John Mason
Independent · Scotland
“I noted press coverage just yesterday of the vacancy level for both primary and secondary teachers in the Highland Council area, yet I get complaints from young teachers that they cannot get a job in Glasgow.”
“I thank Jamie Halcro Johnston for securing the debate and other members for their kind words. Many people in Scotland’s urban areas and central belt still care deeply for our remote, rural and island communities.”
“[Laughter.] I was proved correct during Covid, when it was treated as part of the mainland. I can understand the desire to have causeways, bridges or tunnels linking islands to each other or to the mainland. That makes access to a range of services much easier, from shopping to medical services, weddings and funerals.”
“Land mass should be a factor, too. This is my last speech in Parliament, so I thank all those who make this Parliament work, including fellow MSPs—and especially those who are leaving. We are much smaller than Westminster, and that is a big advantage in my opinion.”
“In my opinion, that should be a higher priority than dualling the A9. I do not often agree with Scottish Land & Estates, but I agree with some of the key points in its briefing for the debate. Tackling depopulation in rural areas has to be a top priority; and as it says, “if rural Scotland does not thrive, Scotland does not thrive”.”
“That has clearly got me into trouble at times, but it has certainly been a huge privilege to serve here. I conclude by thanking you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and your two colleagues.”
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“I hate to break it to our Labour colleagues here, but they are not MPs: they are MSPs—they are members of this Parliament who had the opportunity to negotiate to include their priorities in this budget and declined to do so. I am not quite sure what kind of advert that is for the value of voting for Scottish Labour ahead of next year’s Scottish election. On the topic of socialism, one thing that the Greens are particularly proud to have achieved in the area of public sector reform is the four-day working week. We do not live to work, and workers deserve a better work-life balance. From the initial evidence that the Finance and Public Administration Committee took, the roll-out of the trials across the public sector has met with huge success.”
“That is worth £1.7 billion a year to our public services, which goes towards the delivery of measures that lift children out of poverty, such as the Scottish child payment and free school meals. It also contributes to our national health service staff being the best paid in the UK. Therefore, it is clear that the election of Scottish Greens to this place is a way to deliver the socialist change that Craig Hoy warns us all about. I want to touch again on the contribution that Michael Marra and Labour colleagues made. It seems that Labour’s argument this afternoon is that Scottish Labour’s contribution to the budget is the £5 billion of consequentials from the UK Government. If I was being generous, I would say that that is an argument for the election of Scottish Labour MPs.”
“Unfortunately, the powers afforded to this place under devolution are not quite enough to bring down global capitalism. However, if we all try a little bit harder, I am sure that we can make a bit more progress. If there was a socialist majority in this Parliament, we would see boosting trade union membership, particularly in the private sector, as one of the key ways—if not the key way—to boost wages, as has always been the case. That is certainly something that the Greens have pushed for. One socialist change that the Greens have delivered in recent years is the redistribution of wealth as a result of changing Scotland’s income tax system. Most people pay a little bit less and those on higher incomes pay more.”
“I congratulate the Lib Dems on the solid list of achievements that they can claim credit for in the budget, particularly the support for babies who are born addicted to drugs. I will certainly be proud to vote for a budget that includes such funding. However, in response to his earlier comments, I respectfully ask Alex Cole-Hamilton to point out the budget line relating to independence that the Lib Dems have apparently deleted. The constitutional projects division, which has existed for many years, continues to exist—that funding is still in the budget. Craig Hoy and our Conservative colleagues spent this afternoon warning us all that there is a spectre haunting Scotland—the spectre of socialism. If only that were the case, Mr Hoy.”
“There is money for the roll-out of 20mph speed limits in built-up areas. Just last week, we saw the immediate impact of that and the many lives that have been saved as a result of moving to a 20mph default speed limit in Wales. We are delivering more free ferry travel for young islanders; some £172 million has been added back into the affordable housing budget; and we have increased the amount of tax that is to be paid on the purchase of second and holiday homes, which will not only raise about £32 million for our public services but give first-time buyers more support in a very competitive housing market. Finally, this month, the consultation will be launched on proposals for a cruise ship levy, which is a much-needed power for local authorities such as Inverclyde Council, in my region.”
