you, Mr Cole-Hamilton. We now move to the open debate. I call first Ivan McKee to be followed by Jamie Halcro Johnston in around six minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. In the interests of transparency, I draw the chamber's attention to my declaration of interest with regard to ownership of private rented properties. I am delighted to speak in this debate this afternoon on the importance of housing supply for rural and island communities, not least because of the criticality of housing supply to Scotland realising our economic ambitions, because we cannot grow the economy without people and we cannot grow the population without houses nor, indeed, our tax base. In Scotland's rural economy, performing art is potential is necessary to deliver the full potential of Scotland's economy, be it as a whole, being our tourism sector, renewable energy, food and drink, agriculture, fishing or, indeed, our rapidly growing and potentially world-leading space sector. For all those reasons, the supply of housing stock is absolutely critical, not just for the social impact but also for the economic impact, particularly in rural and island communities, but that is absolutely true right across the whole country. That is why, yes, indeed, I can get there. Thank you, Ivan McKee, for taking the intervention. Would Ivan McKee agree with me that, certainly when it comes to any proposals, those proposals have to be the right proposals for the right location? That is absolutely true. Scotland is wide and varied, and many locations in each of them will have a different emphasis and focus on what is required to tackle that problem. I welcome the rural and island housing action plan, but, as I said, much of what it brings forward applies right across the country. One point that I would make is that that is a focus on affordable housing, but I very much believe that that needs to be a broader focus right across all tenures. The only sustainable way to keep housing affordable is to have significant build across all tenures and not in what is traditionally defined as affordable housing, because that helps to keep all prices affordable if the supply is there to meet or exceed the demand. As I said, the economy needs people, and Scotland has had success in attracting talent from the rest of the UK. We are an attractive location to come and live and work. The Scottish Government has been very clear that we want to see more inward migration into Scotland and argue for powers to do that, but we need to face up to the reality. Even if we had those powers at the moment, we would struggle to house everyone who may want to come and live and work here. I would ask the Government to be ambitious to get ahead of the curve and make sure that that supply is ahead of not just current demand, but potential future demand, which is absolutely critical to our population and economy ambitions. It is good to hear the minister in that regard having discussions with the SFE and investors on expanding investment, particularly in building to rent. I would be interested to know how much of that potential lies in rural areas. On the action plan itself, it is welcome to see the focus on identifying land for housing in the context of MPF4 and the work on taking forward land reform legislation to increase transparency around about ownership. The work that is happening to look at public sector estate and understand how much of that can be brought forward to address local housing needs. Local housing assessments are important to improve understanding of housing requirements, but I would say to get ahead of the curve. Population trends can be driven by policy, not just a question of responding to them, but that Scotland's population is a whole or indeed the drift west to east or from rural to urban. The focus on local economies is hugely important. It is good to see effective engagement with local employers, but I would also say that working with potential investors to align housing supply with skill supply with that potential investment into those key rural and island sectors is hugely important. No employers are very much up for that conversation. The work that is identified in the plan on addressing skills and capacity and supply chains, particularly small and medium-sized builders in the rural economy, is absolutely critical. Modern methods of construction are mentioned. I am delighted to see that working closely, I hope, with Scotland's Construction Innovation Centre best. I also urge the minister to make sure that we have a very thorough look at the potential for off-site build, factory build units that could be dropped into place, helping to tackle those labour shortages in rural areas at least initially. The focus on bringing more empty homes into use or indeed second homes into residential use is hugely welcome. I would ask the minister the question. It is good to see the 100 per cent premium being brought forward on second home, council tax, but why have a cap on that at all and why not just leave it to local authorities to decide how high that premium should be to suit local circumstances. The work on compulsory purchase orders, I am glad to see that. Again, that alongside work potentially on compulsory sales orders, which again has an urban as well as a rural applicability, makes the process clearer, fairer and faster, as the action plan defines. Planning times have been discussed already and the fact that, for major projects, that time lag is 42 to 43 weeks versus a 16-week statutory timeframe. Even for smaller projects, it can be a 14-week versus a 12-week statutory timeframe. That is something that absolutely needs to be addressed. I know that the minister understands that, but I would be interested to know what work has been taking forward to address those excessive times. Ms McEach is winding up. Just to finish off, the point on permitted development rights that my colleague Fergus Ewing raised to enable farmers and others to build small numbers of houses on land, where that is required is something that absolutely needs to be looked at. Finally, I would like to ask the minister to work on other tax leavers. Land value tax, capturing the land value uplift, is going to be considered in the land reform bill coming forward. Progressively broadening out of that tax base and ensuring community's benefit from the uplift in land value and also increasing the scope for delivering more homes as a consequence. I refer members to my register of interests as the owner of a croft, a partner in a farming partnership that owns a rental property and is a member of both NFUS and Scottish Land and Estates. This is an extremely important subject for my Highlands and Islands region and for rural and island Scotland more generally. I welcome today's debate, housing and the lack of availability of it. It is an issue that I think that we can all agree impacts on those we represent, our local economies and on the delivery of local public services. I give a very cautious welcome to the Scottish Government's rural and islands housing action plan. I do so because I would question as the amendment in the name of my colleague Rachel Hamilton does how ambitious it really is. It makes promises on delivering new affordable homes, but as Finlay Carson rightly highlighted, only 10 per cent will be built in the rural and island areas where 17 per cent of Scotland's population actually live. One might ask, as many of my constituents do, why this new plan, coming as it does after 16 years of this SNP Government, will be any more successful than the previous efforts? Or is it just SNP ministers finally recognising the seriousness of the situation and the failure of those previous efforts to rectify it? When the Scottish Government announced that 30 million would be made available for the rural housing and island housing funds that were originally planned to run from 2016-17 to 2021, it suggested that the funds would help them to hit their 50,000 affordable homes target. It missed that target. When questioned by my colleague Miles Briggs, the Scottish Government claimed that rural and island housing funds play an important role in offering support to community organisations and others to deliver affordable homes. Yet, because of poor uptake, the application period for both funds had to be extended and they were still being allocated in 2022-23. Despite that extension between 2016-17 and 2022-23, the Scottish Government had spent less than £18 million of that combined £30 million funding pot. Surely, with what I hope the minister will accept, is serious pressures on housing availability in our rural and island areas. The lack of uptake of those funds clearly demonstrates that there were issues with how those funds were delivered. In 2018-19, two years into the scheme, they funded only one property in the whole of Scotland. In 2020-21, the last year that the schemes were originally intended to run, they funded only 20 properties. That is despite millions of pounds of available funding still sitting in Scottish Government coffers in Edinburgh, where it should have been used to deliver much-needed homes in rural and island communities. I will take an intervention, so I would ask the minister that I am happy to take an intervention from him to answer those points. What went wrong with the rural housing and island housing funds? What lessons of the Scottish Government learnt to ensure those mistakes, whether they were eligibility issues, lack of awareness of the schemes, will not be made again with any new schemes? Is the £45 million that the Scottish Government has claimed will be allocated to the new remote rural and island housing fund all-new funding, or will it include reallocation of up-unspent funds from the existing rural housing and island housing funds? Finally, why should we have any more confidence in any new schemes delivering the homes that are needed when the old one clearly did not? I am happy to pick up the points that Mr Halcro Johnston mentioned, and I will come back and write to you on those specific points so that we can come back in general. I cannot comment on the past, but the funding was always there. One of the key things around the Highland 21 was around infrastructure, and I think that that is incredibly