Seòmar agus comataidhean

This issue has been touched on. I do not know whether anybody wants to add to what has been said.

Historically, surveys of candidates and councillors have had low return rates. All of you have touched on your interactions with candidates and councillors. Could more be done to ensure higher and more representative rates of return in such surveys?

It was very noticeable from last week’s evidence that stakeholders are not sure what the bill is about.

Another thing that came through in last week’s evidence was that the UK minister wrote to the Scottish Parliament’s Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee on 25 October, indicating that constructive discussions had taken place with Scottish Government officials and committing to tabling amendments to the bill to ensure that it reflects what had been agreed with the Scottish Government. That does not seem to be the case from what you have just said. Can you elaborate or touch on that? It does not seem to be coming through in what we have been hearing.

Good morning.

The main reason why we are here is the legislative consent motion from the United Kingdom Government. On the principles behind it, would processing of planning data benefit from a Great Britain-wide approach, given the differences in operation of the planning systems across the three nations? That has almost been touched on. Are there benefits or hindrances?

Liz, on that point, some of your member organisations obviously trade north and south of the border, so have you picked up anything from your members about that?

That is an important point. The committee needs to take that into cognisance.

I will put the same question to Jim and Liz. Has there been feedback from your members on that?

We have discussed housing land audits before, which is an important matter for us to consider. Can Craig McLaren comment on IT systems in Scotland?

There is a theme of lack of detail coming across.

I want to move on. I will ask Jim Miller my next question, which is about the effectiveness of current information technology systems that are used by Scottish planning authorities. Are the systems a barrier? Do they provide support or is more work needed on them? Do you consider that significant investment is needed in planning departments’ IT in order to move the system on as quickly as possible? I ask Jim first, because obviously there is local authority interest in the subject.

Liz, your members deal with local authorities daily, I imagine. What is the experience of your members in dealing with local authorities? Could you speak specifically about IT issues?

I am conscious of the time, so I will try to limit myself to one question. You probably heard us raise with the previous panel how the Scottish Government should monitor the impact of the rent freeze, what factors it needs to consider and whether it will need to extend the freeze beyond March 2023. You have touched on the longer-term legislative change, but how are you going to monitor the freeze over the next six months? The committee is really interested in what will happen not only at the end of the six months, but during that time. Will you say a little about how you see the Scottish Government monitoring the freeze in the next six months?

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests as the owner of a property in Dunbar that I rent to my in-laws.

My question is for Caroline Cawley, Emma Saunders and Rhiannon Sims. How should the emergency legislation deal with rent rises in purpose-built student accommodation, which is currently excluded from the private residential tenancy regime?