Fairer Scotland

  • Changes in the Private Rented Sector – May 2018

    23rd May 2018 by

    It’s just over six months since the Scottish Government introduced the new Private Residential Tenancy and it’s important that everyone renting privately, or thinking about it, knows about these changes and their new rights. Since 1 December 2017, all new tenancies in the Private Rented Sector have been private residential tenancies (existing short assured tenancies...

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  • Eradicating fuel poverty: Housing Minister, Kevin Stewart

    21st May 2018 by

    Eradicating fuel poverty is crucial to making Scotland fairer and that is why we will shortly introduce the Fuel Poverty (Target, Definition and Strategy) (Scotland) Bill. This Bill, which many will know as the Warm Homes Bill, will enshrine in legislation our long term ambition to eliminate fuel poverty. Of course, fuel poverty is about...

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  • Mental Health Awareness Week

    16th May 2018 by

    As the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week campaign is stress, you will no doubt have seen many groups and organisations talking about how they are helping people to recognise and manage their stress. There is a lot of good advice out there and for many of us it is about finding what...

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  • Strengthening family food support

    5th April 2018 by

    As a Government, we are committed to improving the health of our nation and tackling inequality. One of the key challenges we face in achieving this is how to ensure everyone can have a healthy diet, and in particular how to help families with young children to make sure they get the best start in...

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  • Fire and smoke alarm regulations

    3rd April 2018 by

    I recently announced that the Scottish Government would be strengthening the current standards we have in place for fire and smoke alarms to ensure all homes have the highest level of protection by the end of 2020. Fire alarms are proven to save lives and are one of the most important investments you can make...

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  • Ending homelessness

    29th March 2018 by

    This week I chaired the first meeting of our newly refreshed Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG). The group has been re-convened to oversee the work of the Scottish Government, local government and partners to end homelessness in Scotland for good. I am looking forward to taking action through this forum in partnership with colleagues...

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  • Ending Racial Discrimination

    21st March 2018 by

    Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights this year and the Declaration is as relevant today as it was the day it was signed – it establishes the equal dignity and worth of every person and that human rights are universal. Everybody should be able to live their lives in...

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  • Tenants and landlords benefit from new regulations

    31st January 2018 by

    A new, statutory Code of Practice for letting agents, which will improve standards and empower tenants, has come into force. 

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  • Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Bill

    30th January 2018 by

    Women make up 51% of our population, but they are under-represented in decision-making positions across Scotland, including in the boardroom. Women continue to be paid less than their male counterparts and reports of sexual harassment and violence in our society keep reminding us that these issues are not going away. This is not acceptable and...

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  • Registered property factors- consultation on a draft revised Code of Conduct

    21st December 2017 by

    Property factors play an important role in housing in Scotland. They help many homeowners ensure that the shared spaces connected to their property- roofs, communal stairways, shared gardens and so on are properly maintained. The Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 established a framework to better protect homeowners who use factoring services. The 2011 Act created...

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