 Yn Thank you, and the next item of business is consideration of business motion 12735 in the name of Maurice Golden on behalf of Parliamentary bureau setting out our business program for today, tomorrow and Thursday. If anyone objects please say so now. I call on Maurice Golden to move the motion. Move. Thank you very much. I know who has asked to speak against the motion. The question is therefore that motion 12735 be agreed. Are we all agreed? Yes, we are agreed. The next item of business is topical questions. We start with question number one from Ian Gray. To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to meet its 2020 target for childcare provision, in light of a recent survey that found only 30 per cent of private nurseries are likely to offer the full 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare. We recognise and value the key role that providers in the third and private sectors have to play in the expansion of funded early learning and childcare, particularly in delivering the flexibility that families need. We know that getting funding right is key to securing the participation of providers from all sectors in the expansion. That is why we acted after the survey was conducted and reached a landmark deal with COSLA on the expansion. That means that funding will reach almost £1 billion per year by the end of the Parliament, exactly the action that 81 per cent of the survey respondents were looking for when they said that a better funding rate would enable them to offer 1140 hours. I think that the National Day Nursery Association will know about the deal with COSLA. In fact, I heard that point put to the chief executive of the NDNA yesterday on radio and she was very clear that her concerns are not addressed by the COSLA deal. That is serious because in some councils 40, even 60 per cent of funded hours are delivered in partnership nurseries, so the extension simply cannot be delivered without them on board. Surely the minister needs to act urgently to understand and resolve the sector's issues. What is our urgent plan to meet with the NDNA and address those problems? I can tell Mr Ryan Gray that I met with the NDNA this morning at the ninth ELC strategy forum, which is the ninth time that the Government has engaged in that. I have also, since I took post just a few months ago, met with the NDNA in a private occasion and I have spoken at their conference. We recognise and value the key role that providers in the third and private sector have to play in the expansion of funded and early learning and childcare, particularly in delivering the flexibilities that families need. In fact, they are essential to delivering that flexibility. On 1 April this year, we introduced a new 100 per cent rate relief for private properties wholly or mainly used as day nurseries. We estimate that rates relief will remove a burden of rates from up to 500 businesses. We are determined to support this sector. We are working very hard with COSLA and local authorities to promote positive and effective partnerships with all of our childcare providers. Iain Gray In truth, if the minister has met the NDNA on so many regular occasions, it is perhaps even more worrying that the NDNA has so little confidence in the Government's capacity to deliver. Perhaps one reason is that the report makes clear that nurseries are already struggling to deliver the existing 600 funded hours. We know that thousands of parents are unable to access their entitlement through inflexibility of provision. The report does not just demand action on the extension, it also demands action now urgently on the existing provision. What action will the minister take to address the concern about the existing entitlement? I can assure Iain Gray that we are regularly engaging with the sector. The national standard consultation, as well as being a standard consultation where we put out a survey and asked for responses, we held engagement events. The last engagement event was yesterday. We have held engagement events in Glasgow, Stirling, Edinburgh, Dundee and Calhouning. We are working really hard with the sector. I have to say that, at this moment in time, this survey was done before the funding was put in place, before the landmark agreement with COSLA. At this moment in time, there is real positivity about the vision and there is real commitment and passion for high quality within the sector. We are working really hard with COSLA to promote positive partnerships in all local authority areas. Alison Harris, I am glad to hear that the minister is listening, but in light of the recent Audit Scotland report in March this year, which was very critical of the fact that the Scottish Government had not undertaken sufficient analysis of how successful the delivery of childcare had been after the original increase to 600 hours was in place, I ask the Scottish Government, has that now been addressed? Have those concerns been addressed and whether it has put in place a new baseline set of data that will be essential for analysing the delivery of the promised 1,140 hours? Absolutely. I am confident that we will deliver the 1140 hours. We are working, as I said, very closely with our partners in local authority to do that. We have in place mechanisms for ensuring that we will deliver. We are working really hard—I hope that you have an impression in the chamber—of just how hard we are working across the country to engage with all the whole sector to ensure that we can deliver that and we will monitor the impact that it has. The living wage is an issue that the NDNA survey flagged up. Can the minister confirm the Government's plans on early learning and childcare expansion includes a commitment to ensure that all childcare staff will be paid at least the living wage? I am the PLO to the education secretary. Absolutely. The service model working group is working together to develop guidance on what constitutes a sustainable rate for local authorities to pay to partner nurseries. The living wage is absolutely part of that. The incredibly ambitious and challenging expansion of early years in childcare will have an impact right throughout the country. It will deliver living wages in every corner of our nation. Up to 8,000 staff currently working—mostly women currently working—in around 960 partner provider settings will benefit if the living wage is paid to all childcare workers in those settings. We are absolutely determined to make that happen. Willie Rennie I share the minister's ambition. I am just concerned about the reality. We have heard about the NDNA. They are not satisfied so far. They are not alone. We have the accounts commission who have had concerns. We have had the fair funding for kids who have concerns. The child minding association, they are adding to the list as well. Does the minister understand the scale of the anxiety in the community about that? I can assure Mr Willie Rennie that I do understand the level of anxiety about that. Despite the only 30 per cent response rate for the survey, it does very clearly reflect the preoccupations of many NDNA and early years Scotland members. We know from all our contacts and concerns that many private nurseries feel under huge pressure as do child minders about whether they can continue to operate as viable businesses in the years ahead. We are absolutely determined to address those concerns. Now that we have reached the landmark funding agreement, we have moved on to the delivery phase and we are determined to work together with all of our partners, who are equally committed to delivering that vision. