Latest news with #NicolaSturgeon
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
'Incompetent' ScotGov 'failings' on affordable homes pledge laid bare
The Scottish Government-backed Affordable Housing Supply Programme was officially launched in March 2022 with a fanfare fronted by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon which stated that of 110,000 homes promised by 2032, 77,700 would be for social rent - aimed at low income families. But since then, official data shows there have been 28,537 affordable homes delivered - 5000 short of what was needed to be on target to deliver on the pledge. Having fallen behind, to fulfil on its promise by 2032, the Scottish Government would have to deliver at a rate of 1005-a-month from now on, but that is two-and-a-half times the 396 affordable homes-a-month that actually were approved for public funding in 2024/25. To meet its pledge over the building of social homes for rent, the Scottish Government would have had had to oversee the delivery of 23,692 homes, but currently ministers are around 2,800 short of what was needed to be on target. The afforeable homes pledge (Image: NQ) To meet the promise of 77,000 homes for social rent by 2032, ministers would have to deliver at a rate of around 690-per-month from now on. But it can be revealed that in 2024/25 an average of just 347 affordable homes for social rent were being approved per month for funding - the lowest level for a decade. The Scottish Tenants Organisation said that the delivery of affordable homes has been shown to be "woefully short" and said that it shows the "sheer scale of this catastrophe in the social rented sector being overseen by this incompetent Scottish Government" and said there needs to be an emergency housing action plan. They said: "The Scottish Government is clearly failing the people of Scotland with declining approvals, starts and completions in the affordable housing supply programme and at this rate will fail to meet their own housing targets. This is completely unacceptable." Housing rights group Living Rent said that despite declaring a housing emergency a year ago, it has "completely failed to show any leadership on solving the crisis of affordable housing". Read more: "Declaring the emergency should have pushed the government to take concerted action but instead we have seen empty statements and not enough funding," they said. The Herald revealed in 2023 how professional standards body CIH had raised concerns over cuts to the budget and warned progress on homelessness is at risk without a funding commitment over rapid rehousing in permanent homes rather than in temporary accommodation. In the wake of the Scottish Government making a symbolic housing emergency declaration in mid-May, last year the key housing professionals group had said that while it is a start, it was not enough as the affordable homes budget, a key part of the Scottish Government bid to end the crisis lost more than £300m over the previous two years alone. John Swinney (Image: NQ) But in December, John Swinney reversed a near £200m annual cut to the provision of affordable homes although campaigners said it still fell short of what is needed to end the housing and homelessness crisis. The Herald's seven-point charter for change to help end Scotland's housing emergency, launched last July, was credited by some for sparking the change of heart. It included a call to cut the number of children living in temporary accommodation and a significant increase in the building of affordable homes. New official analysis further shows that the number of all new housebuilding starts continued to drop in 2024/25 after and is at its lowest since 2012/13 with 15,053 begun in the last financial year. Some 13 of Scotland's 32 councils declared housing emergencies since Argyll and Bute Council became the first in June 2023. It comes as the number of small and medium size (SME) home builders has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years. Red tape and rising costs are highlighted as key issues, with nearly 9 in 10 survey respondents saying government policies are making it harder for them to build, according to sector body Homes for Scotland. Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator of the STO said: "Affordable housing has to become the number one priority for the Scottish Government which means that they have to spend hundreds of millions of pounds more to build tens of thousands of new affordable homes to provide warm and secure homes for all so as to greatly reduce social housing waiting lists and eradicate homelessness in Scotland." Aditi Jehangir, chairman of Living Rent, added: "Every voice on the issue is in agreement. Scotland needs more social housing. This government needs to take proper action now. Gordon MacRae, Shelter Scotland's assistant director for communications & advocacy, said the decline in the number of social homes being delivered was the "inevitable, and entirely foreseeable, consequence of repeated changes to the housing budget and lack of urgent action from the Scottish Government". Gordon MacRae (Image: Sarah Beveridge) He said: "If ministers fail to deliver the 110,000 new affordable homes by 2032, they will turn their backs on the thousands of people in Scotland who are being harmed by temporary accommodation while waiting for their forever home. 