“There is a record £4.9 billion for climate and nature. That includes the £26 million for the nature restoration fund that I mentioned earlier, which is going towards projects such as the restoration of our Atlantic rainforests. Scotland once—not that long ago—had a rainforest, but we now have only tiny fragments of it left. Through the NRF and other funds, we are reconnecting and rebuilding that ecosystem. We asked that, ahead of the budget, the A96 climate compatibility assessment be published, and it was. We are pleased to see that no money is being allocated for dualling this year but that funding is being allocated for the much-needed bypasses, which we support. We are also pleased to see the £2 bus fare cap trial, £10 million for a bus infrastructure fund and the roll-out of free bus travel for asylum seekers.”
“Many of us might have a tendency to look at others who are better paid, including members of Parliament at £91,000 and Welsh members of the Senedd at £76,000. However, remembering that the full new state pension from April this year will be £12,000, I maintain that we are very well paid at six times that amount, and I certainly think that we should be grateful for it. The Deputy Presiding Officer: You need to conclude. John Mason: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The Deputy Presiding Officer: We move to closing speeches. 16:28 Ross Greer: In my opening speech, I talked about some of the proposals that the Greens put forward in the budget process and which were agreed, but I did not cover all of them, so I will start by listing most, if not all, of what we were able to secure in the budget.”
“On the theme of following England and the rest of the UK, we need to break the fixation on following London spending. After all, devolution is about making our own decisions and using the resources that we have where the need is greatest, which might or might not be the same as in the rest of the UK. For example, there have been repeated calls to copy hospitality reliefs that are available down south, and the Scottish Government has—very generously, in my opinion—agreed to do that to some extent. We may get a Barnett allocation because of actions at Westminster, but that money is not ring fenced and we may well see a higher-priority need in Scotland. MSPs’ salaries are part of the budget process, although many might feel uncomfortable talking about them. The proposal is to increase them to £74,500.”
“Perhaps it was unwise to freeze council tax last year, but we are where we are, and we all see the needs around us at a local level, be it in the state of the roads, pressure on refuse collection and recycling budgets or cuts to libraries and leisure services. I fear that increasing council funding by inflation or just a little bit more will not cut it in the long term, as the needs are increasing. It is all very well to say, as the Conservatives do, that we have to be competitive on taxation, which I presume means that we should not differ too much from what England does. The problem is, though, that if English taxes are too low and, for example, old people in England cannot get a care home place when they need one, we do not want to be copying and competing with that.”
“In addition, longer- term financial stability surely means putting money aside in the good years, as Norway has done and as the UK has failed to do, so that there is more money for manoeuvre when the next rainy day inevitably comes—be it another pandemic or something else. However, assuming that we are going to be borrowing to some extent, the next question is whether we use Scottish Government bonds as one of the methods. The committee has asked to be kept updated, and we look forward to hearing from the Government about that in due course. Whether local authorities are going to feel that they have been generously treated remains to be seen.”
“There are a lot of good things in it, including increased funding for the NHS and for local government—in particular, increased capital funding for more affordable housing. However, we should remember that the Scottish budget is increasing by only 0.8 per cent in real terms, which is not the huge increase that Labour has been suggesting. Around budget time, we hear conflicting and contradictory claims, not least from the Conservatives, who tell us, on the one hand, to cut tax while, on the other hand, asking for more funding for their favourite projects. The Finance and Public Administration Committee and others have been calling for more medium-term and long- term planning for Scotland’s finances, and one of the issues with the fiscal framework as it stands is the lack of borrowing capacity.”
“Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the budget again today. I will touch on some of the points that I made in Thursday’s debate. First, the fiscal framework is biased against Scotland and needs a fundamental review. Secondly, UK and Scottish taxes are too low overall. If we want quality public services such as Denmark has, for example, we need to fundamentally increase taxation. Thirdly, the issue of a replacement council tax has been dragging on for far too long, and eventually someone has to bite the bullet on that. I very much doubt that we will ever get complete consensus as to what the replacement should be, so we just need to get on with it and get as many parties on board as we can. I am broadly supportive of this year’s budget and will vote for it at decision time.”
