Chamber and committees

My second question is about the management of fisheries. I understand that UK fisheries are currently managed under the UK Fisheries Act 2020 and that the SNP in Westminster opposed that legislation but the Scottish Government in Holyrood gave it legislative consent. Does the Scottish Government intend to introduce its own legislation to govern fisheries in Scotland—for example, a Scottish fisheries bill?

Thank you, convener. Is it working now? Can you hear me?

Thank you. There are no further questions from me for now, convener.

Perfect. Good morning, cabinet secretary. I have three questions. The first is on the overall budget allocations to different areas. As far as I can tell, there is a big disparity between agriculture and aquaculture. It looks as though there is about £36 million for agri-environmental measures alone, versus £20 million for fisheries as a whole. Will you tell us a bit about the thinking behind that?

On a point of order, Presiding Officer.

At the start of my speech during the debate on a new deal for tenants, I forgot to declare my interest as a member of Acorn Tenants Union and Living Rent tenants union.

The pandemic has exposed what decades of failed housing policy have done to the rented sector in Scotland. Many tenants are being driven into debt by unaffordable rents and are being forced to live in damp, cold, poor-quality housing. Therefore, I welcome the Scottish Government’s publication of a consultation on a new deal for tenants.

However, let us be clear. It is thanks to activists in tenants unions such as Living Rent, and to campaigning members of the Scottish Parliament such as Pauline McNeill, who lodged a proposal for a fair rents (Scotland) bill, that there are proposals for rent controls in the consultation.

I am concerned by the Scottish Government’s approach to implementing a system of rent controls. The co-operation agreement with the Greens commits to introducing rent controls by the end of 2025, which means that tenants must wait another four years for action to be taken on rents and that landlords will have another four years in which to raise rents with impunity.

Living Rent is calling for urgent action from the Scottish Government. In support of that, the Labour amendment calls for a commitment that

“the legislation establishing the framework for these rent controls must be included in the forthcoming Housing Bill in the second year of the current parliamentary session.”

I hope that all members will support our amendment.

The minister said earlier that no legislative change can come until the consultation has concluded. However, we are in the middle of an unaffordability crisis and every month in which rent controls are delayed is another month in which renters experience increasing debt and insecure homes. I ask the minister to look again at urgent interim measures that can be taken right now to address unaffordable rents.

Rent controls will be vital if we are to improve the quality of rented accommodation and security of tenure. Scotland’s housing stock is in a state of disrepair, with every second home failing the Scottish Government’s quality standards, but tenants have no real power to force landlords to make repairs and, too often, complaints are met with the threat of eviction. Even if a landlord cannot evict a tenant through a no-fault eviction, they can increase rent and use cost as a weapon to pressure tenants to get out.

In Germany and the Netherlands, rent controls are used to force improvements and repairs to rented housing. We should adopt a similar approach in Scotland, with rent controls serving to incentivise improvements and deter unscrupulous landlords from refusing to make repairs or hiking up rents to secure evictions.

Unaffordable rent is not unique to the private rented sector. In 2019, the Scottish Housing Regulator found that up to 80 per cent of tenants in the social and public rented sector were concerned about their ability to pay rent. Too many social landlords leave tenants with no choice but to accept rent increases. We must democratise social landlords and put tenants at the heart of social landlords’ decision making. That is why the Scottish Government must make rent consultations statutory, and the results binding on registered social landlords.

Although my remarks have focused on the need for rent controls and proper consultation on rents, those measures cannot be implemented in isolation. They must be matched by significant improvements in enforcement and measures that enhance tenants’ rights, such as ending the practice of tenant reference fees. Given that landlords received 14 times more in financial support than tenants during the pandemic, the Scottish Government now needs to prove to tenants that it is on their side by introducing those changes as a matter of urgency.

My colleague Colin Smyth has already outlined the significant cost to local government and the environment that will be caused by the delay. Someone has to pay for the cost of it. The minister is aware that the DRS is supposed to be a producer-responsibility scheme, so will she tell us what steps the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that producers, not taxpayers and local authorities, will foot the bill for the 13-month delay?

Would it be possible to write to the Scottish Government to ask for an update on how the scheme is running and what the sector is saying about how effective the scheme has been in supporting the industry?

As we have heard, the Scottish Government’s response to the just transition commission’s report is not bold enough. Four key areas are crucial to delivering a just transition: skills transferability, public transport, fair work and support for consumers with energy costs.

We heard from Katy Clark that the Scottish Government must do more on skills transferability, particularly in the offshore energy sector. Offshore oil and gas workers are being prevented from transitioning into greener jobs by training costs and a lack of common training standards in the offshore energy sector. I have been working with trade unions such as the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers and climate campaigners such as Friends of the Earth Scotland to highlight the need for an offshore training passport.

I do not have time.

When I first raised the suggestion back in September, the First Minister welcomed it as a “constructive proposal”, but the follow-up letter that I received from the Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work offered no new ideas. When I raised the issue again in October, the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity said that she

“would be delighted to meet ... to discuss”—[Official Report, 28 October 2021; c 46.]

the issue, but that meeting has never materialised. Perhaps the just transition minister can clarify the Scottish Government’s position today.

The energy skills alliance is currently developing an all-energy apprenticeship. That will benefit new entrants to the industry, but it will not help the existing workforce. I therefore ask the minister to address, in his closing remarks, whether the Scottish Government will commit to exploring all options for the introduction of an offshore training passport, including through the ESA.

We heard from Graham Simpson that, on public transport, the Scottish Government must do more. It says that it will commission a fair fares review to look at an integrated approach to transport fares. However, many will be wondering why, when integrated fares could be delivered for delegates to COP26, a review is required before the policy can be rolled out to ordinary passengers.

The Scottish Government is also committed to introducing free bus travel for the under-22s, but that does not go far enough. Yesterday, my colleague Paul Sweeney launched his campaign to extend free bus travel to asylum seekers. That would use just 0.0005 per cent of the Scottish budget and, for such small change, would make a massive difference.

Another crucial omission from the Scottish Government’s response is the key role that councils could play in providing affordable, accessible and sustainable public transport. Councils now have the power, but not the cash, to implement that. I ask the minister whether he will commit to looking at all options, including providing start-up capital through the Scottish National Investment Bank, to empower councils to set up municipal bus services.

On fair work, there are fundamental barriers such as low pay, insecure work and poor working conditions that often prevent workers from transitioning into green jobs. To ensure that our transition away from carbon-intensive sectors is worker led, we must ensure that new green jobs are well paid, on secure contracts with excellent terms and conditions. The Scottish Government has committed to introducing a new just transition commission, but that commission must act in the interests of workers. That leads me to my third ask of the minister: will he look at instructing the commission to plan for a just transition framework that extends trade union recognition and collective bargaining rights for workers in all green sectors of the economy?

On public energy, a poll for Citizens Advice Scotland revealed yesterday that more than one in three Scots are struggling to pay their energy bills. Last week, after two years of waiting, the Scottish Government finally released the outline business case for a publicly owned energy company, which revealed that that would produce annual savings for consumers. However, despite so many struggling with energy costs, the Scottish Government appears to be abandoning its pledge to deliver a publicly owned energy company, as Dean Lockhart mentioned earlier—