 Felly gfaith jag, dwi'n byw gofyn i'r ddannig ei ddutaill a i'w cynt achos fwy ag fwy rhai gysyllt y mae'r defnyddio un ddiwediad cyまず, y dyfi ariad ym yn cymal o Gifieddach. astiwch has-fazw绡 dros y cystrif dim ond moyser 5751 y Llywodraeth i fi'n unrhyweitim a ster offersiau hyn arolfav Abram Ian in Scotland, rai yn gyлоed wedi gilydd ar y cyr correctjedd a holleg yn maen, bwrw am y dyfi aroedd shells carwbar am gyddi, ac ei dda'i g investigating nid oes byddiol. I call on Mr Shoudrie to open the debate for around seven minutes, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to begin by thanking all those who signed this motion and all my colleagues present here to speak on this important issue today. As the Parliament will be aware, in December 2020 two years old, our ..on the experience of my constituents for whom the problem of dump and mould has become all too common. Sarah Martin and Andrew Stewart live with their four children in a council house in Edinburgh. Two of the children have asthma which has gotten worse and another has developed constant haking cough as a result of dump and mould. Ms Martin has told me she fears for her children because of their prolonged exposure to mould. She had to call an ambulance at one point due to her sons having severe chest pains. The ambulance report actually cited mould as an environmental factor at their property. Council repairs have previously been undertaken at the property but my constituents have reported that the work done was simply cosmetic. It only covered up the mould which came back just months later. Sarah and Andrew have now had to leave the flat after dealing with the dump and mould for ten years. Structurals appear to deal with the mould are still not finished. Another one of my constituents has been living in a mould infested house for 16 months. This placement was supposed to be temporary accommodation but she now has to live out of one bedroom with her 21 month old son. She has spoken of this serious effect that the situation has had on her mental health. She believes she cannot access the help she needs until her difficult living situation is resolved. She feels helpless and that nothing is being done to move her into permanent or safe accommodation. The negligent behaviour of private landlords is particularly to blame for this situation. Almost half of the private sector rented homes in Scotland failed the Scottish housing quality standards. The lack of regulation in the sector means that worse landlords get away with providing poor quality homes. People on the lowest incomes are then living here because they feel they have no other option. The experience of my constituents speaks for itself. I have heard from more constituents that have had to move out of their privately rented accommodation because of fears the effects of dump and mould would have on their very young child. This was after repeated attempts to get the letting agent to do more than cosmetic repair that simply covered up the mould instead of eradicating it. Letting agent and private landlords must ensure tenants are aware of the ways in which mould and dump occurs and how to prevent it. Many tenants around Scotland have no place to dry clothes outdoors. This only makes the problem worse. More information needs to be made available to tenants to make them aware of the cause of the mould and the ways in which to treat and prevent it. In addition landlords should not be renting out houses or flats that needs structural repairs to avoid mould forming. Ultimately housing providers should be held responsible for ensuring that the accommodation they provide is clean and safe for every resident or tenants that moves in there. The Scottish Government needs to do more to help them and hold them accountable when crucial repairs work is not being done properly. How many trips to the hospital, long-term illness or death caused by dump housing is it going to take for the Scottish Government to take this seriously? Too many of our citizens are living in dangerous accommodation and landlords are getting away with doing nothing about it. We as a Parliament have to do more. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Given the earlier start time for the resumption of businesses this afternoon, I would be grateful if colleagues could stick to their speaking time allocation, although I will certainly allow time back for interventions. We move to the open speeches. I call for Ben Macpherson to follow the way that Miles Briggs brings up to four minutes. First of all, I commend Fosal Traderay for his motion on bringing this important debate to the chamber. I speak in my capacity as a constituency MSP and the experiences of case work that I have also received. I think that it is interesting the number of Edinburgh and Lothian MSPs that are in attendance today and a motion from a Lothian MSP. Although I absolutely commend the incredible action from the Scottish Government since 2007 of delivering 118,000 affordable homes across the country, we have areas across the country. Particularly, I would argue here in Edinburgh where the standard of housing is not up to what we would want our constituents to be experiencing. Indeed, the City of Edinburgh Council has stated that Edinburgh has the lowest proportion of social rented homes in Scotland. That is an important fact to consider in this wider question. The problems that have been outlined in the motion and will be discussed in today's debate fall into two different areas of concern. One is with regard to the public provision of housing, social housing through RSLs or council houses and through mid-market rent. The clear argument that I would want