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That is another important point. I met the city region team in Edinburgh and we talked about the fact that there are seven or eight strategic housing developments that need to be brought forward there, and about how that could be done. At the end, we came to the view that the council needs an investment prospectus, so it is now developing that. There will then be an opportunity to sit down with investors and ask how we would deliver on that.

I also had a discussion with the Scottish Cities Alliance, which is important in terms of delivering housing and redeveloping city centres—Glasgow City Council is doing something similar in relation to the city region element.

We also need to consider what we need in terms of institutional investment in the main cities in Scotland, and the Scottish Cities Alliance is, in a way, trying to do part of that work as well. We need to think about what demand we can generate in relation to the city regions around Edinburgh and Glasgow, but we also need to think about what can be done through the Scottish Cities Alliance in terms of investment.

If, when we speak to investors, we aggregate the figures that are involved, we will be talking about a substantial amount of money. Over a period of time, that would involve institutional investment and Scottish grant funding, as well as funding that can be delivered by flexing the system that we already have around housing. We need to bring all those things together. The demand is there. The most important question is how we finance the supply. That is why we are talking about flexing the finance system that we have at the moment and getting the housing investment task force to look at the issues as a whole.

As you heard—I think that Joe Brown mentioned this—the first minutes of the housing investment task force will be published soon. Some of the ideas that came forward were encouraging, and the group will make recommendations.

That is an important point. Ken Gibb is a member of the housing investment task force and his input will be valuable. He talked about data, and he offered to do a piece of work around that. That will be developed as part of the work of the housing investment task force.

The reason why Ken Gibb was asked to join the group was to give a broad overview. If we are talking about flexing the system and bringing in institutional investment, it is important to have a balance across all tenures. Ken Gibb’s influence in that regard and on the issue of de-speculating the market will be key. I am not saying that there needs to be systemic change, but there has to be a whole-systems approach: we cannot change just one part of the system. Having Ken Gibb on the task force is important in terms of his academic input.

As I have said, Ken Gibb advises all the UK Governments on the matter. He has given an overview of what is available in terms of guarantees from the UK Government and his article in The Herald also talks about opportunities for the Scottish Government to consider guarantees that might help us. There would be no additional costs to the UK Government. That sort of thing would be really helpful. His input to finding a whole-systems approach will be important, and I think that he will be feeding into all of this from an academic point of view.

We have also heard the housing to 2040 group talk about innovative finance and the fact that one of the main short-term priorities is to flex the finance system. The housing investment task force is looking at that, too, as well as other issues. It is looking not just at how we deliver more housing but, if we are talking about temporary accommodation, at models in that respect, too. Ken Gibb will give us that balance with the expertise that he has.

Good morning, convener. It is always good to be back in the room with the committee. Thank you for inviting me to participate in this important discussion. I thought that it might be helpful to provide a short update on progress on some issues that the committee has been considering lately.

I am delighted that the Housing (Scotland) Bill has now been introduced, as per our commitment in the 2023-24 programme for government. The bill delivers on our new deal for tenants and represents a package of measures that will help to improve affordability through implementing a national system of rent controls alongside a range of other rented sector reforms. Together, those measures represent a robust package of additional rights and protections for tenants that will improve their experience of renting a home.

In addition, we are determined to tackle the negative and sometimes devastating effects on people’s lives of living with damp and mould. Although any instance of damp or mould is a cause for concern, I am heartened to see analysis of the latest Scottish house condition survey data, which we have shared with the committee. That shows that there has been no significant increase in the levels of condensation or mould across all tenures. However, we have noted a small increase in homes recorded as suffering from rising or penetrating damp. Those increased from 3 to 4 per cent between 2019 and 2022. That is why it was so important that urgent action was taken in the early part of this year.

The Scottish Housing Regulator, along with other stakeholders in the housing sector, responded to that issue through the publication of new guidance for the social sector. We also published updated statutory guidance on the repairing standard that covers the private rented sector. We will continue to consider what is necessary to tackle that scourge as we take forward work on cross-tenure standards. We are committed to tackling disrepair and driving a culture in which good maintenance is always given a high priority.

In response to the committee’s letter of 15 March, I provided, on 9 April, an update on the engagement with Aberdeen City Council on its rehoming programme due to there being reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in its homes. We are continuing the work of our cross-sector working group on RAAC to understand the extent of RAAC in our housing stock, and we are engaging with landlords who have identified the presence of RAAC. We will keep in close contact with the Scottish Housing Regulator and local authorities that have taken the difficult decision to decant residents from their homes, and we will ensure that we understand the impacts of the long-term remediation plans, particularly on the home owners involved.

