 Y dderfynîr y Bwydettifeth yn ffodol 11737 yn iddyn nhw Jon Macalpine, ond y cyfrifos y presidig yw rhai fyddio'r cyfrifos fyddai'r cyfrifos am reoliol, a'r fyddechrau yn cael ei ddweud o fod wedi'i cwestiynau gwahanol ar ddiwedd. Isent y ddechreu'r cyfrifos y lynghor mwy o'n cyfrifos fel cwestiynau gyda'r cyfrifos yw y ddwell yn cyfrifos ddiwedd yn cyfrifos y fyddechrau ar y cwestiynau cyfrifos ar ddweud o'r cyfrifos cyfrifos y ddweud. The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. Those words by Maya Angelou are particularly appropriate for today's debate. Four walls in the roof make a house, but it's a home that many people with learning disabilities ache for. I'm grateful to the cross-party group on learning disability who asked for this motion and whose members shared some of their experiences and opinions on the subject. I also thank Enable Scotland for their briefing today. Last year, the Scottish Government commissioned the wide-ranging report on improving outcomes for people with learning disabilities, opportunities and challenges for housing. It was undertaken by the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability. The report offers very clear routes forward, and the purpose of today is to ensure that those routes are followed. First, let's talk about progress. Fewer people are now forced to live in hospitals or institutional care when they have no clinical need to be there. Fewer, but not all. There are examples of excellent practice stories of life transformed by having an appropriate home. The movement out of institutions into the community in the last 20 years is a mark of our society's progress towards equality and inclusivity. However, good practice, the report found, very significantly, between local authorities. Overall, the report found a lack of suitable homes for people with learning disabilities, and there is also a lack of clear guidance for people with learning disabilities looking for a home. Restrictions to housing and disability benefits by the UK Government is making things much worse. In some places, too many individuals still live in inappropriate residential care, and there were reports of local authorities suggesting that people currently living independently move into a care home for cost reasons, which I think that we can all agree is completely unacceptable. Last year, 698 households that were homeless or threatened with homelessness had learning disability recorded as a support need. The overall direction of travel, as I said, is positive. In 1998, only 600 people with a learning disability lived in supported accommodation. That figure rose to 4,622 in 2015, and more people again live in mainstream housing with support. However, 23,186 adults with a learning disability are known to local authorities across Scotland. Some do not require or want housing support, but others do, and we need a better understanding of need. One in three adults with a learning disability live with their parents or family carers, and if that is their choice, that is good. However, families understand the need to future plan for a time when parents can no longer care, and often the options they are offered if they are offered them at all are unsuitable. There is a wide spectrum of need among people with learning disabilities. Some individuals require 24-hour care, others far less, but most will require adapted accommodation. We know from the Government's groundbreaking keys to life research that people with a learning disability are more likely to suffer from physical and ill health, and the Port recommends that ground floor accommodation is offered. People first and organisation, led by those with learning disability, have told us that they often want to live close to their family and friends. Social isolation and bullying can be a serious problem for people with learning disabilities, but they are often offered accommodation by local authorities, whether it is a high crime rate, for example, leaving them vulnerable. James McNab of people first told the cross-party group that housing application forms are often too complicated, so support completing them should be offered. Mr McNab also said that people with learning disabilities and shared tendencies often had little say in who their flatmates were, and that lack of choice was also highlighted in the commission's report. The report found a growth in what is called a core and cluster model of supported housing, that is people living in their own homes around a hub of support, usually with some communal space. I know from personal experience that this model can be very successful. It provides independence while also tackling social isolation. Providing development remains small, with high-quality person-centred support packages. Any concerns that this model risks being institutional are, in my view, unfounded, but it should not be forced on tenants who are currently happy living in their own tenancy with support. The CLD report recommended starting a national conversation on how to achieve better housing outcomes for people with a learning disability, and I hope that this debate contributes to that conversation. The report also recommended ways to improve data, particularly at a local level, and that is a real big challenge that we need to address. It asked the Government to develop an implementation framework to prevent people with learning disabilities being accommodated in healthcare settings unnecessarily. It wants more specific guidance to ensure that local housing strategies more effectively address the needs of people with learning disability, and it also asks for greater consideration of the keys to life outcomes within strategic planning and commissioning processes. On a pleasingly practical level, it calls for joint protocols