to articulate on behalf of my constituents is that we need additional capital investment in Edinburgh to provide more affordable homes here in the capital. Two, we also need to work with the local authority to make sure that the quality of works undertaken are of the right standard. I know that colleagues will have had case work too where repairs have not been done to an adequate standard. I have indeed discussed this with the council and would be happy to engage with the Government and the council on how we address this matter more substantially. In the second area, the private sector, which Faisal Choudhury also made reference to. In terms of the private rented sector, there are two aspects of policy and consideration where these problems are emerging from. The first is the lack of enforcement of the housing standards that we have. That will become more pertinent even when 1 March 2024 comes around and the new standard is implemented. We have to get better and stronger at enforcing the standards that we have. I am not sure that we necessarily need new legislation. There is a new standard coming next year. What we need to do is to make sure that it is enforced and that private landlords are held to account for the quality of the dwellings that they are providing to people. The second area relates to a piece of work that I started back in 2016 and up until 2018. It was led on in this Parliament and has been taken on by other MSPs, particularly Graham Simpson. That is the area of tenement repair and maintenance. A great deal of work has gone in taking that work forward by that group of MSPs and stakeholders. I know that Patrick Carvie is leading on this area for the Government, but we have to do the hard work and implement the hard law of how we have a system that facilitates greater upkeep of properties. It is all very well building new properties and building them to a high standard, but we also need to make sure that we are repairing and maintaining the quality of the stock that we currently have. That involves systematic change but will also require political leadership. There is lots of work to do. We are all committed to making sure that we improve the situation. All that I would ask in the summing up is a commitment from the minister, who I welcome to his post, to meet with myself. Indeed, it would be worthwhile to meet all the MSPs for Edinburgh and the Lothians about the specific challenges that we have here in the capital. Mark Briggs, to be followed by Alex Cole-Hamilton. I thank my friend and Lothian MSP colleague Foisal Cedry for securing this debate today. It is a really important debate that we are having. I hope that the start, as Ben MacPherson has outlined, is an opportunity for Edinburgh and Lothian MSPs to push the Government on this issue. It is really important to our constituents. I welcome both ministers to their positions as well. We all know the negative impact that poor housing can have on people's health, individuals and family. The briefing from the RCGP for this debate today really made a number of important points with regards to the real direct impact that it has, not just in terms of housing but on our health service as well. The need to really look at this holistically across our public services because cold, damp homes do make people ill. GPs are often approached by patients and I have worked with GPs on this who have concerns about their housing and are trying to move out of these homes and are looking for supporting letters to be able to achieve that through a housing association or a private tenancy. As crisis briefing for today's debate states, Scotland has some of the oldest housing stock in Europe. One in five homes were built over a century ago, presenting a huge challenge to all of us to ensure that they are healthy, safe and energy efficient. However, we have to recognise that around 40,000 homes that people are living in today in Scotland fall below tolerable standards. That was a 2019 figure from the housing survey. Recent FOIs that I have done to local authorities have shown a number of incidents around reporting, mould and damp, especially during the pandemic, have not been addressed. FOIs have made some important points in his opening speech. I met all MSPs in Edinburgh, recently I met the Edinburgh Tenants Federation. The standard of repair that we are seeing is totally unacceptable, where people are reporting cases of mould and damp and that is just being painted over. Literally within hours they are seeing the re-emergence of that. I think that one of the key things, and I hope that the housing bill might present this and Ben Macpherson touched upon this, is how do we make sure that repairs take place, not a painting over, and that these are qualitative as well? That is something that I do not think that we see enough work around. I welcome the briefing from the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations that has made some very positive points with regard to the work that they have undertaken, along with the Scottish Housing Regulator, to try to make sure that standards are improving. They point specifically to a practical guide that they have developed with housing professionals to make sure that when people and housing associations are responding to incidents of mould and damp, there are specific standards put in place. I think that that is where the UK Government is maybe slightly ahead of us on that, because I do think that Michael Gove has taken a good lead on that, and there is a shared need for us to look at that, because Aweb's law will make sure that there are specific laws now and protocols around how damp is reported and mould and what time