Official Report 1222KB pdf
The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-15705, in the name of Rhoda Grant, on the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s spotlight report, “Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Highlands and Islands”. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s spotlight project into Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Highlands and Islands; understands that it was commissioned in April 2023 and undertook a targeted programme of work to assess the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights for people living across the Highlands and Islands, which concluded in early 2024 and published its report, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Highlands and Islands, in November 2024; believes that this report has been widely welcomed by community groups, charities and organisations across the Highlands and Islands; is concerned, in particular, by the Commission’s urgent calls to tackle the rooflessness, hunger and access to health issues across the Highlands and Islands; is further concerned that, according to the report, across all rights examined, there is not a single human right that meets all the conditions of adequacy under international law, and notes the calls on the Scottish Government to act on this report and review its current policies to address the concerns raised by this report.
12:48
I thank members who signed my motion and allowed this important debate to take place. I also pay tribute to the Scottish Human Rights Commission for its spotlight report, “Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Highlands and Islands”.
In the past decade or so, our human rights have been eroded: we need food banks, there is a housing crisis and our national health service is at breaking point. Nowhere has that been felt more keenly than in the Highlands and Islands. Centralisation of services has led to poorer outcomes, even fewer houses being built and greater difficulty in accessing health services. All of that leads to depopulation. Citizens know that, so the Scottish Human Rights Commission findings were not a surprise. However, to be consulted and have their concerns validated is a significant step forward for my constituents. It was also striking to see all those findings in one report.
Across all the rights that the report examined,
“there is not a single human right that meets all the conditions of adequacy under international law. This means that there are significant failures in how policies and services are being designed and ... delivered.”
Too often, service design focuses on urban areas and fails to address the unique needs of rural communities. However, when services are designed to meet the needs of rural areas, they work effectively in all settings, regardless of whether they are in an urban area or a rural area.
The commission recommends that the Government should use a human rights-based budgeting approach to ensure that all citizens are provided with services that meet their needs, regardless of where they live. The report references cases in Argyll and Bute in which women who have been sexually assaulted need to travel long distances to access forensic examinations. They need to do that in the same clothes that they wore when they were assaulted. That is a common situation throughout the Highlands and Islands. The reason given for that inhumane treatment was that it would cost more to bring services to those women. A human rights-based approach would have come to a different conclusion, resulting in a process based on upholding the rights of the person who had been attacked.
Our human rights are just that: they are our rights. However, in Scots law, there is no redress if someone does not have access to their human rights. The proposed Scottish human rights bill was anticipated to address that but, unfortunately, it has been shelved. As a result, I still hope to pursue a right to food bill to enshrine the human right to food in Scots law. Everyone has the right to food so that they can feed themselves and their families. Emergency food should be required only in dire circumstances such as war and famine, but the report highlighted that access to food is a significant problem in the Highlands and Islands. It pointed out that, in some areas, food supplies could be at risk due to ferry failures and blocked roads disrupting supplies.
Food also costs much more in sparsely populated rural areas. Independent shops cannot make economies of scale, which means that the food that they sell is more expensive. There are also barriers to accessing emergency food in rural areas, because of issues around privacy and confidentiality. It is hard enough to access a food bank in an urban area because of stigma, so imagine doing that when the whole community will know. I know that food banks go to extraordinary lengths to disguise their interventions, but confidentiality is still a concern that stops many people accessing that support.
The report talks about choices being made between heating and eating. In rural areas, people also need to factor in the cost of running a car, because public transport is inadequate or non-existent. Therefore, they require fuel not only for heat but in order to access work, education, food and healthcare.
I am sure that Rhoda Grant will join me in acknowledging just how many people in the Highlands and Islands are in fuel poverty—I believe that the figure in the Western Isles is about 40 per cent and that 100,000 pensioners will receive a universal payment next year but will not receive one over this winter. The fuel rebate scheme for cars and vehicles is also critical in the wider context in relation to things such as the just transition, given that, at the end of the day, people in the Highlands and Islands are more dependent on vehicles.