between local authorities and other registered social landlords, again to achieve positive housing outcomes for people with learning disabilities. Those recommendations come from a Government commission report as a great start, and so too is the housing minister's letter to the cross-party group in which he says that his officials are working to strengthen links between the housing sector and organisations representing people with learning disabilities, their families and carers. We must monitor that. I welcome Mr Stewart's instruction that councils' local housing strategies must set out their priorities and plans for meeting the needs of people with learning disability. The Scottish Government's guidance to councils on local housing strategies is under review, I understand, and that offers a tremendous opportunity to put the recommendations of the report into practice. Sometimes local authorities need very clear direction to ensure that the priorities that are set by the Government and endorsed by this Parliament are adhered to. I look forward to hearing more from the minister on those plans to ensure that people with learning disabilities no longer ache for a place to call home. We move to the open debate speeches of four minutes, please. Jeremy Balfour to be followed by Pauline MacNeill. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I thank Joe McAlpine for securing the debate on this important subject. Things have moved on pleasantly well here in Scotland since the 70s and 80s and even into the 90s, when too many people were still left in hospitals or institutions that were totally unsuitable and did not meet their needs of them or their family. I think that there is still, perhaps even within my mind-set and I was talking to some friends last night, that those with learning difficulties do still need either family to live with family or to live with care. I was interested to note that 65 per cent of those who have some form of learning difficulty actually do live alone in appropriate housing. I think that that is something that we can be proud of and something that gives people the choice that we have. In the short time that I have, can I just make a couple of points? I think that picking up from the previous speaker, I think that there is concern from those that I have spoken to that there are different practices within different local authorities across Scotland. After yesterday's debate, I am not for centralisation, but I do think that we must make sure that this is not postcode-led and that the service that we get in one local authority is the service that we get in another. I think that there is a role for the Scottish Government to at least encourage, to monitor and to push local authorities forward to make sure that the policies that we have in one part of Scotland have another. The second area, and I do not want to go back to where we were yesterday afternoon, but I would again push the minister in regard to having the appropriate housing built for those with disabilities. Those with learning difficulties will have adaptations that they will require in some circumstances that will be different from if you like mainstream housing. I think that it is often expensive, both for the local authority or housing association, to make those alterations at a later stage. I do think that we should... Kevin Stewart? I appreciate Mr Balfour giving way there, Presiding Officer. That is something that all of us can put across to local authorities. I have said that before in the chamber, and I will reiterate it here again, in terms of their needs and demands for housing. While I will not open up the can of worms that is subsidy as a whole, I have said, and I will make it quite clear again, that if councils talk to my officials on the ground, there will be additional subsidy for this kind of housing, for folk with learning disabilities, with physical disabilities, as long as they have those discussions with their officials. I hope that every member in the chamber will reiterate that to their local authorities when it comes to discussing those matters. Jeremy Balfour? I am very grateful for the minister, for the intervention, and those who are marched. I still think that, with the planning bill at the stage that it is, it is something that, at stage 2 and stage 3, we can perhaps look at as a Parliament. Very briefly, Presiding Officer, I think that, of what is great that many people who have a disability can live alone, there is a danger of loneliness. We cannot simply look at housing by itself without looking at other issues. Again, particularly for parts of my area, there are transport issues for people to be able to get around in parts of the Llofiain because of buses or lack of buses or where the housing is built. We have to make sure that those who have learned difficulties have the same opportunities that we take for granted in regard to leisure activities, in regard to job opportunities, and in regard to volunteering. I think that, as I said at the start, a lot of progress had been made in the last 20 years. I think that there is a way to go, but I do think—and I sense and I hope—that there is a cross-party support for this, and that this is not a political issue, as such, but something that we can work together on to help those in our society who maybe just need a little extra help. I thank Joan McAlpine for bringing a significant issue to the Parliamentary Chamber, and I apologise to her that I will not be able to see for the whole debate tonight, but I want to take part. A decent warm home, to suit your needs as a human right, to live the best quality of life that you can, is also a right. Society must and should give support to all those who need it. Scotland's 120,000 people with learning disabilities