 The next item of business is portfolio questions on social justice, housing and local government. If a member wishes to request a supplementary question, they should probably request a speak button during the relevant question or enter the letter R in the chat function as ever. I'd make a plea for the same questions and answers to allow me to get in as many members as possible. I call question number one, Jeremy Balfour. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any benefits of paying the winter heating payment in November, rather than February. Minister Ben Macpherson. As I made clear to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee on 15 December and again alluded to this morning, some responses to our consultation suggested winter heating payments should be made earlier. I was open to reviewing bringing forward payments in future years. For the first year of the payment, which is being paid today and in the days and weeks ahead, it was not possible to make payments earlier, since DWP were unable to provide the data required prior to 31 January. As a reminder to Parliament, we will ensure through this payment, 400,000 low-income people are given a guaranteed £50 to help with their heating costs, no matter where they live or whatever the weather is. Jeremy Balfour. I thank the minister for his answer, but this year the winter heating payment has missed the mark. It has come far too late after the worst of the weather's past and has missed a number of people including many on disability benefits. In this review, will he look at bringing the timetable forward and will he also look at expanding it to be paid to all those on adult disability benefits, whatever level they are on? I disagree with Mr Balfour's questions, because winter heating payment is on average a huge expansion in support. On average, in the past seven years, only around 185,000 people received the UK equivalent in Scotland before it was replaced with winter heating payment, which was cold weather payments. Today, through our benefit, 400,000 people are receiving support, guaranteed support, no matter where they live, and people who would not have got cold weather payment in all likelihood in most winters. They are guaranteed a reliable payment now from the Scottish Government. We will continue to look at how we can improve this benefit as we do with all our benefits, and we will do that in good faith. In terms of exploring the feasibility of moving payments forward in future years, I can confirm that engagement between the Scottish Government and DWP officials on that matter has already started. As the minister has just outlined, the winter heating payment will pay out around £20 million to 400,000 people. That is more than double the £8.3 million provided by the DWP to only 185,000 households in each of the last seven years. Given that no cold weather payments were triggered in Shetland, Orkney, Wick, Glasgow, Edinburgh or Fife last year, does the minister agree that the new system will ensure that more people receive reliable support, regardless of the weather, and that it is there for fader? The member highlights really important matters, because cold weather payments provide no guaranteed support, and there are years where no one will receive anything. Last year, for example, only 11,000 people received a payment, and in 2019-20, as few as 4,000 people received support. That is why we have made the changes that we have with winter heating payment to make sure that it is more reliable and not contingent on the location of weather stations, which also often do not reflect the conditions that people are experiencing. Our £20 million investment ensures that all the 400,000 low-income individuals that are entitled to the benefit will automatically receive a payment, regardless of the temperature or their location. I am really glad that those payments are going out to people today and in the days and weeks ahead. One thing that the minister has omitted to say is that nearly 100,000 people will lose money as a result of this, because the weather has already dropped below the temperatures at which it would have in order for them to get some more money. What is the minister going to do to ensure that those people's shortfall is caught? Can the minister guarantee that he will make sure that there is enough data transferred in enough time to make sure that the winter heating payments next year are paid in winter and not closer to spring, as is the case in this one? I am not sure what assessment is behind the statements that Pam Duncan Glancy has made around that figure of 100,000, because, as far as I am aware, unless I am not mistaken, the cold weather payments would have only been triggered once this winter to date, of course, only in certain places where certain weather stations record a zero temperature for seven consecutive working days. Of course, that one trigger would only have initiated a payment of £25 for those people in those places, whereas today and in the days and weeks ahead, people are receiving £50 from the Scottish Government, more people, more money on average and a better system. That is what we are delivering and we are very proud to be doing so. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what discussions it has had with COSLA about the delivery of local services over the next financial year. Minister Ben Macpherson. Ministers and officials regularly meet representatives from COSLA. Indeed, the cabinet secretary and I had a meeting with the COSLA presidential team yesterday. Ministers and officials regularly meet individual local authorities to discuss a range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government as two spheres of government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland. The impact of the settlement will depend on how local authorities allocate the total resources available to them, as was agreed in the budget earlier this week. The level of service that they provide over the next financial year. The Scottish Government recognises the crucial role that councils and their employees play in our communities across Scotland and the challenging financial circumstances that they face as the Scottish Government does. Tess White. Minister, COSLA cries of SOS save our services have been ignored by this SNP Government. That will have a massive bearing on the ability of north-east councils to properly fund even statutory public services. Now there are even question marks over the big noise project in Tory and the system equivalent in Dundee. Aberdeen and Dundee councils are struggling to find even the meager resources required to support these transformational music projects for