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That issue has been raised. I know that you have an interest in housing in rural areas, which is incredibly important. That is part of the discussions that we are having with local authorities. It is not just the City of Edinburgh Council and Glasgow City Council; we are having discussions with Highland Council and other local authorities. When I go to any local authority, I speak about the PRS. The bill is always raised in relation to that.

It comes back to local circumstances. The issue has not been raised hugely in rural communities. It is more about supply and demand in the PRS. I am happy to discuss that, because you are closer to the issues on rural housing and have more regular discussions on that. It is more about what the role of the PRS is, and it is different in rural communities. Sometimes it plays a larger role, so we need to take account of the local circumstances.

I will bring in Yvette Sheppard, who has had discussions with rural authorities about this. It has not been hugely raised, but it is an issue that we need to be aware of. It is about local flexibility.

I supported the national outcome on housing before I became minister. It was discussed by various groups, and its importance for housing has been recognised, with discussions about what the outcomes will actually look like. Indeed, it is still under discussion at the moment. I am happy to write back to the committee about that, as it is important.

Data will be an important aspect of rent controls and of determining what comes through on a local basis, as well as nationally. That goes back to the point about the nuanced approach. What levels of investment are coming through for mid-market rent, build to rent and other forms of investment in the housing sector? I think that that is measurable.

Like for any bill, we need to evaluate how effective the measures have been—through rent controls and rent increases, and through the levels of investment being made. We will write back to the committee with more details about the national outcome.

I have engaged extensively with stakeholders since the bill was published, as I did before then. When I took over responsibility for the bill from Mr Harvie, I reviewed what had been previously proposed. It was key for me to set out a bill that still protected people, where they need protection, from rent increases. That is the main point of the bill, which we indicated in the programme for government last week. The need for investment is also important, whether that is in the mid-market rent sector or the build-to-rent sector. We are engaging with stakeholders extensively on that and will continue to do so. There is no doubt that we need investment in order to build homes.

As we know, Government funding, whether it is in the United Kingdom or Scotland, is extremely tight at the moment and institutional investment will not replace the need for it. Although I hope that Government funding will expand and grow, we need investment in the sector, whether that is in the mid-market rent or the build-to-rent sectors. In the programme for government, we talked about the commitment to growing investment fund MMR stock.

About nine months ago, I also set up a housing investment task force, which brought together investors, banks, local authorities and the likes of the Scottish National Investment Bank and the Scottish Futures Trust, to look at how we can get more money into the sector. Rent controls have been part of those discussions. There are also other ways in which we can try to get money into the sector, and I am committed to making sure that we get investment into housing.

I take on board what investors have said, but I hope that what we achieve through the bill will allow investment to come into Scotland. There has already been investment, but we need more. Lots of developments need an all-tenure approach. Sometimes that will be done through local government and funding will be provided by local authorities and registered social landlords, but we also need institutional investment for that. In the bill and through what we are proposing with rent controls, I hope that we can strike that balance.

I think that that problem is much broader than the private rented sector. The Construction Industry Training Board published a study six to nine months ago that broke Scotland down into 10 areas and identified the resources in those areas, including the workforce, operating companies and colleges. I continue to meet Graeme Dey to discuss how we fund colleges and construction courses. I have had further discussions with the CIH about how we professionalise the construction sector and ensure that those in it are as qualified as possible, and I asked the trade body to produce a paper on that, which we have recently received. We are working with the body on how we expand qualifications and are looking at what else needs to be done in the sector to ensure that it has enough qualified people and that it attracts them because, traditionally, the housing sector has not done that, but there are great opportunities for people.

As we know, there have been issues because of Brexit, which has reduced the size of the workforce. We need to ensure that we try to get people into the construction sector. The issue of visas for the sector has been raised with the UK Government. It is not just affecting housing. If we look at the growth in renewables, for example, having spoken to colleagues in that sector, I know that there is a real demand for construction work for that. We are looking at a number of solutions to try to ensure that the sector is up to the level that it needs to be at with recruitment and for future training. I think that the average age for people who are working in the construction sector is 60, or near enough. We cannot go on like that; if we look at the demographics, we see that we will run out of people. It is a challenge, but we are approaching it in different ways.

I think that we are looking at the first quarter of next year—that is the task force’s target. I am happy to write to the committee on that point. However, the minutes are online, so they can be looked at.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I understand that your report is due out at the end of October.

I would think that it would be around that time, or not too far off. Again, I am happy to come back to the committee when the amendments are lodged to have that discussion and take that further.

There are two ways to look at that. First, there would have to be data to back that up.

Secondly, it is the right of the minister to look at that and say whether they would impose rent controls in an area. If a local authority says that it wants to look at rent controls, the minister at the time can say that they do not agree with that, so the rent controls would not just come in. There is flexibility for the Government and the minister to look at that and say that they do not think that there is a case for rent controls at that particular time. The key thing is that it has to be backed up by data. There would be discussions—it is not something that would happen overnight. It would have to go out for broader consultation. The key thing is that the minister would have the right to say whether rent controls could be brought in, depending on the local circumstances at that particular time. A local authority might want to do it, but the minister might not agree and would have to give reasons for that. The ability to look at that goes both ways.

Again, I think that Yvette Sheppard talked about such circumstances. First, as she touched on, there would be an option for us to go back if we think that the data is not sufficient. If that is still the case when the data comes back, we would have to take it as an individual circumstance, but I think that the minister has the ability to do what you said. There are a number of points before we even get to that regarding whether the data that the authority provides backs up sufficiently what it proposes. That is where issues of broader local consideration come in.

I do not know whether Yvette wants to add anything other than what was added before. Again, there is the procedure of looking at the data that comes forward to work out whether we think that the data that the authority has collected is sufficient and sufficiently supports what it proposes.

It might be the other way round—the authority might come forward and say that it does or does not recommend a rent control area. There are different circumstances. I do not know whether Yvette wants to add anything to what she added before.

I will try to keep them short.