must have the type of support that they need to live in a home of their choice and to live the best quality of life that they can, as Joan McAlpine has said. According to Enable Scotland, most people who have a learning disability do not get any form of social care support. Indeed, as Jerry Mobile pointed out, it is a very long time since we first took the decision to shift from residential care to living in the community within a supported accommodation. I too remember Glasgow Lenox castle, where children were literally born in that institution and were now part of the community now. It is a very significant policy, and it is one that we must finish what we started. People living with learning difficulties are much more likely to live in social housing, 52 per cent could be 21 per cent, and they are much less likely to own their own homes. In 2017, 698 people were presented as homeless, recorded as having a learning disability. There is an upward trend in recent years in the proportion of homeless applicants assessed as having support needs. Indeed, attitudes to people with learning difficulties that I have told among social workers and landowners is something that needs to be improved upon. Long delays in any appropriate accommodation are just some of the key factors that we need to address in this debate. There are mixed views on whether housing for people with learning disabilities is continued to progress towards positive outcomes or whether progress is actually halted. Scottish Commission for Learning Disability and Housing reported in 2017 about some of the key barriers, including the current supply of housing and a lack of accessible accommodation. I do very much welcome what the minister said in response to Jeremy Balfour, but he also highlighted a lack of consistency in access to advice about housing options and major challenges towards the funding of housing support, which are impacting on the provider's ability to deliver effective person-centred support for people. The commission also recommended that the Scottish Government should develop an implementation framework to prevent people with learning disabilities being accommodated in healthcare settings unnecessarily and to ensure that people with learning disabilities receive the appropriate advice and support to make an informed choice of their housing. In just my last minute or so, I want to highlight two serious areas that require response. Professionals and local authorities are not always sufficiently aware of adaptations that people with sensory impairments and learning disabilities or autism spectrum disorders might require. One respondent said, I am told that I am not entitled to adaptations to enable to me to live in my own home. If only I were physically disabled, would I be entitled to that? There is an emphasis on online applications probably from mostly everything that we have discussed in this chamber. It is one of the areas that we need to be mindful of people with learning disabilities because it is much more difficult for them when they need someone to explain things to them or someone on hand to check or clarify aspects of the process. Advice, advocacy and guidance are very important, at least if not to sustain a housing tendency and, in many cases, prevent people from falling into areas that could lead to eviction. There is a lot of work to do in this parliamentary term to ensure that everyone has a sustainable home appropriate for their own needs. I welcome this debate this evening and I hope that, in this parliamentary term, we can achieve a lot more for the people with learning difficulties that need our support in the homes that they want to live in. Let me begin by congratulating Joan McAlpine on bringing the debate to the chamber. For what, from my perspective, was and is her impeccable timing. The motion before us dropped into my inbox while I was in the throes of dealing with a perplexing situation that is covered by its subject matter in my constituency. Indeed, if memory serves, I was just off the phone to my office manager, who had been frankly ranting to over the issue in question. Tonight, forgive me for seizing the opportunity to raise what is, from my point of view, a quite intolerable situation that has impacted a number of my constituents and their families in the southern part of Angus South. A report to the Angus IJB, back in May 2016 concerning learning disability accommodation, highlighted that there were no local facilities of this nature in either Cernusti or Monty Faith, and that Cernusti has the highest population of ageing carers for people with a learning disability and or autism. It identified demand for a minimum of four core supported housing units in Cernusti over the following two years to meet local and, indeed, wider need. However, here we are, two years on, and no progress has been made. That was the third of three accommodation-related priorities identified by the IJB. The first was addressed, the second is being addressed, but this one remains. The reason for that I'm advised is that there is currently no revenue funding source available to meet staffing costs for such a development, estimated at north of £450,000 a year. Until all this funding can be found either from the existing IJB budget or from Angus Council, who I think I'm right in saying has the duty to meet this need, no progress will be made with this priority. However, here's the rub. A few short months ago, Angus Council were granted an additional £1.565 million by the Scottish Government for the purposes of health and social care and to help to reach budgetary settlements with their health and social care partnership. They passed on just £510,000 of that, retaining the other £1 million plus. They were able to do that because, while it