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I will bring in Anita Stewart in a second. The important point is that, right at the start of this process, we said that we would pull the expert group together. It will be incredibly important as we go through the implementation updates and discuss what we do going forward. We have met VisitScotland and a number of other groups that also have an interest in the matter. As for the expert group itself, Anita Stewart has been dealing with the remit, membership and timescales. I will bring her in and come back after she has given a bit more detail about the logistics and why we pulled the group together.

I will bring in Andy Kinnaird in a little while. We have had various proposals about how we make that process a lot quicker. Edinburgh, for example, has the ability to do that in the short-term lets control area, as has every other local authority. I know that Highland Council is looking at an area or two at the moment. That separate ability relates to a planning point of view.

On licensing, one of the keys things that has come up if a licensing application is going in is whether there is a material change of use. Again, it has been up to each local authority to look at that.

Anita Stewart talked about the broader review that the expert group, chaired by VisitScotland, will look at. The group will go into planning and licensing in a little bit more detail. I will bring in Andy Kinnaird, because I know that he has been looking at the process of licensing and planning. He may want to make other comments, too.

A number of things are emerging. I remember discussing this issue as a member of the committee. In relation to applications, it was estimated that we were talking about 32,000 properties. At the moment, we are talking about a figure of about 30,500, although it is expected that that will go up to about 35,000. The figures are ahead of where we thought that they would be, but we must remember that the initial figures were produced during the Covid period, when there would have been businesses that were struggling to continue.

There has been a slight contrast between the situation in Highland, for example, where the numbers have been very high, and those in Glasgow and Edinburgh, where they have been slightly lower than expected. However, the City of Edinburgh Council has the short-term let control area, and Glasgow City Council is talking about managing the provision of short-term lets. That relates to short-term let control areas as opposed to licensing.

The tourism sector has been recovering reasonably well, although it continues to face the cost of living crisis and so on.

Broadly speaking, we are slightly ahead of where we thought that we would be. The number of short-term lets has fallen slightly, by around 1 per cent or so. There has not been a substantial drop. With regard to the wider impact, we will need to see what happens in the coming months, over Hogmanay, next summer and so on.

Anita, do you have anything to add?

I come from a local authority background and I know that there are obviously different licensing regimes operating. It is very much the case that, if a complaint is received, it will be investigated and the approach will be to ask whether there is something that can be discussed, before it gets to the enforcement stage. There is always that first stage, because enforcement will always be the last resort. We have seen, in any previous licensing regimes, that it is always about having a discussion to try to alleviate the problem and, if not, enforcement is the last resort. As Anita Stewart said, it is about making sure that, if something is reported, we speak to local authorities and police authorities about the best way to deal with it. Local approaches will vary, but it is about following the existing regimes and licensing schemes. Talk to people, try to alleviate the problem or take it away and, if not, enforcement is the last resort. We cannot have people operating illegally, under either this or any other licensing scheme. It is very much about following the procedures that are there for existing licensing schemes.

We have been aware of some such applications being made. It comes back to the point about where things sit legally if people apply for licences when there is not anything there. The issue has been raised with us, and I will bring in Anita Stewart and Margaret Main to talk about the legal aspects.

I am trying to understand the question. I will bring Anita in.

Again, I will bring in Anita Stewart on the specifics. Enforcement was raised early in our discussions. It very much depends on what the actual issue is that requires enforcement. The subject was discussed with Police Scotland and I know that Anita Stewart has talked with local authorities about that and about what we need to do. Enforcement has not been widely abused or used at this particular time.

Issues very much depend on whether it is Edinburgh or the Highlands, for example. Again, the review will look at whether enforcement is a significant issue. I will bring in Anita Stewart, but I am aware that there have not been issues in any significant numbers. It will be very much down to where the local authority is, what the issue is and what we need to do to make sure that that is okay.

As you will probably know, there have been high numbers of applications in some areas, such as the Highlands, and there has been some anecdotal evidence about applications coming in very late in the process. We have been in discussions with individual local authorities on the general numbers, and we will also discuss with them where they are with complex cases. There are always discussions with SOLAR and individual local authorities when the level of applications is higher than we expected. There will be a degree of complexity with some cases, and such issues are discussed in our regular discussions with local authorities.

The key message to get across is that existing holders are still allowed to operate while a new application is considered, and it is in their interests to ensure that the correct information and everything else comes through as quickly as possible. If the person was an existing operator before the application was made, they can, of course, continue to operate during that time.

We have had discussions with local authorities that have had a much higher number of applications than was expected, which is obviously a good sign for the local authority.

I do not know whether Anita Stewart wants to add anything.

The vast majority of cases should be dealt with within that period. For complex cases that require various pieces of information, you would expect the local authority to take that into account in its timescales. The local authority should make an assessment at the start of the process, when an application is received. As Anita Stewart said, we have discussions with individual local authorities on those issues.

I have a few other statistics to mention. By the end of June, according to public registers and other information, 30,299 licensing applications had been made. The current figure is 34,285. There are local authorities that are still processing the data, so we expect that figure to be higher. The level of refusals—cases in which licences have not been granted—has been very low.

Broadly speaking, the number of applications that have been made is slightly ahead of what the estimates suggested prior to the inception of the licensing scheme.