“In paragraph 91 of its report, the committee noted the cabinet secretary’s view that cross-party consensus was necessary for progress to be made on the issue. I wonder what “consensus” actually means. Does it mean all five main parties agreeing on the way forward, four of them doing so, three of them doing so, or what? I could go on, but suffice it to say that I will support the Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill at stage 1. I think that the committees have done a fair bit of good work on the budget, and I commend them for that.”
“If those people will not restrict the level of their salaries, we need to increase taxes in order for poorer people to benefit, too. The process of finding a replacement for council tax has dragged on for far too long, as Ross Greer said. Of course, a new tax is likely to be unpopular, as there will be losers as well as winners. I bought my current flat in 1990, at the age of 32. The council tax valuation took place the following year, in 1991. I plan to retire next year, but the valuation has not changed in all that time. Something is very far wrong. That state of affairs is increasingly unfair for poorer areas, where house values have not gone up as much since 1991 as they have in richer areas.”
“Nevertheless, we face a relatively simple choice, both in the UK and in Scotland: do we want to keep taxes low, with the inevitable consequence of NHS waiting lists, bed blocking, local government struggling and other poor public services, or do we want to follow the example of countries such as Denmark, which have higher taxes and, consequently, better public services? I do not believe that growth in the economy, in itself, is the answer. I am not against growth, as we want everyone in Scotland to be doing better, but the question is how the benefits of growth will be shared out. Will those benefits all go to those who already have a lot, or will they be shared around more fairly? There continues to be a trend of very high salaries for people at the top in the public and private sectors.”
“I am glad that the Scottish Government seems to have a better relationship with the current UK Government, but it is disappointing that that Government does not seem keen on a more fundamental look at the framework. Therefore, I very much agree with the recommendation in paragraph 79 for a wider review of the fiscal framework. Moving on to more specific areas—for example, the tax strategy—we note the Government’s intention to have no new bands or increases in rates of income tax before 2026.”
“It could be argued that no part of Europe has been able to do so without having really serious economic powers, such as those on corporation tax, which Ireland has used to huge effect. More specifically, paragraph 47 of our report notes that there could be a negative reconciliation in 2027-28 that is greater than the resource borrowing limit. In my opinion, the fiscal framework needs a fundamental rethink. John Swinney did his best to get a good deal for Scotland, although, if my memory serves me correctly, both Labour and the Tories wanted us to settle for a substantially poorer deal. In 2023, Shona Robison told us that a major review from the previous Conservative Government at Westminster was not on the table.”
“At the same time, we could have at least a list of priorities—for example, for capital expenditure, which could be categorised as high, medium or low so that at least everyone knew which projects would go ahead if and when the funding became available, even if we did not know what the exact timescales would be. Speaking of the longer term, I remain convinced that the fiscal framework is weighted against Scotland. It is true that we currently get more money per head than England does, but the Barnett formula is designed gradually to squeeze that difference and so reduce our spending. On top of that, we are expected to match UK economic growth, which means in effect that we have to compete with London and south-east England. No part of the UK has been able to do that.”
“I am pleased to take part in the debate as a member of the Finance and Public Administration Committee. In every year’s budget there are difficult choices to make, and probably no two members of the Parliament have exactly the same priorities. One theme of the work of the Scottish Fiscal Commission and the committee has been the need for more medium and long-term financial planning. However, I have some sympathy for the Scottish Government on that point. If we receive very late decisions from the UK Government—as happened this year with higher-than-expected pay increases and still no certainty about the reimbursement of national insurance contribution costs for 2025-26—it is well-nigh impossible for Scotland to plan far ahead.”
“As part of that process, the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities will jointly seek to build consensus across local government and the Scottish Parliament on potential areas of reform. Together, we will engage with Opposition spokespeople and council leaders. I also welcome the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee’s inquiry into council tax reform. The Minister for Public Finance will speak more about public service reform during the debate, but I can confirm to the committee that the Government will continue to report progress to the Parliament at six-monthly intervals.”
