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It is fantastic to hear about the projects that received funding, and I am sorry that other projects, which were also important, did not get funding.

The witnesses have begun to touch on this, but we would like to hear a bit more about the impact of the competitive process on community engagement in the design and delivery of capital projects. Gareth Waterson, you have already said that your project was quite far on at that point, but Pippa Milne might want to say a little more, and then Russell McCutcheon might want to add something.

Thanks very much.

Thanks, Gareth. For clarification, do you think that funding should come from a pot of money that is separate from the rural and island housing fund, or do you imagine the funding being diverted into that fund and being accessed through one fund? I am considering the cluttered landscape of funding.

Absolutely. Does Pippa Milne or Russell McCutcheon have any thoughts on how to repurpose the £5 million islands bond fund?

As a Green, it is music to my ears to hear you talk about repurposing what we already have.

I love the term “location-agnostic working” that you used. It popped into my mind that perhaps we need something like a rural island and housing fund for workspaces, although I do not want to clutter up the funding landscape further. I am aware that Ireland is breaking through with that kind of community workspace hub.

I want to touch on the work that you are considering around the carbon neutral islands project, which feels like it is connected to your point about repurposing. Are you involved in that work in any way, or are you aware of it? Are you aligning your work with that project?

Absolutely. The repurposing of what we already have is crucial in the carbon neutrality story. I think that people lose sight of the amount of carbon that goes into building a new building. I still see buildings being built out of concrete blocks. We need an understanding that repurposing is fair.

I thank the witnesses—it is brilliant to hear about the work that you are doing. From what you have talked about, I understand that you have started the process, but it is the first year. Concerns have been raised about the competitive bid and the panel, but we are in a process. There is learning to be done from the first round, but it seems that you are taking into account the bigger picture.

In relation to the bigger picture, I was struck by the point about transformational infrastructure. Earlier, when we heard from Orkney Islands Council about that, at first I thought, “A nursery?” but it was exciting to hear Gareth Waterson speak about the impact that that would have in relation to infrastructure and how it could transform Orkney through people being able to access jobs and so on.

I would love to hear about other examples of transformational infrastructure that could be put in place in the islands. Tony Rose has just talked about potential transformational infrastructure in Edinburgh and that complexity being pulled together. Perhaps there are things in the islands that you have become aware of that we need to consider beyond housing, because we have already covered that this morning.

I will scoop up one more rural question—as a Highlands and Islands MSP, I am particularly keen to get a bit more information on this. It is clear from what you have said that you are aware of the importance of rural housing enablers and community-led housing in developing new affordable homes in rural areas. Community Land Scotland told us in written evidence that there are

“unnecessary complexities in the funding”—

I think that it was referring to the rural and islands housing funds—

“and planning processes which, if addressed, could speed up the process and enable more communities to deliver hyper local schemes that meet local need.”

I am interested to hear your thoughts on that comment. In what way will the forthcoming remote, rural and island housing action plan address those issues?

Thanks, Willie. Thank you, cabinet secretary, for your responses. I have a few follow-up questions.

At the beginning of your opening statement, you touched on the challenges around not having the powers to borrow. Would you go into that a little bit more? You might have touched on it in response to Paul McLennan and Willie Coffey, but would you give us a bit more on what we would need in order to be able to fulfil the commitment on our affordable housing supply programme?

That would be brilliant. Thanks very much.

I thank the cabinet secretary and her officials for their evidence. That was our final pre-budget scrutiny evidence session. We will write to the cabinet secretary with our findings and recommendations on the affordable housing supply programme after the October recess and in advance of the budget’s publication.