limits people should expect, not only in inspection, but for work to be taken place, or them to be removed. I think that that is really important that we also look at Scottish standards being developed around that case as soon as possible. I know that I have only got a few seconds left, Deputy Presiding Officer, but I put a written question down recently to the Scottish Government, which was responded to by Shona Robison, which said that the Scottish Government does not have any reporting system in place to track incidents of damp and mould in homes in Scotland. I think that that is something that we need to rectify. I hope that some in the minister will take away. I welcome the fact that he is reaching out to all parties and all spokespeople on this, and I look forward, hopefully, for us to take this issue forward, and hopefully, on government time, to have a more wider debate on this in the coming weeks. I am very grateful to Faisal Chowdhury, as others have said, for bringing this important debate. I also want to plug a housing summit that I am having in the Parliament. I know that some members have already signed up to this. This is particularly about the housing crisis in Edinburgh, and that is not just scarcity overcrowding, it is dilapidations as well. I look forward to seeing some of you there. I also start by acknowledging the unspeakable and tragic loss of Awab Ishaq, who was just two years old when he died. The appalling conditions in his family's home should never have to be endured, and his death must serve as a wake-up call, highlighting how deeply important it is to fix the state of housing in the United Kingdom. Home must be a place of safety and solace. It is a space where loved ones can gather, rather than joys of life and find peace. No matter the size or price where they are rented or owned, one's home should be comforting and presence in your life. That is all too often not the case. The right to adequate shelter is a fundamental human right and recognised both by our domestic and international law. However, the rapid deterioration of housing has threatened the right for thousands of families across Scotland. The latest Scottish housing conditions survey found that 40,000 homes in Scotland failed the tolerable standard threshold. That is 2 per cent of all dwellings in our country. Once characterised by warmth, safety, countless homes are now plunged into damp, dilapidation and mould. Any such home is a real risk to health, as we have heard many times in this debate. Those dire conditions have led to a material negative impact on the wellbeing of many of our constituents. Far too many of my own constituents, many living in areas of extreme deprivation, have contacted my office seeking assistance about the condition of their homes. I know I am not alone and we have heard some of that today. Constituents such as Bobby, whose flat has been covered in mould for months and has made her young children sick as a result. Or Karen, a woman with pre-existing respiratory problems who, because of the high levels of mould in her house, is struggling to breathe in her own home. Constituents such as Karen and Bobby tell me about the impacts that the mould has had, not just on their physical health but also on their mental health as well. They are wracked by anxiety about the safety of themselves and their loved ones inside their homes. I know that many of my parliamentary colleagues have had similar conversations with their own constituents. Cases such as that of Karen and Bobby are all too common. It is not acceptable, and it is incumbent on us here in this place. It is our duty as public servants to use every tool at our disposal to solve this crisis. As the tragic case of Awab Ishaq has painfully demonstrated, we cannot afford to wait. Firstly, the Government must recognise and rectify the hollowing out of the Scottish communities in slashing of council budgets. Those cuts have left local authorities without the ability to provide widespread, high-quality housing for their most vulnerable constituents. Addressing that must be a top priority for the new SNP green administration and would aid greatly in fixing the dire state of council-owned properties. My amendment to the cost of living and child poverty debate this Tuesday called for the Government to take on the Liberal Democrats plan for an emergency home insulation programme that would save more than £700 million for Scottish families in both social housing and private lands. Regrettably, it was voted down. Skyrocketing energy costs of this winter led to seven in 10 Scots reporting that they would heat their home less than they normally would, undoubtedly contributing further to mould and exacerbating this housing crisis. Finally, the SNP must commit to being honest with the country. I hope that the new housing minister will join a cross-party conversation that acknowledges the real shortcomings of the previous Government strategies. I am certain that he agrees with me when I say that concrete action needs to be taken urgently to address this pressing issue, then and only then can Scottish families live in safety and the solace they deserve. The unimaginable tragedy in 2020 was two years old and he died natively. His death was wholly preventable. He was a poor burden, poorly served by public service, and that should be chilling to all of us in this chamber. The UNCRC article 27 states that I have the right to a proper house, food and clothing. Proper house doesn't mean any house. It means a house that gives you security, safety and does not damage your health. I am heartened at the actions that the Scottish Government has taken in housing during the pandemic