 Hefyd, yr Sirwhellllai yn cael ei cyfle o wahanol chefriyll er σου yourselfiar этим rysSC comply Felly, nid digon a ddigonwch am yr ysgol codesllậyau yn ei arwe Class All that is encouraging to see a fall in the number of drug-related deaths for a second year. Bind of a statistic, of course, is a human being. Those numbers drive our commitment to prevent and end homelessness in Scotland. That is why we have established a ministerial oversight group on homelessness to bring together ministers to identify actions to prevent and end homelessness. We are committed to acting on the recommendations of the temporary accommodation task and finish group, including providing funding for councils and social landlords to bring empty homes back into use and increasing allocations to homeless households. In response to the Government's budget, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations described the 26 per cent cut in funding for house building as an absolute hammer blow for tackling homelessness. The Chatters Institute of Housing and Shelter both said that it's devastating. Homes for Scotland said that it's shocking. The Glasgow and Western Scotland Forum of Housing Associations said that the Government's target for house building is now dead in the water. They can't all be wrong, can the minister? Will he tell us what will the impact be of the utter madness in cutting £200 million from the house and budget? How many more families will be homeless as a result of that cut and how many more lives will be lost because of homelessness? I thank the member for his question. I think that the most important thing is where do we find the money from? We just heard in the last comment by Mr Gibson about the cut in capital budgets by 20 per cent. I look forward to Mr Smith bringing forward proposals in any Labour amendment to tackle that particular issue. We didn't want to be in this position about the reduction in the budget, but the key things that he mentioned about homelessness, the homelessness budgets, are being left intact. He had discussions with the likes of the local authorities that he mentioned, and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, Homes of Scotland and so on, on trying to maximise the opportunities around that. We will continue to work with them. We will continue to work, as I said, with other organisations about how we maximise the opportunities around about the £60 million funds that we announced earlier on this year around acquisitions and allocations. However, I look forward to the fact that, before Labour, we will find that additional funding coming from any Labour amendment that it brings to the budget. I put on record my thoughts the families and friends of people who have died whilst homeless, which relates to the question. Over the last decade, 2,175 people have been discharged from hospital with no fixed abode registered. That is coming down, and I welcome that fact from a high of 336 in 2017 to 58 next year. Can I ask the minister in the review of housing policy whether that will be a public duty so that no one should be discharged from hospital with no fixed abode? As we know the housing bill, it will be brought forward at the appropriate time. I think that one of the things that we talked about was the prevention duties. Obviously, it can go into the details around that. One of the reasons we brought together the homelessness ministerial group was to look at issues such as that. The minister, for example, responsible for that area, is part of that group. We will continue to look at it just now, but I can go into the details of what is going to be in the bill at a later stage. 2. Willie Coffey Thank you to ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact that the UK-Rwanda migration and economic development partnership may have on our new Scots integration strategy. We have, of course, opposed the UK Government's repugnant plans to relocate people to third countries since the memorandum of understanding with Rwanda was announced in April 2022. Legislation that breaks our moral and international obligations further damages the UK's international reputation. Scottish ministers continue to challenge the UK Government on this issue, but we are committed to working with our partners at COSLA and the Scottish Refugee Council to refresh the new Scots refugee strategy, partly to ensure that it helps to mitigate where it can the damaging actions of the UK Government. 2. Willie Coffey I thank the minister for that answer. The Rwanda bill passed by Tories at Westminster as an extremely dangerous piece of legislation. It is needless, it is dehumanising and it is legally unsound. What communication has the minister had with the UK Government counterparts to underline just how strongly the people of Scotland reject this appalling bill? Again, we have been clear and consistent in our strong opposition to this policy since it was announced and will continue to raise significant concerns with this cruel, ineffective and expensive policy with UK Government ministers and reiterate our opposition in light of the bill. UNHCR has stated that they do not consider the UK-Rwanda migration and economic development partnership to comply with the UK's international obligations. The UK Government must explain how it will ensure the welfare of extremely vulnerable people in any arrangement to transfer or relocate people seeking asylum and be transparent about how much that is costing. 3. Carlin Mawchen To ask the Scottish Government what work to tackle poverty, it is currently undertaking to support people who are in debt to public bodies. This year, the Scottish Government has allocated almost £3 billion to support policies to tackle poverty and protect people during the on-going cost of living crisis. We have now committed next year to bring forward a one-off £1.5 million emergency fund to support councils to help to remove the impact of school meal debt on families. We also protect the most financial vulnerable through the council tax reduction scheme, which supports more than £460,000 households across Scotland with an average saving of £800 per year. The Scottish ministers continue to encourage public bodies to share good practice and debt assistance and to collect and promote empathy and dignity for people who are struggling with debt. 4. Carlin Mawchen I thank the minister for that answer. Following a lengthy campaign from trade unions and third sector organisations, I want to mention and commend Aberlour for her campaign, which is welcome to see the Scottish Government commit to providing the funding that will see school meal debt cleared. However, that remains a very short-term fix. If the Scottish Government is truly committed to reducing debt owed to public bodies in the future and for the long term, will it increase the thresholds for free school meal eligibility, which Aberlour research suggests has barely risen in 20 years? That increases eligibility for free