I can give you the time back for the intervention, Ms Grant.
I agree with the cabinet secretary—people in the area are dependent on vehicles, and I note that some of the measures that are used to pinpoint poverty take the view that someone who owns a car is not living in poverty, but the very opposite is true in many rural areas, where a car is a necessity.
The report finds that the lack of affordable housing is also a main concern of young people, many of whom are not able to remain in their local areas or to return to live there after leaving. We know that many people in the Highlands and Islands leave to access education with the full intention of returning but are often unable to do so. That fuels depopulation and the loss of the Gaelic language and is adding to an increasing age demographic.
Second homes and holiday homes bring tension, because they take away homes from local people, but, on the other hand, they bring tourism. Therefore, there needs to be a balance between family homes and the holiday rental sector.
The cost of building small numbers of affordable houses in a community is expensive due to the lack of economies of scale so, when we add the cost of materials and labour, it is little wonder that rural housing money is being spent on the outskirts of cities. That is why we must protect local housing, especially homes that are built at public expense.
Rhoda Grant is making a very powerful speech on the report. Perhaps she might reflect on the power of co-operatives and their potential further development in rural settings, which might improve economic justice in areas such as housing, retail and food production.
Indeed. Co-operatives are already used in rural areas. Crofting, which is the agricultural system in place in rural areas, is based on co-operative working. Many people know that they need to work co-operatively in rural areas simply in order to exist.
The report also highlights access to health and social care. There are many campaigns in the Highlands and Islands regarding access to health care, from the Caithness Health Action Team and the keep MUM—maternity unit for Moray—campaign, which fights for local maternity services, to the Hopeman and Burghead groups that campaign for local general practice surgeries. Those groups are not surprised by the commission’s report, but they are appreciative of it highlighting issues that they have been campaigning on for years.
Mental health services in the region are poor, especially for young people. The waiting list for child and adolescent mental health services in NHS Highland is stubbornly high, and services are provided centrally, which means that young people need to take more time away from school and make long journeys to access them. The costs of travel and accommodation are also barriers to accessing healthcare. We desperately need a review of the outdated patient travelling expenses scheme for reimbursements.
Many other issues are addressed by the Scottish Human Rights Commission report—more than I can do credit to today. I thank it for carrying out that important work. We, in the Parliament, owe it to the commission to act on its findings. We wish it well in presenting its findings to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights next month.
I brought forward this debate to highlight the report’s findings and to ask the Scottish Government to respond to it and say whether it will use human rights-based budgeting to protect all our human rights, including the human rights of people in the Highlands and Islands, in the future.
12:57
First, I thank Rhoda Grant for securing this important debate. I was glad to support her motion. Secondly, I thank the Scottish Human Rights Commission for undertaking the work.
Although I strongly believe that organisations that seek to represent the views of all Scotland must come to the Highlands and Islands, that is not usually what happens, so it was very welcome to see such thorough and interested engagement across the region ahead of the debate.
It is right that the resulting report gets aired in the Parliament and that we get a chance to hear the Government’s response to the many issues that it raises. The report covers issues that the people who are contributing to the debate regularly raise in the Parliament. I recognise much of what is described in the report—-I could have perhaps written 12 different speeches on it—and I know how valuable the evidence on access and transport to healthcare, availability of food and general quality of life is.
I will focus largely on what I think is the most severe human rights issue that the report explores. Although homelessness exists across Scotland, it does so differently in different communities. In Skye, we are more likely to see young people being homeless at home, whereas, in Inverness, people might be stuck for long periods in unsuitable accommodation. If people in rural and island communities know that no social housing is available anywhere near them, they might not register as homeless, because they believe that there is no point.
All that hidden homelessness deserves full attention. It is important to note that the SHRC’s accurate description of the issue—from sofa surfing to living in temporary caravans—demonstrates to everyone that, although the issue might be hidden, it is not invisible and it is possible for us to see and react to it.
