Chamber and committees

I have two quick questions. I will go back to the practice of children being held in temporary accommodation. Crisis’s written submission said that involved about 10,000 children in Scotland. I know that that is a concern for you as it is for everyone in the Parliament. How will the bill change what will happen to those most vulnerable people in society?

I mean in terms of how the legislation will work. What difference will it make to a local authority in dealing with those children in temporary accommodation?

Thank you.

Minister, you dealt quite well with the issue of cultural change in your answers to Mr Stewart’s questions, and Ms McBride picked up comments about people with lived experience of homelessness, some of whom felt that they had to keep telling their story over and over again to different organisations. Have you had any thoughts on how we can share data better between organisations? Obviously, there are restrictions under the general data protection regulations and other issues in that respect, but is there any way in which we can prevent people from having to tell their story on numerous occasions?

It was about homelessness.

I want to push you a wee bit on that, minister. You talked about guidance. If I am sitting in the City of Edinburgh Council and see the six-month period in legislation, when someone comes in, I may not see that as guidance; I may see it as saying, for example, that I do not have to do anything because the person is seven months away from homelessness. Do we need to look at the wording, to give people in local authorities and other bodies a bit of flexibility, or am I just being a bit too legalistic?

That is helpful. I will come back to some of those points in the next few minutes, but you have led me nicely on to the change from two months to six months. You have touched on this a wee bit, but can you say more about the difference that extending the timescale from two to six months will make to individuals who are at risk of homelessness?

I should probably know the answer to this question, so I apologise for my ignorance. Given that there are 32 local authorities and various other people involved in this issue, how is all that information pulled together? Is it reported annually to Parliament? If not, is it worth thinking about ensuring that a holistic approach is taken, with Parliament considering the information annually?

Yes, and also the various numbers and statistics that come from local authorities, because it would be good if Parliament or some other body had an overview of that.

I would be grateful for that.