 The next item of business is portfolio questions. In order to get as many people in, it would be helpful to have succinct questions and answers. The first portfolio is health and social care. I remind members that questions 1 and 5 are grouped together, and therefore I will take any supplementaries on those questions once both have been answered. If a member wishes to request a supplementary question, they should press the request-to-speak button during the relevant question or indicate during the relevant question by entering the letter R in the chat function. I call question 1 from Pam Duncan-Glancy, who is joining us remotely. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the action that is taking at all the report of the staffing shortages within the NHS. I am fully aware of the difficult circumstances that boards and front-line staff are working in. It is why we have worked hard to ensure that our NHS has record levels of staffing. With increased numbers of staff over the last 10 consecutive years and under this Government, we now have over 28,700 whole-time equivalent, more staff or a 22.6 per cent increase in the last year alone. We are also investing record levels of domestic training for doctors and nurses, and we have committed £1 billion as part of our recovery plan in 300 million last winter that was announced to support additional recruitment. That is already paying off. We see that there has already successfully recruited 1,000 healthcare support workers. We recognise the challenges right across the UK and internationally and recruiting enough staff to meet changing service demand. That is how we published a long-term workforce strategy on 11 March, setting our clear ambition. We will work closely with health boards and health and social care partnerships to produce new staffing projections in the autumn, based on their three-year workforce plans. I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that answer, but the plans are not working. In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, nursing and midwifery vacancies have never been higher. The Royal College of Nursing report out yesterday found that there were 2,075 vacancies and around 11 per cent full sun filled. A constituent has been in touch with me about the impact that this has had on them. They waited 16 months for a potentially life-changing procedure and, when they finally got the appointment, a nurse spoke of lengthy waits and said that during the pandemic and, crucially, during periods when they were remobilised, that clinic at the New Victoria hospital had to shut down four times to send staff to cover at the Queen Elizabeth hospital due to lack of staff. Patients are being let down and staff have excessive workloads. The recovery plan is not working. The Scottish Government must wake up to this crisis. Cabinet Secretary, the plans are not working. What more will you do to address workforce shortages, with resources to back up any actions, including to improve pay and conditions, as a matter of urgency? Before I ask the cabinet secretary to respond, can I just say that that is not an example of a succinct question? I will try to give a more succinct answer if I can, but I do recognise that Pam Duncan-Clancy's question is a very important one. I met, along with other political health spokespeople across the chamber, the RCN this morning, and I welcomed the nursing workforce in Scotland report. We heard very powerfully from nurses who were present some of the challenges that they are facing. What I would say to Ms Duncan-Clancy is that overall nursing and widwifery staffing numbers are at a record high. They are up 14.5 per cent under this Government. Of course, creating new posts is an essential part of workforce expansion. We are investing in our health service and, of course, I can give our lots of detail on that for the sake of brevity. I will perhaps write to her about the investments that we are making, but the final point that I would make is that if we can control transmission of Covid, that is the single biggest factor that will help with some of the workload pressures that our nurses are facing at the moment. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what it is doing to address reported workforce pressures in health and social care. Again, just to stress that staffing has increased under this Government for the last 10 years. That increase has seen 28,700 more whole-time recruitment staff under this Government. Our £1 billion recovery plan, or £300 million to support pressures across winter, is having an impact. In effect, we saw just this week that the Scottish Ambulance Service, of course, has a record single-year recruitment of 550 posts being recruited in a single year. 1,000 additional healthcare support staff have also been recruited because of the investment that we are taking. We engage closely with health boards and, of course, integration authorities across the country to offer our support. The situation is under constant review. I thank the cabinet secretary for his response. The RCN report that he refers to concludes that there are simply not enough nursing staff to provide the care that our population needs. In five nursing and midwifery vacancies have never been higher at 575. In Tayside, there are 452 posts unfilled, up nearly 300 since the pandemic started. We are living with the consequences of the decision taken by Nicola Sturgeon when she was health minister to cut the number of training places for nurses and midwives. What specifically is the Scottish Government going to do to tackle the issue of staff retention, given that so many are leaving at present due to stress in the workforce? I reiterate that, when it comes to nursing and midwifery staff, they are at record high levels across the country. They are up by 14.5 per cent. I reiterate that, once again, if the member listens, I am trying to address the question that the RCN report is important. He is right that there are a number of vacancies, but creating new posts is an essential part of that workforce expansion. That being said, I fully accept that we need to grow the workforce, so we have plans to do that through domestic recruitment, through the student pipeline, through international recruitment. However, his point about retention is an important one, is a fundamental one. That is why, of course, our staff are the best paid in the UK, but I promised and committed to the RCN today, as I have done previously, that we will look at the terms and conditions and will see what more we can do in order to retain what is an excellent skilled workforce, and I want to pay tribute to every single one of them. Are we able to take some, but not all, supplementaries? Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, despite describing our plan for Covid recovery back to normality as reckless, I was very pleased that the SNP Government's updated strategic framework accepted a large number of our recommendations. Chief among those was the ending of mass testing in Scotland and its replacement with a programme of representative sampling. While that is very well welcomed development while we learn to live with Covid, it will mean that 7,000 test and protect employees may have their contracts terminated early. Given the acute and unrelenting staff shortages across Scotland's NHS, what assessment and activity has the cabinet secretary made of the possibility of redeploying those workers to other parts of our health service? I think that it is a very good question for Sue Webber, and just in the interest of brevity, I give her an absolute assurance that our health boards and indeed our health and social care partnerships are working extremely closely with our test and protect staff, and I want to again pay tribute for their incredible efforts over the course of the pandemic to see where we can redeploy them. It will be able to be done with some of them, because there will be a skills match, and there will be some who will want to stay within the NHS and social care. I cannot promise that it will happen with every single member of staff, but we are working exceptionally closely and we will look to redeploy as many of those hard-working staff as we possibly can. We know that in social care there is a major recruitment and retention issue that is creating a crisis. We know that one of the major factors for that is the poor terms and condition and pay and unequal treatment, particularly those who work in the private sector. Why, then, is the Government not tackling this and what will you do to tackle it, given that if you do not, then this issue is just going to keep getting worse? First and foremost, what we are doing is recruiting to that workforce. I just referenced in two previous answers that we have successfully recruited 1,000 healthcare. Support workers, many of them will be working in social care. The point about pay is an important one, that is why we have introduced not one but two pay-up lifts in my time as health secretary. We will also make sure that we get rid of that inconsistency across the country, that postcode lottery that he rightly has made reference to previously about terms and conditions across the country with the introduction of the national care service, and I look forward to Labour's support in that endeavour. I do not think that the minister really understands the depth of the problem in social care. I have reports of people stuck in hospital endlessly because there are no care home packages. I have mis-physics because there are no care at home staff. I also have people not getting the end-of-life care that they are desperately needing. They are dying before they get that care. Why has the minister allowed that to get so bad? I understand why Willie Rennie rightly asked the question—I find the question that he asks in an extraordinarily patronising manner—because there is not a single person in this front bench that does not understand the depth. He does not know any of our personal circumstances, but many of us are dealing with those issues personally. I do not want him to think that there is no urgency from the Government. That is why we have recruited into social care. That is why we continue to speak with, meet with and offer support to health and social care partnerships up and down the country. That is why, of course, we are bringing forward the national care service, so that we can have that consistency of standard and accountability to ministers, where that does not exist in the same way that it is currently under the structures. I know that his party opposes that, but I would be keen, even though he opposes that, to have a discussion with Willie Rennie about the importance of the national care service. However, he should be left in no doubt about the seriousness of the issue and how seriously we take it. That is why I will continue to invest in social care. Of course, if he wants to have a detailed discussion about that, my door is open to him. The cost of living crisis, including the increasing cost of fuel, will be worrying our vital health and social care staff. I was recently contacted by a constituent highlighting the impact that this could have on NHS community nurses and district nurses. I ask the cabinet secretary if there are any plans to increase business mileage payments for NHS employees to ensure that they reflect the rise in cost of fuel. All I can say at this stage is that it is under consideration. It was an issue that was raised by the RCN today this morning from a very powerful contribution from the hospital at home team at NHS Lothian. It is an issue that is under consideration. Question 2, Liam McArthur. I ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the provision of community first responders in island communities. Community first responders are dedicated and valuable assets to the island communities. They serve and let me thank them for all that they have done throughout the pandemic, but even pre-pandemic as well. They are highly valued by both the Scottish Ambulance Service and indeed by this Government. The Scottish Ambulance Service is primarily responsible for supporting the provision of community first responders. The Scottish Government also provides funding to support the British Association for immediate care Scotland that provides high-quality pre-hospital emergency care training to health professionals in Scotland. That training is for rural clinicians such as GPs and AAMPs, advanced nurse practitioners, in order to support first responders in providing care to patients until the emergency services arrive. Can I thank the cabinet secretary and agree with his comments in relation to the vital role that community first responders play in Orkney and I pay tribute to the work that they do in keeping their communities safe? At present, some responders are considering leaving the service, whether they are frustrated at inconsistencies in the way that responders on different islands are treated or concerned at unsustainable burdens being placed upon them. That could obviously have serious consequences for the island communities concerned. Will the cabinet secretary ensure that NHS Orkney and Scottish Ambulance Service are supported, including financially, to develop models that work in aniline context and provide greater consistency of support for community responders? Again, that is an exceptionally important issue that has been raised by Liam McArthur. I am aware that there are different local arrangements across the islands, which mean that some responders are paid on-call sessions and for call-outs by the Scottish Ambulance Service, while others operate on an entirely voluntary basis. I understand that the member has had discussions with the Scottish Ambulance Service on the issue just earlier this week. The Scottish Ambulance Service has assured me that it is committed to working with NHS Orkney and the local community to find a suitable resolution around the issue, and I have asked to be kept updated on the progress of that. I am sure that the cabinet secretary joins me in wanting to have defibrillators across our communities. Will the cabinet secretary be able to make money available for amateur sports clubs across the country to have defibrillators installed? Will he make funds also available to roll out the registration of the current defibrillators on the circuit programme by the British Heart Foundation? I know that Dr Colhaney has a real interest in sport. He perhaps is a doctor for a football club. I know that he was in the past life, so I know that this is an issue that is close to his heart, and I will absolutely look at what more funding and what more support we can provide. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce neurodevelopmental assessment waiting times in Lanarkshire. The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the national neurodevelopmental specification principles and standards of care for children and young people published in September of 2021, which specifies service standards that all children's services should follow to ensure that access to support is effective and consistent across Scotland. The Scottish Government has also commissioned directors of eHealth working with others, including Public Health Scotland, to work to improve digital infrastructure applications and data to report on all standards within the national neurodevelopmental specification. In addition to those actions and to support that work, £3.06 million has been allocated to NHS boards in 2021-22 to build professional capacity within boards to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs. Ahead of receiving a neurodevelopmental assessment, it is common for children under five to be vetted by a community paediatrician. I have a constituent who has been told by NHS Lanarkshire that her son will have to wait 21 months to see a paediatrician. That does not include the delays on the NDS waiting list, which is currently two to three years. Can the minister say what progress the Scottish Government is making on its target, referenced by the minister, set last September, that children and young people should receive their assessments within four weeks of identification of need? Can he just confirm what specific funding has been allocated for catch-up in relation to the assessments? Thank you, Presiding Officer. It is very difficult for me to comment on an individual case, but if Mr Simpson gets in touch with me, we will have a look at all of that. I know that this will be a worrying time for that family involved and we will see what we can do if Mr Simpson gets in touch. In general, we are closely monitoring NHS boards with significant performance challenges, including NHS Lanarkshire, in supporting the continuous development of their detailed local improvement plans. The creation of those plans is further supported with direct enhanced support from subject matter experts and the sharing of best practice. NHS Lanarkshire has appointed two waiting list co-ordinators who are taking forward a validation exercise for CAMHS and neurodevelopmental work, which should be completed by the end of March. I will also ask them to look at the specifics of the situation that Mr Simpson has described. I welcome the work being done to tackle waiting times. Can the minister confirm whether the Scottish Government is working with stakeholders such as the NHS, local authorities and the third sector to maximise the support that is available to people waiting on a formal diagnosis that still requires some work and some sort of input in how we can improve that to ensure that individuals get the support that they need? Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Yes, is a brief answer through our children and young people's mental health and wellbeing joint delivery board. We continue to work with colleagues across the NHS, local authorities and those in the third sector to improve support for children and young people. In particular, we have recently provided additional funding to five local authority areas to take forward tests of change on the implementation of the neurodevelopment service specification. Question 4, Clare Baker. Thank you, Presiding Officer. There was an issue with the council. To ask the Scottish Government how it is targeting investment to improve services for people with problem alcohol use. Minister Marie Todd. We announced £100 million of additional investment to increase the availability of residential rehabilitation, which will benefit people with alcohol use disorders. We are exploring the evidence in our managed alcohol programs for people who experience homelessness by contributing to the running and evaluation of the Simon community, Scotland pilot in Glasgow, and last year we launched our framework towards a whole family approach. That sets out the principles of how we will improve holistic support for families affected by drugs and alcohol and using family inclusive practice. Clare Baker. Thank you. As the minister will know, the number of people who died directly because of alcohol use in 2020 increased by 17 per cent to 1,190. While I appreciate the long-awaited alcohol treatment guidance as the responsibility of the UK Government, when it is introduced in Scotland, will the Scottish Government commit to introducing standards similar to the MAT standards that have been introduced for problematic drug use, which would look to provide a framework for people with problem alcohol use to ensure that they get the support that they desperately need? Minister. Absolutely. We have been working with the UK Government and the other devolved Administrations on reviewing and updating clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment. The guidance will look to introduce new approaches to treatment and will apply to a broad range of settings, including primary care and hospital and justice settings. That will support the development of a clear consensus on good practice and help services to implement interventions for alcohol use disorders that are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Successful implementation of the guidelines for alcohol treatment in Scotland will set a platform for our work around introducing standards and targets. Let me assure the member that the Scottish Government is working hard to understand the commonality between the medication-assisted treatments for drug treatment that can be applied to alcohol treatment. Officials from both alcohol and drug policy are working closely together to explore the opportunities for alcohol treatment, ensuring that we are learning from the experience of embedding drug MAT standards. We know the benefits of keeping families together during treatment, not only aiding a person's recovery but also reducing harms on their children. Can the minister expand on the work of the Aberlawer project and on how that will support improved outcomes for women and children? The member is absolutely correct. A key recommendation set out by the drugs test and death task force and the residential