Seòmar agus comataidhean

You can have two.

Good morning. In the committee’s evidence session last week, one of the witnesses suggested that developers are sitting on permissioned land. I will go to Jennifer Kennedy from Homes for Scotland first. What is your opinion of that statement?

You have referenced planning issues a lot this morning. Those are important because, if developers are waiting for more than a year to have their application progressed, that will undoubtedly have an impact on the housing emergency that we are experiencing. What could be done as a quick fix to improve our planning system and ensure that more developers can access it without long waits?

It is important to look at the issue in the round.

Finally, I have a more generic question for all panel members. What is the biggest blocker to the delivery of new homes? That could be in the social setting or of course in the private rented sector.

Thank you, convener—I appreciate the opportunity to come in with a last-minute question.

I note that, similarly to Fulton MacGregor, I regularly work alongside Stephen Llewellyn in relation to local housing casework.

My question is on housing waiting lists and the points-based system that operates in council areas up and down the country. Based on what we have heard today in relation to needs, wants and aspirations, will there come a point when we have to adapt the points-based system to meet modern-day housing challenges?

I will kick off with Stephen Llewellyn, given the vast amount of people who are on housing waiting lists in North Lanarkshire just now.

Good morning. My question relates to rural areas, which we know are in danger of being left behind when it comes to Scotland’s housing emergency. Many jobs in rural Scotland tend to be lower paid, with wages in general not keeping pace with inflation. There is also less local infrastructure and less access to public services, which makes it less likely that young people will stay, so they often move to other parts of the country. How do we tackle depopulation? Could addressing that issue be the answer to tackling Scotland’s housing emergency in our rural areas?

I do not have a question at the moment, convener.

Thank you. It is great to be back on the committee and I look forward to working with you all once more. My only declaration of interest at present is that I was a serving councillor on North Lanarkshire Council between 2017 and 2021. Of course, if there are any future declarations of interest, I will update the committee as and when appropriate.

I associate myself with Paul O’Kane’s comments about the fact that access to legal services is vitally important to everyone. We have been speaking about human rights this morning. We need to ensure that people can access legal services when they need to. I share the concerns about the annulment as it is presented in the motion. That is not because I do not believe that the matter should be looked into. It absolutely should be looked into.

I seek reassurance from the minister with regard to the review of legal fees, which she touched on briefly in her opening statement. The committee could explore that or the Scottish Government could pursue it directly on the back of what we have discussed today. It would be helpful if the minister could address that when she sums up. I sympathise with the points that have been raised about ensuring that people can get access to justice support when they need it.

We can take that point, and we can look to work together on these important issues, but the human rights bill is not coming into place so that we can scrutinise, debate and inform it. The right to food and the right to housing have been mentioned by other colleagues. Are you disappointed that we cannot have discussions about the right to housing and the right to food, which could have been incorporated in the bill?