'Homelessness is rising across the country, and this is the opportunity for our new cabinet secretary for housing to lead in tackling the housing emergency and do things differently. We need homes for people experiencing homelessness and to get those 10,360 children out of temporary accommodation. This must start with sustained investment for more social homes.' Earlier this month the First Minister urged the UK Government to take more action and spend more money to address Scotland's housing crisis. Two weeks ago the First Minister was subsequently challenged to finally fix Scotland's housing emergency after the UK Government announced a multi-billion pound investment to build more affordable homes. The Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that £39 billion will be spent over the next 10 years in England to boost the supply of properties available for social and mid-market rent. The Chancellor announced the Scottish Government will receive £52 bn in total over the next three years, which means an additional £9bn for Holyrood by 2029. That came as it was announced Mairi McAllan would serve as the new Cabinet Secretary for Housing after receiving constant criticism in slumps in new build properties at a time of rising homelessness. The housing secretary said: 'Having a safe, warm and affordable place to call home is critical to a life of dignity and opportunity. The Scottish Government has a strong record in supporting the delivery of affordable homes but demand is high and we must step up our efforts." She said the affordable homes delivery analysis demonstrated "the challenge we face, but it will be my top priority to ensure everyone in Scotland, and in particular our children, have the opportunity to thrive and I am focussed on delivering that real change". She added: 'These challenges, which are not unique to Scotland, are made harder to tackle due to an incredibly difficult financial settlement from the UK Government. However, we have consistently invested and have delivered more than 139,000 affordable homes from 2007 to March 2025. 99,000 of these have been made available for social rent. That's 47% more per head of population than England and 73% more than Wales as of March 2024. 'I will re-double efforts now by investing £768m this financial year in affordable housing and give tenants stronger protection against damp and mould through Awaab's Law. We'll also invest a further £2m this year to help councils unlock barriers and to target empty homes."
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
STEPHEN DAISLEY: We're governed by a born-to-rule elite...and the WhatsApp scandal shows EXACTLY how out of touch they are
Against stiff competition, one of the most outrageous happenings inside Nicola Sturgeon 's government was the routine deletion of messages during the Covid-19 pandemic. The revelation came in evidence before the UK inquiry into the management of the global health crisis. One after another, senior figures in the Scottish Government admitted they had deleted WhatsApps and other messages. Sturgeon had erased her digital missives and so had John Swinney. National clinical director Jason Leitch described 'WhatsApp deletion' as 'a pre-bed ritual'. Senior civil servant Ken Thomson posted on message threads that their contents were 'discoverable under FOI' and advised: 'Know where the "clear chat" button is.' In office, Sturgeon seldom missed an opportunity to highlight where Scotland's government was outperforming England's, but here was one regard in which she was happy to be unexceptional. Senior Westminster figures got rid of their messages and their Holyrood counterparts were no better. Why am I raking up this ancient history when the world is exploding all around us? Well, because an important announcement was slipped out on Friday - usually a quiet day in Scottish politics - and I think it deserves a little noise. Deputy first minister Kate Forbes confirmed that her ban on ministers and civil servants using unofficial messaging apps to do official business was now in effect. The prohibition was initially trailed before Christmas and reflects concern about rules and practices at the height of the pandemic. Now, six months on, WhatsApp and similar platforms have been removed from government-issued phones, with the (common sense) exception of services that deal with public safety and emergencies, which will get longer to make the transition. Speaking on Friday, Forbes said: 'The use of mobile messaging apps increased during the pandemic as staff worked remotely in unprecedented and difficult circumstances. Having reflected on our working practices, we are now implementing changes to the use of such apps.' However, the Scottish Government should not be allowed to issue a lowkey update and then press on with other business. Let's recall how we got here. Because ministers aren't alone in having 'reflected' on their working practices. In addition to Lady Hallett's inquiry, and the negative public response to top officials wiping their communications archives, message