and amidst the cost of living crisis. Measures like the rent freeze at moratorium and evictions were bold, right-based policies, and those ideals protecting people's right to housing should be the benchmark of a future policy that we can build on that progress. My office has a vested interest in this, as our case load was high with serious concerns about the prevalent dismissive attitudes of many landlords, including social landlords, when it came to dampen mould. Our story should have set alarm bells ringing for landlords across the UK, but over the past year my office has received several reports of dampen moulds in local authority editing from constituents and sadly the blame game exists, excessive showering, drying clothes in the house, not ventilating the property. Those are typical excuses given in a response, and we have to push further action on that. As reflected in today's motion, the dismissive culture has led to tenants being forced to adopt potentially harmful daily practices. Many will feel compelled to turn on heating to counter-cold and damp. Many will feel conflicted because they are worried about rising bills. Some will feel pressure to open windows in case of ventilation, but Scottish winters are unforgiving. In some cases, eventually the council agreed to remedial work, but unfortunately that often means just covering over the damp, not tackling the problem of the damp within the structural building. I have been helping a constituent forced out of their home due to flooding caused by empty voids in our council. Council is North Lancer Council. It is a labour administration supported by the Tories in the areas. The failure to secure voids against the winter has caused immeasurable damage not just to the void properties but to the neighbouring properties and council tenants. I have one constituent who has been out of her home for five months awaiting remedial work caused by flooding because a void property was not protected from the winter. In this time she is paying rent for a property that she cannot live in, and this is an inequity that cannot be allowed to exist. I said it outside that the right to secure safe warm housing is not rhetoric, it is a fundamental human right, indeed a children's right. The abrogation of that right has become prevalent and landlords must be held to account when that right is being impinged upon them. I wholly reject the notion that this is a lofty idealistic want. With political will it is eminently achievable. I thank again Faisal Chowdy for raising the very sad case of Awab Ishaq and his family. Let's not his death be in vain when we are tackling this issue. I thank Faisal Chowdy for securing the debate and I hope that it will be instrumental in ensuring that the issue gets the priority it deserves. Other speakers have already spoken about the death of Awab Ishaq. It was a tragedy but sadly it's not a one-off. His parents fought bravely to have their housing issues recognised to protect their child. Sadly they also had to fight to have the cause of his death properly recorded and that took strength. If all deaths due to damp and mouldy homes were recorded appropriately I fear the numbers would be huge. We all have cases where families are coming to us complaining of damp in their homes and all too often they're told it is down to drying washing indoors and their concerns are not being taken seriously. Putting safety first, a briefing note on damp and mould for social housing practitioners says, responding to damp and mould primarily or initially as a lifestyle problem is inappropriate and ineffective. That was reflected as well by the housing ombudsman's report into the social landlord responsible for Awab Ishaq's death. It takes effort and persistence to have a different approach taken and to have these concerns taken seriously. Housing problems are going to get worse due to the cost of living in crisis. People can no longer afford to heat their homes adequately and damp is therefore much more likely. The highlands and islands have the highest rates of fuel poverty in the country because of the climate and because of the climate those houses need year round heating and they don't have the luxury of turning off their heating in the summer. Therefore the Scottish Government must revisit the winter heating payment. It's unacceptable that people who have to have their heating on year round receive the same amount as those who can switch theirs off in the summer. The Scottish Government must look at other schemes as well, such as the boiler replacement scheme and insulation. Currently, those do nothing for off-gas grid properties. They are designed for urban housing schemes and not draughty old croft houses. It's sad that the ignorance on the part of the Scottish Government is actively stopping intervention rather than putting it in place. There is no point in installing heat pumps into homes that do not have or are poorly insulated. The Scottish Government must start by retrofitting old homes to make them energy efficient and then look at the heating solutions. Of course we need to stop reliance on fossil fuels but the only way we do that is to provide workable alternatives and we must start with cutting the amount of fuel needed to heat a home. The Scottish Government is not doing that for the areas with the highest fuel poverty. Policy devised for rural areas works everywhere but policy designed for urban areas does not transfer easily into rural areas. We need to get out from behind their desks and look at the reality of the impact of those policies on rural Scotland. I urge them to do that because our young people should be able to grow up healthy and happy in