important about what we need to do, and about how we can look at infrastructure to bring housing forward. I was up in Shetland, for example, and we provided £30 million infrastructure funding, which will deliver 300 homes in Shetland, which will make a real difference. It is getting down to that level of detail. In the context, the issue was not the funding, but it was about working with local authorities. One of the key things, in terms of that, is how we link economic development and broader economic development opportunities to housing, and discussion with employers and local authorities. That is a key point. I am happy to address the more specific points that we can write to him on those matters. I am grateful for that. The minister said that he cannot comment on things in the past, but surely to make sure that we have proposals that work going forward. We have to be commenting, learning, listening and finding out what went wrong. The SNP has had 16 years to get this right, and they failed. On their party website, they still boast that funding will help young people and families to stay or make their lives in remote, rural, remote and island communities. In a survey conducted by Ipsos for Highlands and Islands Enterprise, nearly half of the young people in the Highlands and Islands questioned whether they plan to move away from the area in the next five years, with 76% saying that there are not enough affordable homes to rent or buy. I would genuinely love to believe that. Finally, belatedly, although many years too late, the SNP had recognised the need for action, but I cannot. That still does not feel like a revolutionary new approach to deliver what they failed to deliver for so long. It feels like more of the same, but it is a revolution what is needed. That is why the Scottish Conservatives would create a Scottish Housing and Delivery Agency to work with local authorities and developers to deliver and build new houses. We would allow permitted development for rural homes, giving more freedom to farms or other businesses to play their part in addressing rural and island housing shortages, as well as helping to accommodate workers. I am glad that it sounds like we have some support from the SNP backbenchers for that. As Mark Griffin highlighted, employers such as Scottish Salmon have said, the lack of affordable housing is stopping my highlands and islands region from becoming a powerhouse. The Scottish Land and Estates has said that the SNP's rural and islands housing action plan is not ambitious or radical enough to deliver the step change needed to meet rural housing needs. Housing charity Shelter said that it does not indicate that the Government recognises the severity of the situation. Getting housing right is vital for my region, but not enough homes are being built. That lack of housing, both in the public and private sectors, seriously impacts on the delivery of public services, on the ability of local businesses to thrive and on people to stay in the communities that they were brought up in. A lack of homes threatens the very future of some of our most fragile communities. Our rural and island communities cannot afford the SNP to get this wrong again. The member has wound up. I welcome the publication of the action plan and the dedicated support that is being provided to tackle the lack of affordable housing in rural and island areas. I have no doubt that my Arran and Cumbria constituents and the businesses operating on the islands will welcome it too. In 2021, 18 affordable energy-efficient council homes were built on Cumbria, supported by a Scottish Government grant of £1.32 million and a mix of 34 general needs, amenity bungalows and accessible council houses were built on Arran last year, backed by a £2.38 million grant, which is £70,000 a council house, or three and a half times the grant that is available for council housing in England. That is in stark contrast to the mere six council houses built by the last Labour, Lib Dem administration over four years across all of Scotland. Despite the financial crash, Tory austerity and the pandemic, in the last financial year alone, 1,947 council homes were completed across Scotland, as ministers strive to ensure that everyone has a warm, safe and affordable home. Of course, despite the Scottish Government's ambitious targets, it is evident that rural and island communities have experienced economic hardship, particularly due to the difficulty in economically active people being able to afford island housing costs. Community-led housing projects such as and Development Trust's River, then affordable housing project, the biggest such housing project in Scotland's island, is playing a key role in increasing the availability of affordable housing and in turn the prospects of islanders. Thanks to a record £1.512 million from the Scottish Government's rural and island housing fund, £84,000 for each new home, 18, one, two and three-bedroom homes are now under construction in Llamlash, backed by the provision of 24 further affordable building plots on Arran. That project is an excellent example of a positive outcome created by collaborative working between the public and private sectors and the community, a trust that and Development Trust and the Islanders' Bold Ambitions and Dedication can be learned from to ensure that local communities' voices are heard within planning processes throughout Scotland. The continued support offered by civil servants throughout this project was greatly appreciated with announcement of a project in May being very warmly welcomed. However, it took some three years to secure a grant from the rural and island housing fund and urged the minister to explore how such projects can be expedited in future and can be long and weary for organisations such as Arran Development Trust of mostly volunteers to deliver such projects and to those who lack their dogged determination and patience. The First Minister's visit to Arran on 23 August, where he met with Arran Development Trust to discuss the demand for affordable housing, the cost of building on islands and empowerment for island communities, and to ensure that anders know that their lived experiences are valued when implementing housing policy. The trust appreciated the opportunity to relay their concerns directly to the First Minister with a number of the points that were raised and reflected in the plan. Arran's largest employer, Achrani Resort, has been vocal about how a lack of affordable island housing has impacted their business with many employees unable to reside in the island in a home of their own. Achrani is an employer-owned business and should be commended with providing 103 accommodation units to team members, removing the need to commute while supporting those residing on the island. However, understandably, employers do not see such accommodation as a home, leading to few retaining their employment for long, and its provision means that the true level of homelessness is regrettably underestimated. Team accommodation should not be included in figures of people's houses if we are to reflect need. The programme for government dedicated up to £25 million to identifying homes for key workers in rural communities is essential to ensuring that businesses in rural and island communities remain afloat, particularly after the devastating impact of the pandemic. I welcome the island's skills and repopulation pilot with one of the three projects that are taking place in Arran and Cumbria. Through supporting career pathways, retraining and upskilling, local economies with two islands in my constituency will diversify, increasing capacity and skills across a variety of sectors, further supporting the delivery of more affordable housing. I look forward to the publication of the addressing de-population action plan this autumn, and I will continue to work with our minister and island communities to tackle de-population, which is essential if we are to ensure that islanders do not have to move to the mainland for housing. North Ayrshire's first of its kind in Scotland community wealth-building approach to economic development offers unique opportunity to contribute to our wellbeing economy, as well as the local authorities' five-pillars wealth-building affordable homes. By using local procurement, we can deliver more and better jobs, business growth and short supply chains, creating greater resilience whilst also supporting net zero ambitions. In turn, that boost to local economy increases opportunities to build more affordable homes. As many island and rural communities experience across Arran, 26 per cent of housing stock are either second or empty homes, 735 properties, with 47 per cent in one village. Although it is not the primary cause of the island's lack of affordable housing, those homes could play a role in the solution. Although Arran's economy is heavily dependent on tourism, it is essential that employers supporting community services remain in the island, one key need being permanent and affordable housing. It is essential that we encourage empty second homes into long-term rent across construction of affordable homes. Arran Development Trust is a long campaign for councils to be granted more discretion over the rates of council tax on second homes, and we welcome the secondary legislation to be delivered by the Scottish Government, enabling local authorities to apply up to 100 per cent premium on council tax rates for second homes from April next year. Compulsory sales orders can also play an important role in our earth to the minister to take that forward as other members across the chamber have urged. The rural and island housing action plan, if and when implemented, should successfully tackle a number of issues contributing to Arran Cymru's affordable housing crisis and that in other islands. I welcome the minister's innovative approach to ensure that island and rural communities will have increased access to affordable homes, helping to boost local economies. I welcome the minister's promise to visit my constituency and meet directly with Arran Development Trust and stakeholders affected by the prevalence of second and empty homes to ensure that housing policy alleviates the burden on islanders in my constituency. In