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What will happen if a building whose registration took place years earlier is subsequently modified or otherwise changed?

If those types of building do not go on the cladding assurance register, where do they go? Where will the public get that information?

On the issue about potential financial support for GEOAmey, I note that it has just filed its accounts, which were signed off in September 2023. They show that the company reported a profit of £2.6 million, it paid out dividends of more than £4 million and it has cash reserves of £11 million. Why are we talking about financial support going to a company with figures such as that?

I see in the report that there might have been a request to the NHS to help with scheduling. Has that been rejected? Do we know the reasons why? Is work on-going to resolve that problem?

I presume that the SPS is reviewing all this, especially the capacity issue, if the numbers go up in the way that you have described.

On the flip side of that, Auditor General, your report has not quite touched on the Government’s efforts to reduce prisoner numbers using effective measures such as bail and remand, sentencing and e-monitoring. Have you had a chance to assess the impact of that yet, or are we still unravelling the backlog? We are still at that peak at the moment, but can we hope to see the measures that the Government has been introducing for a wee while now begin to have an impact, with the numbers becoming more manageable?

Other members talked about the potential for the contract to fail overall; the 62 per cent, 65 per cent and 61 per cent performance rates for key activities in the contract might be a factor in that. In case that were to happen, what are the SPS, the Government and everyone else doing by way of contingency to ensure that we can continue the service that we need?

Members have mentioned several times the issue of general prison population numbers. Auditor General, you have explained that the numbers are going up. To what extent are those increasing numbers due to unpacking the backlog of court appearances, longer sentences being imposed for certain offences, improving clear-up rates and so on? Are we seeing the unravelling of the Covid impact on those numbers, and do you expect the numbers to begin to level off or reduce at some point?

I want to stick for a wee minute on the question of getting prisoners to appointments on time, whether that is court, hospital, identification parade or whatever. What is the real reason behind that? If a prisoner is due to be at something and there is a time clash, it is impossible to get them there, and more staffing and money will not change that. Has something happened to the timing and scheduling of all those things? Is it a post-Covid increase in activity, or is it to do with catching up on the backlog? Is that a factor in the issue, Auditor General?

Good morning, everybody. Do you think that some of the terminology that is used in the bill might act as a barrier to more rapid progress? Over recent weeks, a variety of people, including developers, have told us that they think that terms such as “development”, “premises” and “risk to human life” need to be more clearly defined. Do you think that a lack of clear definitions is a genuine barrier to speedier progress?

Gary, in your opening remarks, you said that, rather than have too much definition in the primary legislation, we should clarify and define things more clearly in secondary legislation. What are your views are on the matter?