I have always tried to be very careful about how I speak about homelessness and to promote a reduction in stigma, because that stigma is real, unfair and pervasive. Having been in that situation in the Highlands, I know the dangers that come alongside it. It is not only about not having the security of going to sleep with a roof over your head, walls around you and a lock on the door; housing insecurity opens you up to a very dangerous underground culture. That is not because people who are homeless are naturally likely to break laws or drink too much; it is because they are vulnerable, even if they do not feel like they are. Bad actors see the opportunity to take advantage, sell drugs, assault and rape.
When I was homeless, I was frequently offered drugs and money. I did not take up those offers—or, more accurately, traps—but I often spent my cash-in-hand pay from temporary work on bottles of alcohol, in an effort to fast forward to my next shift, because I did not want to deal with, or look at, my own life. I completely understood why others around me opted for different substances to skip through their own living nightmares, and why young people end up stuck in a vicious cycle of being the middleman between out-of-area dealers and their next victims.
The fact that the report highlights rights holders raising their inability to access support services, such as addictions services, tells me that people are living that nightmare right now. Professionals in Orkney noted to the SHRC that a lack of availability of cannabis and support services has led to an increase in the use of harder drugs.
Services such as Addictions Counselling Inverness—a charity for which I have immense respect—do so much for the people who need help most. ACI is run by people who totally get the reality that their service users are living. It needs all the support that we can give, and such services should be available to everyone, no matter where they live.
Scotland is growing up in its approach to addiction, but something is still missing for those who need help today in the Highlands and Islands. Housing is a huge part of the picture. We cannot expect people to live stable and responsible lives when they have been left out in the cold. We must put at least as much energy into supporting them—giving them what they, individually, need to be safe—as those who prey on the vulnerable put into recruiting them.
13:01
I thank Rhoda Grant for bringing this debate to the chamber. Along with debates this afternoon on the A9 dualling and on rural healthcare, it begins a very welcome focus to the Parliament today on issues that impact on the Highlands and Islands region—the focus on those issues is welcome because they are being discussed, rather than because of the underlying reasons why they are being discussed and the failure to deliver rural and island services.
This evening, I will speak in my colleague Tim Eagle’s debate on rural healthcare, so I will not focus on that now, other than to say that the impact of pressure on our health services is often felt more acutely in our more remote rural and island communities. Distance to care, and the impact of healthcare services being further away from those who use them, is a real and growing concern. When that pressure includes the downgrading of maternity services and a lack of social care, it challenges the sustainability of many of our communities.
The deterioration of health services is far from being the only challenge. After 18 years of this Government, we have a housing emergency in Scotland—a crisis that the Scottish National Party responded to by cutting the housing budget by nearly £200 million. Added to that, the dedicated rural and islands housing funds were not fully utilised, with millions of pounds left in Government coffers in Edinburgh despite the schemes being extended and there being a clear and desperate need for more affordable housing in our communities.
Transport connectivity was also highlighted in the commission’s report, and the crisis faced by our ferry-reliant communities has been raised in Parliament on too many occasions to mention. It is not only islanders who suffer; residents and businesses that are reliant on the ageing and unreliable ferries that serve the Corran Narrows route in Lochaber have been extremely vocal on just how great a threat the lack of a reliable service is to the sustainability of their communities. When I visited that area as part of my summer tour, many people were quite clear that, without action—soon—they would be forced to move away from the area that they call home.
Many Highland roads are not much better. Last year, I dealt with the case of a household who were stuck in their property because the condition of their road left them isolated in their home. There were potholes so large that the local delivery drivers refused to deliver to them. Thankfully, after a letter to the council on their behalf, work was done on the road and they can enjoy their home again, but also leave when they want to.
That issue of enjoying one’s home leads me on to another issue that I would like to raise, although it is not included in the report. People across my region are faced with the prospect of increased industrialisation of their communities, but they see little or no gain from it, and they feel powerless to have their say on it. New pylons, substations and other energy infrastructure are being forced on communities across the Highlands and Islands without their permission, and too often with only the most token amount of consultation—consultation that many see as almost a fait accompli. That is a clear democratic and moral deficit.
