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My question is for Jim, so that is okay.

Does anyone else have a comment?

Good morning. I am a member of the Scottish Parliament for West Scotland.

No; that is fine. I will go on to question 4 because my first question has been answered. Thank you.

Have you brought up the threshold issue with the Scottish Government?

Good morning. My question is for Fionna Kell from Homes for Scotland, but others are welcome to contribute.

In your submission, you warn that the failure to mention the proportionate treatment of SMEs in the bill could force many out of business and result in significant losses of the social and economic contribution that they make at local and national level. Will you expand on the effect that the bill could have on SMEs? What impact will it have on house building if many SMEs are forced to close?

Good morning, panel members. One of my constituents owns a buy-to-let property in a building that was included in the post-Grenfell pilot programme run by the Scottish Government to reclad buildings. Although the factor has been proactive in engaging with residents, the developer has not been co-operative. The impact of that is that numerous flats in the block have been repossessed, pushing the insurance cover for the building sky-high, and residents and landlords are unable to sell their properties, because new mortgages will not be issued to potential buyers due to the on-going cladding issue. Will the establishment of a cladding assurance register assist in resolving issues with acquiring building insurance or a mortgage for affected structures?

What needs to be done? You talked about stakeholders coming together. Does there need to be a public announcement, as you have just said, to agree on this?

My next question is again to Fionna Kell, but I am happy to take responses from anybody else.

In your submission you note that the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Bill, as drafted, fails to recognise that many of the buildings in the scope of the bill were built according to the building standards that were set out by the Scottish Government at the time, and that they were approved prior to and on completion by local authorities. Do you have a view on the appropriate balance of responsibility for funding cladding remediation work and on how that could be achieved in practice?

That is good to hear. As I said, minister, I welcome that. I will wait to see progress, because it is a shame that councils still have that pressure when school rolls are declining but other areas are growing and probably need funding.

You mentioned £144 million. Obviously, the Scottish Government claims to have funded the council tax freeze pledge by providing £144 million to local authorities. However, the Fraser of Allander Institute estimated that freezing council tax alone might cost Scottish councils up to £229 million, which will leave a substantial shortfall for our councils. How do you respond to claims that a freeze will have a detrimental impact on councils’ tax base in future years? Where should councils look for savings in their budgets? In which departments and areas should they do that?