Meeting of the Parliament 02 October 2024
I am not going to take any lessons in financial management from the member. The biggest cut that we had last year was a 9 per cent capital cut from the UK Government. I never heard anything from Tory members, including Mr Hoy, about that.
The biggest cut that we suffered in our budget was a 62 per cent cut to our financial transactions budget. As Mr Hoy knows, I meet local authorities, including East Lothian Council, to talk about that issue.
As I was saying, on the homes that we delivered, more than 3,000 households with children were helped into affordable housing this year into June, and half of Scotland’s local authorities have reduced the number of children in temporary accommodation in the past year.
The biggest challenges that we face are in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Fife, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian. That is why we targeted funding, and I will come on to that.
Mr Sarwar mentioned affordable homes in rural areas. Between 2017 and 2023, we have delivered more than 10,000 affordable homes. The challenge that we need to face is not just in urban parts of Scotland but in rural parts of Scotland. We recognise that we need to do more.
We are taking radical action to address the acute challenge of building homes and the significant gap in Scotland's capital budget. We are taking action to bring investment into housing through the housing investment task force, which was established in April, which is before the housing emergency was declared.
The Scottish Government has committed £100 million as a basis to grow that, with institutional investment, to at least £500 million to support the construction of around 2,800 mid-market-rent homes. Yesterday, I announced a further investment of £22 million in affordable housing through our charitable bond programme. The programme enabled an additional investment of £71 million into our programme last year, supporting the delivery of more than 600 social rented homes.
I come back to Mr Hoy’s point. Despite Westminster cutting financial transactions funding by 62 per cent since 2022, that is an example of how we can make a real difference in people’s lives when we have the necessary levers.
It comes back to sharing responsibility, Mr Sarwar. [Interruption.] It is about taking responsibility. The UK Government has an opportunity in three or four weeks to reinstitute the funding that has been cut by 62 per cent. That would make a massive difference in terms of what we are trying to do. Labour should be taking on the responsibility of speaking to its Chancellor of the Exchequer.
On planning, in June we issued a call for action on the housing emergency to planning authorities. The Government expects an emergency-led focus in decision making on plans and applications. Our national planning framework has minimum housing figures, and I look for them to be exceeded in plans as they come forward locally. The Minister for Public Finance and the chief planner have also made it clear that developments by small and medium-sized enterprise house builders are part of the solution to the emergency, particularly in rural areas and on brownfield sites.
Following the consultation earlier this year, we will bring forward a series of actions to increase resources and capacity in planning services. I am delighted that we have now established Scotland’s first-ever planning hub, which is an innovative way for planning authorities to access additional resources to make faster decisions.
Having a warm, safe place to call home is a foundation of family life and a direct contributor to tackling poverty. We know that the best way to end homelessness is to prevent it. The proposed homelessness duties in the Housing (Scotland) Bill will support the transition to a system that is based on shared public responsibility, early intervention and, of course, more choice and control.
It is really important that in this debate we do not forget about the prevention duties. I urge people to talk about that. The Government remains committed to delivering a robust system of rent controls and tenants protections throughout that bill. Those measures, coupled with homelessness prevention duties, will ensure the affordability of housing costs and improve tenants’ rights.