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report by Crisis, which shows that the number of people living in temporary hostel and B&B accommodation in Scotland has risen. I welcome the report in the work of crisis chief executive John Sparks, who chairs our homelessness and rough sleeping action group. We established the group last year to help us to transform temporary accommodation and then homelessness and rough sleeping. The group has done a fantastic job recently making a number of recommendations for transforming temporary accommodation, which we have accepted in principle. There is a focus on preventing the need for temporary accommodation in the first place and proposed measures include the development of a national system of rapid rehousing, including moving to a housing first model for those with the most complex needs. Temporary accommodation remains an important part of Scotland's strong homelessness legislation, and we are committed to ensuring that temporary accommodation is of good quality and serves the needs of its residents in helping to ensure positive outcomes for those experiencing homelessness. I thank the minister for that response and I add thanks from those benches for the on-going work and interest from crisis in this very complex area. The minister talks about the quality of temporary housing and that is an important factor, not all of the temporary accommodation that many are in is adequate and suitable. Crisis has also mentioned that prevention and specifically the point of early investing can ultimately end up saving Government's money in this regard. Their figures said that by spending now to move people out of temporary accommodation into more long-term solutions, it could end up saving around £29 million per year. Is that figure that is recognised by his Government, has he done any similar analysis to show what the up-front savings could be by acting in the long-term now, and is that a strategy that he is giving serious consideration to? In terms of the current situation, 81 per cent of those folks in temporary accommodation are in mainstream social housing, and I want that number to rise. As Mr Greene will be aware, we have already changed circumstances. In October, we reduced the period from 14 days to seven days in which families with children and pregnant women are in unsuitable temporary accommodation, except in exceptional circumstances. We will continue to look at that situation. In terms of investment, the Government has committed to the £50 million ending homelessness together fund over the next five years to bring about the changes that are required and to enact the recommendations that have been put forward by HARSAG. Of course, as we continue with that work, we will continue to analyse all the outcomes and see what benefits that fund is bringing to people across the country. Again, I thank the minister for that response. He mentioned in that answer the issue around social housing. Isn't it inevitable that a fundamental long-term issue seems to be a chronic lack of housing? It cannot be a coincidence, minister, that the hotspots identified in crisis report such as Edinburgh, East Lothian, Aberdeen and East Renfisher also have very restricted and indeed expensive housing markets. Very few people in the sector genuinely believe that the Scottish Government is on track to meet its 50,000 new affordable homes commitment in this parliamentary session. Can he give us a cast iron guarantee today that by the end of this parliamentary session 50,000 affordable homes will have been built? A very interesting question for Mr Greene. I am not sure whether he is aware of the figures that were published this morning, which shows that the Government has built 76,500 affordable homes since we came to power in 2007. On the 50,000 affordable homes target, which is now 53,000 affordable homes as the First Minister laid out at the weekend, are we on track? He does not need to take my word for it. He just needs to go and look at the report that was put together by Shelter, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who independently assessed strategic housing investment plans and said that we were on track to deliver on our ambitious targets. Mr Greene also talked about expensive housing markets. Mr Greene could help us in that regard by doing a number of things in persuading his Westminster colleagues to change tack. In page 15 of the everybody in crisis report, it says that what we require is housing benefit that truly covers the cost of housing and reflects projected rent increases in all areas of the country. On page 368, it mentions no recourse to public funds and the hostile environment, which is causing major difficulty for people who have chosen to come and live here. Chapter 10 of the report is on making welfare work, where it takes to bits the UK Government's welfare regime, conditionality, sanctions and benefit cap. If he wants to help us, I would welcome that, but he needs to talk to his colleagues south of the border to especially help those in the expensive housing markets that he brought up in his question. Monica Lennon Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would also like to commend Crisis for bringing this report forward. Having taken into account the research, I wonder if the minister could explain what he sees are the main barriers to councils in getting people out of temporary or unsuitable temporary accommodation within seven days, and what can be done to reduce those barriers? The Minister for Public Health and Sport welcomes that question. That is a very logical question to ask. We need to concentrate on finding out exactly what the barriers are in certain places. As we have heard in certain parts of the country, supply is a difficulty, particularly in those expensive housing markets. That is one of the reasons why we have committed to delivering 53,000 affordable homes during the course of this Parliament. Ms Lennon may also be aware that the Government has set up housing option hubs, where practitioners from across the country get together to look at what barriers they face and whether best practice can be exported to rid us of some of those barriers. In terms of the recommendations from the homelessness and rough sleeping action group, which are extremely important, and which we have accepted all of them in principle, apart from a qualification around about some of the funding ones that we require Westminster to co-operate in terms of devolving housing benefit to temporary accommodation, we will look at all of those to provide the right scene to make sure that we get people into homes. I can assure Ms Lennon that, where there are barriers, we will continue to highlight those barriers and we will continue to break them down because we have got to do our best here for our most vulnerable people in society. I thank the ministers and the members. I apologise to those who could not get in there, but we will need to move on to our next item of business, which is a statement by Rosanna Cunningham on Scottish greenhouse gas emissions 2016. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement, so if any member wishes to ask a question off the cabinet secretary, I would encourage them to press their request to speak buttons as soon as possible.