General Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 25 September 2025.
Roz McCall
Conservative
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the latest homelessness in Scotland statistics. (S6O-04978)
Màiri McAllan
Scottish National Party
The statistics demonstrate the scale of the challenge that we face to reduce homelessness. Earlier this month, I delivered my housing emergency action plan, which sets out the direct and immediate measures that we will be taking to prevent homelessness, deliver more affordable homes and make better use of existing stock. That includes up to £4.9 billion of investment over the next four years, to deliver around 36,000 affordable homes; doubling our acquisition funding this year to £80 million, allowing councils to act now to acquire family-sized homes and get children out of temporary accommodation; and a £4 million investment in the expansion of the housing first approach.
This week, we have been considering stage 3 of the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which, if passed, will create a gold standard anti-homelessness law in the form of the ask and act duty.
Roz McCall
Conservative
I am glad to hear that the Cabinet secretary agrees that there is a problem. There are currently 10,000 children in temporary accommodation, some of whom are spending years in limbo, and the figure is stagnant. We also recently found out from a report in The Herald that there have been “nearly 40,000 violations” of homelessness regulations by Scottish local authorities in the past eight years, with the number almost doubling in the past year alone.
We have a housing emergency; there is a homelessness crisis; and nothing seems to be changing. When does the cabinet secretary believe that the money and the policies that she continually champions will finally improve the situation for the people of Scotland?
Màiri McAllan
Scottish National Party
I will never claim that the statistics that came out last week are anything other than stark, and they require urgent action. In recent years, we have been dealing with a perfect storm of difficulties, with the prevailing economic situation being stagnant or on a downward trajectory and household finances being put under severe pressure from inflation, the cost of living, the pandemic, Brexit and so on. That has meant that, despite Scotland having some of the most protective anti-homelessness Laws in any country, we are in a difficult situation.
That is why the housing emergency plan that I set out takes action across three pillars: ending the practice of children living in unsuitable accommodation; supporting the housing needs of vulnerable communities; and building our future by investing in new and affordable homes. I hope that that, combined with the actions that we have been taking since May last year, will quickly make a difference.
However, much of the situation—not least the social security aspect—is outwith our control, and I take this opportunity to urge the United Kingdom Government to reverse the bedroom tax, for example.
Jeremy Balfour
Independent
As we have just heard, it has been reported that more than 16,000 housing violations have happened in the past year alone. Will the Cabinet secretary acknowledge that report, which calls its housing emergency declaration a sham, given that breaches of the legal duty to provide for homeless people, including children and pregnant women, have doubled in only one year?
Màiri McAllan
Scottish National Party
No, I would not agree with that characterisation. Breaches of statutory obligations by councils are not acceptable. That is exactly why I am working with local authorities—and, in particular, with the top five with the most strained homelessness services—to drive action now.
We drive action with the acquisition fund that the Government has been providing for several years and which, in my statement on 2 September, I doubled to £80 million. That fund is about asking councils to go now, acquire family homes that are on the market and use them to get children out of temporary accommodation. Another instruction that was part of that plan was to ask councils to adopt the guidance from the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers on flipping temporary accommodation—that is, to contact people living in temporary accommodation that is otherwise suitable, except for the fact that it is temporary, and to discuss with the household whether it can be flipped to become their permanent accommodation.
Such measures are about taking action, and they are all backed up by investment over the next four years.
Alison Johnstone
Green
Question 2 has been withdrawn.
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 cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
Laws are the rules by which a country is governed. Britain has a long history of law making and the laws of this country can be divided into three types:- 1) Statute Laws are the laws that have been made by Parliament. 2) Case Law is law that has been established from cases tried in the courts - the laws arise from test cases. The result of the test case creates a precedent on which future cases are judged. 3) Common Law is a part of English Law, which has not come from Parliament. It consists of rules of law which have developed from customs or judgements made in courts over hundreds of years. For example until 1861 Parliament had never passed a law saying that murder was an offence. From the earliest times courts had judged that murder was a crime so there was no need to make a law.