rehabilitation development working group was to improve residential services for both women and children. With regard to drugs-related deaths, there has been a disproportionate increase among women. The need to act on those recommendations has never been greater. It was announced on 23 March that funding will be given to Aberlawer children charity to establish two new recovery units specifically aimed at helping women and their children through treatment. That project will provide Scotland's first dedicated mother and child residential care units and will allow women to receive recovery support whilst living with their children. Those new units will provide eight new residential rehabilitation placements for women in Scotland. The houses will be designed to enable children of women with problems. Substance used to stay with their mothers during their recovery. The service will integrate addiction services with mental health and homelessness services, as well as taking a person-centred approach to recovery. The project has the support of the Promise Scotland, which aims to give families the support that they need to stay together. It will help to ensure that many women can access residential treatment without fear of their children being removed from their care. To ask the Scottish Government what assurances it can provide regarding the support that is given to people who attend A&E between the hours of 5.30pm and 9.00am with suicidal intentions. Everyone in need of emergency mental health care must receive that support quickly and wherever possible close to home. NHS 24's mental health hub provides 24-7 support for anyone seeking mental health support, and health boards have made considerable progress in improving care for those seeking out-of-hours support through a roll-out of mental health assessment services, where there is a real threat to life. People can be directed to and receive prompt care in A&E departments. Each health board has arrangements in place to ensure that patients presenting at A&E in mental health crisis are properly assessed and cared for at any time of the day. In practice, that involves specialist mental health clinical staff working alongside A&E teams to ensure people who have suicidal intentions are assessed and that tailored care plans are put in place. Those care plans may include accessing support from crisis support organisations or local mental health services or where necessary admission to hospital. The distress brief intervention programme provides personalised, compassionate support to people who present to front-line services, including A&E departments in emotional distress, but who do not need emergency clinical services. DBI is available nationally via NHS 24 and provides practical support to help people to understand and manage their distress. There are between 15 and 20 people in the Falkirk area who repeatedly present to A&E accompanied by police officers due to suicide attempts. The police pass them into the care of the NHS and then too often the NHS discharges them at times when support services are closed, sometimes even in the middle of the night. Will the minister or perhaps even the cabinet secretary agree to meet with me and concern constituents to discuss those matters further in detail with a view to stopping A&E discharging vulnerable people at times when they cannot access the support that they need? We know that some people experiencing mental health and distress present A&E and a minority of people do so repeatedly, as Mr Kerr has described. Through the redesign of urgent care programme, the Government is working with partners to ensure that people do not have to attend A&E to receive the care that they need. However, when they do, improvements to our urgent care response will ensure that appointments can be scheduled so that clinicians are ready to receive them, providing care quickly and reducing waiting times for patients. I am keen to get the redesign of our urgent care programme absolutely right and I am happy to meet Mr Kerr. I can squeeze in question number eight if I could please have succinct questions and answers. Thank you. To ask the Scottish Government whether the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 recently reached the highest level since the pandemic began has impacted on its modelling and risk assessment regarding the ending of free testing for the general population from 30 April. Quick case rates are currently high in Scotland. We now recognise that we are in a different phase of the pandemic. Testing will still be required for other purposes that will play an on-going role in supporting patient treatment and care, protecting those at the highest risk in higher risk settings, and it will be a key part of surveillance. Our modelling is continually updated based on a range of data, including hospital occupancy and infection levels. I am also interested in any comments that the cabinet secretary may have in response to third sector organisations and professional bodies who have recently raised further concerns for those who represent either in the high-risk health group or working environment, and the impact of the end-taste symptomatic testing will have on their health and wellbeing, as well as their confidence and ability to carry out their professional duties. Yes, and obviously we have set out in our transition plan our continuous testing for those in high-risk settings. I would say to Stephanie Callaghan that I met a group of carers this morning who were speaking on their behalf and on behalf of those that they care for, and there is still a recognisable anxiety for those who were in the highest risk list. That is currently being reviewed by clinicians, as indicated by the CMO and is the latest letter to that group. Of course, the review is anticipated to conclude shortly, and I will make sure that Stephanie Callaghan is kept updated. Thank you. We will now move on to the next portfolio questions. I will allow a short pause to enable front-bench teams to move seats if they wish. The next portfolio is social justice, housing and local government. If a member wishes to request a supplementary question, they should press the request-to-speak button or indicate so in the chat function by entering the letter R during the relevant question. I call question number one, Willie Rennie. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported on-going shortage of social housing since 2007. I am very proud of our record of delivering over 108,000 affordable homes since 2007, with more than 75,000 of those for social rent. We are committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70 per cent will be available for social rent, and 10 per cent will be in our remote, rural and island communities. To support that aim, our total planned investment of £3.6 billion in this Parliament means that we can continue the important work that started in 2007 of ensuring that everyone in Scotland has a warm, safe and affordable place to live. The trouble is that SNP housing ministers have been saying exactly the same thing for the last 15 years, but in Fife there are 16,000 people on the Fife housing register waiting list. The minister wrote to me recently claiming that under the affordable housing supply programme there were 370 new houses built in Fife last year, but the current rate of progress will take another 43.5 years to clear the waiting list. Shouldn't the housing strategy be changed from housing 2040 to housing 2065? SNP housing ministers have been delivering affordable homes 108,000 since 2007 and another 110,000 by 2032. In Fife, since 2007, a total of 6,011 affordable homes have been delivered in the Fife council area, 4,485 of which were homes for social rent. Investment in Fife will be at a record level in this parliamentary period at £179.3 million. That will deliver a range of housing in a mix of affordable tenures. Investment in this year alone of £40.2 million will mean that an estimated 400 affordable homes will start on-site and a further 370 homes are expected to be completed, the vast majority of which will be for social rent. We will continue to get on with delivering affordable homes. Willie Rennie comes here and says, we need a housing strategy with a longer timeframe. How about Willie Rennie for once comes to this chamber with some positive suggestions and proposals? We are delivering affordable housing in Scotland at a level while exceeding anywhere else on these islands. That is something that I am plod of. As well as the ongoing shortage of social housing, there is a lack of democracy over rent increases in the social rented sector. Most social landlords conduct limited consultation of tenants, presenting them with no choice other than to accept a rent increase. The tenants union Living Rent is calling for statutory and binding rent consultations, which present a real choice to tenants, empowering them to reject rent increases if they wish to do so. Will the Scottish Government stand up for tenants by making this change? First, affordability of rent is a huge priority for this Government. That is why my colleague Patrick Harvie is taking forward the rental housing strategy out for consultation. The affordability of rents and rent controls is an important part of that. In terms of the social rented sector, the member should be aware that, of course, the regulator has a role here—the housing regulator—in terms of making sure that rent levels are not increasing at a scale that is unacceptable. Of course, we want to keep rent levels at an affordable level for tenants. Importantly, the member should recognise that the rental income from social housing for councils and housing associations is reinvested in further affordable housing stock. I hope that that is something that she would welcome. The cabinet secretary commented on how the measured lifting of Covid restrictions will support the construction sector to get back to a normal level of delivery and, by extension, support the delivery of affordable housing plans. I am sure that the member is aware, as others will be, that delivery continues to be challenging due to the on-going impact of the current tending climate, which is being affected by global issues around materials and skilled labour supply, shortages and associated rising costs, as well as the impact of the pandemic still having an effect. We are working closely with our social and affordable housing delivery partners to ensure the delivery of warm, affordable homes. Recent completion figures show positive progress with a welcome 35 per cent increase in completed homes when compared to the previous year. However, it is a concern, and we are working with local partners to try to make sure that that affordable housing supply programme keeps the momentum that it needs to keep. To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to support local authorities in providing adapted housing. Local authorities are responsible for determining local housing needs and priorities, including for people who need adapted housing. However, we know that there are issues with how adaptations are accessed and delivered locally, and we are taking forward a programme of work to streamline and make the process easier for people. We are working to increase the supply of accessible and adapted homes. Wherever possible, all new affordable homes are designed to be flexible to meet people's needs as they change over time. We are also delivering a programme to retrofit homes in the social rented sector to make them more accessible. Indeed, in a previous answer from Kevin Stewart, I note the commitment of £20 million in extra funding for housing related to bringing people home and out of long-stay hospitals. Although funding has been committed, it seems that there are no real targets attached to a lot of that money, and given that organisations such as Enable Scotland, the MS Society and MND Scotland have highlighted and campaigned on the need for speed in adapted housing, will the cabinet secretary commit to at least a 10 per cent target for new social housing with properties that are fully accessible both internally and externally? I am certainly wanting to look at how we can make the improvements in delivering more accessible homes. Of course, the member will be aware of the housing for varying needs. Although it is a good standard, we are commencing work on a review of the housing for varying needs design guide. We would expect local partners to map out what the needs and those areas are, rather than setting a national arbitrary target. It is more important that local authorities identify what the needs are in their areas. There are now requirements for local authorities to report back in terms of the number of wheelchair-accessible housing. However, if there is more that we can do, I am happy to continue to talk to the member about that. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce the same proposals as the UK Government that will remove unsafe cladding from all medium or high-rise buildings. By adopting critical new British Standards Institute guidance called the PASS 9980, the UK Government has adopted the Scottish Government's approach, which combines building integrity and fire safety. Of course, that move is welcomed. Our single building assessment is the right solution for Scotland's unique tenure system and the need for a bespoke solution. We await news of course of the UK Government's proposed developer fund and how that will support the devolved Administrations. I will update members in due course on our further plans to help more home owners with assessment and to mitigate and remediate their properties against unsafe cladding. Building Standards Fire Safety review panel meeting in January published this week. Review panel recommended that the BS814 test should be retained. That recommendation contrasts with England and Wales, which have had a regulatory ban on the use of this test for high-rise domestic and institutional buildings for several years now. Support for a regulatory