Hansard

I have to say that I was somewhat taken aback by the tone of Jeremy Balfour’s motion, because I have recently spent time at the CPG reassuring members, disabled people and organisations that represent them that there would be money in the budget this year. So, to answer Mr Kerr’s point, there were a number of inaccuracies and misleading points in Mr Balfour’s speech, and it will take me some time to correct those; I could not do it in a simple intervention. I am going to take my time in this speech to bring clarity to the situation.

First, I confirm to Parliament that the Scottish Government has not, as Mr Balfour’s motion suggests, gone back on its pledge to invest in changing places toilets. For context, on that particular point, the commitment was to do that during the current parliamentary session, and there are still two budgets left in that session.

I absolutely agree with Mr Balfour and those who have made similar points in today’s debate that changing places toilets are vital facilities that enable many profoundly disabled people to take part in society. They are also important for their families and carers.

As I have highlighted to the Parliament previously, the funding will build on our previous work on the changing places toilets agenda. That includes the introduction of the Scottish building regulation legislation in 2019, which many have mentioned, and which requires the provision of changing places toilets in larger new public buildings. There was also the subsequent publication of our changing places toilet planning guide. I am happy to ask my officials to pick up on the point that Mr Balfour raised about the University of Edinburgh building.

Since 2012, the number of changing places toilets in Scotland has risen from 25 to 269. There has been an increase of almost 30 per cent since 2019, when we introduced the new Scottish building regulations legislation, which required the provision of changing places toilets in larger new buildings to which the public has access.

Scotland’s geography can make coverage challenging—I am a Highland MSP and I absolutely acknowledge that point—and I will seek to address that in the funding criteria. However, we should celebrate the progress that we have made to date and the fact that Scotland has the highest proportion of changing places toilets per head of population in the whole of the UK.

That increase is, of course, testament to the crucial role of committed individuals and local communities in raising funding for and delivering many of those facilities during the past decade or so. Support from local bodies, particularly from local authorities, has been and will continue to be central to driving the agenda forward. We have worked closely with PAMIS and it is great to hear the positive reports about that organisation. It has been a fantastic source of expertise on changing places toilets, providing advice and support right across Scotland.

There is, of course, much more that we can do. It has taken longer than we anticipated to launch the fund, and I absolutely agree that that is a source of disappointment and frustration for many people, including me. As everyone is aware, the Parliament has faced considerable budget challenges in the past few years, and that has resulted in some difficult decisions across all Scottish Government budgets. However, I can confirm to the Parliament today that funding will be provided over the next two years to support further investment in changing places toilets.

The Scottish Government’s draft budget was published a week ago today, and it is subject to the usual parliamentary scrutiny and process. However, we made the decision to increase the draft mental health budget for the next financial year so that we can build on the improvements that we have made. I remind members that the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019, which introduced the building regulations that so many have celebrated tonight, was achieved by the Parliament working together in partnership, as we will all need to do to pass the budget and ensure that the provisions in it come to life.