 We start with question 1 from Claudia Beamish. To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Kara's Assistance is not included in its proposed amendments to the Social Security Scotland Bill. If I may, Ms Beamish will be referring to the operating amendment because of course Kara's allowance is in our proposed social security bill. Later this year, we will honour our commitment and implement our carers allowance supplement. That will provide extra money for carers up to the rate of job seekers allowance in recognition of the important role they play. That is increased substantially more than the rate of inflation. Under our proposed amendment on upgrading, ministers would have a statutory duty to annually review the rates of social security assistance to assess the impact of inflation. That will give ministers the flexibility to consider different effects on the different types of carers assistance that we will provide, such as carers allowance and the young carer grant. Claudia Beamish I thank the minister for that answer. Looking to the future, I would urge her to support the amendments that are laid by my colleague Mark Griffin to afford Scotland's 72,000 carers allowance response. That is the same protection from inflation, which is currently running at 3 per cent. The minister will recall that I have a strong interest in this issue as the co-convener of the cross-party group for carers. In August, in a question, she told me in answer that the combined weekly rate of carers allowance and carers supplement would be £73.10 in 2018-19 and 2019-20. Does the minister, however, accept that passing on the UK Government benefit freeze will see carers over £50 worse off in real terms in 2019-20, while the Government saves, by our calculations, £5 million? Claudia Beamish I recall Ms Beamish's long-standing interest and commitment to carers across Scotland. I should point out that the increase that we will implement as our very first delivery of social security benefits, once the bill has passed through this Parliament, received Parliament's approval and royal assent, will be that increased allowance, which is a 13 per cent increase on the current state of play for carers. I take the view that the right place to discuss and negotiate amendments on a draft bill is, in fact, in committee. I look forward to the stage 2 amendments procedure, which begins in the Social Security Committee tomorrow. Mark Griffin Minister, the law incomes tax reform group has written to the Social Security Committee with concerns about how the carers allowance supplement will interact with the tax regime across the whole of the UK. Can the minister say whether there have been any discussions in relation to the UK Government and the HMRC, so that anyone who receives the supplement will not have to pay any additional tax? I have not had the benefit of that letter, I do not know whether it wrote to me or others. We have a fiscal framework, which makes it very clear that, where an individual's income increases as a consequence of the Scottish Government's exercise of devolved benefits, that individual should not subsequently be penalised or lose that increase by its interaction with UK matters, be it benefit or, indeed, tax. In all of that, our officials are in constant discussion with DWP to ensure this. I am sure that a previous area on this matter, where we were talking about the abolition of the bedroom tax at source, which we will do and the potential impact that that might have with respect to the UK Government's benefit cap, a matter that I am pleased to say now that we have managed to resolve and some of which we will discuss when we look at the Social Security draft bill. I am happy to look again at that to be sure that we are in the right place on it, but I think that the fiscal framework is our starting point there and that framework that we negotiated is very clear about how individuals should not be adversely affected by UK Government decisions where they have had their situation improved by Scottish Government's decisions. 2. Gordon Lindhurst To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work of the homelessness and rough sleeping action group. Minister Kevin Stewart Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am pleased to say that the homelessness and rough sleeping action group, which was set up in October, has moved quickly to recommend actions to minimise rough sleeping this winter. Those recommendations have been implemented back to the total funding package of £328,000, including £262,000 from the Scottish Government. The swift action is increasing emergency accommodation and outreach provision for people at risk of sleeping rough and is providing crucial support and protection to people this winter. The action group is now examining longer-term actions to end rough sleeping for good and transform temporary accommodation with recommendations during the spring. Crucially, the action group is engaging with the wider sector and partners and learning from those with the direct personal experience of homelessness in taking this work forward. I am very grateful to the action group for their excellent work to date, including their commitment to working at pace and I look forward to receiving their further recommendations. Gordon Lindhurst I thank the minister for that answer. According to the recently released homelessness in Scotland by annual update, Edinburgh saw the largest increase in numbers of homeless households in temporary accommodation in Scotland last year. As at 30 September 2017, the 25 households in Edinburgh in unsuitable accommodation accounted for 