was agreed with councils what the monies totalling £66 million across Scotland were for, it was taken on trust that that's where those sums would go. In Angus, that did not happen and our local health and social care partnership has admitted to me, and I quote, had the social care partnership been able to agree a more generous, recurring budgetary settlement with Angus Council, then that would have assisted overall in its service delivery plan. Put simplistically, had that £1 million made its way to where it should have, then at very least the chances of delivering this housing provision would have been enhanced. Housing provision for people with learning disabilities in South Angus is an issue that I've been involved in for some time. A little over two years ago, I approached Angus Council, highlighting that the Scottish Government recently announced long-term financial planning assumptions around housing supply and seeking a commitment to deploy an element of that cash to meet the identified learning disability need with a purpose-built facility. Responding, the then chief executive revealed that a housing health and social care strategic planning group had been established and, through that, the council would identify which development opportunities should include an element of specialist provision. In acceptance, rather than adapting existing stock on a house-by-house basis, a bespoke unit of the tight south Angus parents of adults and learning disabilities had been campaigning for those on the cars, yet here we are in 2018 and nothing on the horizon. With Angus Council able, in the billed context to say, no can do, because there's insufficient funding available, the staff such a unit might contend because it failed to pass on monies given it by the Scottish Government for this kind of purpose. Is it any wonder, and I, as the constitution's MSP, are utterly exasperated by that situation? That exasperation is all the greater, because the Minister for Local Government and Housing announced recently that, over the next three years, Angus Council will and told to receive an excessive £25 million to support housing supply. The Scottish Government is passing over additional plots of money to the local authority to meet housing need across the county and to meet health and social care demand, yet an identified priority for housing and supporting adults while learning disabilities remains unmet. Let me pay tribute to SapAld for their campaigning work on the issue and their willingness to try and find solutions, because they have sought to move things on by sourcing funding to help meet staffing costs themselves. Across every potential funder, they have approached us to come back with the same answer. Sorry, we don't fund statutory services, and so we remain with its impasse. I question where that sits in terms of disability discrimination and the human rights of those concerned. What is beyond question is that this situation is wholly unacceptable, and I am deeply grateful to Joan McAlpine for providing an opportunity to highlight it in Parliament. Let me conclude by quoting from her motion, where it references the view that the Scottish Government, local authorities and relevant partners, should work together to ensure that every person across the county who has a learning disability can access the appropriate housing and support that is required to give that person the choice and control to live the life that he or she wants. The Scottish Government has provided the means to give my constituents and the South Angus locality that choice, and the minister has indicated that additional sums might be available. Those constituents and their families are asking why Angus council has then failed to meet their needs. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Let me also congratulate Joan McAlpine on securing time for this debate and indeed for the content of her speech. She and I are both co-members of the cross-party group on learning disability, and I know that they are very excited that the subject is being discussed. Can I also welcome the focus that has been brought to this issue by enabling Scotland and its report on where people live and the earlier report last year from the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability on improving outcomes for people with learning disabilities, specifically in housing? I think that it is undeniable that our surroundings, the community in which we live, our home environment is central to the quality of life that each and every one of us enjoys. The connection between our living conditions and the quality of life is even more vital, I think, for those with a disability and, of course, tonight, we focus on those with a learning disability, where clearly more needs to be done to improve provision. There are, of course, a number of misconceptions surrounding how people with learning disabilities live and the level of independence that they have. Many assume that if you have a learning disability, you are likely to live at home with your parents. No hope of a relationship, no hope of a job, no hope of a social life. However, what the SELD report tells us is that, in reality, 65 per cent of people with a learning disability do not live with a parent or carer, they live themselves, or they live with others with a learning disability, 52 per cent of them in social housing, 17 per cent in supported accommodation. In every area of our lives, whether it is what you wear in the morning, what you eat for breakfast, how you spend your spare time, we enjoy the autonomy of tailoring our choices to suit our wants and needs. Those with a learning disability must and deserve to have the same freedom of choice as anyone else. It is so important that the relevant bodies have the