Chamber and committees

Thank you for that answer. The other issue that I want to cover is one that the SFHA raised last week. What is the Government’s view of mid-market rent being part of the affordable housing supply programme and being covered by the private sector rent cap? Given the SFHA’s comments last week, is the Government considering amending the type of tenancy for mid-market rent in the housing bill that you plan to introduce after the summer recess?

Thanks for that, Stuart. That leads me on to my next question, which is about how empowered communities feel. The Scottish household survey statistics flagged up that communities feel less empowered. Do people know what community planning partnerships are? Do they know that they exist or what they do? What can we do—or ask the Government to do—to increase awareness of what community planning partnerships do and how people can get involved and have their voices heard, so that people make decisions about their services?

A report on the impact of the Christie commission said:

“community empowerment comes from strong relationships between community members and staff in public services”.

That is obvious and goes without saying.

Since the 2015 act was introduced, has there been a change in how open public service staff are, and how they go out, engage with and build relationships and trust with marginalised communities? Is the culture changing among staff in public services to the extent that we are getting meaningful engagement and participation?

I declare an interest as the owner of a private rented property in the North Lanarkshire Council area.

Good morning, minister. You touched on some of my areas of questioning in your opening statement and your answers to the convener’s questions, but will you expand on the Government’s long-term plans to introduce private sector regulation and on how the transition from the emergency legislation into further long-term rent controls might happen? Can you give the committee a more definitive timescale for when you expect to introduce that legislation?

The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 was supposed to give communities a louder voice and a say over the services that they rely on, and to build, in communities, capacity to advocate on their own behalf. Is there evidence that that has happened? Is it happening consistently in 32 local authority areas, or do you see a difference in performance across the country?

We touched briefly on Shelter Scotland’s concern about what substantial arrears are and whether £2,500 is actually substantial, especially as the cases that end up at the tribunal involve arrears of more than that. Can we say that we have a moratorium on evictions in the social housing sector when the substantial arrears level has been set to start from £2,500?

We have talked about the evictions moratorium. I want to go through the witnesses and ask whether it is necessary to extend that until September.

That is helpful as a heads-up for what to look out for in the housing bill, so thanks for that, Carolyn.

My next question is for all the panel members. The statement of intent that was agreed between housing associations and the Scottish Government sets out that housing associations will seek to mitigate as much as possible the cost implications of inflationary price increases and interest rate rises. How are they doing that? How are they protecting tenants against cost increases?

I want to ask a question about mid-market rent, since Carolyn Lochhead has brought it up, before I go on to my other question.

We have multiple panels today. We heard from the private sector earlier; now we are hearing from the social sector. Mid-market rent tenancies come under private sector tenancies, but those tenancies are developed and provided by social housing providers. Carolyn, what are the SFHA’s views on whether there is a practical solution that moves mid-market rent tenancies out of private sector tenancy agreements so that there is not some catch-all situation that affects investment programmes for mid-market rent?

Thanks for that. Secondly, I ask all three panel members whether they feel that it is proportionate and necessary for the moratorium on evictions to continue, as proposed by the Scottish Government.