“There are complexities in the Scottish budget, where policy responsibility can sit in one area with delivery elsewhere. However, I will reflect on that to consider whether we can do more to simplify the presentation of the next budget beyond what we have already done. I appreciate the committee’s support for the Government’s tax strategy, including our commitment to further develop evidence and evaluate tax policy. We will continue to closely monitor the impact of our tax policy decisions using a range of evidence, and we will publish further research on the impacts of that later this year. On council tax reform, the joint working group met yesterday and agreed to begin a process of engagement and consultation this year.”
“Even without knowing the detailed finances, would it not be possible to prioritise projects so that there would be high-priority ones that would be our first choice, then medium and lower ones, or something like that? Shona Robison: We have already set out a number of priority projects in the budget. A number of capital projects were identified and named, giving a clear sense of priority to those projects. However, I will set out the longer pipeline as soon as I can after the UK spending review is concluded. I thank the committee for its recognition that the Scottish Government has taken steps to improve the transparency of the new budget, and I appreciate the point that the committee has raised on the new approach on budget comparators and in-year budget revisions.”
“It is important that we look back and learn from awful things, such as the Holocaust, that happened in the past, but we should also be challenged and encouraged by people such as Sugihara, who went against the tide and stood up for those who were despised and oppressed. 18:04”
“I spent less than a day there, but I did have time to visit Sugihara house and to learn something of the story of Japanese vice-consul Chiune Sugihara who, in 1939-40 and together with the acting Dutch consul Jan Zwartendijk, saved some 6,000 people, most of them Jews who had already fled Poland, by issuing visas for them to escape through Russia to Japan. When the Soviet Union came into Lithuania in 1940, the consulates were due to be closed, but Sugihara held on and issued up to 300 visas a day for 29 days, in defiance of orders from Tokyo. Even in the darkest days of the Holocaust, there were such flickers of light.”
“My main holiday in the past year was in the Baltic states, and I visited the excellent Jewish museums in Riga and Vilnius, where much of the focus was on the Holocaust. Vilnius was called the “Jerusalem of the north” by Napoleon in 1812, and in 1939, there were more than 260,000 Jews and more than 100 synagogues in the city. Now, there are perhaps only 2,000 Jewish people there and only one active synagogue. Perhaps I can end on a slightly more positive note. My final destination in Lithuania was Kaunas.”
“Boycotts of Jewish shops, barring Jews from ice rinks and closing Jewish schools might have seemed like fairly small individual issues at the time, but, in looking back, we see that anti-Jewish sentiment built up slowly and surely over a number of years to become open discrimination, hatred and, finally, persecution and attempted annihilation. That is one of the things that I think worries Jews in Scotland and around the world today. Is criticism of the current Israeli Government’s actions, some of which is definitely valid, spilling over into a lack of tolerance of Jewish people around the world? Not all Jews support Israel and not everyone in Israel is Jewish, but the reality is that it is the only Jewish state in the world and very many Jews identify closely with it, having friends and family there.”
“We sometimes think that Israel exists mainly because of European Jews arriving after world war two when, in fact, some 650,000 Jews arrived because they had been expelled from, or because their lives had been made virtually impossible in, Arab nations. I had not realised that the leaders of Iraq had been close to Hitler and the Nazis during the war and that they had encouraged anti-Jewish sentiment in a way that was similar to what happened in Germany. Another lesson that I have learned from reading books, watching films and visiting sites associated with the Holocaust is that it started with small things and gradually built up, as Liam McArthur has reminded us.”
“I do not think that we can mention the Holocaust without referring also to the state of Israel and its foundation. Since my expulsion from the Scottish National Party for stating that what Israel had been doing in Gaza was not genocide, a position that I stand by, I have received many encouraging messages from Jewish people in this and other countries. One author, Lyn Julius, sent me a copy of her book “Uprooted: How 3000 Years of Jewish Civilization in the Arab World Vanished Overnight”, which has been a fascinating read. I had not realised how Jews had been persecuted for so long in the Arab world as well as in Europe.”