74 per cent of the Scottish total and 11 breaches of the unsuitable accommodation order at 92 per cent of the Scottish figure. I have heard what the minister said, but can he explain why the Scottish Government has failed to deliver the 2011 SNP manifesto commitment to build over 6,000 new socially rented houses each year and what in particular is doing to reverse those trends in Edinburgh? Since the Government came to power in 2007, we have built over 70,000 affordable homes in Scotland. Over the period of this Parliament, as Mr Lindhurst will be aware, our ambition is to deliver 50,000 affordable homes, 35,000 of them for social rent, of which Edinburgh will get a large amount of resource to ensure that it builds in this city too. I am not happy at Edinburgh in terms of the unsuitable accommodation that some folk are in. They have breached recently unsuitable accommodation orders 11 times. The only other council that has done so is East Lothian, who has done that once. I want to ensure that Edinburgh and other places across Scotland take cognisance of the recommendations that come forward from the action group. We will look at those closely and implement them to try to improve the situation right across the country. I point out to Mr Lindhurst that, since 2010, homelessness in Scotland has decreased by 38 per cent, we could do even better if we did not have the constant Tory austerity that has blighted our country. Research by Glasgow homelessness network in 2014 found that 65 per cent of people who asked for help were told that there were no beds left in the city. That is the most recent figures that I can find. The minister will be aware that there is a statutory right for homeless people to get emergency accommodation, yet that does not seem to be the case across the country. The Scottish Government does not currently collect data on how many people or families ask for emergency accommodation or were given emergency accommodation. If the minister is serious about tackling the problem, surely he would agree that it is time to start having some data on the number of people who have a statutory right for emergency accommodation but are being turned away. I remind the chamber that local government has the responsibility to deal with folks who present as homeless. I expect every local authority to abide by the legislation that the Parliament has put in place. I have been quite robust in saying that I want to know of any gatekeeping that is going on in councils where they are not responding appropriately to meet folks' needs. I am grateful for organisations and individuals who have provided me with detail of that. I will continue to look at those situations. I am not averse to looking at things in depth to see if we require any more data at any point. I know that the action group is looking at that very closely indeed, and I expect them to make some recommendations about that, which the Government will look at very closely indeed. John Mason I heard the minister saying that rough sleeping was down 38 per cent since 2010. I understand that in England rough sleeping is up 169 per cent, so I wonder whether he thinks that we have lessons to learn from the Conservatives down south or if they might have lessons to learn from us. I think that there are many lessons that the UK Government could take from us. Mr Mason is absolutely right. In the last seven years in England, there has been a 169 per cent increase in rough sleeping. At the same time here in Scotland, because of our prevention activity, rough sleeping numbers have fallen by around 41 per cent in that same period since 2010. Indeed, Scotland has some of the strongest rights for homeless people in the world. Everybody found to be homeless is entitled to housing, and most people are provided with settled permanent accommodation. In stark contrast to the light-touch approach of the Westminster Government, we are absolutely committed to tackling homelessness, and that is why we have established the £50 million ending homelessness together fund to drive sustainable and lasting change to tackle homelessness in Scotland. I also think that the Westminster Government could do a great deal more if they were to look at their policies of welfare reform, cutting social security and putting a cap on benefits, because that is adding to the woes of people in Scotland and right across the United Kingdom. Can the Scottish Government say what arrangements have been put in place to empower community councils? The Community Empowerment Act creates opportunities for community councils to enter into dialogue with public authorities about local issues and local services on their terms through the new participation requests. I know that a number of community councils have already taken advantage of that opportunity. In addition, since 2016, a number of community councils across Scotland have received a total of £337,000 from the community choices fund to involve people directly on local spending priorities. In December last year, the cabinet secretary launched the local governance review with COSLA. An extensive engagement process will help to decide how best to bring control over local public services closer to communities. Community councils can help to ensure that the views of the communities that they represent are heard, loud and clear. My apologies for pre-empting you. Can the minister agree with me that community councils are the lifeblood of our communities and that local authorities should be engaging with them at every level? I certainly welcome the approach of community councils that undertake a wide range of roles and activities for