February this year, the South of Scotland convention held its bi-annual gathering, bringing together Government ministers and key national and local public bodies with responsibility for growth. The convention usually debates a range of economic issues. This time, there was just one item on the agenda, housing such as the crisis facing the region. South of Scotland Enterprise has described that crisis, that lack of affordable housing as one of the biggest economic barriers facing the region. A week really goes past when I don't speak to a business facing labour shortages, struggling to recruit, but more and more of those businesses are telling me that even when potential employees are interested in taking up posts, often they can't because there's no suitable affordable housing near the place of work. I've spoken to hospitality businesses who've brought nearby hotels just to house their own workers because it's the only way they could attract key staff such as chefs. That lack of housing is holding back the local economy, it's stifling growth and it's blocking the ambitions of those who want to get on. We're simply not building enough affordable homes to meet demand and meet the needs of our rural communities. That's partly because of housebuilding capacity. National housebuilders have little interest in building what they view as small-scale developments in rural areas and we've seen a decline in the number of locally-based housebuilders. Those that do exist are increasingly facing skills shortages of their own and can't get local contractors. Yet astonishingly, Government cuts recently meant Skills Development Scotland reduced the apprenticeship contract for Dumfries and Galloway College by 13 per cent. At a time when demand for apprentices is at peak levels, we now have a waiting list at the college for apprenticeship places in construction. The Government has also taken its eye off the ball when it comes to making best use of existing housing. Many of the properties in the region are old with poor energy efficiency and eye-watering levels of fuel poverty, higher than the national average, in fact almost a third of households. Too many families are also being priced out of the area due to the acquisition of second homes that often sit empty for much of the year. Does Labour and Colin Smyth agree with expanding permitted development rights to ensure that we do have enough housing for people that are struggling to stay and live and work in their own areas? I absolutely believe that we need a far more can-do approach to our planning processes. One move that would help would be to properly resource planning authorities to make decisions as quickly as possible, because we have seen the delays rise in recent years. At a time of all those challenges, we have seen an increase of over 90 per cent in the number of open homelessness cases in Dumfries and Galloway compared to 2019-20, with the number of children in temporary accommodation rising by two thirds alone in just one year in the region. The crisis is so bad that housing officers are placing people in caravans and in 50 bed and breakfast across the region, yet the number of homes in Dumfries and Galloway that were given grant funding by the Scottish Government in the year to the end of June as part of the affordable housing supply programme was down by 22 per cent. The number of affordable homes started in the region is at its lowest level since 2016. It is a little wonder that, despite the many admiral aims, the universal response to the Government's rural housing action plan is that there simply is not enough action. The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations said that the plan does not go far enough. Scotland Land and Estate says that it is not ambitious or radical enough to deliver the step chains needed to meet rural housing needs. Home for Scotland says that the plan does little to identify the challenges home builders face and Shelter House says that the plan does not indicate that the Government recognises the severity of the situation. A housing emergency needs an emergency response. You can see the lack of that emergency response, the lack of ambition in the Government's motion today, not least with that target of 10 per cent of the planned affordable homes being in rural and island areas. When the Government's own figures show the population of rural Scotland is 17 per cent. Minister seems to suggest today that that figure of 10 per cent is just plucked out of the air. We need far more action in the Government's so-called action plan. That means more urgent targets when it comes to building of new homes in rural areas. As Mark Griffin has said, Labour is also supporting not only a 100 per cent council tax surcharge on second homes but wants to see local authorities giving powers to introduce an escalating council tax surcharge on empty homes. A call that was supported in the responses to the Scottish Government's own consultation on council tax for second and empty homes. A 100 per cent second home surcharge would raise £1.8 million alone in Dumfries and Galloway and an empty home escalator at a further £1 million. Money that could be used to bring more empty properties back into use. To kickstart house building, we also need a more can-do approach from our planning and consenting processes for new housing that is rural, specific and we need an allocation of resources that properly reflects the often additional cost of housing in rural areas, in particular when it comes to the cost of renovation, energy efficiency measures and older properties. I recognise that there is good practice in rural housing. I see for myself the work, for example, of south of Scotland community housing through developments such as the old police station in Langham refurbished to create affordable homes, but we need a lot more. A decent, warm, affordable home is a basic human right. Everyone, whoever they are, wherever they lead, live is entitled to. For far too many of my constituents, that is a right that they are being denied. Until we have that emergency response from Government to our housing crisis called for by shelter, the ambitions of far too many families and the economies of rural Scotland will continue to be held back. The rural and island action plan contains a wide range of examples of how rural and island housing has been created and delivered. That diverse and innovative approach should be welcomed. Today, I want to focus my contribution on the unique rural housing challenges experienced in communities across Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders. We have many opportunities to make a difference in improving rural housing and encouraging people to move to rural areas to address depopulation and to keep our rural communities alive and thriving. Such possibilities include the need to incentivise housing development on brownfield vacant, abandoned and derelict sites and to explore alternatives including accessible housing and accessible types of housing to meet the needs of our areas. Mary Curie's briefing ahead of this debate was useful and highlighted that accessible housing and adaptations to housing need to be made more quickly, especially for our terminally ill people. I thank Mary Curie for her briefing ahead of the debate. Mark Griffin spoke about population decline and that is a real threat to the sustainability of many of Scotland's rural communities. The lack of good quality and affordable housing is a key concern. It is crucial that we acknowledge that the Scottish Government alone cannot tackle the critical challenges of depopulation. I will in a wee minute national and local government and the third and community and private sectors that all have a role to play if we are to tackle depopulation collectively. Colin Smyth mentioned the convention on the South of Scotland having simply housing on the agenda. When we promoted the South of Scotland Enterprise Agency, Colin Smyth also brought forward an amendment to promote the development of affordable housing to be on the face of the bill. Why did Emma Harper vote against that? Emma Harper gave the time back. I think that it is crucial that when we are looking at what we need to do for housing, it is key that we look at how we are going to tackle depopulation. Depopulation restricts the local labour supply and affects public service provision as funding is typically population driven. Those were the reasons raised at a meeting that I attended with the Equalities and Depopulation Minister in Dumfries towards the end of the summer recess. I welcome that the Scottish Government recognises the key role played by housing in supporting the successful delivery of its aims relating to addressing depopulation and wider population sustainability. However, in Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders, in order to attract more people of working age, address depopulation and have good call to rural housing, while ensuring Scotland's food security, we need to think innovatively. There is a wealth of evidence and research, including from the Scottish Land Commission, which demonstrates that changes to VAT in construction are currently at 5 per cent, and we know that VAT is reserved to Westminster. However, if we change the VAT percentage, it could help to address rural housing challenges. The evidence shows that, if that was reformed, we could renew and regenerate and rebuild some of the vacant, abandoned and derelict sites. Instead of using prime agricultural land, for instance, we could use the vacant, abandoned and derelict sites, which are a blight to our communities, and we could be changing those sites if that was reduced. It also ensures that our productive agricultural land is protected for national... I will take an intervention from the minister. Minister, briefly. Just on that specific point, and I'll be very quick. In the discussions that I've had, obviously, with the construction of companies and developers over that period of time, the back figure has been mentioned. Minister, could you address the front to the mic? That 5 per cent can be the difference between some projects going ahead or not. It is certainly an issue that I will pick up with Emma Harper after this, and raised with the UK Government. Emma