“I thank Jackson Carlaw for bringing the debate and note that 44 members had supported his motion by lunchtime today. Jackson Carlaw’s motion mentions genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur and there has also been mention of the Holodomor in Ukraine in 1932-33, when some 4 million to 5 million people—roughly 10 per cent of the population—died. There was also the Armenian genocide under the Ottomans in 1915 to 1917, when around 1 million people died. However, there is something especially horrendous about the Holocaust and the systematic killing of two thirds of European Jews. I have spoken before about how I felt when I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, particularly when I saw a railway that had been built for no other purpose than the killing of Jews and other minority groups.”
“Those are just two examples to help illustrate my thinking today. I have heard from several constituents who have taken in rescue dogs with severely complex needs and they have cited e- collars as the only tool that stood between training a dog humanely and having to put it to sleep. That is important.”
“The Presiding Officer: I would be grateful if you would use Mr Mason’s full name, Mr MacGregor. Fulton MacGregor: Apologies, Presiding Officer. John Mason: Thank you very much. It is nice to know that I still have some friends who call me by my first name. Members: Aw! John Mason: The member highlights comments from one or two constituents who run businesses—I have also had one or two—and the legislation could have an impact on them. On the other hand, virtually all the animal welfare organisations are arguing against e-collars in particular, although not against muzzles, which he mentioned. Does he dismiss their thoughts? Fulton MacGregor: I thank the member, and he will always be a friend. I absolutely do not dismiss their thoughts. I accept that point and I will come back to it in a wee second.”
“Will the member give way? Fulton MacGregor: I will just make this point, John, and then I will let you in. That was the case for my constituent Laura Rodgers, who told me about her dog Rex, who she rescued from a puppy mill at five weeks old. She said: “A harness could be a death sentence for Rex and cause permanent paralysis. That is why we need to continue to use the prong and e-collar, or Rex will never go another walk in his life.” Another constituent, Lauren Russell, who rescued a puppy that was brought over from Romania, said that, with “the use of a muzzle, a slip lead and a figure-of-eight configuration, and an e-collar for recall and a crate to provide the correct amount of sleep, Angus is now a happier and calmer dog.” I am happy to bring in John if he still wants to intervene.”
“I move, That the Parliament notes the ongoing concern at reported cases of violence against pupils and staff, and disruption in schools, and the need for action to help restore positive learning environments in which all young people and teachers are safe to learn and teach in a respectful and supported setting; welcomes the publication of the joint national action plan with COSLA in August 2024, which set out a range of actions needed to be taken at both local and national levels to address violence in schools, alongside the Scottish Government’s action plan on tackling violence and verbal abuse in schools; calls on ministers to bring forward an update to the Parliament on how these actions are being taken forward; further calls on ministers to review the reporting and publication of data on incidents relating to violence and harassment in schools; notes the disparity in the availability of early years provision across Scotland and the potential long-term impacts on children’s development and educational outcomes; calls for a review to identify and mitigate negative influences on learning environments in primary schools, including factors affecting pupil behaviour and engagement; further calls on the Scottish Government to support children and young people impacted by violence and disruption in schools and to facilitate an environment in which all young people are safe to learn, develop and grow; notes the publication of the Scottish Government guidance on mobile phones in schools, and calls on ministers to take forward a national policy on a ban on mobile phones in classrooms and the provision of single-sex toilets and accessible toilets in all schools; acknowledges the recent passing of a law banning children under 16 from using social media in Australia, and calls on ministers to undertake a review in Scotland of the negative impact of social media on young people and the growing body of evidence suggesting that “over-exposure” to mobile phones and social media can result in pupils experiencing limited concentration, isolation and poor mental health, as well as the potential for a similar ban in Scotland.”
“We must consider the toxic environment that our young people are living in and how we can change that. Schools must be a safe place for pupils to learn and for teachers to teach. That is simply not the case right now, and it will only get worse if SNP ministers do not get a grip of the situation. I am clear—let me be clear to any teacher watching the debate—that the Scottish Conservatives support our teachers 100 per cent in demanding fresh action to restore discipline in our schools. That must be the number 1 priority for SNP ministers. They must be judged over the next year on their actions, and we will continue to press the Government for that action.”