the benefit of their community. I agree that local authorities should certainly be engaging with their community councils on local issues. As I said in my answer, we have also given community councils the right to raise the issues of importance to them through the community empowerment act and participation requests. I hope that community councils across the country will take advantage of them if the needs arise. To ask the Scottish Government how it is encouraging our public bodies to do more to promote human rights. Human rights are relevant to the work of every public authority in Scotland. All public bodies have a responsibility to act in ways that respect, protect and promote human rights. The Scottish Government actively supports and encourages public bodies to act in ways that make human rights real for every member of Scottish society. We do so by working in partnership, by demonstrating leadership and, where necessary, by issuing guidance and bringing forward legislation. Does she agree that now more than ever the risk that Brexit and the UK Government's proposals to repeal the human rights act mean that we must be resolute in encouraging human rights, which should be embedded in everything that we do, as such work makes a difference in helping people in communities who live with dignity wherever they are in Scotland and whatever their circumstances? It is absolutely imperative that we acknowledge that the UK Government proposals to repeal the human rights act, or even to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, combined with the potential impacts of Brexit, present a very real danger to the human rights protections that we currently enjoy. That is at risk of hitting the most vulnerable members of our society and hitting those members the hardest. Therefore, the Scottish Government is committed to defending the existing human rights safeguards provided by the Human Rights Act, the Scotland Act and EU law, and to embedding human rights equality and respect in everything that we do so that everyone in Scotland can live a life of human dignity. To that end, we also want to go further. The First Minister, as people may recall, has recently established an advisory group on human rights leadership to make recommendations on how Scotland can continue to lead by example in human rights, including economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. Question 5, Alexander Stewart. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had regarding the provision of new housing stock to meet future need. As part of our more home Scotland approach to support the increase of the supply of homes across all tenures, I and my officials take every opportunity to engage with stakeholders to drive forward the planning and delivery of more homes. That happens at both national and local level and includes housing providers, local authorities, house builders, infrastructure providers and policy experts from a range of organisations. That Government is constantly seeking ways to build more homes and looking to push forward new and innovative approaches to resourcing and delivery. Alexander Stewart. I thank the minister for the answer. The housing statistics for Scotland's quarterly update published last month revealed that there were 4,503 new build homes completed between April and June 2017. That brings the total for the year to the end of June to 17,178, down 1 per cent compared to previous years. Those figures come against a backdrop of the number of new homes that has fallen by one-third since 2007. Can the minister confirm how he intends to increase the supply of new build housings to sufficient levels to ensure Scotland's future prosperity? Presiding Officer, the Government intends to increase supply through our more home Scotland approach and deliver 50,000 affordable homes across Scotland over the course of this Parliament, 35,000 of them for social rent. If I can give Mr Stewart examples of the resourcing behind that in the region that he represents, over the course of this period, Clack Manager Council will benefit from £24.48 million, £5 council, £137.02 million, Perth and Kinross, £71.235 million, Sterling, £38.397 million—a total of £271 million in Mr Stewart's region alone. £3 billion across Scotland to deliver 50,000 affordable homes. Beyond that, we continue to invest in our shared equity schemes that allow new owners to enter into the market. We will continue to work with all the stakeholders that I have mentioned to continue to drive forward to ensure that Scotland gets the homes that it needs and deserves. To ask the Scottish Government how its supply of affordable housing per capita compares to that of the UK Government's supply in England. Well, I am sure that there is about to be some noise from the Tory benches. Since 2007, the supply of affordable housing per head of population in Scotland has been a third higher than in England. That difference in supply has become even more pronounced over the last three years, reflecting our continued commitment to delivering affordable housing. Since 2014, we have delivered 50 per cent more affordable housing units per head of population here in Scotland than that in England. I recently visited the Rock Trust in Edinburgh, which is an organisation supporting young homeless people in Edinburgh. It told me that the single biggest reason that young people in Edinburgh are declaring themselves homeless is because they have had a negative experience of coming out. Forty per cent of people who arrive on the doors of the Rock Trust are identifying themselves as homeless because they have had a negative experience