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Can I get a Highland Council perspective from Murray Bain?

You have already touched on some of your experiences of working with the other resettlement programmes, and Pat Togher talked about the experience of dealing with PTSD among people who have come here through the Afghan and Syrian schemes, as well as among the wider asylum-seeking population in Glasgow. Are there any lessons learned from, in particular, the Syrian and Afghan schemes that have fed into the way you approach Ukrainian displaced people? I recognise that there is a difference in people’s circumstances, but is there anything that would be useful to share with the committee about the way in which the schemes have been running, how they are being resourced and how you are configuring teams to welcome and support people?

My final question is about the criteria for reopening the supersponsor scheme. Are those close to being met? Is there a sense that they could be met at some point? I guess that we all hope that there will not be a need to reopen that scheme, but there is so much uncertainty in this situation. What is COSLA’s view on that?

Thank you for that insight.

Staying with the rural aspect, I wonder whether Hazel Chisholm or Lorraine Cook have encountered particular challenges in enabling people to make the transition from temporary to more permanent accommodation in rural areas.

You might have seen some of the early concerns around the Killin hotel. Ukrainian people had moved into the hotel and become quite settled there—they had got jobs locally and were sending their kids to the local school. The early concerns were then around their having to move out of the hotel into more permanent accommodation and what that might mean with regard to moving jobs and schools. How is that transition being managed in Highlands? I have had a lot of conversations with Stirling Council about how it is dealing with that in relation to Killin, but how are rural local authorities trying to manage that in general?

Last week, we heard from the consul that there are travel issues, including with regard to re-registering cars for use in the UK, so there is quite a complex set of issues. It would be good if you could provide any brief insights on that.

That is great. The committee will obviously be very interested in seeing the results. Does Angus Duncan Campbell or Kirsty MacFarlane want to come in?

That was very useful.

In your written submission, you mentioned linking that in with air travel as well. A national entitlement card for island residents could potentially cover different transport modes.

I want to ask specifically about the community board’s involvement in project Neptune. What was your involvement in it? How did you find the process? What are your expectations for your involvement in the future?

When do you anticipate finishing that piece of work?