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Thank you very much, Professor Fitzpatrick. Would John Mills or Maeve McGoldrick like to come in on that?

That is helpful—thank you.

To follow on from that, what benefits might a greater focus on homelessness prevention measures bring to those who are at risk of homelessness, and to public bodies that deal with people who may be at risk of homelessness or who are homeless?

I put that question to John Mills.

I believe that Professor Fitzpatrick would like to come in.

I am conscious of the time. It is good that we are getting this evidence on the record, but we do have quite a bit to get through, so I remind everybody to keep their questions and answers as clear and concise as possible.

I will intervene here, because I am conscious of the time, and other members still want to come in on other themes of the bill. I am sorry about that, John.

Yes, I know, and I asked him to be as clear and concise as possible. If you have any further questions for any of the panel members, I would be happy to write to them and ask for a written submission. I am sorry about that.

Moving on to the domestic abuse theme, I invite Katy Clark in.

We now move on to theme 6—implementation and other issues—on which Paul O’Kane, who joins us remotely, has questions.

Paul, do you want to come back in?

Welcome back. We will now hear from our second panel of witnesses on the Housing (Scotland) Bill. I welcome Jules Oldham, who is the head of policy at Scottish Women’s Aid, and Gordon MacRae, who is assistant director for communications and advocacy at Shelter Scotland, both of whom are in the room with us. Maggie Brunjes, who is the chief executive of the Homeless Network Scotland, is attending remotely. I thank you all for joining us today.

We move straight away to questions. I am conscious of the time, so I remind everyone to be as succinct and concise as possible when posing their questions and giving their answers. Our first theme is a general one. I will come to Gordon MacRae first. To what extent do you agree with the Scottish Government’s overarching policy objective of the homelessness measures in the bill creating a shift away from crisis intervention to prevention activity?

Yes. Please be brief.