Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:30 pm on 20 June 2024.
Russell Findlay
Conservative
2:30,
20 June 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the provision of emergency homeless accommodation in the West Scotland region. (S6O-03610)
Paul McLennan
Scottish National Party
Scotland has the strongest rights in the United Kingdom for people who are experiencing homelessness. Local authorities have a duty to provide temporary accommodation to any homeless household that needs it. In some cases, that might be done on an emergency basis. Local authorities are responsible for assessing demand for temporary accommodation and provision in their areas. Recent homelessness statistics show that local authorities in the West Scotland region consistently provide temporary accommodation to people who require it. We have maintained the homeless budget at broadly similar levels to last year’s. I regularly meet housing conveners across Scotland to understand the pressures in their areas, including the demand for temporary accommodation. We last met on Tuesday. In addition, I met representatives of Glasgow City Council this morning to discuss that specific issue.
Russell Findlay
Conservative
Two weeks ago, I attended a meeting with Police Scotland and others about a hotel in Paisley being used as emergency accommodation. Local families are living in fear due to regular outbreaks of violence and blatant drug dealing. Police are never far away from the place. The authorities wrongly downplay that as antisocial behaviour, which it is not—it is criminality. One woman told the Paisley Daily Express that occupants are
“drinking, smoking, smashing glass, swearing and making abusive comments to people, particularly women and kids when they go past. It’s unpleasant and threatening.”
What, if anything, can the Scottish Government do to end that misery for residents?
Paul McLennan
Scottish National Party
I will add some context. Local authorities in the West Scotland region, which Mr Findlay represents, are receiving more than £1 million of funding for rapid rehousing transition plans. I would be happy to pick up the issue of the particular property that he has referred to. It has not been fed back to me, but I would be happy to liaise with him on that and take it up with officials.
Bob Doris
Scottish National Party
The erosion of UK Government benefits, including housing benefits, is a significant driver for homelessness and the need for emergency accommodation in Glasgow, the west of Scotland and beyond. Has the Scottish Government made any assessment of the record £90 million of discretionary housing payments that it has provided to mitigate those cuts? Does the Minister agree that the key way to support homelessness prevention and to avoid emergency accommodation in the first place is for any incoming UK Government to significantly uplift housing benefits, which have been gutted by a decade of Tory austerity?
Paul McLennan
Scottish National Party
I fully agree with Bob Doris’s statement. His view is backed up by a recent report by Crisis through its homelessness monitor study, which picked up that two of the biggest issues are local housing allowance and the rate of universal credit. This year, the Scottish Government has increased the funding for discretionary housing payments by £6.8 million, to provide additional support for households who are struggling to meet housing costs. Discretionary housing payments are a vital tool to reduce poverty, safeguard tenancies and prevent homelessness. However, the fact that we need to spend that money at all shows that the UK welfare system is not fit for purpose. We will continue to push whichever party forms the next Westminster Government to end the bedroom tax, scrap the benefit cap, and permanently link local housing allowance rates with rents, to end the uncertainty that private renters face.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
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