That leads me to my last point, which is about how decisions are made and their impact. Island residents have seen the introduction of legislation on island proofing to allow the consideration of unique island needs, although many are understandably sceptical about whether it is anything more than a tick-box exercise. However, rural communities are not afforded the same protections, despite many being as remote as—and, in some cases, more remote than—some of our island communities.
The report is interesting but, for many of us who live in the Highlands and Islands, it tells us little that we do not already know. There is a lack of affordable housing. Healthcare services are becoming more distant for some and inaccessible for too many. There is fuel poverty in communities that are circled by machines that heat the homes of others many miles away. Many people in the Highlands and Islands feel a long way from the decisions that are made here in Edinburgh but those decisions impact greatly on their lives. Although the Highlands and Islands are still a great place in which to live, work and be brought up, it is getting harder for many people to do that.
13:06
I thank Rhoda Grant for initiating this critical debate and the Scottish Human Rights Commission for having the courage to carry this inquiry out and publish its findings in full.
In her excellent foreword, Angela O’Hagan calls for
“all duty bearers to evaluate their own work and reflect on how to improve people’s human rights.”
She also calls for the Scottish Parliament
“to take serious and careful consideration”
of the report, so why does it take an Opposition MSP, in members’ business time, to force the report to the debating chamber of the Parliament? Are not the Government and the Parliament duty bearers? Should not the Government set aside parliamentary time to debate a report into the human rights of the people of the Highlands and Islands?
Of course, if Mr Leonard’s business manager cares to raise that matter with me, I would be more than willing to give consideration to scheduling such a debate.
Richard Leonard, I can give you the time back.
Thank you.
I hope that the Minister for Parliamentary Business will propose that at a future meeting of the business bureau. However, I will tell members why it perhaps has not come up so far. Perhaps it is because the key words in the report are “failure”, “regression” and “deterioration”.
“Across all rights examined,”
the commission concludes,
“there is not a single human right that meets all the conditions of adequacy under international law”—
not one. Minimum core obligations such as access to food and housing are not being met. The rights to health, social care, education and culture are not getting better; they are getting worse.
These are not abstract or theoretical findings. These rights are about ensuring that everyone can live a dignified life, free from fear and want, but what this report finds is that there is hunger, deprivation and malnutrition. I made some inquiries recently, only to discover that Public Health Scotland does not routinely collect data on malnutrition. However, it should do, because we know from the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition that the number of patients who are admitted to hospital diagnosed with malnutrition has doubled to more than 44 per cent in the past decade.
When I was with Rhoda Grant in Shetland, we met the workers at the Sullom Voe terminal, a northerly centre for the United Kingdom oil and gas industry for more than four decades. We sat down and spoke with representatives of the very impressive Shetland Fishermen’s Federation. They told us that their members net one sixth of the catch for the whole of the UK, yet we know that a third of the inhabitants of Shetland are living in fuel poverty. It reminded me of Aneurin Bevan’s observation:
“This island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organising genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish at the same time.”
In other words, what is wrong is the way in which our society and economy are organised; what is wrong is the way in which power and wealth are distributed. Even among small Highlands and Islands communities that are blighted by hunger, rooflessness and fuel poverty, there exists great affluence. From Anders Holch Povlsen, the richest man in Scotland, to the old aristocracy, including the Earl of Seafield, Earl Granville, the Earl of Sutherland, the Camerons of Lochiel and the Duke of Westminster—all with massive land ownership and vast wealth.
The report is right to determine the equality gap in fundamental human rights between rural and urban Scotland. It is right to point to the acute levels of homelessness in our Highlands and Islands, as well as to the access that is denied to basic public services and fundamental human rights such as food and clothing.
However, we have to understand the colossal wealth gap that exists in the Highlands and Islands. We have to recognise the pernicious division of class. We have to comprehend that, unless we tackle this obscene and rising inequality—the division in income, wealth and power—we will never address the fundamental breaches of human rights that are highlighted in this very serious, important and ground-breaking report.
