Seòmar agus comataidhean

Investment decisions relating to getting existing homes up to standard are impacting on the ability or desire of RSLs and councils to build new houses.

I will ask the same question that I asked the first panel, on private investment. How can new forms of private investment be levered into the provision of affordable homes? Are there new models that can be used more widely?

I want to expand the discussion to the build-to-rent sector, which has grown in Scotland, and the role of equity share. Perhaps you could wrap that into your answers. Tom, you touched on that in your opening remarks, so perhaps you could say a bit more about bringing in private investment, and then anyone else who wants to come in can do so.

I understand the point that you are making, but what about those developers who do not comply? What are the next steps that can be taken in that respect? As you will have seen, there are some developers who are more compliant and quicker to move on things than others, and I just wonder whether in the meantime until developers are actually complying, the Scottish Government can do anything through legislation or some other approach to push things forward.

I have a follow-up question. Last week, we heard calls for the single building assessment form to form the basis of a building MOT system, with the creation of a central repository of information on buildings as they are constructed. Would the Scottish Government support that? Does it have views on that?

The question that I was going to ask on stigma has just been answered, but I also want to ask about community link workers. As you know, they originated in the deep-end GP practices in Glasgow, but how do you see their role developing in the months and years ahead? I ask Zahra Hussain to start with that, and then I will open it up to the rest of the panel.

I have just a supplementary, convener. It would be good to have a three-year funding model, but what is your forecast for the next two or three years? Will you require a massive increase in funding to ensure that your services meet demand? Of course, you will also need time to train people up, so how will you address those training issues?

I thank the witnesses for their submissions and evidence so far. I am conscious of time, so I will try to roll two questions into one.

The first question is about the funding environment for the witnesses’ organisations. Where are they at the moment with funding and what do they forecast the requirement to be for the next number of years?

What do the witnesses see the role of partnership working being, particularly in specialised services? The evidence that we took last week was more about fuel poverty. I ask the witnesses to touch on that and to say how they see partnership working improving in the next number of months and years.

Yes.

I want to ask about the regulations on carbon dioxide emissions, which require the design and construction of buildings with direct emissions heating systems to be capable of reducing the energy demand of the building.

What is the practical impact of that? Dave Aitken, I will come to you first, and then open the question up to the rest of the panel.

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests. I am a serving councillor on East Lothian Council for one more week.

I thank the witnesses. I have 15 years’ experience on East Lothian Council and, over the past year or so, I have seen the problem become much greater than it has been in that time.

Are the witnesses’ services able to meet the demand for money advice? Where do they see that demand going in future as a result of the pandemic—we are two years into it—and with the cost of living crisis hitting? I have more specific questions about local delivery, but those are my first questions.