Meeting of the Parliament 05 September 2024
I welcome that, and I have been in constant discussion with the Minister for Housing.
We also need to look at the new models that have not been taken forward. For example, during the summer, I met the charity Right There in Glasgow. It works to prevent people from becoming homeless and being separated from their loved ones and it has taken over the leases of properties. Many charities are looking to provide extra-care housing, which would make a huge difference. In the past, councils have used such models, but we have not seen as many of those types of models being used. I hope that a new model can be used, because there should be no homes that sit empty for years on end, as there are in the capital. Perth and Kinross Council should be praised for the work that it has been doing with the PKC lets initiative in order to bring empty homes back into use. However, we need to see changes.
I turn to yesterday’s announcement that SNP ministers plan not to deliver on the commitment to expand free school meals to all primary-age pupils. The Scottish Conservatives championed that policy at the 2021 election, and there was—I believe—cross-party consensus that it would have a positive impact on child poverty and address stigma, as was raised during First Minister’s question time today. The promise to expand eligibility to all pupils was made in last year’s programme for government, and MSPs on all sides of the chamber were working to deliver on that.
We on the Conservative side of the chamber want to see the policy delivered, and we have looked to models to support the continuation of that, not just during the school week but in the summer holidays. I am extremely disappointed, therefore, that ministers have taken that action, and I hope that we see a change in that regard.
The First Minister said yesterday that the
“Government does not command a majority in this Parliament”.—[Official Report, 4 September 2024; c 23.]
Scottish Conservatives want to work cross-party in the Parliament to ensure that there is progress on the issue of free school meals, and that that is fixed at the time of the budget, if not before. Resources have been allocated to councils, and I hope that the First Minister will be open to looking at how we restore and deliver the policy and at the costs that are associated with its delivery—through, for example, a cross-party committee.
Finally, I am disappointed that the Government has decided not to proceed with a learning disability, autism and neurodivergence bill, nor with a human rights bill. Ministers had made pledges to many MSPs that both those bills would include important changes and legislative vehicles to deliver reforms—where they will now go, we do not know.