retention was put under the microscope in the Martins Report. Former Channel Islands Information Commissioner Emma Martins was tasked with reviewing the Scottish Government's information protocols and what she found was lamentable. There was 'little to evidence a consistent and widespread knowledge, understanding, or application' of the policy on messaging apps, 'including rules around retention, exportation, and deletion'. There was 'insufficient evidence of a proactive strategy' on records management and 'an abundance of missed opportunities and early warning signs'. Martins concluded that it was 'impossible to take any comfort from the policy'. The report recommended a fresh approach to messaging apps that ensured 'all government communication is conducted in a managed environment' and that systems have 'appropriate security and data retention facilities'. Banishing external communications platforms from government phones is certainly a step in the right direction, but why is it a step that's needed at all? It's no coincidence that the minister rolling out these changes is one of the few who did the right thing when it came to pandemic-era communications. Whatever else her critics might say about her, Forbes understood her obligations to transparency and public accountability. Even after she was told to begin deleting messages with her private office two years after the outset of the pandemic, she retained all WhatsApps to and from Cabinet colleagues and government officials. Her integrity meant Lady Hallett's inquiry was able to access conversations at the most senior levels that would otherwise have been lost to the erase button. But that same integrity must compel the deputy first minister to be honest about this policy. Among the various security and data protection advantages of in-house communications networks, there is also the greater monitoring capability they hand to administrators. In plain language: it's harder for a user to delete messages from an in-house system than from WhatsApp or Telegram. On the most charitable reading of this policy, it's an admission that those in the most senior roles in the Scottish Government are inept in the proper use and storage of communications. A less charitable reading is that the Scottish Government does not trust its personnel, ministers and civil servants alike, not to scrub information that could be of national importance. That is a desperate state of affairs. As Emma Martins stated in her report, 'something went wrong for the Scottish Government' and the issue was one that 'runs much deeper than a single policy document or checklist'. An organisation, she said, needed 'those operating within it to share a basic set of values'. Abiding by the rules was 'not a tick box exercise' but 'a way of thinking', which must be 'embedded into everything', not to avoid 'the threat of sanction' but because 'it is the right thing to do'. Tel:ling ministers and officials to use only permitted messaging systems, to treat data with care, to retain communications or log their salient points - these are all well and good but the very fact that the people running the country need to be told this speaks to an institutional problem inside the Scottish Government. Systems and safeguards are only as good as the willingness of those who use them to abide by their spirit as well as their letter. The citizenry should feel reassured that public servants have the integrity to do the right thing without needing it spelled out to them. That they are storing messages properly because they recognise their obligations to scrutiny and transparency, not because a spreadsheet is monitoring their compliance. Kate Forbes did the right thing during the pandemic but her messaging policy can only succeed if there are enough like her in government, and that seems unlikely. A government marinated in spin and cynicism for so long isn't about to mend its way because of new rules. You need people in public life who are there for the right reasons. After 18 years of the SNP in charge, transparency and openness have been thoroughly sidelined. Going through the motions is not the same as genuine accountability, it's working to a policy rather than a moral principle. This administration talks a lot about its commitment to open government but time and again it is shown to be a hollow promise. We have a born-to-rule elite with altogether more confidence in their abilities than is merited and this arrogance has engendered a conviction that the public deserves to know only what their betters want them to know. This is no way to run a democratic government, but it is not a problem that can be tweaked away. It can be addressed only by a blunt and bracing assessment of the calibre of politicians and policymakers coming into Holyrood and a conversation about how we can do better. The WhatsApp deletion scandal was a low moment for devolved government in Scotland but it would be foolhardy to assume that the problem has been solved. Holyrood requires a new culture of integrity, transparency and accountability. The work of creating this culture cannot be undertaken by those responsible for the past two decades. It calls for a new government under new leadership.
