Chamber and committees

Good morning, and thank you for joining us.

A lot of my questions have already been touched on. Would it be possible for the committee to be provided with information on where advocates are based and the regions that they cover, specifically when they are working across health board areas?

Perhaps you could write to us with that information, and, if there is an on-going opportunity to do so, you could update us on recruitment so that we can see what provision looks like. That would be helpful.

Yes—and about the conversations that you are having with clients.

Yes—that is important.

Finally, with expansion plans and in the current market, are you finding it difficult to recruit advocates who have the necessary experience? What sort of training have you developed?

Either the client or the advocate who is going to visit a client.

Good morning. In what we are examining, a gap exists in relation to housing and homelessness. I have raised that issue with the minister a few times, but it is still not being addressed. Frankly, the Government is also not talking about the housing crisis.

This week’s statistics show that, of the deaths of 222 homeless people, half were drug deaths. Ministers seem to have taken their eyes off the ball in that area, but we need action and supported housing models to be put in place. What is the Government doing about that?

I shadow Ms Robison and—let us be honest—the housing first model is sometimes part of the problem. Often, people who have chaotic lives are not able to hold down a tenancy, and that sets them up to fail. I have asked why we do not fund the building and putting in place of more supported accommodation, because we should have done so years ago.

I hope that, if she has not already seen it, the minister will visit Rowan Alba in Edinburgh with me at some point. The charity provides accommodation—supported living—for individuals with alcohol brain damage, which stops them being homeless. In Edinburgh, 50 people who could be in that type of accommodation are on a waiting list, but nothing is happening to take that forward.

There are also 1,095 children living in temporary accommodation in Edinburgh, and I know from my casework that they are developing acute substance abuse issues. We need to see a shift in that regard. Housing first is a good policy, but it is not delivering for that group of people and it needs to be rethought.

Have I got time to ask an additional question, convener?

In England, the strategic housing land availability assessment is used to look at the availability of land for housing over 15 years. I do not see what that looks like in NPF4. In my area, in Edinburgh, it is based on brownfield sites, 90 per cent of which have businesses currently on them, and those businesses have no idea where they will be moved to. Would it have been useful to have a longer-term vision—covering 15 years at least—relating to where homes might be built?

My questions follow on from Paul McLennan’s. It is quite clear from what we have heard that the devil is going to be in the detail, with regards to the guidance, especially transitional guidance.

What are your views on NPF4 and transitioning the planning system between how it stands now and how it potentially will stand, in relation to current planning applications in the system? What will that look like with regards to the housing crisis? It is a missed opportunity not to have that in NPF4. What could be lost in translation between now and NPF4 coming in?