support, have the resources, yes, and the ability to offer a balance between providing first class sustainable social care, whilst offering central importance to the choice of accommodation to those who need it. We cannot have a return to the large hospitals, like Lenox Castle, or in appropriate placements in care homes without any clinical need for people to be there. I welcome that the Scottish consortium on learning disability report shows a significant reduction in cases of those in institutional care. Although I have to say that I do worry, as others have highlighted in the chamber today, that they find the results to have noticeable variations depending on the local authority is something that is particularly worrying. In some places, there appears to be more shared accommodation that is on a scale that is bordering on institutional, and we just do not need that. We know people's preferences for supported accommodation or core and cluster accommodation, or, in many cases, living in their own home with good social care support. I very much welcome the minister's comments about providing additional resources for building core and cluster and supported accommodation. I will make sure that my local government colleagues in Argyll and Bute understand that, because we are dealing just now with cases of young men who have been boarded out of the local authority area, for whom a return home would be good for them, good for their parents, and good for the council budget, I cannot conceive of a circumstance where you would reduce the budget to get such a positive result. I will take an intervention. I was discussing Argyll and Bute with Cornerstone when I met them in Aberdeen on Monday. I recognise what Jackie Baillie is saying about certain local authorities. She is absolutely right to highlight, as is Graham Day, how much is it costing at this moment to keep folks in unacceptable situations. Forget about all that, what is the human cost? I will do all that I possibly can to encourage Argyll and Bute and others to use the finances that are available to look at that carefully. I am conscious of time, but I take that as a very positive message from the minister, which he can be sure I will repeat ad nauseam to everybody in Argyll and Bute. I look forward to working with the minister to secure that additional funding to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities in my area. Presiding Officer, I think that there has been considerable cross-party consensus today on this whole issue. I hope that that encourages the Scottish Government, local authorities and relevant bodies to work together, because we can improve the standards and types of housing that are available and we need to do so for those with learning disability so that we can give them and they can have for themselves the quality of life that they truly deserve. Gillian Martin, to be followed by Graham Simpson. Presiding Officer, everyone should expect to have the opportunity to live independently if they wish and to have the same life chances as anyone else somewhere to call your own is fundamental to that. Last week, I spoke in the Government debate on the disability employment gap, which is existence. There is a huge negative impact on adults with learning disabilities as they strive to gain economic and social fulfilment and independence. This week, I am pleased to add more weight to that argument for social and economic independence by congratulating my colleague Joan McAlpine on securing this debate on a key component of that independence, the availability of and access to suitable and supported housing. As with many members, I will be referencing the great work of housing associations in the third sector in securing that independent living for people. I turn to an organisation that has also referenced the employment debate for the training and the work opportunities that they offer, but has also offered support at living and access to tenancies for adults with learning disabilities. That is inspiring and inspiring in my constituency. I will mention it first, because I always remember chatting to a young woman who was working in Aspire's soap making initiative at a little shop in Inverory, and she was telling me that she had just got the keys to a flat that she had moved into. One of the things that she mentioned is that she was very excited about her new home and her independence that was awaiting her, but of particular importance to her was the fact that she was still able to walk a wee bit up the road to visit her mum whenever she wanted. The importance that she placed on this reinforced an important point about the availability of affordable housing in rural areas. That point was also made very clearly in the report that was circulated by Enable Scotland. Independent living shouldn't mean having to move out of your community and away from your family and friendship support network, and local supported housing should be readily available in small towns too, like it is in Inverory with the art housing association, which also offers supported independent living there. Turning back to the link in the theme from the disability employment debate, I made the point then that for parents that I know with teenagers, with autism in particular, coming to the end of their school life, there's considerable worry about what their adult life will hold by way of employment. The stress of balancing the wishes of their maturing young adult to desire the same freedoms of their peers when it comes to living in their own space, and you also have to balance that with concerns with the support available to them, and it must be acute, because young adults with learning difficulties do want the same things as everyone else. They want privacy, they want love and sexual