school meal provision, and it is a key ask, and it is a fair one. 5. Carlin Mawchen It raises in about the free school meals scheme that that is something that I think it would be considered in the future. In terms of support, it is already there, the Scottish child payment, the First Minister talked about that, about the support that is already there. In terms of the investment to support, I think that one of the key things is preventing people from getting into debt in the first place. In 23-24, we invested over £6.5 million to support free debt services in Scotland, and that is obviously part of the wider package, as I said, for income maximisation. During the week, I visited community help initiative in Edinburgh, and I wrote in the book the way we are doing, and the real emphasis is on accessible advice. I think that that is a really important part to trying to emphasise that as well. We are actually going out and meeting people where they are in schools and in childcare facilities as well, so I think that that is a really important point that I would like to emphasise as well. 5. Collette Stevenson Thank you, Presiding Officer. The budget decision to wipe school meals debt will be a great relief for the families of 30,000 children, demonstrating the targeted interventions needed to tackle poverty despite the limitations of devolution. Can the minister outline how the draft Scottish budget seeks to help low-income families to overcome the challenge of escalating bills and debt? The Westminster austerity continues to impact on our ability to help households. In setting the budget, we adopted a values-based approach focused on our three message, which includes tackling poverty. That includes committing £6.3 billion in social security benefits and payments, and that is an increase of over £1 billion compared to £23.24, and funding the £12 per hour real living wage for social care and early learning and childcare workers who deliver funded provision. Combining tax and social security changes, 58 per cent of households are better off under this system than in the rest of the UK, with the majority of those in the bottom half of income distribution. 4. Alasdair Allan To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the roll-out of its new carer support payment in the Western Isles and in other pilot areas. Cabinet Secretary. Carer support payment, which replaces carers allowance, successfully launched in pilot areas on 20 November. I thank colleagues in Dundee City, Perth and Cronos, and the Western Isles for making this possible. The benefit is a key milestone in improving support for unpaid carers, and will be available to carers in full-time education who cannot currently get the carers allowance. Figures published by Social Security Scotland this week show that we received 160 applications in the first four weeks, with 40 already authorised. The agency will publish official statistics, including a breakdown by local authority, in February. I thank the cabinet secretary for her reply. Can she see what strategies the Government will employ to maximise take-up of the new benefit in the Western Isles specifically? The member raises a very important point about benefit take-up, and that is exactly why Scotland, unlike the rest of the UK, has a benefit take-up strategy. The member will be well aware—I am sure that he has already had discussions and meetings with Social Security Scotland's local delivery network—again, a unique service in Scotland to ensure that agency staff are going out to work with the third sector and to work with people directly to be able to support them in their applications. That is a very important work that we can do locally, as well as the usual marketing campaigns that are on-going in local pilot areas. To ask the Scottish Government how many children in Aberdeen have received the Scottish child payment since its inception. Social Security Scotland routinely publishes information on Scottish child payment applications, payments and the number of children actively in receipt of the payment, while the latest statistics do not currently include information on the total number of children benefited from the Scottish child payment. They show that, as of 30 September 2023, 10,265 children residing in Aberdeen City were actively benefiting from the Scottish child payment. I also welcome the increase to the Scottish child payment announced in the budget. The Scottish child payment has been described as a game changer in the fight to eradicate child poverty. However, what is the Government doing to ensure that all those who are entitled to the payment in Aberdeen and across Scotland are receiving it? I referred to my previous answer to Dr Allan about the local delivery staff, which is an important aspect that is, of course, throughout the country on all benefits, including the Scottish child payment. We have, of course, undertaken proactively online and offline marketing campaigns, and those will continue to run in the future at various points. The information about benefits is something that we are also very keen to ensure. It is in the places where families are already accessing their services such as schools, GPs, surgeries, community centres and libraries. That is the important work that is being done, and that is why the take-up of the Scottish child payment will still more work to do as it is at a very high rate. To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans for the delivery of employment injury assistance includes support for firefighters diagnosed with cancer in light of reported calls for this welfare benefit to be made available to this workforce. We recognise that there are a range of views on the current industrial injury scheme and the prescribed diseases. This is a hugely complex scheme and a significant investment over time will be required to update eligibility and administration for social protecting the payments that disabled people rely on. As I set out to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee last month, we intend to consult on a range of issues relating to the delivery of employment injury assistance shortly. Jackie Baillie I thank the cabinet secretary for her response. Last week, the FBU's regional secretary told the daily record that she wants to see a statutory expert council established so that he and his colleagues have their seat at the table designing the new benefit independent from the Government. Their decon research shows large numbers of firefighters get cancer and that it is therefore an industrial disease. They want to have their voice heard, their place in the benefit and the cabinet secretary knows that she will have to deliver the benefit very soon. Will she back the FBU's call and back Mark Griffin's bill and give them their seat at the table? The Government made its position on Mark Griffin's bill clear. We do not think that it is sensible to have a discussion around an introduction on the Scottish Advisory Council without employment injury assistance being in place. It is but one part of a jigsaw. I very much hear what the FBU has said on this. We need to have them, other unions and other stakeholders at the table when we are designing a benefit. That is exactly what we have done with every other benefit that we have implemented already in Scotland. I would give my guarantee to them that regardless of whether the bill or not goes ahead, that is a matter for Parliament. I will absolutely ensure that they have a seat at the table and that their views are being taken account of as we design any benefit going forward. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is in the MS Society's reported call for PIP applications to end the so-called 20-metre rule and replace it with a 50-metre threshold. The Government has noted the calls to replace the 20-metre rule adults in Scotland in receipt of PIP are transferring to adult disability payment. Adult disability payment delivers an improved experience for disabled people in Scotland, considering a person's mobility needs more fairly and consistently. The independent review of adult disability payment will examine eligibility criteria, including the 20-metre rule. The Scottish Government will consider all recommendations arising from this review, including the case for any changes and their deliverability and affordability. The UK Government has not committed to a similar review for personal independence payment. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. The establishment of the independent review into ADP is welcome as a step to create a disability assistance benefit that fully meets the needs of disabled people in something that I know is welcomed and indeed campaigned for by the MS Society. Can the cabinet secretary confirm that the scope of the review into ADP will not be limited and that it will be free to make any recommendation that deems fit and necessary in order to achieve that aim? An important priority for the independent review will be engagement with disabled people and stakeholders, including the MS Society, and I encourage full engagement with that review. More detail on how to do that will be provided as the review progresses and following the appointment of a chair. The chair will be independent of Government, and it will therefore make recommendations as they see fit. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. There are high rates of incidents of MS in my constituency. Just walking one footstep over 20 metres during an assessment on one day can brutally stop someone's eligibility for social security payments. Constituents have told me that some days 20 metres might feel like climbing Everest and other days it might not be so tough. The so-called 20 metre rule as a measure is not fit for purpose to assess eligibility for PIP or ADP, so why is the Scottish Government still clinging to it even if it is only temporarily? Well, one of the important aspects that we have been clear about is that we have to ensure safe and secure transition of benefits from the DWP to Social Security Scotland. That means that major changes are exceptionally difficult to be made because we would in effect have a two-tier system of one rule applying for some and one rule applying for others that still remain on PIP before case transfer. Once safe and secure transition is complete, we will of course look to see whether further changes can be made, but I would stress to Beatrice Wishart that we will have to look at, yes, the experience of others and, yes, how we can improve things, but we also have to look at the affordability of those items as well. To ask the Scottish Government what discussion the housing minister has had with ministerial colleagues regarding any impact on the availability of housings through the private rented sector of its energy efficiency reforms. Scottish ministers of course meet regularly to discuss matters of mutual portfolio interest. There is a long-standing policy to introduce energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector, recognising that tenants have limited power to make changes themselves. Previous legislation was delayed due to Covid impacts and we are now proposing to introduce standards as part of a heat in buildings bill, with a target date five years from now and almost a decade since we first consulted on standards. We have commissioned further research on potential impacts on the housing market to ensure that future regulations work for all sectors. Alexander Stewart I thank the minister for that response. Landlords are now facing having to renovate their properties to reach a minimum energy efficiency standard by 2028. Letty agencies have warned that the proposals combined with the SNP green rent cap could result in landlords having to leave the private rented sector, thus creating a shortage of housing stock. Therefore minister, what analysis has the Scottish Government conducted on the impact of its reforms on the private rented sector? As I said in my first answer, we have commissioned further research. However, I would reinforce the fact that those proposals come as no surprise to anyone in the private rented sector. This has been policy for a long time now and the proposal not only allows that extra five years for compliance but also proposes an alternative means of meeting the standard by simply working through a standard checklist of applicable measures. That will make it flexible, easy and affordable and less disruptive to ensure those energy efficiency standards. The result of that will be that, unlike the UK, where similar proposals were scrapped by the Prime Minister recently, adding some £300 extra a year on to the energy bills of private rented sector tenants, something that Mr Stewart might think is acceptable, this Government does not. We will be saving money for those private rented sector tenants from their energy bills. That is something that I think should be a natural expectation when people rent their homes. The minister agreed that tackling fuel poverty has to be a central aim of the Scottish Government's new deal for tenants in the private rented sector, which is disproportionately and poorly insulated properties. The new deal for tenants consultation did set out our vision for a rented sector, which plays a part in ensuring that everybody's got access to a warm, safe, affordable and energy-efficient home. A report on the cost of living in October showed that some 46 per cent of households in the private rented sector will be in fuel poverty. That is double the rate of owner-occupied households in fuel poverty. We want the rented sector, whether that is social or private, to provide tenants with good quality homes that reduce their energy bills but also help to deliver net zero aims. That is what the regulations that we are currently consulting on will seek to achieve. Thank you very much minister. That concludes portfolio questions on social justice.