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We have recognised that in the department, Mr Briggs. On the broader resources that will be required, however, we will be sitting down with Homes for Scotland as well as UK and Welsh Government officials.

A strategic board was set up for housing to 2040, and the present Deputy First Minister chaired the first meeting, in March. Going forward, I will chair that group. We do not have a date for the next meeting as yet, but we plan for it to be before the summer recess. At the moment, we are setting out the strategic objectives. Those issues have not been discussed, but some of what has been raised at committee will be discussed by the strategic board. Stakeholders will feed into that as well, and I imagine that they will raise the issue. We hope to report some progress on that to the committee and the Parliament. We have had only one meeting so far and the next strategic meeting will be in June. There will probably be progress on the strategic objectives by that time, and the housing to 2040 strategic board will look at them. There are plans to get that in the diary for before the summer recess.

Yes—we can report back to the committee on that.

There are three issues on that. I mentioned what CIH said. One issue is where investment goes for repairs. We also talked about where investment goes towards the affordable housing supply programme, and we talked about the retrofitting agenda, which is incredibly important. There are two or three key points in my head in that regard.

We talked about repairs, and it is important to get a greater understanding of the issues, particularly regarding damp and mould.

On the affordable housing supply programme, we need to talk to as many local authorities as possible, because each local authority might have a different perspective. It was informative for me to speak to City of Edinburgh Council and Glasgow City Council and to learn about where their balance sits in the housing mix. That included retrofitting. I am also keen to go out and speak to the rural authorities, to discover whether they have a different outlook and perspective on the matter and how we can advance an affordable housing supply programme on a larger scale in rural areas.

Where does that fit in with retrofitting? Local authorities have to produce their local heat and energy efficiency strategies—LHEES—by the end of this year. Those will set out what each local authority requires for retrofitting across the private sector, the public sector and RSLs. That will be informative.

The Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee has had discussions about what local authorities need to do in order to deliver that programme. The recommendations that it made were probably more for the Minister for Energy but are relevant for me in deciding what we need to do to support the programme. That is an important factor as well.

The question is how we finance the programme. The Scottish Government is putting £1.8 billion towards it in this session of Parliament. Last week, I met officials from the four home nations and the issue was discussed—no country has the funds to develop and support that programme over the necessary period of time. A green finance and reporting group reports to Mr Harvie on how we finance the programme. There are also discussions with the private sector about how it can move towards the retrofitting agenda.

There is quite a mix, and we are making progress. The heat in buildings strategy is being developed through Mr Harvie. We need to understand where the mix is in each local authority, but it is a matter of considering repair standards, retrofitting and the affordable housing supply programme. The question is how, within the available finance packet, we can get the balance right in each local authority and across Scotland.

One of the key things—I do not think that we have referred to it—is the energy efficiency standard for social housing 2—EESSH2. At the moment, it comes back to the local authorities and the LHEES, which is incredibly important. Let us take my local authority area, East Lothian, for example. There is a lot of rural housing there, so how do we ensure that there are systems that do not exacerbate damp and mould? Through the LHEES, we will ask what technology is relevant for each place. It might be the same for all tenements in Glasgow, for example. Part of the work on the LHEES, which is due out by the end of the year, will focus on what technology is relevant in particular parts of the country.

You asked about climate and rural issues, and we have been talking about tenements in Glasgow. The LHEES will be an incredibly important part of what each local authority is doing and will set out what technology will be used.

The latest house condition survey had figures for each local authority. I will bring in Darren Knox on that in a second. Edinburgh did not come high on that list, but that is not to say that it is not an issue now, because that survey took place in 2019.

As I said, I am trying to get around as many local authorities as possible, and you and I have met to discuss housing issues in Edinburgh. I will be meeting the City of Edinburgh Council every four to six weeks to talk about broader issues, and this issue will be part of those discussions. There has been discussion about engagement with Edinburgh through the regulator, and I imagine that I will pick up that issue with the regulator.

I will bring in Darren Knox if there is anything that he wants to add. Miles Briggs and I will meet on a regular basis about the issues in Edinburgh, and I will discuss them with the council. I am more than happy to keep up the discussions on damp and mould and other issues.

That is an important point. Talking about the private rented sector and the social rented sector, rather than the owner-occupied sector, the prevalence of damp and mould was 12 per cent in the social rented sector and 12 per cent in the private rented sector.

We have talked about what we are doing in the social rented sector, but how we engage with the private rented sector is important. The Scottish Government issued a new repair standard in March 2023, which provided statutory guidance for private landlords on dampness and mould, among other things. The social rented sector has come together and has taken a lead on the issue, and I will have meetings with other stakeholders in the private rented sector to talk about it.

I encourage the private rented sector to work towards good practice. That will be key in order to establish what support the private rented sector needs from the Scottish Government. For me, a lot of it comes back to the information that can go out to residents and tenants, which is key. Sometimes, it is easier for the social rented sector to share information with, say, 6,000, 7,000 or 8,000 tenants, whereas the private sector is different—probably more diverse.

The house condition survey mentions condensation and mould, but I should say first of all that the prevalence of those things is coming down. For example, the prevalence of condensation has come down from 11 per cent in 2011 to 8 per cent in 2019, which is quite a difference. Similarly, the prevalence of mould dropped from 12 per cent to 9 per cent—or from 290,000 homes to 230,000. I also point out that, according to the survey, less than 2 per cent of homes were affected.

This comes back to the duty on local authorities to go out and do that work themselves, as we have been talking about this morning. Indeed, they have the moral authority to do so. I cannot recall who said it, but people have been trying to do tenant surveys to find out more about the matter. I know that we will probably come on to how we resource that later on in the committee’s questions.

The Scottish Government works collaboratively with the CIH and local authorities on establishing the cause and extent of the problem. Is it 95 per cent or less than 2 per cent? I am not saying that that is not an issue, but we have to focus, first and foremost, on the most urgent cases.

I hope that the updated survey will give us a more accurate figure. I mentioned that Covid did not allow us to go into people’s properties to see the conditions. Once we get the results of the survey in 2024, which was carried out during 2022, we will have a more accurate reflection of where that issue sits than we had a couple of years ago, when only external investigations were taking place.

At the moment, we have the Scottish housing quality standard. We have discussed how it is measured, but there is an onus on local authorities, private landlords and RSLs to look at it.

As for the new housing standard, I would point out that the housing to 2040 strategic board has met once, and the new standard is being brought forward by the Government as part of that. Work is being progressed on it, and we will report back to the committee on it. It is a matter of engaging with stakeholders, and it is certainly one of the issues that will be raised in the meeting that we are planning to have.

We have talked before about the Parliament looking at an all-tenure standard, and work is being progressed on that. However, I think that, as far as the standards are concerned, it would be worth coming back to the committee at a later stage on the issue. Progress is still at an early stage, and feedback from stakeholders will be incredibly important in developing the policy and taking it forward.

There are a number of things in that regard that we have talked about this morning, one of which is the information that is out there. There is also the reporting issue. A key thing that struck me this morning was the collaborative approach that the CIHS and the regulator are taking with the Government to ensure that we are all working together, because it is really important that we join the dots in relation to this.

Another important issue that we need to look at is the all-tenure standard. As far as the housing to 2040 strategic board is concerned, stakeholder involvement at an early stage will be incredibly important in developing such things.

Going back to Mr Coffey’s point about taking a timeous approach, I think that stakeholders will certainly discuss that issue. We and the regulator have talked about what she will be doing with her guidelines, and we will be working very closely with other bodies as they develop their own thoughts.