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You will know, convener, that I was a member of the committee when we first discussed short-term lets, and I listened to some of the concerns about the issue at that time.

Government ministers have met the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers on about 10 occasions—I have met it on seven occasions so far—so we are obviously listening to it regularly. We have also met and engaged with the Scottish Tourism Alliance. We have spoken to the likes of Booking.com, Airbnb and so on a number of times as well. Indeed, they met with the previous First Minister, Mr Yousaf, and the current Deputy First Minister, and they endorsed our approach of looking at the review, seeing what we need to do and seeing how things bed down.

We have been listening to providers. We might not have agreed with all the points that they have raised but we have certainly listened to them. We are not downplaying. As part of the process, we are saying that people should look at the implementation update and let things bed down a little. We have made changes already. We have listened and will continue to listen, and I have made that commitment when meeting providers.

We have also engaged with the Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators. Local authorities are the licensing bodies, and we get feedback from the sector on the time taken to process applications and how those are assessed using local interpretation, on which we have tried to work with SOLAR.

We have worked with providers face to face and through local authorities to pick up issues that they have had with local authorities as well. We have issued further guidance, as required, following feedback from the ASSC and the STA, for example.

It is very much an on-going process and we have mentioned that to the providers regularly.

There are a number of points. I spoke to the SBBA too. I go right back to when the policy was brought in, when there was a discussion and decision as to whether the scheme was going to be a national scheme or, as with many licensing schemes in Scotland, whether it was going to be a local, or local authority, scheme.

It is up to local authorities to interpret the guidance and, at the beginning, each local authority interpreted it slightly differently. We have had meetings with SOLAR—the body that represents the licensing authorities in Scotland—on that. Guidance was issued about what to do if there was an issue around one authority interpreting part of the scheme differently from another. We tried to speak to SOLAR regularly.

I will bring in Anita Stewart to talk a little bit more about her involvement with local authorities. This is about trying to get national consistency but with local interpretation. Part of the review that we are talking about will look at that and see what we can do to further strengthen the guidance.

Anita, you spoke directly to SOLAR and so on. Do you want to say any more about the work that you have done on that point?

A balance needs to be struck when it comes to providing flexibility, whether we are talking about exemptions for a couple of one-off events or for the festival, which runs for a month, but people probably start to come into the city about two weeks beforehand in order to start preparing and so on. It is a case of trying to provide that flexibility.

The discussions that I had with the festival and fringe organisations were about that six-week period, in which flexibility is key, given the extent to which visitor numbers increase. It is a case of achieving that balance, and that is part of the review that is being looked at.

Once the recommendations have come forward and we have had a look at them, I will be happy to write to the committee on that point.

The important point, Mr Griffin, regarding the expert group being pulled together, is that it will look at all that in a little more detail. We will see what recommendations the group comes up with. It is down to the interpretation of each local authority in terms of planning and not just regarding short-term lets. They will have different interpretations of planning guidance and I think that that is the key thing. We will listen to what the expert group says and obviously discuss it with planning colleagues also.

Part of that was done through the implementation update. The issues that have been raised by the committee today need to feed into the discussions with the expert group, which is chaired by VisitScotland. We will mention those issues to colleagues on the group. We have committed to look at the pros and cons of a change, and the expert group will need to consider those, too. I am happy to write to the committee on the considerations in that regard, because you have raised an important point.

I will bring in Anita Stewart on that point, as she has been working on the figures over a period of time.

We have already done that on a number of occasions, Mr MacGregor. We pick up things from a number of sources. One of those was SOLAR—that is the licensing authorities and the feedback that they get on that particular point. There have been different interpretations of licensing from different local authorities so we have consulted, talked to and issued guidance to not only specific local authorities but to all local authorities. The implementation update was trying to pick that up as well and I think that we talked about who the feedback was from. It was from SOLAR, local authorities and organisations that represent the sector. We have already done that and I think that that has been outlined in the report.

We talked about the expert group; we will see what it comes out with and what it thinks that we should be looking at. I imagine that, at some stage, when the expert group reports back, we will look at the recommendations and assess them and contact local authorities and so on.

Anita Stewart has had individual discussions with local authorities on that, so I will bring her in, Mr MacGregor. We have already done the best that we can to try to get consistency while leaving flexibility for the local approach, which is of course really important. Anita, do you want to come in and give a flavour of some of the discussions that you have had with local authorities?

You raised a number of points. I think that Edinburgh needs to be looked at very much on its own. I had meetings with the Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe and we tried to be as accommodating as possible with them about exemptions. We met the council as well. They were really positive meetings.

The Taylor Swift and Oasis concerts have been mentioned, and there is a capacity issue in Edinburgh. The council needs to undertake a piece of work on the capacity of the city. That is an important point. The issue of short-term lets was raised when Taylor Swift was here or when other events have happened, but there is a broader capacity issue that Edinburgh needs to look at. I have discussed that with the council: what can Edinburgh actually take?

It is a case of supply and demand. You might think that short-term lets have a role in that, but the much broader supply-and-demand issue is whether there is enough hotel space for a Taylor Swift or Oasis concert. The council needs to look at that. I do not think that trying to compare hotel space with short-term lets is the best comparison to make. Edinburgh needs to look at its capacity for events.

There is a similar situation with the Commonwealth games, for example. Part of the work that the Commonwealth games team and Glasgow will be doing is to look at the capacity for taking in visitors.

There needs to be a broader review, as we mentioned when we spoke to the festivals. There is a much broader issue for Edinburgh, and I think that you may argue that short-term lets are part of that. The council obviously has to look at the issue in the context of its short-term lets control area, which has nothing to do with licensing as such. Like any local authority, the council has the right, and was given authority from the Scottish Government, to look at having short-term lets control areas. However, the issue with Edinburgh is very much about capacity, and not just short-term lets.

I will clarify the situation. As far as I am aware, the only exemption that the City of Edinburgh Council had was for the Edinburgh festival and so on. I mentioned the discussions about exemptions that I had with the council, the festival and the fringe in relation to the capacity issues that Meghan Gallacher raised. The council may come back to us on the Taylor Swift concerts or the Oasis concerts. I am not aware of the situation as regards exemptions in those periods. I do not know whether Anita Stewart is aware of any other exemptions. I have mentioned the events that we would be looking at.

Whether we are talking about an Oasis concert, a Taylor Swift concert or any other big event, whether in Edinburgh, Glasgow or anywhere else, capacity has to be looked at as part of the planning for such events. Thought needs to be given to how much a city can take in relation to short-term lets, hotel spaces and whatever other capacity is available. That is a piece of work that needs to be done. That falls outwith my remit, but I would always push any local authority to consider what its capacity is to take in an additional 60,000 guests who might be staying for two or three days.

I do not know whether Anita Stewart has anything else to say about exemptions, but the only discussions that I have had have been about the Edinburgh festival and the festival fringe, which, as you know, are long-established events.