6. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is on the number of destitute people sleeping on Scotland’s streets this Christmas. (S5F-00693)

In my view, as long as there is one person sleeping rough on our streets, not just at Christmas but at any time of the year, that is one person too many.

The number of homeless people reporting that they have slept rough before applying for housing support in Scotland has decreased every year for the past five years. However, we know that only those who approach local authorities are recorded. That is why we are working with stakeholders to gather more robust data on the figures for people who are rough sleeping and to assess people’s often very complex needs, so that we can continue to take action that will support people to move off the streets and into a home of their own.

It is a sad fact that many people will be sleeping rough this Christmas on our streets—rough sleeping is a visible scourge in our society. The figures that I have show that there was a dramatic increase in rough sleeping last year. That trend is likely to continue. We know from press reports that Glasgow City Mission and the Bethany Christian Trust in Edinburgh are turning people away from their night shelters. There also seems to be a severe shortage of emergency accommodation for women, for some reason.

Will the First Minister look at two areas of Government policy in this regard? First, will she consider initiating national co-ordination to ensure that there is provision for women in emergency night shelters, at least until we can eradicate rough sleeping and homelessness? Secondly, will the First Minister also look at a model that has been adopted in Nordic countries and used in Glasgow? Housing first is simply a model that quickly provides accommodation and permanent homes but, importantly, it wraps the services around the person’s particular problems, which might be the ones that have led them into homelessness in the first place. That policy is certainly worth looking at.

The First Minister:

I thank Pauline McNeill for raising the issue and the constructive suggestions that she has made. I will absolutely consider both of those points.

Her point about access to night shelters for women is particularly important.

Pauline McNeill’s second point, about the housing first model, is something that we are open to looking into, although some of our local authorities already use a model that is not dissimilar in some respects through their housing options work. After the new Moderator of the Church of Scotland took office, he specifically asked us to look at that model and I gave him a commitment that we would do so.

Pauline McNeill’s question goes to the heart of the fact that people who find themselves rough sleeping are often people whose needs are not just for accommodation. They have accommodation needs, but they also have complex and multifaceted needs. We have to look at tackling the problem in a holistic way.

I made this point in my first answer—it is important to say that, although the official statistics say that rough sleeping has been reducing, we know that the official statistics do not necessarily tell the whole story. That is why we are working with partners to get more robust data.

I am happy to give a commitment to look into the points that Pauline McNeill raised—as I said, we have already been doing so with the latter one—and to report back to her in the new year.