More broadly, I welcome the work that the committee has undertaken to carry out a review of the housing to 2040 strategy, and I look forward to seeing the report of its findings in due course. I have followed with interest the work so far through the committee’s evidence sessions, and I am pleased to note that stakeholders and members of the housing to 2040 strategic board generally appear to still agree with the strategy’s overall vision and aims. However, I appreciate and understand the concerns that have been raised concerning the challenging environment that the housing sector and local authorities face and the impact that that is having on delivery.

It is important to note that, when we published “Housing to 2040” in March 2021, we were in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, which was swiftly followed by the cost crisis and the fuel crisis, as well as the negative impact of Brexit on the construction supply chain, labour shortages and record-high inflationary pressures. That has been further compounded by a nearly 9 per cent real-terms fall in our United Kingdom capital funding for 2023 to 2028.

Of course, the Government cannot deliver the ambitions in “Housing to 2040” alone. We look forward to continuing our work with the housing to 2040 strategic board and the sector more widely to tackle the short-term challenges and maintain the longer-term path to delivering the strategies, aims and visions.

I hope that the committee has found this short update helpful.

Again, to come back to the issue of cladding—I am sure that this will come up next week—discussions are continuing with developers about the single building assessment process and how we take that issue forward. On that issue, I think that a number of amendments to the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill are being lodged by Mark Griffin and Miles Briggs and I imagine that there will be others. I think that discussions are continuing with developers on that. As the bill progresses and discussions go beyond it, that matter will be brought up and discussed. However, it is really important to speak to developers about that. There are on-going discussions about the SBA process, which we will touch on in more detail next week, I am sure. However, again, the issue that you mentioned could be considered as we get more into the depths of what the developers say on how we can work with them collaboratively. That is a really important point—that we work in partnership with them on that.

Not as yet, but we hope that we will get some kind of report, as I said, post the summer recess. We have had an indication that there will be an update in the autumn, so that could be between September and November.

With regard to local government, I have tried to get round to as many local authorities as I possibly can—I have about three to go, and then I will have been round all of them. The issue that comes up first and foremost is what they should prioritise. We are having discussions around the retrofitting agenda, and local authorities have prepared their local heat and energy efficiency strategies. What happens beyond that is the deliverability, which is due towards the end of this year. The green heat finance task force is looking broadly at how that work is financed—it is looking at local authorities and registered social landlords, and how those can be funded.

We are also talking about investment in new stock, and where that fits in. The repairing standard applies in that regard. One element of that is that local authorities should always, in preparing their budgets, be engaging on, and looking at, how that aspect fits in. For local authorities, the role is very different. The green heat and retrofitting agenda, and how authorities invest in that, or invest in new stock, is an on-going discussion, and there will be different solutions for different local authorities. They will prioritise what they need to in that regard. It is up to each local authority what it chooses to do around that point.

Having had 15 years of experience in local authorities, I know that that discussion came up every year. One would hope that a local authority would seek to ensure that priorities are updated every year. There was a maintenance backlog after Covid, on which local authorities are starting to catch up. Again, however, that is a decision for each local authority, and we are working with them on that.

On things such as damp and mould, for example—which you mentioned, convener—the Scottish Housing Regulator has a role, and there are discussions with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and ALACHO on that. Again, it depends on each local authority, and we are working with them on that. We have been working a wee bit with ALACHO on that point to ensure that it is picked up.

There is a broader issue with adaptations, which fits into the broader agenda. Each local authority probably knows more than anybody else about that in respect of their specific area, so we are working with local authorities individually and ensuring that local teams are working with them on that. However, it ultimately comes down to each local authority making its own decision on investment in retrofitting, for example.

The role for national Government is to work with local authorities in terms of funding for adaptations and so on, and we are working closely with the Scottish Housing Regulator, ALACHO and COSLA on the themes that emerge.

I will come back to that question in a second. The first point is that we are working with the Scottish Housing Regulator on identifying properties that are affected, through both local authorities and housing associations. We are still working with the regulator on that, and it is doing the engagement.

On the specific issues that have been picked up, we go back to the impact of the incident down south, when we started to look at the issues through the RAAC oversight group.

To come back to the housing point, a number of local authorities have been in touch. Clackmannanshire Council was identified as having a small number of properties. Aberdeen City Council is in a similar position, with a slightly larger number of properties. I have met Clackmannanshire on a number of occasions, and I have also met Aberdeen. Both local authorities are going through an options appraisal at the moment, which is important. They have looked at some of the houses that are impacted by RAAC, some of which may be repairable and some of which may not, so a broader overview is being undertaken by Clackmannanshire and Aberdeen. We continue to engage with them, and when they come back with their options appraisals, we will sit down with them and discuss them in more detail. So, there have been discussions and I am happy to pick up with you in relation to the issues that you mentioned in Midlothian.