“Miles Briggs talks about national policies, but have teachers and headteachers not been given the power to deal with mobile phones, and is that not better dealt with at local level? Miles Briggs: There is a huge difference between the guidance that ministers say that councils can develop and, rather than leaving it to individual schools, a national policy that says that we believe that mobile phones should not be in classrooms. There is broad evidence on that. I will touch on the important issue of social media. There has been an important debate in Australia about the negative impact that social media is having on young people’s mental health. That is why our motion also calls on ministers to undertake a review of the issue in Scotland and look towards a potential ban in that area.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether NatureScot’s proposal to mandate advance written notification to landowners for schedule 1 bird monitoring could discourage the identification of raptor crimes on managed land. (S6O-04224)”
“As visitors from the rest of Europe might know, there is a certain rivalry between Glasgow and Edinburgh. I accept that Edinburgh is possibly the prettier city if you just want to have your photo taken. However, Glasgow is definitely the friendlier city and is the home of many showpeople, so I hope that at least some of those who are attending the congress will be able to come and visit us, just about 70km along the road. 17:38”
“The school is in Greenfield, in Ivan McKee’s constituency, which is the neighbouring constituency to mine, and pupils from the showpeople community in his constituency and mine attend that school. Over the years, the school has made a real effort to build a strong relationship with the community, and I know that that is appreciated by both sides. At this point, I will mention Maureen McKenna, who was previously the director of education in Glasgow and had a particularly strong commitment to the education of children of showpeople. In this day and age, with so much advanced technology being available, it should be perfectly possible for a child to spend part of the year in one school and other parts of the year in other schools. In conclusion, I very much welcome the congress to Scotland.”
“Sometimes, it is just people being thoughtless and not taking into account that different groups of people live their lives in different ways. For example, during Covid, it was decided that grants would be given to the landlord of each site, with it apparently having been forgotten that multiple families could live on the site. More recently, my office has dealt with issues that have been raised by showpeople who are finding it difficult to access the warm homes Scotland scheme. However, there are positives along the way, too. When we attend the annual Showmen’s Guild lunch each year, one table is always filled with pupils from Thorntree primary school.”
“At our Showmen’s Guild CPG, for example, we often discuss issues such as licences for fairs and how the cost, the amount of paperwork and the level of inflexibility can vary substantially from one local authority area to another. We have to accept that there can also be prejudice and discrimination against showpeople. In Scotland, we believe that we are a reasonably welcoming society, both for existing minority groups and for incomers. However, we need to accept that we have not got it all right and that there is still prejudice and discrimination, which we should not accept but must challenge. If a planning application goes in with a surname that is clearly that of a showman, we can expect a reaction in the local community.”
“I represent Glasgow Shettleston, which I understand is one of the constituencies in Scotland with the most showpeople living there. As David Torrance mentioned, he chairs the Scottish Showmen’s Guild cross-party group, which was previously headed by Richard Lyle, the former MSP and some people’s friend— [Laughter.]—and mine. Like a lot of cross-party groups, our group does not have huge attendance by MSPs. However, I believe that the group is very important, and I attend as many meetings as I can. For anyone who may be less familiar with cross- party groups, I note that they are forums on particular subjects in which MSPs and interested individuals and organisations from outside Parliament can meet and talk through relevant issues.”
“I am grateful for the opportunity to speak, and I thank David Torrance for securing the debate. First, I give a huge welcome to the showpeople from across Europe who have gathered in Edinburgh this week for their 43rd national congress. I am looking forward to meeting more folk individually at the reception this evening. In previous debates on the topic, many of us have recounted—as David Torrance has done, once again, tonight—how going to the shows near our homes was an annual highlight. In my case, it was the shows at Overtoun park in Rutherglen, which sadly ended when land was taken from the park and built on. That highlights one of the problems that I know showpeople are facing in Scotland—namely, finding alternative sites both for living and for the fairs when traditional locations are lost.”