Daily Record
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Record
'SNP will throw everything at beating me - including the campervan', says Fergus Ewing
Ewing announced on Friday that he will stand as an independent against the SNP in the Inverness and Nairn constituency next year. The SNP will "throw everything" including "the kitchen sink and the campervan" into beating Fergus Ewing, the veteran MSP has said. Ewing announced on Friday that he will stand as an independent against the SNP in the Inverness and Nairn constituency next year. A £100,000 campervan was seized by police from Nicola Sturgeon's former mother-in-law's house as part of the investigation into the SNP's finances. Ewing told BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show: "I'm sure the party will throw everything into it, every effort, the kitchen sink and perhaps even the campervan". The 67-year-old is standing against SNP candidate Emma Roddick, who is currently a Highlands and Islands list MSP. He denied that he could be helping other parties by splitting the vote. He said: "I don't think that will happen. I'm fighting to win. I have a large majority, a fairly large personal vote. I take nothing for granted. "I am doing this because I think it's the right thing to do for my constituents, for democracy in Scotland, in the sense that I want to... not to bring anybody down but to raise the standard for parliament and to speak out. "It was Edwin Morgan, the great national bard, who said about the Scottish Parliament, what people don't want is 'a nest of fearties'. "That doesn't serve anyone's interests, MSPs selected by party leaders on a list. Instead there should be an open list where people can pick whoever they wish from that list. So I believe it's the right decision." Ewing said he had not spoken to SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney about him standing. He said: "Well, no, I haven't. But I have given clear, fair warning. Not least in March when I said, 'I'm minded to stand as an independent. I cannot stand for the SNP and defend the indefensible'." Ewing has been the MSP for Inverness and Nairn since the Scottish Parliament returned in 1999 and was a minister for 14 years under Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. He has been a vocal critic of the Scottish Government and was particularly damning about the coalition agreement with the Greens. He spoke out against the deposit return scheme, gender reform, marine protected areas and what he said was a lack of support for the oil and gas industry. He defied the party whip to back a vote of no confidence in then-Green minister Lorna Slater in 2023. This resulted in him being temporarily suspended from the SNP Holyrood group. Ewing had confirmed in March that he would not stand for the SNP - blaming the Scottish Government's failure to dual the A9 and A96 roads. Party insiders told the Record on Saturday that Ewing would have won the Inverness and Nairn candidate selection if he had put himself forward.
Daily Mail
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Finally, SNP bans WhatsApp from official mobiles in wake of deleted messages scandal
The use of WhatsApp on Scottish Government devices has been banned following the Covid inquiry deleted messages scandal. The SNP Government confirmed that a new policy which ensures mobile message apps like WhatsApp are removed from its phones, tablets and laptops came into effect yesterday (FRI). It applies to all government employees, including ministers, special advisers, civil servants and contractors. But concerns were raised that the move will not be enough to remove the 'secrecy and evasion' culture in the Scottish Government. During the UK Covid-19 inquiry, it was revealed that former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon 's messages from throughout the pandemic had been deleted, and that national clinical director Jason Leitch said in a private message that 'WhatsApp deletion is a pre-bed ritual'. It led to claims that claims that there was an 'industrial-scale' deletion policy at the Scottish Government in an attempt to avoid scrutiny. Announcing that the new policy restricting mobile messaging apps on Government devices yesterday, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said it was part of a 'commitment to openness and transparency'. Scottish Conservative MSP Craig Hoy said: 'This is as close as we'll get to an apology from the SNP for the shameful, industrial-scale deletion of Covid WhatsApp messages which was orchestrated by John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon. 'This change in policy is all well and good but the horse has already bolted for bereaved families who were denied the answers they deserved over the decisions taken by SNP ministers during the pandemic. 'Secrecy and evasion are hardwired into this SNP government, so the Scottish people will not be duped into thinking one overdue concession marks a change in culture.' The new policy states that mobile messaging apps and non-corporate communication channels will not be permitted on government devices. A small number of business areas will be given a 'transition period' until the end of the year, including those responsible for responding to emergencies such as wildfires or for matters of safety and security. Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: 'None of this changes the fact that the Scottish Government deleted WhatsApp messages on a wholesale basis throughout the pandemic. 'In doing so, they denied the Covid bereaved a full understanding of the decisions that were made, undermining their search for justice and closure. 'The SNP will have to move mountains before people can be confident this deception won't happen again.' Ms Forbes said: 'We are setting out a clear approach to ending government use of mobile messaging apps, and this will support wider work to deliver on our commitment to openness and transparency. 'The use of mobile messaging apps increased during the pandemic as staff worked remotely in unprecedented and difficult circumstances. Having reflected on our working practices, we are now implementing changes to the use of such apps. 'This follows on from actions to implement other recommendations from Ms Martins' externally-led review including updating our hybrid working policy. 'I want to reassure the public that it is a priority of this government to maintain secure and searchable data, ensuring compliance with all records management rules. We will continue to act to ensure our data policies are robust, especially considering technological advances.'