relationships, they want to do their own thing, so marrying the two areas of support and independence must be taken to account when the geography of the family support comes into account, and all the better of that housing comes with links to employment support programmes or befriended services, because I take the point that Jeremy Balfour made that loneliness could be a big factor and the big worry for parents as their young adults move in to support of accommodation. Of course, the Scottish Government is engaged in the biggest programme of building affordable housing in 50 years, with a plan for 50,000 affordable houses by the end of this Parliament. We know that there's a commitment for 35,000 of those to be available for social rent. I welcome the Minister for Local Government's commitment to work with the Scottish Commission for Learning Disabilities to ensure that everything has been done to increase the suitability of that new stock for those with learning disabilities. The housing sector voluntary grants want to mention that, provided by the Scottish Government, will assist the third sector in providing housing advice and advocacy that takes some of the worry out of the process of accessing suitable accommodation, both for the people who are moving into it and for perhaps parents of young adults that are trying to access that. At this point, I'm finding myself as my son prepares to leave home. It's not very easy. It must be even harder for a parent of a young adult who needs additional support to let them go and live an independent life, so that advocacy and advice is going to be invaluable. As the Government commits to closing the disability employment gap, we must work with Governments, third sector, housing associations, local authorities and learning disabled people themselves to close the gap in housing that allows independence with support and the life chances and opportunities that come with it, not just in urban environments but in smaller communities, too. Last of the open debate, contributions is from Graham Simpson. Thanks very much. I've got to start by saying how much I've enjoyed the contributions from all the other members, and I particularly thank Joan McAlpine for bringing this to the chamber. We started off with Jeremy Balfour, we've heard from Jackie Baillie, Gillian Martin and Pauline McNeill, who's not here at the moment, but I was particularly struck by the comments from Graham Day, who spoke with real passion, I thought, about the situation in his area. I'm often cynical about members' debates, but I think that Graham Day has shown what we can do with a member's debate. The fact that it's come from a cross-party group is very encouraging. I've also been cynical about them, but this one has been obviously doing some great work. Thanks again to Joan McAlpine, it's clear more does need to be done to support independent living for people with learning disabilities. Of course, housing for them is not unique. More needs to be done for people who are homeless, more needs to be done for people with a physical disability or the elderly. We certainly need greater choice in housing in this country. According to the survey from the Learning Disability Statistics Scotland from 2013, there were just over 26,000 adults with a learning disability who needed support and 16,000 children who were known to councils. The recent report on housing and disabled people from the Equality and Human Rights Commission made for some harrowing reading, 17 per cent of councils have a target, just 17 per cent, for funding to adapt housing for people who need it, and over half of councils said they found finding funding for adaptations a challenge. I have to say that I was heartened by the words of the minister earlier on that. The report called for the setting of targets for accessible housing. I know that the minister for good reasons is not in favour of that. I was also encouraged to hear that he has written to councils recently telling them to up their game, and they certainly need to step up to the plate. There is a shortage of suitable housing in Scotland across the board, and people with learning disabilities suffer disproportionately from that. If we look at what is needed to provide supported living schemes for people with learning disabilities, we can see why we need local authorities to improve. Supported living schemes include on-going assessment, hands-on, practical assistance, skills training and general advice and support. I have seen in my previous role as a councillor in South Lanarkshire, just what can be done if you work properly with the disabled. I was involved in setting up a group for people to use self-directed support. It is important that we empower people with any sort of disability, learning or physical. Just to close, I thank Joe McAlpine once again, and particularly every other member who has spoken in this debate, but particularly Graham Day. I now call Kevin Stewart to respond to the debate for around seven minutes. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I am very grateful to be given the opportunity to respond today on behalf of the Government, and I welcome the debate and the positive contributions from everybody who has spoken today. I would particularly like to thank Joe McAlpine for raising the important issue. I acknowledge our role as vice-conviner of the cross-party group on learning disabilities. I have to be honest, Presiding Officer, because it is one of those debates in which my speech will have changed dramatically from what it was originally going to be, and I make no apologies for that. However, I want to get a number of messages across, first of all. I want to get across the Scottish Government's clear commitment to improving the lives of people with learning disabilities, which is set out in our keys to life strategy and its four strategic outcomes—a healthier life, choice and control, active citizenship and independence. We understand the importance of housing and achieving those outcomes and the role that appropriate housing can play in realising our vision for people with learning disabilities. We all know that a house is more than bricks and mortar. It can be safe space, the place that anchors us to our community and gives us ourselves a sense of place, the place where we gather with friends and families, and people with learning disabilities have no less right of those things than any one of us here today. They have the right to participate as full and equal citizens. That is what we should be striving to achieve right across the country. We want all disabled people in Scotland to live life to the full and homes that meet their needs. A fairer Scotland for disabled people, which was launched in December 2016, set out a number of housing-related commitments that support that ambition. We have delivered supporting housing projects across the country for people with learning disabilities. As Gillian Martin rightly pointed out, they should be in rural areas as well as in urban areas. As Ms McAlpine is the south of Scotland MSP, I have listed a number of ones that have taken place in recent years in the south of Scotland. I think that those projects have benefited those communities greatly. However, there are many places where we are not yet getting it right, and Graham Day is right to highlight the difficulties that there have been in Angus. I would say to all local authorities that, in terms of the formulation of your strategic housing investment plans, when you are making the decisions about what is required in your area, when you are looking at housing needs and demand assessments, when you are following the guidance of the local housing strategy that we are about to refresh, go beyond that. Use a bit of common sense, use a bit of gumption, look at your own casework, look at your own housing lists, interrogate not only your waiting lists but those of the housing associations and other organisations that operate in your area. By using that gumption, by using that common sense, put together a package of housing that is required to meet the needs of folks with learning difficulties and with physical disabilities in your area. Quite frankly, I would imagine that some of the folks that Mr Day has talked about here today in their current situations are costing Angus Council more than it would to provide the right facilities for those folks. I think that every single council has a duty to look at all of that as they formulate plans. We know that, quite often, those fixes cost much more than getting on with a job of delivery. There really is no much excuse at this moment in time. The affordable housing programme has put £756 million in the hands of local authorities this year, £1.79 billion over the next three years. That has given them the comfort of knowing exactly what they have got in the bank over the peace. Some councils have not managed to spend their resource planning assumptions, so I will take in Mr Simpson. I thank Kevin Stewart for taking the intervention. I know that the minister does not want to set top-down targets for councils, but does he think that they should set their own? I definitely think that local authorities should look exactly what the needs and demands are in their area and meet those needs and demands. That is not rocket science at all. The thing about the affordable housing programme is that I have said that it is a programme for all of Scotland and for all of Scotland's people. In order to meet the ambitions of people with disabilities, whether they are learning disabilities or physical disabilities, we have to look and deliver for those folks. Mr Simpson mentioned the Equalities and Human Rights Commission and their report on housing for disabled people. It largely concentrated on folks with physical disabilities. I met them this morning, and I hope that we can move forward in dealing with some of the recommendations that they have made. I think that they have focused mainly on the physical, rather than learning disabilities. I take cognisance of other organisations that have been mentioned by Jackie Baillie, Joe McAlpine and others, such as enable and SCLD. They have a positive role to play in all of that. Beyond that, one of the things that I always like to do is to talk to people. I have always had the great pleasure of going to the Aberdeen Stronger to the Together Learning Disability group to hear in first hand the views of people there, which are often somewhat different from the views of folk who are advocating for them at points. That is a good thing to hear from folks directly, to hear about their ambitions, to hear what they want to see in terms of housing and other areas. Whether it is in housing or in other areas, we require continued effort not only from Government, not only from stakeholders, including those in the housing sector, but we need co-operation from those folks in local government. I have absolutely no problem in interrogating strategic housing investment plans and telling local authorities what they are doing well and where they are not. Every single one of us has the duty to point out where we think that local authorities are not meeting the expectations of our constituents. I return to the point about listening to folks with learning disabilities themselves. No one knows their needs, their concerns or their aspirations better than they do, so we all need to listen, including those folks who are maybe not doing quite so well in terms of delivery at this moment in time. That concludes the debate, and the meeting is closed.