Harper. That is good news to hear, minister. I know that it is something that has been raised in the chamber before when we have talked about vacant, abandoned, derelict land and what we can do about it. We know that Dumfries and Galloway in the Borders have more than their fair share of derelict sites. The former interfloor factory in Dumfries, the George hotel in Stranraer, the central hotel in Anand, the Mercury hotel at Moffat, to name a few, and there is the end pail in Hoyke, and the Glenmack building in Hoyke as well. We know that published research from the Glasgow Centre of Population Health shows that neglected environments can contribute to mental ill health, so dilapidated neighbourhoods and abandoned shops or houses can make people feel unsafe with run-down environments found to contribute to anxiety and persistent low mood. I thank the minister again for willing to speak to me about this issue of that, so that we can encourage brownfield site redevelopment. One additional point, Presiding Officer, is our legacy of outmigration and depopulation combined with the challenges of Brexit and demographic change. It means that Scotland urgently needs the powers to increase inward migration. Scotland needs a tailored migration solution to tackle depopulation. That is why the Scottish Government has called for cross-party support for a rural visa pilot scheme. The needs of Scotland are clearly not being met within the current UK Government immigration system, so that is something that we need to keep pursuing. I am conscious of time, Presiding Officer. One thing that I would like to ask the minister is to explore an innovative company called Iron and Pine based in Dolbite, which is able to make bespoke types of builds for whether it is palliative care beds, whether it is accommodation for rural employees that might be coming just for training, but that can also be used for long-term housing as well. I will close the meeting there, Presiding Officer. Thank you very much, Ms Harper. I now call Arrianne Burgess to be followed by Alasdair Allyn around six minutes. I am delighted to participate in this debate. As an MSP for the Highlands and Islands, I frequently discuss the pressing need for housing solutions with stakeholders across the region. Producing the plan was a commitment made in the Bute House agreement, along with ensuring continued funding through the rural and island housing fund. With precarious populations and a lack of housing for key workers, the plan provides welcome momentum and direction in tackling our rural and island housing crisis, but the plan needs profile and priority to see it through. How will the plan boost the Community Empowerment Act 2020, encourage asset transfers and enable delivery of our island's plan? There must be policy coherence to support our communities and businesses working to deliver housing and place making. That plan can and must drive the delivery of rural and island housing. The role of Government is to support our communities in delivering the right homes in the right places, developing more high-quality affordable homes, making the best use of existing homes and supporting a range of ownership and tenures. Along with policy coherence, the success of the plan will be in the detail. That is especially true when it comes to community-led housing. The plan comes on the back of the recently announced Bute House commitment to fund our rural housing enableers so that, in turn, they can build capacity, capability and confidence in communities to take their urgent housing needs into their own hands. Supporting communities is necessary if we are to meet the initial commitment of 11,000 rural homes. However, we need to acknowledge that community-led development happens on the backs of volunteer-led organisations. What I am hearing is that this is a challenge. We must find a way to support these organisations with secure funding for community development officers. The other point is about the amount of housing. We must recognise that 11,000 houses is not the end. There is a need for more rural and island housing if we are to transform the future of our rural communities and see them thrive. We need to find better ways to assess the value and impact of building rural homes that captures the cultural, environmental and social benefits to communities so that we can tackle our rural and island population crisis. The plan is very welcome, but it needs to have all key stakeholders, especially the Scottish Government teams and local authorities, all bought into it and working together. We need to move away from some of the familiar approaches to housing options and build flexibility into the mix to respond to nuanced needs on the ground. For community-led development to work, communities must be seen as full project partners. This would mean communities getting involved in the very early stages of development or if they take the lead that the support from all levels of government is there and the barriers removed. I would like to see more work being done to see how the rural and island housing fund can be opened up to support the growing demand for co-housing, which is a place-making model that has a lot to offer in terms of wellbeing by tackling isolation and loneliness. While it is good to see that the Minister for Housing has been in discussion with the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, this is a much broader issue, and I would like to see communication and collaboration taking place across a wider range of portfolios to drill down to community needs. For example, the need for carers in our rural communities means engaging with the health and social care sector as much as housing and rural affairs teams. In terms of building the housing, I welcome the commitment to do more with modern methods of construction, and it would be good to see the Scottish Government engaging with the numerous small companies based in my region, including MACR and Northwoods, who have a track record of successful off-site construction and have a lot of experience to offer. When I talked to small construction companies, they tell me that a challenge that they face is being able to keep the costs of construction down. They do not have sufficient cash flow to support the purchase of large quantities of materials, and in some cases, those materials such as oriented strand board, OSB, are being manufactured right on their doorstep. That is why I am fully behind the approach that is being proposed by communities housing trust to establish a materials hub so that we can be building at scale but spread across the area. The idea being that materials can be purchased and bulked by the customer and made available to local construction companies. That approach also has the potential to bring confidence to the small-scale construction sector and support them to develop their apprenticeship programme. If we are going to build 11,000 houses and more and take forward a place-making agenda, we not only need communities to lead, but we need buy-in from the people who are going to build it. This investment plan should be an opportunity to ensure that there are more people in all our communities with hands-on skills to maintain and repair local buildings. Those skills are relevant to maintenance and retrofitting programmes as they are to building schemes. Let's plan to preserve and maintain as well as build our communities. To conclude, we must do all that we can to ensure that there are homes for everyone who wants to live in the community, from young to old, families to single people. We must be taking the approach, like the calls for 1,000 homes in Highland, that will see lights going on in the straths once again. I now call Alasdair Allan to be followed by Finlay Carson in around six minutes. As the motion indicates, the Scottish Government is taking much vital action to address the housing crisis that exists in many parts of the Highlands and Islands, not least through some serious investment in social housing. Any debate on the issue must begin with that frank admission that, for young people in some rural communities, crisis is the only word that can be used. Decades-long trends on depopulation have accelerated since the pandemic. Island house prices have increased far more substantially than island wages. Those on the bottom rungs of the housing ladder simply lack the economic means even to begin to compete with retirees, property investors and second home purchasers. No Government can build houses at the rate that they are disappearing in those ways. For my constituency in the Highlands and Islands between 2018 and 2028, the working age population is due to decrease by 6 per cent and the number of children is due to decrease by 13 per cent. At the same time, I regret to say that the islands are also being touted in the national press as an idyllic wilderness, the best place in the UK for people to retire to. That definitely does not help. We are already seeing the impacts of all this on businesses and public services as critical vacancies go unfilled. In many communities, the balance is shifting rapidly away from year-round lived-in houses to short-term lets and second homes. When that trend gets out of hand in any community, the school closes, families relocate and, in the space of a generation or less, a village has transformed into a retirement or holiday community. Under those sorts of pressures is, of course, the Gaelic language being squeezed. Writing on the observer earlier this month, Nesbourne poet Donald S Murray warns of the dangers involved in allowing an idea to take hold that the islands are merely a place where the natural world has a greater appeal than the existences of the humans in their surroundings. I do not say all this lightly. I am an incomer myself and the islands need new people, but they need a mix of new people. Getting the housing question right is an existential concern for many of the communities that I represent. I very much welcome the publication of the rural and islands housing action plan. The plan supports Scotland's long-term housing strategy to 2040 and will help to bolster the commitment to deliver 110,000 affordable homes up to 2032, of which 70 per cent will be for social rent. In response to some of the