warm homes. I thank Fousal Cowdery for bringing this motion forward for debate. In the 12 years that I have been an MSP representing Edinburgh Pentlands constituency, there is no doubt that housing has been the number one issue from my constituents and in particular damp housing. My staff and I have raised numerous cases with Edinburgh Council or with Link-PSL regarding the condition of some properties in my constituency, including the Westerhales area. Therefore, I welcomed the announcement in March 2021 that the council was piloting their new mixed-tenure improvement service to upgrade all the 1970s built flats in Westerhales. The £30 million improvement scheme to almost 1,300 homes across 167 blocks of flats is now well under way in the Murrayburn, Halesland and Drumbriden areas. Each block includes repair, a replacement of roofing, guttering, dry room facades, installation of external wall and attic insulation, as well as the maintenance and decoration of the communal stairwells and closets. Although most residents were pleased that the upgrade was happening, there was a large financial penalty for the 29 per cent of homes that were privately owned. Owner occupiers were initially being asked to contribute over £30,000, with which many found were simply unaffordable, with the only option available to them being to sell their homes back to the council. I was approached by several owners at the time. By working with council officials, we managed to identify that substantial untapped funding for owners was available through the Scottish Government's home energy efficiency programme grant scheme. We also highlighted to the council that, in comparison to other city councils, the loan period was too short and the interest rates were too high. The outcome was that the loan period was extended from 10 to 15 years and the interest rate was cut from 6 to 4 per cent. The result for my constituents was that their bills for improvement work dropped by at least 50 per cent. To date, phase 1 and 2.4 has been completed, covering 480 flats and 18 houses, and those streets now look vibrant and modern, with residents benefiting from warmer and more energy-efficient homes. The common areas between the blocks have yet to be upgraded, but my understanding is that council plans are underway to further enhance the area with new play areas, upgrade the landscaping and improve car parking. With the energy crisis of the last couple of years, it is important to measure how the energy-efficient measures are performing. Many residents have agreed to have tiny tags installed in their homes for moisture and temperature levels to be measured. It is important to track the energy efficiency of their new homes. Early indications of how energy-efficient the refurbished homes are encouraging with residents highlighting that their homes heat up quicker and stay warmer for longer. We do not need to have the heating on for as long or as often as it did prior to the works. In terms of financial savings, one tenant said that she did not switch her heating on at all last winter and believed that she has saved about 80 per cent on her heating bills. The homes in the completed phases are now reaching an average EPCB rating, which is equal to the new build standard and is higher than the current Scottish average rating of D. That is a hugely successful improvement programme, which I believe should be replicated in other areas of my constituency and rolled out across all social housing in Scotland. I welcome the minister to his post. If the minister has not yet seen the improvements that are underway in Western Bales, I invite him to visit my constituency to see what can be achieved to tackle the issue of cold and damp homes. I welcome the new housing minister to his post. Can I congratulate Faisal Chowdhry for leading this important debate and also for his relentless campaigning for justice and for highlighting the tragic death of Awab Ishaq? What a shameful indictment it is that nearly a quarter of a century since devolution, since housing was solely in the hands of this Parliament, is still necessary to table a motion on the scandal of damp housing in Scotland? Why is that? Is it because there are too many landlords in this Parliament and too few tenants? I think we do have a problem of the overrepresentation of landlordism. The register of members' interests is bulging with them. Is it because there are too few representatives in this Parliament who have first-hand experience of poverty and the decrepit slum housing below a tolerable standard, which invariably goes with it? Or is it because the Government of the last 15 years has simply had the wrong political priorities? Next year will mark the centenary of the 1924 John Wheatley housing act by common consent, the most important piece not just of legislation but of practical action, of practical socialism, of that first-ever Labour Government. Wheatley took the concept. He had developed as an ILP councillor in Glasgow, representing the slum dwellers of the city, working with people like Mary Barber and John McLean, whose centenary we also celebrate this year. Working as well with the tenants movement and the trade unions to invest the surpluses from the Glasgow corporation trams to clear out the slum landlords and to invest in decent council housing. He scaled that concept up nationally. In so doing, he unleashed the means for some of the finest council houses ever built, homes not hutches. That is the kind of national vision we need now, but it's also the kind of national urgency that we need now. I tell you this, the experience of Wheatley, of Mary Barber, of McLean and other pioneers was that bad housing