13:11
I thank the Scottish Human Rights Commission for producing its frank and hard-hitting report, and I thank Rhoda Grant for raising it in the chamber.
Although Highlands and Islands MSPs are all too aware of the challenges that the communities that we represent face, I trust that the report catalyses urgent action. As we have heard from members across the chamber, the report covers a range of core obligations that must be addressed. I will focus on two areas in which Scotland is not meeting minimum essential human rights requirements: housing and food.
It is shameful that our people’s survival and dignity are being threatened by Government inaction. Since being elected, my priorities have been to maintain and sustain rural and island populations, to support communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change and to help them to participate in restoring nature. Food and housing are key to those aims, yet a lack of Government priority and action means that Scotland is failing to meet even its most basic international obligations.
On food, the report says that high prices and poverty are depriving a significant number of people of sufficient food. Even physically accessing affordable nutrition is a challenge, with bad weather, creaking infrastructure and overtourism depriving entire communities of fresh food. Basically, people are being left to fend for themselves, with little to no support from the Government.
However, solutions to those problems exist. I have seen how effective community-led growing initiatives have been in providing nutritious food to communities. Tagsa Uibhist in the Western Isles runs market gardens that not only diversify food supply chains but support people to access a wider variety of foods. Such projects must be better funded, and I secured the passing of an amendment to the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 that aims to open new support pathways for such projects. I urge the Government to provide that support swiftly to guarantee food to our Highland and Island communities.
The report highlights the dire housing situation across the region. I frequently hear from constituents who are unable to access affordable homes in their communities. The report has rightly identified that that is a major driver of depopulation. Although the Government has recognised the issue to some extent, its housing targets are not on track to reduce homelessness. We heard earlier from Emma Roddick what that can bring about in people’s lives.
Of Scotland’s population, 17 per cent is rural, yet the Government’s target aims to build only 10 per cent of affordable homes in rural areas. The report shows that there are not enough small, cheap-to-run properties as it is and, judging by current activity, the situation will not improve any time soon.
We must see more support for capacity-building organisations so that communities have support to meet their own housing needs; we must see councils adopting facilitation and supportive approaches to help communities to meet those needs; and we must see the Scottish Government provide the right level of funding to ensure that we exceed the 10 per cent target.
Although construction is important, it must go hand in hand with turning existing empty properties into homes. We can make three restored empty properties for the price of one new build. Let us become a retrofit nation and solve this crisis.
As an MSP, I consistently raise those vital issues and offer solutions. I hope that the damning findings of the SHRC’s report focus hearts and minds at all levels of government. As Professor Angela O’Hagan says in the report, while some communities may be remote,
“their access to human rights should not be.”
13:15
I thank Rhoda Grant for bringing this important debate to the chamber. The Scottish Human Rights Commission’s report “Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Highlands and Islands” fills an identified gap in evidence on economic, social and cultural rights in rural Scotland, and I extend my thanks to all the researchers and participants who were involved in the project.
The report demonstrates many long-standing and interconnected issues that I have previously raised in the chamber. Its findings are familiar to those of us with experience of life in rural and island Scotland. The report confirms that much of the housing stock in the region is old, poorly insulated and prone to damp, mould and expensive heating costs. That rings true for Shetland, which has among the highest rates of fuel poverty in the country. The irony that the islands are in the centre of the country’s energy production area is not lost on those of us who live there.
The fact that building costs are higher than in other areas of Scotland is an evident barrier to house building in Shetland. There has been a slowdown in construction as a result of the pandemic and Brexit, which, along with the increased cost of construction materials, has resulted in insufficient available stock and building capacity.
The report found that, in some areas, a lack of housing is the single biggest factor that is contributing to depopulation. That can lead to people leaving the region, but it can also—as is happening in Shetland—result in people moving from islands and rural areas to towns.