accusations that have been thrown around in the course of this debate, I should say that, in my constituency, over 650 housing association properties have been built since the SNP came to power in 2007. That is a third roughly of the Hebridean housing partnership stock. The Scottish Government has made more than £43 million available for affordable housing in the islands over the term of this Parliament alone. That money, of course, now needs to be spent and spent wisely, but it is not just about building homes. It is about keeping homes in the housing stock. Hundreds of island houses have slipped out of domestic usage as the number of short-term lets has exploded and that number of short-term lets is nearly two and a half times what it was a decade ago. Short-term let licensing and control areas now give local authorities much needed options to exercise controls on this in communities where those controls are needed. In common with other areas, my constituency also has high levels of empty houses, so I welcome the plans' focus on building on the work that has happened across the country, much of which can be said to have been pioneered by Corrie and the Newlandshire and its empty homes, Officer Murdo McLeod. With nearly a quarter of all second homes in Scotland in the highlands and islands, many across the region consider that the unregulated increase in second homes is helping to fuel the housing crisis. Given councils the ability to levy additional charges on second homes will help to tackle this problem while bringing them into line with the existing rules for long-term empty properties. I also believe personally that the Scottish Government should now consider granting powers to restrict the number of further second homes in any locality in which the supply of housing for full-time habitation is under pressure. I welcome the plans' recognition of Crofting's vital role in maintaining the population of the highlands and islands and its commitment to reviewing the Crofthouse grant scheme in search of improvements. The upcoming reform of crofting law should, in my view, look for ways to make it easier for affordable housing developments to progress on land under crofting tenure. This, I know, has been a struggle in the western isles where land of that particular type of tenure accounts for the great majority of the land mass. There is also an urgent need to tackle what are increasingly becoming, in some cases, absurd prices for croft tenancies on the open market. Presiding Officer, to conclude, while there are no easy solutions to the housing crisis, the rural and islands housing action plan lays the foundations for a range of actions that have the potential to make a real difference to providing the housing that island communities urgently need. Dr Allan, I now call Finlay Carson to be followed by Fergus Ewing around six minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. As I've often said, my constituency is the most beautiful in Scotland, and I still believe that. Living in small communities like Galloway does have its many attractions, but it does have its disadvantages, including a significant lack of quality affordable homes to ensure that people can live and work in rural Scotland. For many years, there has been a notable lack of suitable homes in the south, and much of it is old housing stock with poor energy efficiency. We also know that there is a shortage of skills in rural Scotland, especially in traditional trades such as plumbing, joinery and electricians, and, inevitably, that leads to a limited number of locally-based house builders. The lack of suitable housing is a huge fact in the recruitment challenges for employers, both public and private, and, undoubtedly, it prevents Dumfries and Galloway from delivering on its considerable potential. We face a vicious circle with house prices in the south, remaining below the national average, but it is equally important to recognise that, at the same time, we have a high price-to-income ratio as a result of our historic low-wage economy. Essentially, that means that affordability for local people is a serious issue. The shortage of supply has also been a major problem in the local property market, and with the lack of new social housing and affordable homes being built, we are failing to meet a growing demand. It makes it almost impossible for local first-time buyers and those local workers on low incomes to get on the property ladder. However, the likelihood of the increasing demand for affordable housing being met is questionable if the Scottish Government's rural and island housing action plan has anything to go by. It promises to deliver 110 affordable homes by 2032, but with only 10 per cent going to rural and island communities. Let me repeat the facts, because they are worthy of being repeated. In terms of land area, urban Scotland accounts for somewhere around 2.2 per cent of Scotland, and rural areas account for 97.8 per cent. In terms of population, urban areas account for 83 per cent, and rural areas account for 17 per cent. It is typical of the Scottish Government that we thought that we might cheer the fact that 10 per cent was being committed for rural housing. Disappointing, yes, surprising, no. The likelihood of the number being built is also highly questionable, given that the 16 per cent year-on-year cut to the housing capital budget equating to nearly £113 million. It is little wonder that both the Scottish Federation of Housing Association and CIH Scotland have heavily criticised the reduction in funding from £893 million to £721.6 million for the affordable supply programme. The housing bodies who called for an increase in new home funding argue that the reduction does not fit with the Government's focus to reduce poverty in Scotland. The national director of CIH Scotland said, The budget for new affordable homes has been reduced by over 200 million in real terms, which makes the already challenging target of 110 affordable homes even more difficult. Sally Thomas, the chief executive of the SFHA, said that social housing provides one of the greatest protections against poverty, and we are alarmed to see a cut to the affordable housing supply programme, which, coupled with continuing uncertainty over rent setting and inflationary pressures on cost, seriously threatens our member's ability to build homes. A budget decrease of any amount will still reduce the number of homes that our members can build, and we urge the Government to rethink that cut if it is serious about tackling poverty in Scotland. Keith Brown, I thank the member for taking intervention. Just to ask the question, if he believes that social housing is so important, why does he support the UK Government cutting the capital budget for the Scottish Government? It's so sad and, as you know, service continually deflects where we are. The block grant in Scotland increased, and it's a bright priority. Obviously, the SNP Government doesn't prioritise rural areas and affordable housing. We have the stark prospect of less homes being built, and that will do little to encourage our younger generation to remain close to home or, indeed, return home. The population remains at crisis point. Young people want and deserve a future they can plan for, which is why many are having to consider moving to more urban areas to gain a decent wage, better prospects and, more importantly, a roof over their heads. Depopulation in rural Scotland was highlighted last year when the report The Population Estimates for Settlements and Localities revealed the growing movement towards larger towns and cities. Dr Callum McLeod, the policy director at Community Land Scotland, said that the report starkly illustrates the depopulation and demographic crisis faced by many of Scotland's rural areas. We urgently need to repopulate those areas and also resettle previously inhabited rural places where it's practical to do so. Dr McLeod continued, and I quote, That requires tangible actions in the form of affordable house is good quality jobs, better infrastructure and digital connectivity to fill the Scottish Government's commitment to increase the population of rural Scotland, which is contained in national planning framework 4. As mentioned earlier, those first need to have a home, often encounter another major headache and that's fuel poverty, with many rural properties of grid relying on alternative heat solutions, many of which are costly and, in some cases, unsuitable. Its latest report, Change Work Scotland's Lead Environmental Charity, highlights the inequity-facing rural households identifying several negative factors that, when combined, create a perfect storm of very significant fuel poverty across rural Scotland. The plight of Scottish households driven into fuel poverty is worsened by the lack of effective alleviation measures. Chief Executive Lockhart said that the report highlights and the unjust reality that rural Scotland experiences higher levels of fuel poverty than the rest of the country. I have highlighted the stellar work carried out by the South of Scotland Community Housing Association previously in the chamber, and until March 2020, the organisation was co-funded by the Scottish Government via more homes. However, the Scottish Government withdrew funding, despite the fact that it provided long-term, technical and professional support to community organisations and landowners around the planning and delivery of affordable homes that addresses local needs. I am pleased that the ministers, for once, have taken on board my and others' calls to restore their funding, albeit at a U-turn, it's a small step in the right direction, but not the giant leap that rural communities were hoping to see and need to see to survive. Mr Carson, I now call on Fergus Ewing, who is the final speaker in the open debate, after which we will move to closing speeches. Mr Ewing, around six minutes, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I start by referring to my declaration of interest. I own a small cottage in Lothianmouth, which, for the last 16 years, has been let on a long-term basis. Presiding Officer, this is not the first time that I have made the speech in this session of Parliament, and I have a feeling that it may not be the last occasion. When