disadvantaged young people. Will the minister commit to discussing with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy whether fair funding for councils can be enshrined into law to help protect services in future? In 2324, local authorities in the north-east of Scotland will receive over £1.7 billion to fund local services, which equates to an extra £124.7 million to support vital day-to-day services or an additional 7.4 per cent compared with 2223. I commend the member in her representation of our constituents for raising important points around important projects in her region. I encourage her on behalf of those organisations to continue engaging with local authorities that are within her region and finance ministers. The Scottish Government has, as the member knows, a largely fixed budget. We have used our taxation powers progressively, which of course the member's party opposes. We have made allocations to significant social security payments, including what I referred to in my last answer. What I think the Scottish Conservatives need to bring to this chamber, if they are serious about representing their constituents in the challenging financial circumstances that we face, is proposals and solutions about reallocation of resources. You cannot ask for more money without citing where that money will come from in a largely fixed financial envelope. We did not see suggestions in this budget process, which of course concluded earlier this week. I would encourage the Scottish Conservatives to raise their game in the financial year ahead. The Deputy First Minister announced the next £100 million in the budget on Tuesday to cover 2.5 per cent of the pay-a-warting on teaching staff. However, the cost of that 2.5 per cent is £155 million, so can I ask the minister when the Government is likely to announce additional funding to meet the Government's own commitments? I thank the member for his question and encourage further engagement with finance ministers, who of course are the principal ministers in regard to local government finance. As the member alluded to, we are increasing the resource available to local government by more than £793 million, which includes £570 million from the budget announcement in December. Plus, as Mr Griffin referred to, the additional £100 million for non-teaching pay in 2023-24 and £123 million towards the support towards the teachers pay negotiation announced at stage 3 of the budget bill announced by the Deputy First Minister yesterday. We have announced what I have referred to. We have concluded the budget process. Of course, there are on-going considerations around teachers pay, and ministers are very focused on finding solutions, working with our local government colleagues and helping to resolve those matters. Before I call the next member seeking to ask supplementary questions, I would say to the minister that we would need to have a bit shorter responses, because otherwise we won't get all those members in if they are seeking to ask questions. Does the minister share my appreciation for the work of SNP councillors on Glasgow City Council, who last week passed their budget, protecting vital services in the face of some of the most difficult times for Scottish public finances and living memory? Given that Labour councillor has not only failed to present an alternative budget but failed to turn up at all, what does he think of their actions say about their respect for democracy? I have perhaps added shorter questions as well. I won't refer deeply to what has been said, but I think that in these times it is important that all elected members act in a responsible way, which involves making sure that they are present for important decisions. To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the UK Government regarding support that can be provided for women living in Scotland who are fleeing domestic violence and have no recourse to public funds. Minister Christina McKelvie. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. The Scottish Government is working to protect all women who flee abuse. We are clear that women with no recourse to public funds should be offered the same level of support as other women in Scotland and not face this disadvantage. We continue to engage with the UK Government to ensure that all victims of domestic abuse are afforded the same protections and support, and our ending destitution together strategy urges the UK Government to immediately remove and cease to apply no recourse to public funds conditions to people in vulnerable circumstances, including women, experienced domestic abuse. Rona Mackay. I thank the minister for the answer. I am very heartened to hear that the Scottish Government will continue to press the UK Government for powers and powers over immigration. Can the minister confirm that when Scotland is independent, all women living in Scotland who are fleeing domestic abuse will have access to public funds? Minister. Yes, Presiding Officer. It is clear that we need our own immigration system to address Scotland's distinct demographic, labour market and economic challenges, and we have set out previously how devolution of migration powers would work. Everyone in our community should have the right to access support in times of need, including people in the UK asylum and immigration systems. We have written to the UK Government urging them to reverse the policy of restricting applications for indefinite leave to remain for survivors of domestic abuse or violence, and widen it to migrant survivors who are excluded from the concession simply because they are not in the UK on a spousal visa. It is not acceptable that people, including those fleeing domestic abuse, face destitution or be forced to remain in unsafe conditions because of their immigration status. Disproportionately, it is women who are left without recourse to public funds having fled an abuser, and we know that the complex and inhumane system is almost impossible to navigate without support from outside organisations and legal assistance. Recognising the work that the Scottish Women's Rights Centre conducts and what asks of the UK Government are being put forward to help secure support and funding to help women in this situation. I join Beatrice Wisharton in praising the work of the Scottish Women's Rights Centre. It does immense work and we are incredibly proud of the work that it does. However, Scottish ministers repeatedly and consistently have raised the issue of no-road recourse to public funds for the whole time that I have been in this Parliament, which is more than 15 years now. The impact on people living in Scotland without, with the UK Government, particularly the