The lack of affordable and available housing is cited as the biggest barrier to filling key worker and professional roles. Another significant barrier to participation in employment is poor digital access, which also exacerbates social isolation. The Scottish Government is already well aware that parts of the Highlands and Islands suffer from digital exclusion, and it must do more to enact targeted and comprehensive solutions to bridge that digital divide.
Regarding barriers to the right to health, the report notes that there is particular concern about the provision of maternity and gynaecology services in Caithness and Sutherland, which is an issue that my MP colleague Jamie Stone has long been campaigning on. Since maternity provision in Wick was downgraded, more than 14,000 patients a year have had to travel to Inverness, and no risk assessments on patient safety are carried out. Women who were surveyed reported feeling unsafe and terrified by the journey and by the possibility of giving birth en route. Due to delays in accessing the hospital in emergencies, some women have been left with loss of fertility. The situation is unsustainable and is putting patients at risk. I urge the Scottish Government to review the maternity model for the north of Scotland.
Patients across the Highlands and Islands incur substantial costs in accessing healthcare. As the report states, reimbursement
“rarely covers the actual costs of travel and ... accommodation.”
I am not surprised that the report found that some people choose not to access healthcare due to travel costs. For Shetland patients, attending an appointment on the Scottish mainland often involves spending multiple nights away because of transport schedules, which increases the cost. I have pressed the Scottish Government for action on its promised review of the patient travel scheme. It must prioritise that as a matter of urgency.
Scotland’s islands and rural areas are home to resourceful and supportive communities, but those communities should not be left to fill the gaps that are highlighted in the report. The Scottish Government should take seriously people’s reported feelings of despair and of being neglected. It is not too much to ask for people who live in the Highlands and Islands not to be disadvantaged simply because of where they live. I ask the Government to review its policies to address the concerns that are raised in the report. It is time for the Government to be serious about supporting rural and island Scotland.
13:19
I congratulate Rhoda Grant on bringing this important debate to the chamber, and I join her and other rural MSPs in welcoming the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s spotlight report.
Although the project’s findings are specific to the Highlands and Islands, they resonate deeply with us in Dumfries and Galloway. The report, which has been widely praised by community groups, charities and organisations, highlights the pervasive issues of rooflessness, hunger and limited access to healthcare—issues that we in Galloway are all too familiar with.
With rooflessness and homelessness remaining a pressing concern, many individuals and families continue to struggle with inadequate housing. That impacts not only on their physical safety but on their mental and emotional wellbeing. In rural Galloway, we have seen the devastating effects of rooflessness on our communities, so it is imperative that we take concrete steps to provide safe and affordable housing for all our residents. Sadly, the current target for house building in rural Scotland is an arbitrary figure that does not address the unique challenges that we face, and that is another factor that drives depopulation.
The issue of hunger is equally critical across Scotland. Given that we are a country that is rich in agricultural resources, it is unbelievable that food insecurity remains a reality for many. The report’s findings serve as a stark reminder that we must do more to ensure that everyone has access to nutritious and affordable food. That is a matter not just of survival but of dignity and equality.
The report highlights access to healthcare as another significant challenge. In Dumfries and Galloway, just as in the Highlands, there are long waiting times and limited availability of services, which are barriers to the care that our residents need. That is not only a violation of their rights but a threat to their health and wellbeing. We need increased investment in healthcare infrastructure to ensure that everyone, regardless of their location, can access the medical care that they require.
The report’s finding that
“not a single human right”
that was examined
“meets all the conditions of adequacy under international law”
is deeply concerning. That highlights the urgent need for policy reforms and renewed efforts to uphold and protect those fundamental rights. The Scottish Government must act on the report and review its current policies to address the deficiencies that have been identified.
Dr Gordon Baird, who is a retired GP and an influential medical expert, commented to me on the SHRC’s findings of
“inaccessible health care services that fail to meet minimum core obligations”
and, more worryingly, of
“a lack of a cohesive or coherent strategy to fulfil these obligations”,
as well as
“policies that should be adaptable to the specific needs of remote and rural areas”.