led to bad health. Wheatley, as Minister for Health, had responsibility for housing too. Ngai Bevan, in 1945, was not just the Minister for Health but for housing too. They knew that we needed the clearance of slums in order to ensure the clearance of public health ills like tuberculosis. I call on all members of this Parliament to start giving a much higher priority to housing and much higher investment too. Let's have the imagination of a century ago. Finally, I don't want to overinflate the Minister's ego, but I have long held the view that the housing minister should be a dedicated minister of cabinet rank because there is a housing crisis, there is a public health crisis, there is a class-based crisis. We are indebted to Foysal Chowdry for tabling the motion, but we need to send out the message that Parliament does not bring about change, it is the people who bring about change. It was the people outside Parliament, the rent strikers in Glasgow who brought about the Rent Restrictions Act. It was the people outside Parliament who built the movement for change, which culminated in that housing act of 1924. It will be the people once again, the living rent campaigners, the tenants organisations, the trade unions who will build up pressure on this Parliament to use the powers that we have to build a better future and to banish damp housing finally to the history books. Paul MacLennan, to respond to the debate, Minister, up to seven minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer, can I first of all refer members to my register of interests? I'd like to thank Foysal Chowdry for bringing forward this motion into members for their thoughtful contributions and I'll touch on these later on. The death of Alwa Bishack in a housing association property in Rochdale in 2020 highlighted to everyone across the UK the issue of damp and mould in housing. Nobody should live in substandard accommodation and we've heard from various members today that housing, decent housing is a human right and nobody should lose their life due to the condition of their home. The Scottish Government does take this issue very seriously and personally it is one that I will take very seriously as well and I'll touch on some of the points that have been raised in regards to that. It's committed to tackling the disrepair and driving culture in which good maintenance is given a high priority. The condition of homes in Scotland has been improving due to the action of this Government but we need to quicken that. There is no doubt. We recognise that there is much to do to make sure that everyone has the same chance to live in a high quality home. First Minister, earlier this week, has been clear and said on how his Government's work will be defined by three distinct and interdependent missions. Those missions are centred on the principles of equality, opportunity and community and housing plays a key part in that. It's a vital role in delivering in all of these. All homes in Scotland must meet the terrible standard. We've talked around about 40,000, 40,000, 40,000, too many. Local authorities are required to have a strategy for ensuring all local homes. Those who do not meet the terrible standard are improved and have broad powers to assist homeowners to do that. There are also additional standards that must be met in the rented sector. In the social rented sector, the standard of homes has improved since we introduced requirements to meet the Scottish housing quality standard in 2012. The Scottish housing regulator is responsible for monitoring and reporting on social landlords' performance against the Scottish social housing charter. Social landlords are required to have a clear complaints process and when a tenant is dissatisfied with the response of their landlord, they are able to isolate this issue to the Scottish public services ombudsman. Given the severity of the issues identified in social housing in England, it was right to take urgent action here in Scotland. The Scottish housing regulator immediately wrote to all social landlords to ask them to consider the systems that they have in place for dealing with damp and mould and what work they have done since working with the Association of Local Authority chief housing officers, ALLATRO, the Charterton Institute of Housing and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, which has also mentioned and we've asked to produce updated guidance. I'm hoping to meet all those organisations in the near future and we'll raise this issue with them. I am pleased that the sector has taken action and is working together to tackle this issue. The case of prior landlords was mentioned and Faisal Chowdry mentioned that. They have to meet the repairing standards that was updated and strengthened in 2019. We talked about the additional standards that Mr McPherson talked about coming in force in 2024. What's key is that we need to monitor that and that's an important part in that regard and that's something that I've asked officials to look at. How do we monitor it on a much more regular basis? We can't be looking two or three years back in figures that are there. If a landlord has been notified of a problem and it has not been dealt with, then tenants have the right to refer the matter to the first-year tribunal housing property. You can require landlords to take action and I would encourage anyone in position to do so. But I do take on the point round about communication in terms of that, that tenants are aware of their rights to do that. That's something that I would take again asking officials to look at in that regard. To support landlords, private landlords meet the requirements for updated