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Good morning. Thank you very much for coming and answering our questions. I will follow on from the two themes that we have just spoken about. We have looked at multiyear funding and flexible funding, and we have been asked to look at an inflationary bump in funding. Multiyear and flexible funding would both have to start from an accepted understanding that there will be fixed costs, and, for multiyear funding, those fixed costs would be fixed at the beginning, and so on.

I want to get some input from both of you. How can we do that? How can we give an inflationary bump to the multiyear and flexible models? There will be unforeseen costs, but, equally, there has to be a starting point, which comes from fixed costs.

I will start with you, Ran, to move it around. How can we change the models to do that?

I appreciate that, minister. That brings us back to the question about what training and resources will be provided. The point about using best practice was well made earlier, but, equally, we are looking for people to ask and act, and the act part focuses on two or three specific and key bottleneck points. It will always come down to people at those points doing the work to make sure that we reduce homelessness. We are always going to have that bottleneck, are we not? How are we going to stop that?

Mr Bruce, we have heard a lot of information and I accept that there is a lot of overlap. Again, I have a specific question. Would shifting the timeframe to early in the financial year make a difference, or does any multiyear process need to be looked at again, right from the start?

That makes a lot of sense. Does anybody else want to pop back in on any of the additional points, before I finish up?

Good morning. It will come as no surprise that I feel strongly about rural issues. We took evidence from the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers, which said that solutions need to be specifically suited to a rural context. Homeless Network Scotland stated that the bill probably does not go far enough on specific geographies and circumstances in rural areas. All In For Change said that there are issues with travel costs and public transport in rural areas, and the committee was also told that no consideration has been given to how the processes could cut people off from support networks and their work.

That is quite a lot of information. What have you taken on board from that extra information to ensure that rural areas will have the equality of service that they require?

That is brilliant. Does that work form an active part of the fuel poverty standard process?

Hello, everybody. Thank you for coming along. The first question theme is funding stability and longer-term funding. Pretty much everybody who responded to the call for views underscored the instability that is caused by the lack of multiyear funding. Equally, however, Social Enterprise Scotland highlighted that there are potential drawbacks to multiyear funding, such as missing deadlines, the possibility of failure to secure funding and the possibility of longer wait times before reapplying. That is an interesting juxtaposition—obviously, it is important that we consider multiyear funding but, equally, there is that juxtaposition—and I am interested in what the panel thinks about both sides of the issue. I am going to work my way down the line, so I invite Sheghley Ogilvie to start.

That suggests to me that there are added benefits, but equally there is the possibility of increased red tape, more processes and different ways of doing things. Is that not just going to create a really muddy pool when we look at funding? I am sorry, Sarah; I know you raised the point, but I need to speak to everybody. Mr Westwater, could you answer along those lines? Does that approach not just muddy the water?

I appreciate that. I have one last wee question. There is also a rural aspect to fuel poverty, and Scottish Land & Estates suggested speaking to rural landlords about that. Did you do that?

Have rural landlords been involved in those discussions, not just Scottish Land & Estates?