In west Galloway, the main town of Stranraer is 75 miles west of the administrative hub of Dumfries and 85 miles south-west of Glasgow, which is where the closest tertiary medical centre is located. In 1999, the editor of the BMJ reported that
“Dumfries looks on Stranraer as a ‘wild west’ town that makes much too much fuss and won’t accept that it’s a rural backwater”.
It seems to me that that attitude towards rural residents persists across rural areas, with health board managers often dismissing areas as out west—such as in my case—or as a problem. The situation is now worse than ever, with the main issues being maternity care, cancer, step-down care and cottage hospital facilities. Deprivation compounds the effects, too.
The report identifies that
“Some of the most critical issues ... are the apparent failure to meet the most basic international obligations”
and finds that
“Another area of concern is the apparent regression or deterioration of rights”,
which is being
“exacerbated by decisions on budget reductions or indeed the complete elimination of previously existing services, without sufficient mitigating measures.”
Across rural Scotland, we can draw valuable lessons from the spotlight project. By acknowledging the shared challenges, we can work together to find solutions that can benefit all.
We commend the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s spotlight project for its critical insight, but our response must extend beyond recognition—we must commit to taking tangible actions on all the issues that it has identified. The Scottish Government must review and revise its policies to ensure the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights for all the residents of all of rural Scotland, not just the Highlands and Islands. It must not wait for the commission to look into the same issues in the south of Scotland. Across the chamber, we must strive to build a more just and equitable Scotland, where everybody’s individual rights are respected.
13:24
I, too, thank Rhoda Grant for bringing the motion to Parliament. Like her, I thank the Scottish Human Rights Commission for the report that is at the centre of the debate, and I very much echo the sentiments that have been expressed on the detail and breadth of the report. I commend the commission’s programme of work to hear directly from rights holders across 20 of our Highlands and Islands communities, as has been mentioned in contributions today.
Contrary to Mr Leonard’s concern that the Scottish Government has not allocated time for these matters to be explored, during last month’s human rights day debate, the report rightly generated significant interest and welcome challenge on advancing human rights realisation for people in our Highlands and Islands.
The report is wide ranging—
Will the minister take an intervention?
Of course.
For clarity, does that mean that you will schedule Government time to debate the report?
I will not. I ask the minister to respond.
Of course, your perspective on these matters is always welcome, Presiding Officer.
I go back to my earlier point that I am more than willing to consider these matters. I remind Mr Leonard that his party regularly has time to bring forward its own debates, and I am sure that he will speak to his business manager about allocating a debate in Labour Party time. I will, of course, give consideration to using Scottish Government time as well.
As I was saying, the report is wide ranging and the rights that are described in it touch on virtually every area of life in the Highlands and Islands. Many of the challenges that are described are interconnected. I recognise that the report rightly poses challenges to the Scottish Government. We are considering the report and we will come back, in due course, on how we intend to respond to it.
Although some of the issues that are raised apply beyond the Highlands and Islands, as Mr Carson has reminded us, we need to make sure that our actions reflect the specific needs of the communities that are directly referred to in the report, in order to advance the realisation of all of their human rights.
Before turning to members’ contributions in detail, I briefly acknowledge the approach that the commission has taken in the report. In particular, I welcome its efforts to pilot a new model of human rights monitoring that brings together the lived experiences of our Highlands and Islands communities with other qualitative and quantitative data that assesses that evidence against international human rights standards. I am aware that the commission plans to expand that model over the coming years to build a baseline picture of economic, social and cultural rights realisation across the breadth of Scotland. In some senses, the report is a trailblazer and its methodology will be applicable beyond the Highlands and Islands.
I am grateful to members for their contributions. The report is wide ranging and touches on work across all portfolios. Emma Roddick made some inference to that when she said that she could have delivered 12 speeches on the subject. I will not be able to respond to the full breadth of matters in detail, but I assure members that the Government is considering the report carefully.