ban on BS814 was the most popular choice in the Scottish Government's recent consultation. With the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Scottish tenants organisation and many local councils are among those in favour. I would like to ask the cabinet secretary, will Scotland join England and Wales in properly banned combustible cladding and installation from high-rise buildings or not? We are taking forward the requirements and, of course, we have had a different set of building standards already in place. We are taking forward the necessary changes that will ensure that we deal with the building standards that are required and that we are taking those forward. I am happy to write to the member with the detail of that. However, that is just one element of addressing the issue. Building standards are critical. Scotland, as I said earlier, has some of the most rigorous building standards in the UK. I hope that the member will appreciate that. However, going forward, we need to make sure that the issues that are being addressed are not just about building standards but are addressing issues around insurance, about mortgage availability, all of which are, of course, a reserved matter sitting with the UK Government. What I would like to see is more of a partnership working around all those issues, but it is incredibly difficult when the UK Government seems to fail to understand the issues of property law and property rights here in Scotland. That is getting in the way, not just of resolution here in Scotland but Wales as well. Getting the UK Government to listen to that is very difficult, but if the members can assist with that, that would be very welcome. The cabinet secretary details what fire safety actions the Scottish Government has taken to enhance the safety of buildings based on the work of the ministerial working group on building fire safety. As I said in my previous answer, in October 2019, we took strong steps to ensure that building safety by strengthening guidance relating to the use of combustible cladding means of escape and measures to assist the fire service. We took those strong steps back then. From February, all homeowners and social housing tenants have been required to have interlinked alarms under legislation that was brought forward after the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017. Private rented and new-build homes must already meet those standards, but from February they have applied to every home in Scotland, regardless of age or tenure. We will continue our work focusing on building safety by bringing forward further legislation and updated guidance relating to cladding shortly. In the same way that I offered to write to Megan Gallacher with some further details of that, I am happy to write to Willie Coffey with the same. The Government takes this opportunity following news this week of allegations of lobbying towards the Scottish Government to confirm that it will not be swayed by vested interests and will indeed follow the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and ban combustible cladding on high-rise buildings. As I have just said, we are going to continue our work focusing on building safety by bringing forward further legislation and updated guidance relating to cladding shortly. I am happy to also include Martin Wickfield in that correspondence to provide more detail on that. At the end of the day, what is important about the action that the Government takes is based on the expert advice that we receive, and that is important, not least when you are dealing with quite technical issues such as building standards. That is the process that I will continue to follow, but I am happy to write to the three members who have asked during this session about further legislation and updated guidance, if that would be helpful. We are working tirelessly with our local government and third sector partners to end homelessness and rough sleeping and ensure that everyone has a safe, warm and affordable place to call home. Our ending homelessness together action plan, backed by funding of £100 million between 2018 and 26, outlines our objectives and we publish an annual report to show the progress made. To end homelessness, we must prevent it from happening in the first place, which is why we are currently consulting on plans for new legal duties on public bodies and landlords to prevent homelessness and to ask and act about somebody's housing situation. I am very grateful for that reply. Homelessness in Scotland has long been a national scandal, but, shamefully, 245 veterans were sleeping rough or in temporary accommodation last year alone. Many suffered from PTSD as a result of their experiences whilst in the line of duty, which makes adjusting back to civilian life all the more challenging. Those are people who have risked their lives in the service of this country, and now, when they are in need of our support, they are quite literally being left out in the cold. When the Government released its ending homelessness annual report last year, it made no mention of homeless veterans at all. What is being done to offer mental health, housing and employment support to our veterans so that this terrible pattern is ended once and for all? I absolutely recognise the particular needs that veterans might have. Obviously, the Government, for some time, has had a strategy and plan for veterans that looks at all the particular needs that veterans may have, housing being one. The fact that we have recognised through our housing first model that people will have specific needs and multiple and complex needs and that housing first recognises that it is not just about giving someone a front door key, it is about the wraparound services that they require. Housing first can be a good solution for veterans in many cases. The rapid rehousing plans that local authorities have been developing recognise the needs of those with complex needs, including veterans. That is something that I am happy to speak to my officials about in terms of making sure that we are doing everything that we can in terms of making sure that housing first can accommodate the needs of veterans in the fullest set. The cabinet secretary says that she is working tirelessly, yet the number of people who are homeless in the capital is increasing and Scottish ministers are holding back £9.3 million of emergency homeless support because of a bureaucratic anomaly. How does the cabinet secretary expect Edinburgh City Council to end homelessness by the end of this Parliament when they are being chronically underfunded by the Scottish Government? The technicality that Miles Briggs has raised in the chamber before is that Edinburgh Council has not chosen to delegate its homelessness services to Edinburgh City integration authority. Any funding provided to the integration authority cannot be used to tackle homelessness. Miles Briggs and other colleagues will come to the chamber and complain about us interfering in local matters when it suits, and then tell us that we have to intervene. This is a matter for Edinburgh Council to decide how it organises its homelessness services. Cabinet Secretary, please resume. You see far too much, so I'm sorry. Cabinet Secretary, please resume. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Tackling homelessness in the city of Edinburgh is a priority, and that's why we are funding Edinburgh City Council along with other local authorities to make sure that we take forward the work to address and reduce the use of temporary accommodation and also through the affordable housing programme to build new homes and acquire new homes. That is the work that we will continue to do. Of course, the majority of funding local authorities receive for tackling homelessness is provided through the annual local government finance settlement, but there needs to be a bit of consistency here from Miles Briggs. One of the issues that Edinburgh is taking forward is its plan to tackle short-term and holiday lets. It is relevant, Miles Briggs. It is relevant, because the Edinburgh City Council— Cabinet Secretary, please resume. Again, this is a conversation that is not through the chair. We are in the Parliament. Please act through the chair. Please resume, Cabinet Secretary. Thank you. Edinburgh City Council has been consulting on making the whole of Edinburgh a short-term let control area and to restrict the use of losing properties to the short-term let market. What do the Tories and Miles Briggs do? They voted against it. They voted against the measures. When the Government brings forward measures to address some of the homelessness issues within the city of Edinburgh, Miles Briggs votes against them. You cannot come here complaining about something when you vote against actions that will help to address the situation. That is hypocrisy. As a former front-line homelessness worker, it is welcome to hear the Cabinet Secretary outline how the Scottish Government is working to tackle homelessness, but does she share my frustration that actions taken by the UK Government, in particular the deeply damaging £20 per week cut to universal credit, risks undermining our efforts? Yes, I do. It is another example of the Tories doing something on the one hand that undermines those who are on the lowest incomes. The removal of the £20 universal credit uplift has had a number of impacts. I absolutely directly related to homelessness and making the lives of those who are struggling even more difficult. We have the Tory MSPs coming here complaining about something that their own Government is on the other hand making 10 times worse. Perhaps they should have a word with their Tory colleagues down south. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve audit procedures for local authorities. The audit of local authorities is delivered by Audit Scotland on behalf of the Accounts Commission operating independently of the Scottish Government. Improvements to audit procedures for local authorities would be a matter for Audit Scotland and the Accounts Commission to consider. The minister may be aware of not one, not two, but three major building and maintenance failures at Dundee City Council, which have resulted in local taxpayers footing a minimum bill of £11 million and rising. The SNP administration ignored repeated warnings that the Olympia Leisure Centre required urgent maintenance over a period of years. That eight-year-old building now looks set to be closed for over 18 months. Audit procedures have clearly failed. Will the minister back an urgent public inquiry into how the people of Dundee have been so badly failed by the SNP council administration? The member will be aware that councils are independent corporate bodies separate from the Scottish Government, and councils conduct internal scrutiny of their own activities through an audit or scrutiny committee, which examines the performance and management of risk within the council. The matter for Dundee City Council to review and address is my understanding that the scrutiny committee that has been looking at the matters that are raised has met in recent weeks. The committee is chaired and co-chaired by a number of councillors, as you would expect, including Opposition parties. The Olympic building that Mr Marra referenced is operated by an allio that has councillors on the board giving oversight from a cross-section of political parties, as you would expect. It is my understanding that the scrutiny board has the ability to interrogate and investigate in a broad manner with broad power. As I said, the matters that are raised are for Dundee City Council to review and address. However, if Mr Marra wants to engage in written correspondence, I would be happy to receive that and consider whether the council—particularly if the council—wanted to get in touch with the Scottish Government to seek support or assistance from the Scottish Government, we could consider that. Recently, a chief education officer in Aberdeenshire Council broke freedom of information and data protection laws by sending a threatening email to someone who was asking FOI questions about education. It appears that the officer has also broken the council's statutory responsibility as a chief education officer. Should breaches of this nature be investigated by Audit Scotland, and if not, who should investigate local authorities when those rules are broken? Is the Government aware of the questions that led to this serious breach? Minister. I do not think that it would be appropriate for me to comment on the individual case that was raised by the member in this forum. However, I am sure that he will be aware of the relevant bodies to take the matter up with him. Deputy Presiding Officer, to ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its discussions with the UK Government to ensure that refugees arriving in Scotland from Ukraine have access to the resources that they need. Minister Neil Gray. We have been working closely with the UK Government on the operation of their Homes for Ukraine scheme in Scotland's super sponsor offer to provide a safe place of refuge and sanctuary to displaced Ukrainians as part of this scheme, and it is now open. The people who come here from Ukraine have a right to work, access to social security and public funds, so they will be ensuring that people are aware of and get access to the wide range of services and support that they need. The complex needs and human rights of those fleeing atrocities in Ukraine are our number one priority. Welcome Packs in Ukrainian will provide information on accessing a range of support, and translators will be on hand to help and traumas experts on call. This morning, at the levelling up housing and communities committee in the House of Commons, Lord Harrington, the Minister for Refugees, said he had previously inadvertently given the wrong information on the £10,500 per person cariff that local authorities would receive to support refugees from Ukraine settling in our communities. He clarified that this