Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning, and thank you both for coming along. I will open with a fairly general question. How will the wider dispersal of asylum seekers across Scotland impact on individuals and families when they are granted refugee status? I invite Phil Arnold to go first, perhaps followed by Graham O’Neill.

We have only an hour. If you would write to me, that would be helpful.

If you could let me have that, that would be helpful. Thank you.

One of the changes that we were going to make was that, rather than the claimant having to get the information, the agency would get it. Part of that was about general practitioner reports, but there was concern about whether GPs would respond quickly and whether the amount that you were paying for each report was enough. Will you update us on that? Is part of the delay because GPs are taking longer to reply?

Can you give us some figures? Going back to Mr Mason’s point, this is difficult for us as a committee. I say nicely that that was a very good civil servant’s answer, but I am not sure that I am any further forward. Can you tell us what the situation was like two years ago, last year and this year, so that we can see the improvement, and what your target is for next year? It is difficult to know from what you have said so far. Yes, there is improvement, but is it half a day better or is it substantially better?

If we could have the numbers, that would be helpful.

Again, it would be interesting to get the figures. Could you give us a breakdown in writing of the monthly transfers for the past 12 months and what you expect will be the number of monthly transfers for this calendar year? How many are you expecting to transfer in February, March, April, May, June, and so on? You say that you are on target, but, from the figures that we have, it looks as though, if you continue at the pace that you are going at at the moment, you will fall well short. I presume that there will be an improvement over the next 18 months. I am interested in seeing how you are modelling for those 18 months with all the other work that you have as well.

I have been well behaved, convener.

Good morning, panel. I will aim this question at Michael Cameron to start with. Can you provide an overview of why you think that there is a systemic failure in homelessness services in some councils? Why are some homeless people not being offered temporary accommodation when they should be? How can homeless people ensure that their rights are enforced? I appreciate that there is a lot there, but perhaps you can unpack some of that for us.

Without being too Edinburgh-centric—although it is clearly the most important place in Scotland—I have a question for Gordon MacRae or Nicky Brown. We have had the rent freeze in the city for almost a year now, but we have also seen rents increasing when people leave their flats. Is that having an effect on homelessness in the city? Are you noticing anything? Is that just an Edinburgh issue or is it happening in other parts of Scotland?