I made the points that I am going to make again today, the minister was kind enough to suggest that I should write to him, setting out, fleshing out the detail. I was very happy to do that. I know that the minister has been very energetic in his portfolio, and I was keen to, genuinely, to try to influence the Scottish Government to take up some ideas that I have had and which have enjoyed fairly substantial support in rural Scotland, I believe. I did set those ideas out in a letter 1 September. It was not a short letter. I do not think that I can lay any claim to any talent for brevity, Presiding Officer, in any way. So, there we are, six pages of a closely-typed full scap. I have not yet received a reply, but what is really important, minister, is that I do hope that you will do more than consider what I have to say today, because I am saying this as somebody who spent 20 years as a lawyer working and convincing, to a great extent, and then now 25 years as a rural, an MSP for a constituency, which is largely rural. Over that period, I have been fortunate to work very closely with land agents, with surveyors, with land owners, with farmers, with tenant farmers, with crofters, with local builders, with local artisans. I think that I have got a sense of what we need to do in order to tackle a problem where we all agree that we need to do far, far better. Let me the outset say that, as Dr Allan has argued, as Kenny Gibson has argued, housing associations and local authorities do a great job in providing affordable and mid-rent housing. They are very professional. It is not easy. The complexities and delays are extremely difficult. The minister is, from his time and local government, well aware of this. What I want to do today is say that I think that there is a danger of a missed opportunity in this document. It does make passing reference. I found two passing references, I think, to working with private land owners, but no more than that. I could not see, in any of the action points at the end, other than possibly on a medium-long-term basis of correcting this. When I say private land owners, I am talking about a whole paraplay. Land owner estates those who have particular land holdings, farmers, substantially farmers, crofters, including secure tenant farmers, incidentally. I believe that the asset that we have of privately owned land is an asset that most owners really want to do everything that they can to develop. They want to make a contribution to providing more housing in rural Scotland. I believe that our approach should be to assist them and to assist them by working very closely with them. Indeed, nobody knows more about rural Scotland than people who have farmed or crafted the land in many cases for hundreds of years in their families. I met some farmers recently in the October recess, just outside Nethy Bridge. The knowledge of the local area is immense. The knowledge of how to do things is immense. The skills are usually not only just farmers, of course. They usually have many skills that they put to good use. Reach out to the minister. I think that this would be a standing committee, and I think that a number of specifics would help. First of all, I have suggested before, and I will say again that permitted development rights extended to building new homes of five houses per unit would be a terrific step forward. I believe that the NFUS and the SLE have supported my letter to them. They have confirmed to me privately that they support it, and I see that in the SLE briefing today. This would do a tremendous lot to mobilise the sleeping capital held in our private collective land in Scotland. There is a tremendous amount of capital tied up in farms, although most farmers are not cash rich, they are land rich. If we enable them to build houses on their land, not all land is suitable. By no means, some land that Pete Rock cannot build on. I completely agree with you about expanding permitted development rights. The member makes a very good point about the demolition of buildings, which is currently not allowed or changing the use of specific agricultural buildings or forestry buildings. I absolutely want to know whether this is his own personal opinion or whether he has backing of his own SNP colleagues. My attempt here is to persuade the minister to take up and adopt measures in addition to the plan that he has, which contains many wealth and steps, because I believe that it would make a tremendous contribution to tackling the problem. Of course, it would not be so expensive, because if we enable people to use their own money instead of taxpayers' money, what is not to like about that? Does that not make sense? They are the sleeping giants of rural housing. Our farmers are 50,000 of them. Just think what we can do if only even 10 per cent of them take up this. It can transform it. They are the sleeping giant. Let us not leave them in a state of somnum slight, some Scottish version of Rip Van MacRinkel. Let us wake them up and deliver what we can do for Scotland. I intended to say an awful lot more, but lacking any skill and brevity I have completely failed to do so. I do hope that the minister will respond to what is a positively meant constructive suggestion, which I think would fly and would help him and help us all to achieve the targets that have been set out today. I am sure that there will be further opportunities. We now move to the closing speeches. I call Rhoda Grant, who joins us remotely, Ms Grant, around seven minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I want to draw members' attention to my register of interests in that I own a sixth share in a family home. Sorry to interrupt, Ms Grant, but I am afraid that audio from her transmission is not very audible. I was making the same point myself, Mr Cole-Hamilton, but I think that Ms Grant was about to burst forth at a higher volume. Ms Grant, if you wish to start again around seven minutes. Okay. Can you hear me now? Loud and clear, Ms Grant. Perfect. Thank you. I would just repeat that I would draw members' attention to my register of interests where it shows that I own a sixth share in a family home. The Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan is a first step, but it really does lack an ambition. As Mark Griffin said, we now have a rural housing emergency, and we often know what the issues are. Second homes and holiday let's inflate prices, a point made by Colin Smyth and others. Also urbanisation, where people are moving to centres of population due to a lack of homes and services in our more rural communities. Housing costs are more expensive in rural areas because there are no economies of scale. For instance, the six new affordable homes that were built in Barrett cost £1.4 million, and £233,000 a unit. That's a huge cost in our rural area. Housing policy is made for urban areas, so until we have a policy made for rural areas by rural communities, we won't get the housing in those areas that we need. Mark Griffin and Rachel Hamilton talked about depopulation and the fact that the lack of housing was a key driver. Jamie Halcro Johnston also quoted the high report showing that young people were leaving due to a lack of housing. That's true indeed for every generation, not just young people. People are being forced out because of the lack of housing. Finlay Carson quoted Calum McLeod's work on the need to repopulate rural Scotland. If we don't, the economies will fail. With our young people being frozen out, we end up with an ageing population. There are no young people for service provision. Members from the Highlands and Islands recently met the Highlands and Islands Enterprise. They talked about housing being a priority for them, rural housing, because it is holding back economic development in those areas. Mark Griffin talked about meeting with a Sam in Scotland, because they were flagging up to him the issues about a lack of housing for workers in those communities. That is holding development in communities back. Colin Smyth also talked about the hospitality businesses that are really struggling to house staff. That is true in my own area in the Highlands and Islands, where many hospitality businesses are closing for two days a week because they do not have staff to cover shifts and they need to give staff time off to enable them to rest. All services are suffering, health, education and many others, because there is no housing. The minister mentioned key workers, and that is a case in point, especially within the health service, where people cannot be recruited to take up posts. People want to move. Of course, the standard of living and living in remote rural communities is very attractive, but the inability to find a home to live in makes that impossible. It is not always affordable housing. We find that we cannot attract GPs because there is no suitable housing available and many other professionals who would need to be able to maybe buy a house but cannot do that because of the pressure on the market from second homes and holidaylets. Many people will build their own houses as well, but there is a cost involved in that. I talked about the socially rented houses in Barra, but even self-build means that transport costs from materials is higher, access to planning, access to land—all of that causes problems. Many speakers talked about 10 per cent not being enough when 17 per cent of people in Scotland live in rural areas, and I would agree with that. However, the 10 per cent that is ring fenced for rural areas also includes remote small towns and accessible rural, which is, to all intents and purposes, commuting communities. If those areas are covered, remote rural is going to be left out, and that is where the housing crisis happens. We need to focus on remote rural and not pursue the urbanisation of rural communities by including rural towns in that. I welcome that the Government has said that they will review the Croft Housing Grants scheme. I think that that is a positive move because the grant is not enough to build a house. It needs to increase and include work space, because crofting is a business. I suggest that it needs to be paired with a self-build loan to make that affordable. Kenny Gibson and Ariane Burgess talked about self-build and how it means