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The important point, Mr Griffin, regarding the expert group being pulled together, is that it will look at all that in a little more detail. We will see what recommendations the group comes up with. It is down to the interpretation of each local authority in terms of planning and not just regarding short-term lets. They will have different interpretations of planning guidance and I think that that is the key thing. We will listen to what the expert group says and obviously discuss it with planning colleagues also.

Part of that was done through the implementation update. The issues that have been raised by the committee today need to feed into the discussions with the expert group, which is chaired by VisitScotland. We will mention those issues to colleagues on the group. We have committed to look at the pros and cons of a change, and the expert group will need to consider those, too. I am happy to write to the committee on the considerations in that regard, because you have raised an important point.

I will bring in Anita Stewart on that point, as she has been working on the figures over a period of time.

We have already done that on a number of occasions, Mr MacGregor. We pick up things from a number of sources. One of those was SOLAR—that is the licensing authorities and the feedback that they get on that particular point. There have been different interpretations of licensing from different local authorities so we have consulted, talked to and issued guidance to not only specific local authorities but to all local authorities. The implementation update was trying to pick that up as well and I think that we talked about who the feedback was from. It was from SOLAR, local authorities and organisations that represent the sector. We have already done that and I think that that has been outlined in the report.

We talked about the expert group; we will see what it comes out with and what it thinks that we should be looking at. I imagine that, at some stage, when the expert group reports back, we will look at the recommendations and assess them and contact local authorities and so on.

Anita Stewart has had individual discussions with local authorities on that, so I will bring her in, Mr MacGregor. We have already done the best that we can to try to get consistency while leaving flexibility for the local approach, which is of course really important. Anita, do you want to come in and give a flavour of some of the discussions that you have had with local authorities?

You raised a number of points. I think that Edinburgh needs to be looked at very much on its own. I had meetings with the Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe and we tried to be as accommodating as possible with them about exemptions. We met the council as well. They were really positive meetings.

The Taylor Swift and Oasis concerts have been mentioned, and there is a capacity issue in Edinburgh. The council needs to undertake a piece of work on the capacity of the city. That is an important point. The issue of short-term lets was raised when Taylor Swift was here or when other events have happened, but there is a broader capacity issue that Edinburgh needs to look at. I have discussed that with the council: what can Edinburgh actually take?

It is a case of supply and demand. You might think that short-term lets have a role in that, but the much broader supply-and-demand issue is whether there is enough hotel space for a Taylor Swift or Oasis concert. The council needs to look at that. I do not think that trying to compare hotel space with short-term lets is the best comparison to make. Edinburgh needs to look at its capacity for events.

There is a similar situation with the Commonwealth games, for example. Part of the work that the Commonwealth games team and Glasgow will be doing is to look at the capacity for taking in visitors.

There needs to be a broader review, as we mentioned when we spoke to the festivals. There is a much broader issue for Edinburgh, and I think that you may argue that short-term lets are part of that. The council obviously has to look at the issue in the context of its short-term lets control area, which has nothing to do with licensing as such. Like any local authority, the council has the right, and was given authority from the Scottish Government, to look at having short-term lets control areas. However, the issue with Edinburgh is very much about capacity, and not just short-term lets.

I will clarify the situation. As far as I am aware, the only exemption that the City of Edinburgh Council had was for the Edinburgh festival and so on. I mentioned the discussions about exemptions that I had with the council, the festival and the fringe in relation to the capacity issues that Meghan Gallacher raised. The council may come back to us on the Taylor Swift concerts or the Oasis concerts. I am not aware of the situation as regards exemptions in those periods. I do not know whether Anita Stewart is aware of any other exemptions. I have mentioned the events that we would be looking at.

Whether we are talking about an Oasis concert, a Taylor Swift concert or any other big event, whether in Edinburgh, Glasgow or anywhere else, capacity has to be looked at as part of the planning for such events. Thought needs to be given to how much a city can take in relation to short-term lets, hotel spaces and whatever other capacity is available. That is a piece of work that needs to be done. That falls outwith my remit, but I would always push any local authority to consider what its capacity is to take in an additional 60,000 guests who might be staying for two or three days.

I do not know whether Anita Stewart has anything else to say about exemptions, but the only discussions that I have had have been about the Edinburgh festival and the festival fringe, which, as you know, are long-established events.

I will bring in Anita Stewart in a second. The important point is that, right at the start of this process, we said that we would pull the expert group together. It will be incredibly important as we go through the implementation updates and discuss what we do going forward. We have met VisitScotland and a number of other groups that also have an interest in the matter. As for the expert group itself, Anita Stewart has been dealing with the remit, membership and timescales. I will bring her in and come back after she has given a bit more detail about the logistics and why we pulled the group together.

I will bring in Andy Kinnaird in a little while. We have had various proposals about how we make that process a lot quicker. Edinburgh, for example, has the ability to do that in the short-term lets control area, as has every other local authority. I know that Highland Council is looking at an area or two at the moment. That separate ability relates to a planning point of view.

On licensing, one of the keys things that has come up if a licensing application is going in is whether there is a material change of use. Again, it has been up to each local authority to look at that.

Anita Stewart talked about the broader review that the expert group, chaired by VisitScotland, will look at. The group will go into planning and licensing in a little bit more detail. I will bring in Andy Kinnaird, because I know that he has been looking at the process of licensing and planning. He may want to make other comments, too.

A number of things are emerging. I remember discussing this issue as a member of the committee. In relation to applications, it was estimated that we were talking about 32,000 properties. At the moment, we are talking about a figure of about 30,500, although it is expected that that will go up to about 35,000. The figures are ahead of where we thought that they would be, but we must remember that the initial figures were produced during the Covid period, when there would have been businesses that were struggling to continue.

There has been a slight contrast between the situation in Highland, for example, where the numbers have been very high, and those in Glasgow and Edinburgh, where they have been slightly lower than expected. However, the City of Edinburgh Council has the short-term let control area, and Glasgow City Council is talking about managing the provision of short-term lets. That relates to short-term let control areas as opposed to licensing.

The tourism sector has been recovering reasonably well, although it continues to face the cost of living crisis and so on.

Broadly speaking, we are slightly ahead of where we thought that we would be. The number of short-term lets has fallen slightly, by around 1 per cent or so. There has not been a substantial drop. With regard to the wider impact, we will need to see what happens in the coming months, over Hogmanay, next summer and so on.

Anita, do you have anything to add?

I come from a local authority background and I know that there are obviously different licensing regimes operating. It is very much the case that, if a complaint is received, it will be investigated and the approach will be to ask whether there is something that can be discussed, before it gets to the enforcement stage. There is always that first stage, because enforcement will always be the last resort. We have seen, in any previous licensing regimes, that it is always about having a discussion to try to alleviate the problem and, if not, enforcement is the last resort. As Anita Stewart said, it is about making sure that, if something is reported, we speak to local authorities and police authorities about the best way to deal with it. Local approaches will vary, but it is about following the existing regimes and licensing schemes. Talk to people, try to alleviate the problem or take it away and, if not, enforcement is the last resort. We cannot have people operating illegally, under either this or any other licensing scheme. It is very much about following the procedures that are there for existing licensing schemes.