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The housing investment task force considered what we could do on the flexibility of financing and borrowing limitations through the HRA. We have had discussions with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and local authorities about what can be done on that within the councils’ current systems.

I mentioned the opportunities regarding different finance models. One of the key stakeholders in the housing investment task force is the hubco programme. The Scottish National Investment Bank is part of the task force as well and is focusing on what it can deliver on housing.

The issue comes back to what we can do to maximise the opportunities for external partners. The Scottish National Investment Bank is looking at models for that, as is the hubco programme. How can we deliver on some of those issues? We are trying to flex the system that we already have, and the housing investment task force is helping us to do that. Work is being done on what we can do on that with local authorities and bodies such as SNIB and the hubcos. The task force will present recommendations at the end of the first quarter, so there will be an chance to see how we can maximise the opportunities.

No, and the reason I say that is because there will be things that do not need legislation—affordability, for example.

What structural change is needed? You and I do not agree on this, but getting long-term sustainable rent controls while also keeping the door open for investment is key. Following conversations with stakeholders and the housing investment taskforce, I believe that we have struck the right balance. A consultation will go out, and there will be talk of the issue at that point, too.

We have spoken about what needs to be done in relation to the private rented sector, and not all of the ideas need legislation. Rent controls and the ability to bring in additional funding are included in the Housing (Scotland) Bill. There will be many things that need policy change and policy sustainment but not legislation. Prevention duties are a massive part of the bill. I do not think that we need legislation for some of the things that we are talking about, but the more that we get into detail with stakeholders, the more we will know.

I think that we have struck the right balance, so I do not think that legislation is needed.

I know Duncan Maclennan very well. It depends on the area. When I came into this role, one of the key issues for me was how we maximise economic development opportunities. The housing investment task force was one of the ways to address that, as it looks at how we get additional funding for such development. We need to be aware of the need to look at the economic development aspect. For example, the freeport presents huge opportunities in delivering housing and jobs. We have already seen a huge amount of investment coming into Scotland, so how do we maximise that? It has always been there.

If we are looking for economic development opportunities, housing needs to be part of the solution. It is very much about the work that Highland Council is doing on how it delivers temporary housing. Another example is the work that Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks is doing on building 1,000 new homes for construction workers, but they will have a legacy beyond that. Economic development is part of the answer. Infrastructure funding is also part of it, and we are also looking at finance. We encourage local authorities to look at maximising housing. Of course it is about providing homes, but it is also about economic development opportunities.

It comes back to the convener’s point about what we need to do and whether we need construction hubs in different parts of Scotland. How do we maximise the opportunities? Good housing and economic investment will bring people into an area.

That is the work that we have focused on. I am looking at how the Government gets investment into different parts of Scotland. Housing plays a major part in that, as the Deputy First Minister has said. We always try to encourage that.

Ms Roddick made a wider point about the sustainability of rural communities. We cannot lose sight of that, and I am very conscious of the part that housing plays in broader economic development and tackling poverty. What housing does to tackle poverty is important, and I always encourage local authorities in that regard. Could we do better across Scotland? Of course we could. There is always room for improvement. We are doing relatively well at the moment, but we need to do more to maximise tackling poverty and other rural issues and to grow the population and the economic development opportunities that create work for local companies, as the convener talked about.

That already goes on. In the Highlands, a key part of the work that we carried out on the freeport, for example, was a convener meeting with the local authority, and we also have housing developers and investors there. Work has already gone on, and it has grown. Work is also being done in the Edinburgh city region.

It is probably about looking at what is going on at the moment, and there might be a need to call for evidence on that. Meghan Gallacher talked about the wider strategic work. How do we maximise the impact on housing? For example, Homes for Scotland has carried out work on delivering housing and £4 billion of gross value added to the economy of Scotland. Work is already being done, so how do we pull that together? We always try to maximise opportunities for housing and its broader impact in Scotland.

Yes, and that is important. The work that is being carried out in Dumfries, which we talked about, is a great example of what you are saying. That is not covered by empty homes, but it is about what local authorities need to do to deliver. Again, sustainable town centre use is important. That is being looked at, but it is down to local authorities.

What is really important is that it is not up to the Government to say that the housing emergency is over. We have to make sure that stakeholders and local authorities agree with that. We have to look at the key performance indicators in terms of what is required to make sure that we come out of the emergency. As I said, we want to come out of it as quickly as we possibly can, but we have to make sure that the progress that we are making is sustainable.

We are also looking at medium and long-term proposals to make sure that we do not go back into a housing emergency. That work is on-going and we are engaging on that with stakeholders as we speak. There will be more work on that in the meeting in March.