that local companies are involved in the bill. That is more affordable having local companies rather than large companies coming into the area and having the additional expense of workers having to stay over and travel expense, whereas using local procurement would be really good in providing jobs and a boost to the local economy. Mark Griffin made a number of really positive suggestions to the Government looking at the Crown Estate and how they might help to take some of the money that they make from their releases of the seabed, looking at empty homes, the compulsory sale of them to local people and council tax on empty homes. All positive suggestions for the Government. Colin Smyth also talked about good practice in his own area, which really needs to be promoted and also shared as good practice elsewhere. We need a rural burden on every house that is built or renovated from Government money, and that needs to be pursued. We need to find a way of protecting rural homes, especially those that are created or renovated with public money, to stay within those local markets. I would urge to look at a two-market option or a rural burden to keep those homes in community hands. Alistair Allan talked about the Gallag language and the impact on that by forcing people out of communities. Alec Cole-Hamilton talked about fuel poverty and again another huge issue within rural areas. I am very conscious that I am coming to the end of my time, but there were many constructive comments made in this debate, which I hope the Government will listen to. I hope that it will listen to the fact that the action plan is not ambitious enough and it is a missed opportunity. It needs to be developed by those who know and understand rural areas, because lazy mistakes are made due to a lack of understanding of the needs of rural communities. I thank the many organisations that have provided useful briefings ahead of today's debate. Today's debate is the first opportunity for Parliament to look at the details around the Scottish Government's rural and island housing action plan. The question that we need to ask ourselves today is whether the plan is ambitious enough to meet the housing needs of our rural and island communities now and in the future. I do not think that it is. I think that many of the contributions today have pointed towards that, notably that it undercuts rural Scotland's entitlement to 17 per cent of homes, which it should have been on the face of the plan. That is something that the Government needs to reflect on. As the briefing from Scottish Land and Estates makes clear, Scottish Government's rural and island housing plan is not ambitious or radical enough to deliver the step change needed to meet rural housing needs. In addition, the Scottish Government needs to consider the impact of other policy areas on the supply of housing, and the minister himself touched on that in his contribution around policy interventions. If we are going to develop long-term solutions, the Scottish Government needs to focus on the causes of the housing crisis and avoid aspirating that by tinkering around the symptoms. Recent and proposed legislation continues to undermine the confidence in housing providers, which is helping to do the opposite of what ministers want to see in reducing supply available. We have seen that with rent-free and short-term let policies. Rural and island developments are full of challenges, and the primary challenge is viability, usually borne out by the cost of infrastructure due to the lower levels of existing connectivity and services in many areas. Whether community-led or, as we have heard, landowner-led, the principal challenges remain the same, as do the objectives in prioritising where housing needs to be in our local and rural communities. As the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations stated in their briefing, it is highly unlikely that we as a country will deliver 11,000 affordable homes in our remote, rural and island communities if the affordable housing supply programme fails to be delivered on its target for 2032. Crucially, we know as things stand that the Government is not on track to achieve its target right now around the supply of affordable housing. That is slowing down in terms of delivery. The most recent quarterly statistics show huge drops in the numbers of approvals and starts under the affordable housing supply programme. The fact is that the Scottish Government does not have a target for completions for this Parliament either. It is disappointing, but it is clearly not now on track to meet its housing to 2040 policy either. The time that it takes for developers to be granted permission is also problematic, and little in the plan suggests how priorities will change around that. Again, that is a missed opportunity. I hope that the minister will reflect on beyond the debate. I think that looking at the bureaucracy that we have in our planning system should be a priority. That needs to be reviewed, and we need to see how we can cut down times. MPF4 was a missed opportunity to do some of that. I thought that Jamie Halcro Johnston and Kenny Gibson made some really important points with regard to the undertake-up of Government schemes. That is something that we have seen over the past 16 years of this Government, but that is something that we really need to see prioritised. For example, ministers have announced £25 million to help to boost key workers' homes and tenancies in rural areas in April. The Government does not know how many people have supported that, but it is clear that we need to see when those announcements are made, not just for a pressed release but for the ground, how they are taking up and delivered is critical. To return to the point that I made with regard to planning departments across the country, the average processing time for local housing applications Homes for Scotland state is 14 weeks. That is now 16 per cent longer than the 12-week statutory framework and compares to nine weeks pre-Covid in terms of getting an approval to build. The fact is that SME builders who will be tasked with delivering most of the individual builds and small-scale developments are also in a difficult place. The Government does not know how many SME home builders there are in the country, but it is clear that we need to see what support can be given to them. It is reflected, as I say, in the decrease that we have seen in active SME home builders in rural and island communities. That compares to 782 in 2007 to the latest figures around 2017-18, which was down to 465. 40 per cent of SMEs have disappeared over this period of time, and we do not know what the figure looks like today. We need to start with who will do the work to bring homes back in, if they are empty homes, or if they are building them, how SMEs will be able to deliver that. Another important issue that was raised during the debate was that which Marie Curie has brought to our attention, and Emma Harper pointed that out, with regard to ensuring that we have the homes in place that will look towards an ageing population and the needs. According to MND Scotland, 23 per cent of local authorities who have responded do not actually know the definition of accessible home, and they do not have that developed. I welcome the fact that the Scottish Government has said that the new housing and Scottish accessible homes standard will provide that clarity, but that should have been within the bill. Rachel Hamilton outlined Scottish Conservative proposals and ideas around that. I hope that the minister will look at those, because we would want to see a step change for rural and island communities. We would want to see the establishment of a Scottish housing delivery agency. We would want to see the implementation of a rural home just transition package. We would want to see the permitted development for rural homes and not just provide homes, but to look towards the businesses that are providing and sustaining our communities. We would support the introduction of compulsory sale orders. This week, the First Council in Scotland could see a housing emergency with Edinburgh City Council debating the call at full council on Thursday of this week. After 16 years of this Government being in office, the housing crisis is deepening. The plan is a missed opportunity to focus on the real-world solutions that would help to realise the potential of our rural and island communities. I support the amendment in Rachel Hamilton's name. Mr Briggs, I now call on the minister to wind up the debate. Minister, around nine minutes, please. I would like to start by thanking colleagues for their contribution during the debate. It has been mainly a collaborative debate. Mark Griffin and Miles Briggs met them on a regular basis, and we will continue to discuss it and continue to listen to any ideas that come forward and work with them on that. The contributions have clearly shown the importance of delivering more housing and rural and island areas to meet the needs of communities. The diverse make-up of our rural and island communities is something to be celebrated. I am proud that this Government is focused on doing more to support these communities to thrive in the action plan. I will touch on that in a little second, but I want to touch on some of the views that were picked on earlier. Rachel Hamilton mentioned that, as the defulers are in about the 17 per cent versus 10 per cent target, and I will reiterate just to make sure that the 10 per cent is the minimum. I hope that we will be able to deliver more. The 17 per cent is not based on where funding goes, but it is based on the target. I am happy to look at that, and I am also happy to mention the pressures in our own area. I am happy to come down and visit and talk about that in our own area. Mark Griffin touched on about the second homes consultation, and you will know that it is just finished, and the Government is going to move in with that. Conscious of the time, have you just let me get in a little bit further? I will hopefully pick up some of your points that you mentioned as well, Mr Carson, which I am going to try and do. Obviously, we talked about the £25 million key workers fund, which I think is important, and Sam and Scotland discussions