Aberdeen and Clackmannanshire have been impacted the most by the issue, so we have had a number of meetings and we continue to work with them. The options appraisal is a really important part of it, and there is detailed work going on in both local authorities on what they need to do to move that forward. The complexity is that some properties are privately owned and some are owned by the local authority. We continue to engage with both Aberdeen and Clackmannanshire and with other local authorities, and the broader RAAC oversight group is looking at the issue.

It is very much an on-going discussion, but there have not been any requirements for funding. In relation to the asks, we have worked very closely with Clackmannanshire and Aberdeen on some of the more detailed work that they need to do on the properties.

It is an on-going situation, particularly for those two local authorities. Aberdeen, for example, has indicated that its work will take six months from around March or April, so it is talking about reporting in late summer. We continue to engage regularly with both local authorities and we will see what specific demands come out of the overall work that they are doing just now.

In Aberdeen, it is more individual houses that are involved. The fact that RAAC has been identified does not mean that it cannot be remediated—the condition surveys that are carried out on the properties will identify that. Part of the options appraisal is to ask whether a property can be remediated or whether other options are available. That work is being done in Aberdeen, and there is liaison with the Scottish Government and building control colleagues. When the options appraisal comes forward, it will identify what the council needs to do.

The identification of RAAC does not mean that it cannot be repaired. The key element is what the costs are for local authority and private residents.

I will come back to you on that, because I have a couple of points to make. On empty homes, the Scottish Government has spent approximately £3.2 million, and we have just announced another £423,000 to work with the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, which has brought back more than 9,000 homes.

The issue of empty homes is slightly different from the issue of voids, which I will come back to. The work on empty homes continues to develop, and it has been encouraging.

I come back to a point that Stephanie Callaghan made. Local housing strategies must address voids and empty homes. It has been encouraging to see local authorities using some of the funding that is coming through to take on more empty homes officers, because that is really important and there is a real focus on that.

The issue of empty homes can be complicated. The properties might have been left in probate, or they might have complicated ownership—such as when people live overseas—so the situation is sometimes not simple. The Scottish Empty Homes Partnership has worked really well to deliver a number of houses, and that is why we are giving it more funding of over £400,000.

The voids issue is really important. You mentioned Edinburgh, which has a real focus on that. We spoke to City of Edinburgh Council about the issue around a month ago; it comes up regularly. That council is talking about how it looks at voids. We are also in discussions with COSLA and ALACHO about a focus on voids.

The Scottish Government and local authorities need to do more work collectively on what needs to be done in relation to important issues such as the fact that there are properties that are not available for use as temporary accommodation because of the voids issue. The issue of empty homes can be more complex, but we cannot separate the two issues. Allocation policies are also important, and there are on-going discussions about that, too.

The voids situation differs in different parts of Scotland. You mentioned the number of voids that Edinburgh has. We have been at various round tables where that has been discussed, and I think that Edinburgh is making progress, although it needs to do so more quickly. There must be a focus on the issue in Edinburgh and across Scotland. That comes back to having broader discussions about the focus on voids, on allocations and on empty homes. When I have discussions with local authorities, we get into the details of those issues. There has been a level of success in the work that continues to be done on empty homes, but the issue is complex. When I was in Orkney about a month or six weeks ago, I discussed the fact that there are about 700 empty homes there. How does the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership work to bring those houses back, given that some of them are on islands that are less populated? A piece of work is going on around that.

More local authorities are taking on empty homes officers, which is encouraging in times when we all acknowledge that funding is particularly difficult. Those councils see the benefit of having empty homes officers who can take on that work.

I think that you are right, convener. When you and I were at the rural housing conference a couple of months ago, I think—I am trying to remember when it was—that very issue was raised, and it is incredibly important.

I said at that conference that I was keen to get out, as I did last summer, and visit as many communities as possible to talk not just about how we build more housing but about the points that have been raised. We talked about Raasay becoming carbon neutral, for example; that is all about encouraging not just local authorities but local communities to take on the issue. Indeed, with regard to carbon-neutral Raasay, we talked about how we can encourage other groups to pick that sort of thing up. The question is how we support local authorities in that respect, because the rural aspect, if you like, is incredibly important.

I have already had a number of invitations to go out and visit as many local island communities as possible this summer, and we will be picking those up and speaking to people about their own issues. However, you are right that we need to be more nuanced and to take a rural approach, too.