of telling their parents that they are gay. Therefore, what work the homelessness and rough sleeping action group is doing to address the fundamental root cause of youth homelessness? I thank Ms Dugdale very much for that question. I, too, have recently visited the Rock Trust, and I applaud them for their efforts and the work that they do. Over the course of my time in office, I have met young folk around about homelessness issues, including members of LGBT Youth Scotland, who have done a huge amount of work in this area. The homelessness and rough sleeping action group is looking very closely at the situation that young LGBT people face. I fully intend, in terms of the strategy group that we have to deal with homelessness, to ensure that there is a presence from young people on that in the future. We will definitely, without doubt, take cognisance of the experience of all young people, but in particular those LGBT young people who have faced the difficulties that Ms Dugdale has highlighted. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had regarding the provision of social housing. Presiding Officer, as I have just confirmed to Alexander Stewart in my previous answer, as part of our more home Scotland approach to support the increase in the supply of housing, I, my officials, take every opportunity to engage with the stakeholders to drive forward the planning and delivery of more homes. My officials and I met with housing conveners at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities last week, and officials met with Scottish Borders Council this week to discuss the provision of social housing there. I thank the minister for that answer. As we have heard today, the latest figures show that the SNP is not meeting its new social housing completion commitments, and new build completions have also stagnated. In your earlier answer to Gordon Lindhurst and Alexander Stewart's questions, the minister outlined commitments that the Government has to numbers, but what steps will the SNP Government take to ensure new social rented homes to meet housing commitments, ensure that Scotland has sufficient provision and scope for appropriate housing to meet future demand, particularly for those seeking larger accommodation? I am glad that the housing convener in the Scottish Borders, who I met recently, is a little bit more positive than some of his colleagues in the Tory benches. In terms of investment in the Scottish Borders, over the peace of this Parliament, Scottish Borders will benefit from £62.678 million. I have told the housing convener in the Scottish Borders, as well as others, that in terms of looking at need in their areas, which should be driven by local housing strategies and their knowledge, the investment of that should feature in their strategic housing investment plans, I have said that in terms of need, if an area requires housing for larger families, my officials will look very closely at the subsidy that is required for that. There is a level of flexibility that we have put in. The same goes for housing for disabled people. The same message has gone across in that regard, too. My officials are always willing to meet local authorities, including housing conveners, to make sure that we get that right. One of the things that must be done is that local authorities must ensure that their local housing strategies, the needs and demands assessments that they carry out, are right, but we will be flexible on a number of those issues. The minister outlined to Parliament what support the Scottish Government is giving to increase the supply of affordable homes in my constituency of Renfrewshire South. In Renfrewshire South, we are doing what we are doing right across Scotland. That is increasing the amount of resource that we are giving to every council area, including Renfrewshire, to ensure that they have the stability and the comfort of knowing what they are going to receive in terms of money over the next number of years. That gives them the ability to plan in some depth. Many local authorities are doing extremely well in terms of delivery already. Others, with housing association partners, are taking a little longer to get plans in place. However, I am committed to ensuring that we meet that ambitious target of delivering 50,000 affordable homes right across the country to benefit constituencies such as Renfrewshire South, but also every other one in Scotland, too. To ask the Scottish Government how it meets the housing demand of older tenants with mobility issues. The Scottish Government wants everyone to have a home that is the right size, in the right location, to meet people's needs and ensure that people are able to live independently. In spring this year, we will jointly with COSLA publish a refreshed age home and community strategy that will set out plans to ensure that housing needs and choices of older people are met. We are investing more than £3 billion in affordable housing to deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes over the lifetime of this Parliament, a 76 per cent increase on our previous five-year investment. 