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That is really helpful—you have cleared that up. Has anything emerged from the most recent data with regard to the main intentions of the policy that suggests that the policy is working or that it could perhaps be improved?

Thank you.

Are you seeing a regular increase in complaints in those areas that should give us cause for concern? Are there rising trends in some of those emerging issues? I will come back to you on the issue of training and whether that should be made mandatory.

I do not mean adherence to the code; I am asking about training.

That is really interesting.

You will be aware of the committee’s support for the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee recommendations on councillor salaries and so on. If that recommendation is accepted, does that present an opportunity to introduce some of the training elements and make them mandatory?

I know that you said that we do not want to burden a newly elected councillor just coming in the door or after a by-election with a whole host of training requirements. However, could there be a managed training process, with mandatory components, during the first year of their being elected, for example? Is that something that we should perhaps look at in trying to embed some of that training in local authorities?

Good morning. In your opening remarks, you said that, at the moment, you have insufficient data to draw firm conclusions. Of course, we know that some will have made up their minds in the absence of any data whatsoever. Can you give us a wee flavour of whether anything is emerging on the implications of the licensing regime in relation to its main aims, which are to ensure that properties are safe and standards are high, and that there is a route for people to raise cases of antisocial behaviour? Is anything emerging from the data that you have that would give us a positive indication that the regime is working?

That was a really long but very helpful answer to my question. I will forgo my next question to let other members contribute.

Are there any other comments on the wider basket of tools that we could deploy to try to make improvements?

Thank you.

I was going to ask what more could be done by housing associations, but you have answered that pretty well.

Sharon Egan talked in detail about the acquisition programme. Could the witnesses say a few more words about whether we could improve or expand it to try to address the range of problems that we find? Are there other experiences that could provide the Government with advice on how to improve the programme and make an impact?