Home Office and the disgraceful actions against women is absolutely disgraceful. Anybody who comes to this chamber, particularly from the Conservative benches and asks me to do more for women in these situations, should really look at the system that creates those situations. I echo those sentiments by Beatrice Wisharton and reassure her that we take every and all opportunity to press the UK Government to change the disgraceful system that it currently operates. To ask the Scottish Government what impact the £50 million Ukraine longer-term resettlement fund has had on increasing long-term housing options for displaced people from Ukraine. When including the pilot in North Lanarkshire, a total of four projects providing 754 homes have so far been approved through the Ukraine longer-term resettlement fund. Those are supported by almost £13 million in Scottish Government grant. To date, over 400 homes have already been brought back into use and work is under way to deliver the remaining homes as quickly as possible. We are continuing to work with councils and registered social landlords on a pipeline of further applications to bring more homes back into use at a time when they are needed most. Having somewhere safe to live is an absolute necessity for every displaced person rebuilding their lives here in Scotland free from war, persecution and violence. Over the past weeks, we have seen horrific racist attacks on people seeking asylum living in hotels, whipped up by far-right agitators and hostile language in Westminster. Can the cabinet secretary update me on what the Scottish Government is doing to protect people seeking refuge from these far-right attacks? I share Matt Ruskell's concerns. The Scottish Government unequivocally condemns any form of hatred or prejudice and condemns hostile language as well. It is not acceptable that people who have fled war and persecution are being targeted in this way. Such attacks will not be tolerated and we must all play our part in challenging dangerous rhetoric that seeks to divide our communities. People seeking asylum should be treated with dignity and respect at all stages of the asylum process with suitable accommodation based in communities. The Home Office is responsible for asylum accommodation and must ensure that people are safe and can access the support and services that they need. Both the MS Ambition and MS Victoria are temporary homes to thousands of Ukrainian refugees. The list on these boats is soon to come to an end and those on the boat will need to be housed in suitable accommodation. Many individuals on these boats have formed communities and have begun to put down routes where they are docked. Can the cabinet secretary say what action is being taken to ensure the safe and suitable rehousing of every individual currently deciding on these boats? For his question, it is very important that the cruise ships, which have provided important accommodation on a temporary basis, are supported into settled accommodation, whether through hosts or with social, RSL or private accommodation, where that is appropriate. I know that my colleague Neil Gray is working hard with agencies to make that happen at pace and I will ask him to write to the member with an update. The Scottish Government and local authorities have exceeded their expectations with £200 million in this financial year to safely accommodate 23,000 displaced Ukrainians. It is clear that, to maintain the current level of support, the UK Government must commit to doing so, too. Will the Scottish Government continue to urge Westminster Council parts not to slash the tariff funding for local authorities so that Scottish councils can continue to meet the housing and public surface needs of displaced Ukrainians? The Scottish Government is proud to work in partnership with local authorities to support Ukrainian displaced people. The UK Government's decision to reduce tariff funding available to local authorities from £10,500 to £5,900 per arrival in the first year to replace year 2 funding with a UK-wide fund that could be as low as £1,500 per arrival and to discontinue the education tariff funding completely will make the task of supporting displaced Ukrainians that much harder, so we will continue to press the UK Government to increase, not decrease the support available to perform this vital long-term work. The Scottish Government values the diversity of the housing association sector in Scotland, which is one of its strengths. If a housing association decides that it is in the best interests of its tenants to transfer to another association, then that is, of course, a matter for the independent governing body to make. The association must also consult its tenants about its proposal to pursue a transfer to another registered social landlord and any transfer will not proceed unless it is supported by tenants in an independent ballot, so tenants therefore will have the final say. I recently met the management of the Reedvale housing association in my constituency, which she may have heard of and is one of the best known in Scotland for protecting that area when it was threatened with demolition some years ago. The problem is that I think they have had rents that were too low and they have not built up reserves for maintenance but they have little or no debt and there does seem to be no need for a transfer of engagements but they could be attractive to a larger organisation to strengthen their balance sheet. Can she confirm that the management and Scottish housing regulator should encourage tenants for the association to stand alone if that is financially sustainable? Ultimately, this is a matter for the Reedvale housing association to make a judgment in consultation with its tenants. The regulator has been engaging with Reedvale about some serious weaknesses in its compliance with regulatory requirements. John Mason identified some of those in his question. Reedvale carried out an independent review to consider how it can best address these weaknesses and deliver services for its tenants. It will consult with its tenants and if they are in favour of a transfer being taken forward to the next stage in a business case and a tenant ballot would follow. Of course, the regulator continues to seek assurance that its tenants' interests are protected and the point that I emphasise again is that it is the tenants who will have the final say. Being able to provide mid-market rent sustainably is crucial to meeting affordable housing targets. Can I ask the Scottish Government if it will commit to having mid-market rent provided by registered social landlords or the subsidiaries that are redesignated so that they come under social rent, not private rent regulations? There are good reasons why the position that it is in, and Miles Briggs will understand the criteria that is required in funding social housing and the criteria that is used for mid-market rent. I am keen to see an expansion of both. Of course, we will continue to look if there are things that we can do to encourage that and to make that easier. Of course, we have our commitment to the £3.5 billion being made available in this parliamentary term towards the delivery of more affordable and social homes. We want to grow that pot working with partners in local authorities and registered social landlords and others. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact on its on-going targets to tackle child poverty of any reduction in local government funding. There has been an increase in local government funding of £793 million compared to last year, providing nearly £13.5 billion in the 2023-24 local government settlement. The Scottish budget sets out the planned investments, including through local authorities, which are key to tackling child poverty. That includes almost £70 million to scale up parental employability support and around £1 billion in early learning and childcare provision. Spending decisions of the rest of their budget are devolved to local government, and we would encourage them to make some of the investments that local authorities are making to add to those initiatives to help tackle child poverty. We are struggling with serious increases in the cost of living, with a budget shortfall of nearly £14 million. How do you imagine councils like that, and many others, will be able to meet wider anti-poverty targets with that burden? Of course, the Scottish Government has made tackling the cost of living crisis a key priority. We are doing what we can within our powers. This last financial year we allocated around £3 billion to support families, including, of course, the major investment in the Scottish child payment. That is literally helping to keep food on the table of families with £25 per week per child for eligible families. We are also, of course, investing over £84 million in discretionary housing payments to provide direct financial support to people struggling with housing costs to mitigate UK Government welfare policies. Of course, that will include mitigating the benefit cap. We are doing what we can. Many of those initiatives are delivered through local government, but I do not think that it would be fair to say that this Government has not done absolutely everything within our power to help families at this difficult time. Does the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the rural housing fund? Since 2016, the £30 million demand-led rural and island housing fund has provided an additional delivery route for community organisations, development trusts, private landowners and developers. To September 2022, the fund delivered 164 homes and provided funding of £16.7 million. It supplements the considerable mainstream activity in rural and island areas, which has delivered almost 8,000 affordable homes between 2016-17 and 2021-22. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer, but whilst £25 million was promised to be spent on rural housing by 2021, less than half of that has actually been spent. What has been built or approved a mere 300 homes, and the north-east has only 12 of those, all of them in Angus. The Government promised 110,000 affordable homes across Scotland by 2032. Will that promise be met? If so, how many of those 110,000 will be in the north-east? Yes, we are committed to delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which 10 per cent will be in our remote, rural and island communities. Of course, we are making £3.5 billion available to this Parliament for affordable housing across Scotland. Of course, that builds on the delivery already of 115,000 affordable homes since 2007. We have a track record of delivering that scale of affordable housing. We will continue to deliver that scale of affordable housing. Of course, the rural and island housing fund is demand-led. We want to see more projects coming forward, and we are doing what we can to encourage that, including in the development of our new rural and island housing action plan, which will be published in the coming weeks. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the social justice secretary has had with the health secretary regarding any disproportionate impact on households' experience in poverty and any other social justice impacts of the reported lack of NHS dental care provision in some parts of Scotland. We are aware of the hardship that people are facing right now and continue to urge the UK Government to take action to support people through the cost of living crisis. This Government has allocated £3 billion to help households through a range of measures in regard to dental care. The Government has already introduced free dental care for young people between 18 and 25 years of age. We have also made a commitment to abolish all NHS dental charges in the lifetime of this Parliament. We continue to support health boards to deliver NHS dental services and have put in place additional recruitment and retention incentives in remote and rural areas. Those commitments count for nothing where there is no NHS dental provision. I am really worried about young people, particularly pregnant women, in parts of my constituency, who cannot access a dentist. The advice from the health board is to try to find a private dentist. Does the cabinet secretary agree that that is wrong and will she approach NHS Dumfries and Galloway and ask him to think again? I will get the health minister responsible to reply in some detail on the issue. However, I can say that there is a framework of support to encourage more dentists to remote and rural areas, including the whole of the Dumfries and Galloway board area. I understand that up to £37,500 in golden hello payments are being made available to trainee dentists who wish to start their career providing NHS dental services. That particular incentive has been instrumental in attracting vocational trainees to the board. I think that there are six vocational trainee placements, and I hope that there will be recruitment to at least the same number again later this year. Action is being taken. I also understand that unregistered patients will continue to be able to access emergency and urgent care via the public dental service clinics in Dumfries and Stranra. There is also being agreed by the board to recruit additional dental helpline staff due to the increase in call volumes to help to get the person to the right place.