“Anas Sarwar appears to be spineless when it comes to standing up to the Scottish Government on the Scottish budget. The increase in the additional dwelling supplement is just one bad element of a bad budget—a bad budget that will pass next month because Scottish Labour has caved in without getting concessions from the SNP. However, the Scottish Conservatives will side with common sense and oppose the latest SNP tax rise. 17:43”
“This is a challenge that has been made worse by record rates of rental growth in recent years, which has hampered the ability of many in the private rented sector to save” for their deposits. In evidence to the committee, the minister gave us little confidence that the policy intent of the tax rise was being met. He described the picture as being subject to “all kinds of factors”. However, the Government has announced that a review will be conducted to explore various aspects and elements of land and buildings transaction tax, which could include the additional dwelling supplement. I hope that, even if the tax rise passes tonight, the Government will still commit to a review of ADS. The sad fact is that, in the committee, Scottish Labour voted for the tax rise.”
“Does Craig Hoy accept that the change will advantage first-time buyers and make it easier for them to compete with somebody who is buying to let? Craig Hoy: I will address that point in a second. As I pointed out to the minister, the tax will be a contributing factor to significant rent increases in Scotland, because it will constrain supply. Edinburgh has the highest rent rises in the United Kingdom, at 12 per cent, and Nationwide suggests that higher rents are now preventing some tenants who would become first-time buyers from saving for a deposit in order to buy their first home, which is the stated policy and objective of ADS. Nationwide said: “house prices remained high relative to average earnings, which meant that the deposit hurdle remained high for prospective first-time buyers.”
“I move, That the Parliament notes the findings and recommendations in the Finance and Public Administration Committee’s 10th Report, 2024 (Session 6), Report on the National Performance Framework: Review of National Outcomes (SP Paper 685), and the responses from other committees, as referenced in annexe B to the report. The Deputy Presiding Officer: I call Finlay Carson to speak on behalf of the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee. 15:28”
“For example, the national outcome of reducing poverty lacks the ambition of the comparable sustainable development goal of ending poverty. Our report therefore recommends that that outcome should be amended to address the apparent mismatch. We also urge the Scottish ministers to consider how progress towards the sustainable development goals can be more transparently evidenced through the NPF, especially in areas such as gender equality, for which there is no dedicated national outcome. In closing the debate for the committee, the deputy convener will cover other key aspects of the committee’s report. I look forward to hearing from other members about their committees’ scrutiny of the proposed national outcomes.”
“One witness told us that the Government’s approach leads to a perception that “the Government is not only marking its own homework but setting the questions.”—[Official Report, Finance and Public Administration Committee, 1 October 2024; c 62.] To address the gaps in the data, we recommend that the Scottish Government should now consult relevant sectors on its proposed national indicators and agree how to approach data gaps. For future reviews, we urge the Scottish ministers to publish the proposed draft indicators alongside the proposed national outcomes to ensure greater transparency, consultation and scrutiny. As members will be aware, the national outcomes are broadly based on the United Nations sustainable development goals. Witnesses suggested ways in which the national outcomes could be better aligned with those goals.”
“That remains an issue of concern. As of August 2024, data remained unavailable for 11 of the 81 national indicators that were agreed as part of the 2018 review of the national outcomes. That is deeply disappointing, to say the least. We therefore reiterate our earlier recommendation that the development of national indicators should not be left until the end of the process. Over the course of our evidence taking, witnesses expressed disappointment that the Scottish Government had not committed to consulting more widely on specific indicators. We heard concerns about a lack of transparency in relation to the development of the national indicators.”
“Given the interactions and intersectionality that exist between the proposed national outcomes, we welcome the Scottish Government’s decision to undertake a thematic gender review of the national performance framework. However, we were disappointed that the findings of that review were not published alongside the proposed national outcomes, which meant that the review could not be considered by witnesses or be fully scrutinised by parliamentary committees. The national indicators are intended to provide a transparent means of tracking the progress that is being made in delivering the national outcomes and the framework’s vision. Our 2022 inquiry into the national performance framework, almost five years after the previous review in 2018, reported concerns that many of the 81 national indicators still had no data.”