continue. Alex Cole-Hamilton made a really important point around fuel and security. Obviously, the Scottish Government recognised that about the £30 million fund that came forward, and I think that that is really important. Ivan McKee made a real range of some really important points around economic development and where housing is key. For me, one of the key things that is coming from a local government background as well is that the local housing strategy, local development plans and economic development strategies need to tie in together, and I think that that is incredibly important. That has come through in some of the discussions in terms of that. Also, working with agencies such as SCDI, I think that that is really important. Offsite options are being considered, and I think that that is really important. In terms of the land capture and other issues that I mentioned, obviously, that we brought forward. There will be discussions and debates around that in the land reform that the Government will be bringing forward. The skills element, again, is incredibly important in terms of what that looks like. Alex Cole-Hamilton touched on an all-ten year approach, and I think that we need to be working with Homes for Scotland, which we are on that particular point, and mentioned about stakeholders. I will touch on that. Obviously, we have SLE, NFU, crofters, groups and employees, and I think that that is really important. One of the key things, and I know that there has been a debate in the Parliament about this, is the role of rural visa, to make sure that we are populating and getting people back and working in our communities as well. Hopefully, the Conservatives will change their view on the role of the rural visa. Kenny Gibson mentioned about project funding, which I think is important. We gave a million pounds, as I said, to the housing trust to talk about capacity in some of those groups, and that is an incredibly important point in something that I heard really loudly and clearly in my visits during the summer. We need to be working with employees, and that is incredibly important. It comes back to the point that I mentioned about talking to local authorities about the housing strategy, the economic development strategy and their local development plans. Colin Smyth again talked about south of Scotland enterprise, and I think that that is really important, and how we do that. Labour shortages are, again, really important. Again, it comes back to some of the wider issues, trying to bring immigration policy back into this Parliament so that we can use that role to try and get more people in, because it is not just skill shortages, these are labour shortages in terms of that, and coming back to the role of local development plan, economic development strategy and local housing strategy, in terms of that. The empty homes that he talked about, obviously, will continue to discuss this, and I know that in his own area, the funding for his own area increased by £15 million to £106 million this parliamentary term. Emma Harper mentioned about depopulation challenges, and again, coming back to the role of visa and immigration, I think that that is really important. The VAT issue that I will pick up, and I am happy to meet her in Dalbyty to talk about obviously the project that is going to go in there. Ariane Burgess talked to her about the role of community light housing. I visited the project in Garelock, and that was an incredible example of how that worked, and obviously funding community housing and trust in south of Scotland community housing was an important part of that. The place making is important. Alice Darallan touched on the balance of accommodation, and I think that that is important. The story on the way to Gazette, I think that just a few weeks ago reported on 100 STLlets in Harris alone, 180 in Harris alone. So there are funding challenges around that, but it is not just around about funding, it is making projects work. Obviously, we talked about local control areas, and that is up to each local authority in terms of that. Fund the Carson touched upon, and again this comes back to the key point, and I think that it is really important in terms of the role of economic development, local development plans and local housing strategies being tied up, because we can't regenerate areas without having proper housing and vice versa. So again, we'd be happy to catch up when we discuss the broader issues in terms of that, but I'm happy to take an intervention if I've got time, Presiding Officer. Finlay Carson. The minister for taking intervention has factored into the 10 per cent of the 110,000 homes in rural areas being impacted on the lack of capacity and the lack of proper funding of planning departments in the likes of Dumfries and Galloway are really struggling because of the huge number of wind farm applications and their complete inability to deal with planning applications. Minister. I'm going to touch on this, because just after I come back to touch on that particular point, I think coming back to the point that Finlay, Fergus Ewing mentioned. To Fergus Ewing, I'll make sure he gets replied to the letter. In terms of the point that he raises, I've engaged with SLE, NFU and Croft, and it will be an issue. I've got visits planned, and I do agree with him. There are huge opportunities, and I know that he'll be aware of the project at Tornagrain, which was a landowner that talked about that. I'm again happy to talk to Mr Ewing about that, but I totally agree on the point that he's talking about if I've got time, Presiding Officer. Briefly, minister. I'm grateful to the minister. One of the key points of this, though, is reviewing the bureaucracy, which is holding back changes in these potential policies. Is that something that the Government are willing to take forward above and beyond this plan today? Minister. The point that Finlay Carson made in terms of that, Rhoda Grant made an important point about Croft House grants scheme, and I think that's important as well. Obviously, he mentioned about rural burdens, and that's something that's mentioned in the report itself. I just want to get back to some of the other points that was touched on in terms of that. In terms of planning, there is a consultation on resourcing going on at the particular moment that he's talking about, and we've been working closely with the RTPI, and I've been working with Joe Fitzpatrick on that. We take our commitment seriously, and one of the key things that has been talked to around during the debate was obviously around the budget. The 3.5 billion target of the term hasn't changed. The profile on doing that changes as it does another budget as well, but that £3.5 billion has continued that figure. That supports the total investment package of £18 billion and up to 15,000 jobs each year. A rural and housing fund is also delivering for rural communities and providing an additional funding for those not able to access traditional affordable housing that we've talked about. The next year, can you set out some of the priorities? Obviously, it's about delivering secondary legislation to enable councils to apply up to 100 per cent premium on council tax rates from second homes from April 2024. Working closely with local authorities and registered social landlords, including the SFH, obviously on that, working with the Scottish Homes Empty Partnership, local authorities and owners to bring more homes back into use. Obviously, providing that financial support, I mentioned the Community Housing Trust and the Scottish Community Housing Trust, to enable them to support communities and drive capacity. Also, commissioning the permanent service to support a review of affordable home ownership in rural and island areas. Of course, working very closely with our five area-based teams who will be working with local authorities and others going forward. As I mentioned earlier, I want to thank the many organisations and individuals who have taken the time and effort to contribute to the development of the action plan. The action plan is a start. There's much work going on and will continue to go on. It says out the short-term, medium-term and long-term actions around that. Since the Government was elected, we've prioritised housing and I'm proud to say that we will continue to do so. I'm glad that we've had this debate today. It is a key part of our independent missions, it's a key part of our mission to prioritise our public services and focus on equality and opportunity. We have committed record investment in affordable housing, delivering over 10,000 affordable homes in rural and island areas since 2016. It introduced a game-changing rural and islands housing fund and we've now published a rural and islands housing action plan. During the engagement with stakeholders in the action plan, we heard that pieces of the digs are all there with the suggestions of how they can be brought together. The rural and island housing action plan seeks to achieve that. As I said earlier, ambitions set out in the action plan cannot be solely delivered by the Scottish Government. It will require collaboration from a wide range of partners, including local authorities, housing associations, landowners, businesses and the Scottish Government, including the enterprise agencies in highlands and islands in the south of Scotland, to name a few. From my conversations with partners, I strongly believe that there's a willingness that is there and I look forward to working with colleagues and partners to take forward the delivery of the action plan. I've been very clear that I'm no doubt about the vital role that housing plays in generating sustainable local economic growth. The appetite, enthusiasm and support for rural and island housing remains even when things might seem insurmountable, challenging or complex. This Government remains committed to working with partners to deliver the right homes and the right places to meet the needs of our rural and island communities. Therefore, I ask the Parliament to support the motion today. Thank you. That concludes the debate on rural and island housing action plan. It is now time to move on to the next item of business. I'll allow a moment for front benches to organise themselves.