Meeting of the Parliament 03 December 2014
I want to start by picking up on some of the comments of my colleague John Mason about the quality of tenancies.
I chair the cross-party group on accident prevention and safety awareness. We are aware of the dangers that exist in the home, and we have covered that issue on many occasions. Indeed, our most recent meeting was about the challenges of electrical and gas safety, and the responsibility of landlords. It was an informative meeting. We had presentations from SELECT, Electrical Safety First—formerly the Electrical Safety Council—and SGN, on the gas issues. All of those organisations provide guidance and information to landlords and tenants, and their presentations are available on the website of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. I commend them to members who have concerns.
I would welcome an updating of the electrical guidelines, following amendments to the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which were championed by my colleague Bob Doris, so that we can tighten up some of the issues around electrical safety. I would also welcome any further information that the Government might have on the tightening up of the regulation of electricians in Scotland.
Although we are having a very good debate this afternoon and we all recognise that we could be doing more in Scotland, I take issue with Mary Fee saying that this is a Government that has not taken action. This is a Government that acted very responsibly on housing, with its action on affordable homes and on tackling the problems in the private sector, as have just been outlined.