That is an issue about local connections, which has been raised by quite a few local authorities. We have done a substantial amount of work on that. Whether it is the bigger or smaller local authorities, it tends to balance itself out. There is no clear evidence to show that people are moving into or out of Glasgow, or that they are moving into the Highlands or out of it, and there is no strong evidence that shows if something is making a difference to the numbers, one way or another.

Your question is whether people are moving from Perth and Kinross to somewhere else, but there is no strong evidential base on that. We continue to monitor local connections regularly to ensure that that is not the case, which local authorities ask us to do. I am happy to contact the committee about that. Perth and Kinross Council is doing work on private sector leasing schemes, and so on.

You will be aware of the work that is happening on the broader challenge of supporting island communities. We have talked about transport, health and employment, and about attracting families to those areas, and the Government is working more broadly on that. For example, the work through the Communities Housing Trust is about how to maximise that—some of the developments that are being brought forward are through development companies or organisations that have been set up by islanders.

I met people from the young islanders network when they were down around a month ago at a meeting of the cross-party group on islands. They were talking about that challenge, and we discussed that report. Again, it is about working with local authorities, because that issue is part of local authorities’ housing strategies and the strategic housing investment plans that have been talked about. We have to maximise opportunities around that.

That was one of the key things in the rural housing conference that we had. I visited a local authority with a rural focus, but when we started talking about the input to the local housing strategy, we found that it was minimal, to say the least. We must make sure that local authorities have a deliverable plan, and the funding that we deliver, such as the increase in the affordable housing supply programme, enables us to sit down and discuss that with local authorities. There are discussions with local teams about how to maximise the impact, but there also has to be a regional approach.

The 10 per cent target is a minimum, but how do we deliver on that? It is very much a nuanced approach. We need to develop the capacity of development companies and make sure that local authorities focus on their investment.

On the 110,000 affordable homes target, we are looking at a number of things, one of which is the budget. We are also looking at the barriers to meeting that target. I gave the example of stalled sites. What can we do about them?

It is really important that we get a multiyear funding agreement. We plan a year ahead, but we do not have the certainty of multiyear funding from the UK Government to enable us to deliver those plans. We need to receive multiyear funding so that we have as much certainty as possible.

I come back to the question of how we maximise the opportunities of every budget. I have mentioned stalled sites. We are also looking at how we can maximise charitable donations. On mid-market rent, we have committed £100 million, and we are looking at £400 million of additional funding. I have mentioned charitable bonds, too.

There is also the work of the housing investment task force, which is looking, for example, at how we can be flexible in relation to the housing revenue account. A significant amount of work has been done on that. Another key issue is how we attract institutional investment, which I have discussed with the member in the context of rent control. I am confident that we will bring in additional funding; indeed, I have met investors on a number of occasions.

The housing investment task force is also looking at income strips, or long-lease arrangements. Such arrangements already happen in some parts of Scotland, and it is about how we maximise that approach. The task force is looking at external funding coming through that. There is broader work going on.

With the review of the 110,000 target, we are taking the opportunity to look at additional investment, as well as the barriers. Obviously, we will come back to the committee on the work that we do on that, but the key part is multiyear funding. We are looking at what we need to deliver the target over the period, but we need certainty. At the moment, we have to deal with one-year budgets, so certainty around multiyear funding will be an incredibly important part of the review.

The review of the 110,000 target, which, as I have mentioned, is looking at that sort of thing, is on-going. We also have data on house completions, starts and approvals; one of the key issues is to look at what that data tells us, and it is telling us that we need to build homes at a quicker pace. There is no doubt about that, and it is why we have needed to increase the budget this year. We have had support from the UK Government in that respect, as the First Minister has mentioned, and one of the key focuses has been housing; indeed, we have seen that coming through in the budget.

Last year, there was a reduction, which was, as I have mentioned to the committee, a hard decision that we had to make. Multiyear funding will help, but there are certain indications that we are seeing from the figures for completions. There has been a drop—there is no doubt about that—but that has been impacted by a number of things; indeed, we have talked about Brexit as well as construction inflation, which has had an impact on private starts.

There have been issues in that regard, one of which is funding. The review of the 110,000 target is, as I have said, on-going, and we will come back to the committee on that. We have to take into account the figures that have been reported, which are disappointing; however, the additional funding that we have talked about will, it is estimated, deliver an additional 8,000 homes, which should make a difference in the next financial year. We need the certainty of multiyear funding to deliver on that, too.