35,000 of those homes will be for social rent. Most of those homes will be delivered by housing associations and councils and will be sufficiently flexible and adaptable to meet people's varying needs as they age and their mobility decreases. Latest available statistics show that 91 per cent of homes built by housing associations and councils in 2016-17 met housing for varying needs standards. I expect this level of compliance to continue to apply to the delivery of the 50,000 target. Appropriate adaptations can also help older and disabled people with mobility issues to live safely and independently in their own home. We are working with health and social care partnerships, older and disabled people's organisations and the housing sector to ensure that people who would benefit from adaptations to their home can access those services when needed. I thank the minister for that answer. In Edinburgh, older tenants with mobility issues are awarded goal priority that entitles them to a ground floor property. However, there are not enough homes to meet the demand. What steps have the Scottish Government taken to encourage more developers to build suitable affordable homes for older people with mobility issues? In terms of the social housing that we are delivering, as I said earlier to Ms Hamilton, I expect local authorities to look at need in their area. I cannot remember off the top of my head the contents of Edinburgh's strategic housing investment plan, but it is clear to me that some local authorities seem to have done more work in that area than others. It was to Ms McNeill the other week that I highlighted that Angus Council had stated that they were looking to create 16 per cent of their new homes for wheelchair accessibility and specialist need. I think that Edinburgh and other local authorities need to use the knowledge that they have to ensure that the new houses that are being built are the right houses, including provision for older and disabled people. Beyond that, in the private sector, I have tasked my building standards officials to look at what we need to do in ensuring that private housing can also be improved for the needs of older and disabled people. That work is on-going, as I said, and there will be of course the publication of the joint document with COSLA later on in the year, which will again highlight what we are doing in this area of business. I am sure that the minister would agree with me that looking after the housing requirements of our wounded veterans community is vital. The Scottish Veterans Garden City Association, which does stunning work for our veterans community, has been working closely with several local councils where possible to provide housing that meets both the physical requirements of disabled veterans and also provides inclusiveness within their community, which they so dearly need. Would the minister consider bringing that to a national level and encouraging all local authorities in Scotland to engage with the third sector organisations, like the Scottish Veterans Garden City Association, so that we can ensure that housing is built appropriately for hard-to-reach groups like our so-deserving disabled veterans? I would encourage all local authorities to work with all partners who have an interest in housing. It is a pleasure to meet representatives from the Garden City Housing Organisation, a recent opening of a link housing scheme in Edinburgh. I am very pleased that Edinburgh City Council has reached agreement with the association about housing provision here. I would encourage all other local authorities to do likewise. What would also be useful in helping us to meet our housing needs here in Scotland would be a little co-operation from the Ministry of Defence, in terms of some of the land, housing and buildings that it owns here in Scotland. The Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, the Veterans Minister, is sitting to my right here. I know that he has made lots of effort in trying to get the Ministry of Defence to live up to what I see as its responsibilities in helping us in that regard. I wish that the answers that he had back were more positive than they have been, and maybe Mr Corry can help in that regard to make the Ministry of Defence sense and to co-operate with the Scottish Government in those matters. To ask the Scottish Government which stakeholders it has had discussions with regarding providing alternatives to cash and lieu of disability benefits. Minister Jeane Freeman. Alternatives cash were raised with us during our extensive consultation on social security in Scotland in 2016. Since then, there has been on-going engagement with a number of stakeholders, including those on the disability and carers benefits expert advisory group, the ill health and disability benefits stakeholder reference group and others. We had always intended that cash alternatives would be for the individual's choice, and I have listened to those who have rightly pointed out that our draft social security bill does not clearly reflect that and lodged amendments, which I hope with members' support, will ensure that that choice is central to the aspect of cash alternatives. Rhoda Grant. I thank the minister for that response, and I hope that the bill will give claimants real choice. She will also be aware that the Department of Work and Pensions has begun to review cases of 1.6 million people who claim PIP, including 13,000 across the Highland region, to establish whether they should have been treated with parity regardless of their condition. Can she give the assurance that she will make specific provision so that no Government can ever unfairly differentiate between physical and mental conditions in the determination of disability assistance again? I thank Ms Grant for that supplementary question, and I welcome the UK Government's decision not to appeal that ruling and to begin what is an extensive and significant piece of work on their part to identify those individuals who have been adversely affected by their decisions and take steps to remedy that. We will keep in close contact with that in as much as we can, and the DWP is willing to