BBC News
20-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Scottish government to remove WhatsApp from phones
The Scottish government is ending the use of WhatsApp and other "non-corporate" messaging services for government business on its mobile move comes after the UK Covid Inquiry revealed officials and ministers had deleted WhatsApp messages exchanged during the government had previously committed to ending its use of WhatsApp and other non-official messaging applications by spring of this First Minister Kate Forbes said the move would increase "openness and transparency" in government - but the Scottish Conservatives said the public "would not be duped into thinking one overdue concession marks a change in culture." But opposition MSPs have said the new policy is a "clear admission" from the government that it was wrong to delete messages from during the policy has now come into affect but some emergency and security teams will continue to phase out the app by the end of the year. As part of the UK Covid Inquiry, it emerged top civil servants and government ministers, including Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney, deleted WhatsApp messages referring to government business which had been requested by the inquiry they said any "salient" points were recorded on the corporate record and only informal messages were Scottish government ministers - including Forbes, who served as finance secretary during the pandemic - said they had retained their WhatsApp successor Humza Yousaf ordered a review of mobile messaging which was carried out by Emma Martins - the former Channel Islands data protection report found there was "little to evidence a consistent and widespread knowledge, understanding, or application" of mobile messaging apps, "including rules around retention, exportation, and deletion". Data policies The Scottish government's policy on mobile messaging applications states that any material relevant to decisions has to be recorded on the corporate Forbes previously said government figures had acted in line with that policy, but that they had "reflected" on the policy in hindsight."The use of mobile messaging apps increased during the pandemic as staff worked remotely in unprecedented and difficult circumstances," she said."Having reflected on our working practices, we are now implementing changes to the use of such apps."The deputy first minister said the policy will apply to all Scottish government employees, including contractors, senior civil servants, special advisers and said ministers and staff should use corporate-approved apps, such as Teams and email, and personal phones should not be used for official business. Forbes said the government prioritised keeping "secure and searchable data" in line with record management added: "We will continue to act to ensure our data policies are robust, especially considering technological advances."Scottish Conservative MSP Craig Hoy said: "This is as close as we'll get to an apology from the SNP for the shameful, industrial-scale deletion of Covid WhatsApp messages which was orchestrated by John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon."This change in policy is all well and good but the horse has already bolted for bereaved families who were denied the answers they deserved over the decisions taken by SNP ministers during the pandemic."Secrecy and evasion are hardwired into this SNP government, so the Scottish people will not be duped into thinking one overdue concession marks a change in culture."The UK government was also criticised over its record-keeping, with former Scottish Secretary Alister Jack telling the inquiry he had deleted all of his messages to create memory space on his Scottish Information Commissioner, who oversees freedom of information laws, also launched a review into how officials and ministers use and retain informal watchdog said the UK Covid inquiry had raised "significant practice concerns" over how ministers used messaging services such as WhatsApp.