funding would now only be available based on numbers of people coming through the Homes for Ukraine scheme and not anyone settling through the family scheme. Does the minister agree with me that this lack of parity for people fleeing this same war is just unacceptable? Yes, I do, and I thank Gillian Mackay for raising this very important and concerning development. I said before in my previous answer that we have been working closely and working well at both an official and ministerial level. It is therefore all the more disappointing that the first we heard of this development was when Lord Harrington articulated it to the commons committee this morning. That is clearly unacceptable in itself. This £10,500 per person tariff is for local authorities to provide support to families to rebuild their lives and fully integrate into communities. It is there to meet costs incurred by councils that will be there regardless of how they arrive. The Scottish Government is providing local authorities with funding over and above the UK Government tariff of £13 million, but the UK Government decision will clearly leave some local authorities disadvantaged because displaced people have arrived via the family route rather than the Homes for Ukraine or Super Sponsor route. Any areas currently where there are significant Ukrainian populations settled here will obviously have more people arriving via the family route and therefore will be disadvantaged. I totally agree that this potential lack of parity is unacceptable. I can assure Gillian Mackay that we will be pursuing this vigorously with the UK Government as I expect other areas across the UK to do likewise. The welcome hubs for Ukrainian refugees will be vital in getting the right information to people arriving in Scotland, but what can wider civic Scotland and the media do to ensure that dignity, respect and privacy are given to Ukrainian refugees to allow them the time to settle in Scotland? I thank Claire Arneson for raising this really important issue. It should go without saying that people arriving here who are escaping the trauma of war should be afforded the dignity and the privacy to be able to rebuild their lives here in Scotland. I hope that that can be respected by everyone across Scotland, the media and others included. We will absolutely do everything that we can with our local authority and third sector partners to ensure that we are giving the safeguard and the protection that people arriving here from Ukraine need. I think that there is genuine goodwill towards people arriving here from the people of Scotland, which has been heartening, but I think that Claire Arneson is right to make sure that we continue to reflect to ensure that they are given a warm Scottish welcome when they arrive. I can squeeze in questions 7 and 8 if I have succinct questions and answers. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to engage local authorities and programmes to tackle the gap between Scotland's most affluent and most deprived communities. The tackling child poverty delivery plan published last week sets out a range of bold and ambitious actions, many of which will be taken forward with our partners in local government. That includes taking the immediate steps to mitigate the UK Government benefit cap, which is a harmful policy that disproportionately impacts on our poorest. We will also work with councillors to deliver a new employment support offer for parents backed by an initial investment of up to £81 million in the next financial year and a transition fund to support parents into employment. Local government is a key partner and we will continue to engage with them as part of our national mission to tackle child poverty. I thank the minister for that answer and I draw her colleagues' attention to my register of interests as anesloeddian councillor. As we seek to close the gap between Scotland's richest and poorest communities following 15 years of SNP in action, will the minister now welcome the next wave of levelling up funding, which will deliver millions of pounds to local authorities and communities across Scotland? Does she agree that this will create new jobs, boost training, grow productivity and deliver tremendous economic benefit to Scotland's local authorities? Following the announcement that eight projects in Scotland have already received a share of more than £170 million, will she set aside her pediconstitutional arguments and support this second wave? Can I say to Mr Hoy that we welcome any money, if it is actual real new money, wherever it comes from? Can I say to Craig Hoy that it would not have been better if his chancellor had perhaps when he stood up to announce in the spring statement, had given some real support to some of our deprived communities by supporting people on benefits and those in low-income households. What a contrast between what he announced and what we were able to announce last week in the child poverty delivery plan. There could not be a greater contrast. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that building standards on construction of new housing developments maximise energy efficiency and opportunities for renewable energy generation. Our most recent review of the building regs concludes next month with regulations being implemented this October. It will include a significant uplift in fabric standards, reducing heating demand, supporting the effective use of renewable technologies, and there will also be future proof heating in new homes against the proposed 2024 new-build heat standard. We will work with industry. We are already working with industry both to support delivery of those changes and investigate further improvement. I thank the minister for that answer, but the minister will be aware that there is a significant cost implication to constructing energy efficiency as well as energy generating homes. As I heard in the net zero energy and transport committee yesterday, there is already a shortage of tradesmen and women to deal with the current demand in housing. I can ask the minister how the Government proposes that the new energy generating and efficient housing will be funded and where the funding for training and upscaling of the construction workforce that is required will come from. As part of the answer is the public investment of at least £1.8 billion during the course of this Parliament to support accelerated deployment of heat and energy efficiency measures, as well as support to the Scottish Government's affordable housing supply programme, working with the social housing sector. However, we also recognise that this challenge will go beyond what the public sector can meet, so we have the GreenHeat Binance Task Force already meeting to explore the widest possible range of solutions to meet the considerable investment that we need over the coming decades to achieve this urgent and necessary challenge. That concludes the portfolio questions, and there will be a short pause before we move on to the next item of business.