The Government continues to take action that is geared towards improving service delivery and design, to meet the specific needs of communities in the Highlands and Islands. That includes action to address some of the issues that are outlined in the commission’s report on housing, transport and depopulation, for example.
One proposal in the report that the Government could implement now is human rights-based budgeting. Will that be considered? That would address an awful lot of the concerns that were raised in the report.
I have already made the point that the Government will give full consideration to everything in the report—as it should, because it is a thorough and diligent piece of work—and that is one of the areas that will be considered.
On investment and support for the Highlands and Islands, I was about to mention some of the activity that we are undertaking in the here and now. Since 2021-22, our islands programme capital funding scheme has distributed more than £15 million of support for 71 infrastructure projects across 51 different islands. Beatrice Wishart mentioned digital connectivity, and I know that some of the greatest challenges in this country in that regard are in the Highlands and Islands. We have provided investment of more than £600 million in our reaching 100 per cent programme, which is expected to connect more than 113,000 premises across Scotland. Our forthcoming delivery plan and the new national islands plan will set out how we will deliver for our mainland, rural and island communities.
Turning to food insecurity and the right to food, which have been touched on, I note that Rhoda Grant, in particular, has continued to champion issues of hunger and food insecurity. It should go without saying—I will say it anyway—that no one should have to compromise on food or other essentials. Food insecurity is driven by insufficient and insecure household income. That is one reason why we continue to call on the UK Government to deliver an essentials guarantee—for which the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has also called, estimating that, this year, that could lift 140,000 people in Scotland out of poverty.
The point was made about some people having to choose between heating and eating, and the Deputy First Minister made the point that nearly 40 per cent of the population of the Western Isles are in fuel poverty. Beatrice Wishart also mentioned the issue—I do not have the specific numbers, but it is a challenge in Shetland as well. Of course, we know that that is an issue.
Jamie Halcro Johnston spoke about some of the challenges of infrastructure and the irony that those areas in which the energy is generated do not benefit directly from it. I reflect on the fact that the energy market is regulated from Westminster rather than by the Scottish Government, but we are aware of those challenges.
The point that was being made is that a lot of the planning decisions on energy infrastructure are being passed by the Scottish Government.
You said that—
Speak through the chair.
My apologies. The minister said that the Government would give due consideration to the report and would come back in due course. When it comes to timescales, “due course” means nothing. When does the minister expect to come back with the Government’s response?
It would be remiss of me to provide an exact timescale, and I do not have one before me just now. However, the commitment is to come back as soon as possible.
The report was published in November, which is not that long ago. Nonetheless, I remind Richard Leonard that we were able to have a debate on human rights just a month afterwards, in which some of the issues were reflected.
My point on fuel poverty and the choice between heating and eating is that we should welcome the fact that Scottish Government initiatives, including the Scottish child payment, are keeping tens of thousands of children out of poverty. From next year, we will implement our winter heating payment, which will reverse the removal of the winter fuel payment for 100,000 people across the Highlands and Islands. Again, that was referred to by the Deputy First Minister.
To return to the issue of the right to food, the Government agrees with Rhoda Grant that such a right should be brought into Scots law. The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice has met Rhoda Grant to discuss those matters and will continue to give them consideration.
Presiding Officer, I think that I am well over my time.
There is much more that I could say, which reflects my earlier point that this is a wide-ranging report to which we will give consideration. I have been unable to touch on many of the issues that I had hoped to touch on—for example, in relation to housing, including our on-going investment in social housing. That is a challenge across the country, particularly in the Highlands and Islands. I reassure Ariane Burgess that the commitment to building social housing—affordable housing, rather—in rural and island communities involves at least 10 per cent of the houses that we will build being in such communities. I emphasise the point that it will be at least 10 per cent.
I thank members for their contributions and I give an assurance to the Parliament that I will consider the report’s contents and come back in due course.
That concludes the debate, and I suspend this meeting of Parliament until 2 o’clock.
13:33 Meeting suspended.Air ais
First Minister’s Question TimeAir adhart
Portfolio Question Time