share that information with us, with respect to individuals living here in Scotland. I absolutely can give Ms Grant that assurance, because, of course, we have brought forward a rights-based social security bill in legislation in our draft bill that is the subject now of detailed discussion. In that, and indeed in our own Parliament, with our requirement to comply with ECHR and our responsibility as ministers in our code to make sure that we behave and act in that way, it goes some way to not only provide the assurance that Ms Grant seeks but by our practice to ensure that we deliver on that. George Adam Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I ask the minister how she sees the use of experience panels as influence and delivery of devolved benefits under the new social security system? I am grateful to Mr Adam for that supplementary. The chamber will, of course, be aware of the 2,000 volunteers that we have recruited to our experience panels and our most recent extra recruitment exercise to bring in additional young carers to assist us with that particular aspect of our work. The whole rationale behind that is that you build a proper system if you found it through listening to those with personal experience of being on benefits and pay attention to that personal experience and try to address their concerns. The experience panels so far have been involved with us in initial design questions, particularly around the first wave of benefits that we have committed to delivering around the carers allowance supplement, the best start grant and funeral assistance, helping us with everything from the nature of the application form right through to how decisions are made, how they are informed and the manner of the communication that they receive from us and the various choices that are within that to testing some of the online offers that we are beginning to design and build. Of course, they will continue to be with us all of them and we will top up where necessary and look to increase our reach through hard-to-reach groups that are perhaps not as well represented on the experience panels as we would hope by our work with stakeholders such as SAMH and others. They will continue to be with us right through this exercise to the end of this Parliament and I would hope that a future Government would also consider following this good practice in how they involve those who will use a system in designing it. To ask the Scottish Government in light of the statement in its programme for government that the third sector needs stability of funding and the opportunity for long-term planning and development, how that has been rolled out across its departments and agencies. All funding under the Scottish Government's equality budget moved to three-year funding at the start of 2017-18. We have increased the budget by £2.375 million for 2018-19. Our community capacity and resilience fund is enabling community groups to secure a three-year rolling funding commitment to their work. We have also announced three-year commitments for the social entrepreneurs fund and the volunteering support grant from 2018 onwards. Support for the third sector is from a wide range of portfolios, and we will continue to extend three-year rolling funding where possible across the Scottish Government. Together with a transparent and fair basis for the extension of core funding, that will give the third sector a significant level of stability of funding and the ability to plan ahead. Given the statements in the programme for government, does it mean that voluntary organisations who currently receive one-year funding can now look forward to three-year core funding to allow them the opportunity for longer-term planning and development? As I have already said to Mr Finlay and others on numerous occasions in this chamber, we have firm commitments to the voluntary sector. It is a shame that he did not welcome the progress that we have made thus far, despite a difficult financial position imposed on us by the UK Government and its austerity cuts. Nonetheless, we have made good progress with three-year funding. Organisations apply for funding and their merits of their application, but it is also a shame that he did not welcome either the increase for the equality budget or the protection of the third sector budget—£24.5 million—or the empowering communities fund or our commitment to third sector interfaces at £8 million, the length and breadth of Scotland. That includes £234,000 to the West Lothian gateway that the Government is investing locally. I wonder whether West Lothian council will continue to make its investment of £60,000 going forward. Maurice Golden What tools and techniques are the Government using to measure the social impact of their funding awards to the third sector? Social impact informs a wide range of our work across Government. If the member looks at things such as grant award letters, we are indeed looking at the impact of our continuous and significant investment in the third sector. We are particularly interested in the role of the third sector in terms of public sector reform, in terms of its role in real and meaningful civic engagement. The contribution that it can make to our economy and the social enterprise census has helped us to unpick some of that. The contribution that it can make to the wellbeing not just of individuals but to communities and, of course, the contribution that the voluntary sector can make in working in partnership with Government to help to tackle some of the toughest social problems. Thank you very much to ministers and members. That concludes our question session.