Seòmar agus comataidhean

Some of this has been explored, but I want to cover two areas that were brought up in the earlier evidence session today. If the bill is passed by Parliament, you then intend to carry out a co-design process on the regulations and guidance that come out of the bill. Do you and your officials have a timeline in mind for the consultation, drawing up the regulations and introducing them in Parliament for scrutiny?

With respect, minister, the timeline is your decision, because it will start when the Scottish Government lays the regulations in Parliament. It is not for this committee to scrutinise anything until you have brought it forward, so you are the person who ultimately starts the process. You might not decide how long it will take, but you will fire the starting gun, if I can put it that way. Have you considered that?

The other issue is that the final decision on the content of the regulations that Parliament will scrutinise will be yours. Co-design can take us so far but, ultimately, the decision on what will be put before Parliament will be yours.

For all members, irrespective of their parties, one frustration about scrutinising so many sets of regulations is that we cannot amend them: we have to say either yes or no to them all. As well as engaging with stakeholders, how much engagement on the regulations do you see happening with members of the Scottish Parliament? Will the regulations come to the committee as drafts before you lay them, or will they simply come to us and that will be it?

Thank you, minister.

I want to go back to how co-design works in practice, which Chris Gehrke and others have talked about. Do you expect that there will be a consultation document that everyone will respond to, after which the Scottish Government will go away and do whatever it wants, or do you think that there could be a much more interactive way of doing it? How would that work in practice?

I will start with Chris Gehrke, because he is not from the central belt. Chris, could you tell us how you envisage things working in your geographical area, so that there is a process of input and testing? Do you know what the timescale will be for how long it will take to get to the point at which the Government is ready to introduce regulations?

Frank McKillop, how do you see your members engaging, rather than just coming to spend a couple of hours and then walking away? How do we make the process more fluid?

I am conscious of time, so I will ask a question and see whether I can get a yes, no or do not know answer.

I do not think that the charter would give any new rights. It would clarify the rights that people have, but would not have any legal authority and could not be challenged by an individual or organisation. Should the charter have legal standing so that judicial review can take place, if that is appropriate?

In committee last week, and to some extent this week, there was a view among the witnesses that we have come through the pandemic and there is a lot going on, and it will therefore be difficult for people to get a break to give them an opportunity to engage in the process. I am thinking, in particular, of those who have lived experience. Have you given any thought to that?

I think that everyone recognises that short-term and long-term reform is required. However, with regard to the long-term reform, it would be helpful to give people a bit of breathing space to allow them to get through the next year or next couple of years without having to engage in the consultation, because they simply do not have the time or the energy to do so. You would end up missing people out, not because they do not want to take part, but simply because of what has happened over the past few years.

Thank you. I will return to the subject of co-design, but I will leave it there for the moment.

Absolutely—I would confirm that. There is no doubt that, when we were working on the Planning (Scotland) Bill, there was a good relationship between you and those of us who had an interest in it.

You will be glad to hear that I will move on to my final questions, which are on integration joint boards. In the draft primary legislation as it stands, there is nothing on those. How will they fit into the system? Will they need to be reformed? Which area will they fit into?

Beth Reid, can I come back to you? In a previous remark, you said that people who are homeless are often not even picked up. How do you envisage the process happening? Can it happen?