repairing standards. We have published new guidance last month, which sets out the action that private landlords must take when dealing with problems of damp and mould. Faisel Chowdrey and Claire Adamson correctly touched about the points that problems of damp and mould can be exacerbated with problems where people aren't able to heat their homes. Everybody needs accommodation that is safe, warm and affordable. Energy bills are still at our historical high levels and of course the UK Government will be supporting and withdrawing its energy bill support scheme. We know that many people are struggling to afford their fuel bills. First Minister touched earlier on today in the FMQs about tripling the full security fund from £10 million to £20 million now to £30 million. The fund is a critical plank in our support to people who are struggling with their energy costs. It continues to provide a lifeline to households who are at risk of self rationing or self-disconnecting to their energy use. As we progress to just transition at zero, we must ensure that we continue to tackle fuel poverty, working with advisory panels to meet our statutory fuel poverty targets. The Scottish Government has allocated £350 million to heat energy efficiency and fuel poverty measures this year, including £119 million targeted at fuel poor households. Rona Grant mentioned the point about the winter heating payment. That is something that I would be willing to discuss with her. How we monitor the new system that has come in place and how that supports the island communities. I will touch a little bit more on the points that you raised in that regard as well. The investment of £20 million in that is alongside a valuable contribution of supporting the child winter heating assistance and wider energy efficiency measures. To ensure that all homes are warmer, greener and more efficient, we have set our heat and building strategy, the target of all homes in Scotland reaching as good a level of energy especially by 2033. I take the point that Rona Grant mentioned. It is not a one-size-fits-all on how we work with the rural communities, and that is vital and vital and important. One of the key things that I am keen to do this summer is to go out and visit rural communities. I would be delighted to engage with you around the way suggestions to do that. I am particularly disgusted about housing, but also the issues that you have raised in this debate. I am so happy to engage. That is a key thing. In addition to playing a key role in meeting our climate targets and improving the energy efficiency of our homes, that will also help to ensure that energy costs in the future are affordable and provide considerable wider social, environmental and health benefits. I am committed to at least £1.8 billion of investment across the Parliament for the heat and energy efficient projects in that particular time. I want to touch very briefly on some of the points that I have raised before I conclude. Fousal Childhood mentioned the 40,000s far too many. Ben Macpherson talked to her about meeting with the Edinburgh MSPs. I would be delighted to do that. Alex Cole-Hamilton mentioned that as well. I think that I am talking about damp housing, but also the wider issues that I include in that. I would ask the officials to contact Mr Cole-Hamilton and I would be delighted to attend any summit that is there. You also mentioned her about enforcement, her about tenant and repair maintenance. I think that that is incredibly important. I am hoping to meet the Edinburgh Council very soon as well. Again, I will engage with you in terms of that. If there are any examples there. Minister, just a gentle reminder that remark should be through the chair rather than directly. Myles Briggs mentioned her about 10-year meeting and same standards in housing 2040. That is something that we will be looking to do in regards to that. That is included in part of the bill. I am happy to engage with Mr Briggs. We have a meeting already planned in regards to that. Alex Cole-Hamilton mentioned about the housing summit. I am happy to pick up with that as well. In terms of cross-party discussions in housing in general, I have already engaged with both the Labour Party, Conservative Party and Mr Rennie yesterday in regard to the Liberal Democrats' party looking at housing in terms of that. I think that the point that Clare Adamson made around about empty homes and voids is an incredibly important one. I already again touched on the point that Rhoda Grant made. Gordon MacDonald, I would be happy to accept Gordon's invitation to go and visit the scheme, read about that and it is a great scheme and I think that there is an opportunity to see how we can replicate that across Scotland. Richard Leonard, the usual passionate speech from yourself. I think that housing is a human right and that is the key thing. I am with deployment as a designated housing minister. I think that there is more of focus in terms of that and I am dedicated to push that. There is a human right and there is lots of issues in terms of that. Just to conclude, standards have improved in Scotland over the years and we have taken urgent action to support households' experience in high energy bills and poor living conditions, but there is much more to do. I have big ambitions, the Government has big ambitions and there is much more work to be done to achieve them. However, the tragic story of Ava Bishack will remind us all of why this is so important. Again, thanks to Faisal Troudry and the members for their contributions today. Thank you. Thank you very much. Minister, that concludes the debate and I suspend this meeting briefly until 2 o'clock.