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Policy on mortgages and buildings insurance is the responsibility of the UK Government. I know that that issue is being discussed on an on-going basis with officials, and I will let them update you on those discussions.

One of the main reasons for trying to meet the UK Government specifically on that matter is that UK Finance takes that forward. We need to ensure that we make progress on that as soon as possible. Chris Ashurst mentioned that this morning, particularly with regard to buildings insurance and mortgages. I am really keen to take that further with the UK Government, to make sure that we quicken the pace and to find out what we in Scotland need to do to make sure that it is aware of that. It is a really important issue for residents and home owners. It is one of the key things that I will be discussing with the UK Government.

As for specific work that we are doing here, I will bring in Rachel again to talk about discussions that we have had on that. To a certain extent, our hands are tied on that matter, but obviously we have been raising it with the UK Government. I am keen to quicken the pace on that to make sure that we get some resolution as quickly as possible, to give the tenants and residents a bit more peace of mind. There are other things that we need to work on. We talked about communication this morning, and that is important.

We can come back to the committee with the number that you asked for in relation to fire safety.

Again, the issue goes back to the discussions that I want to have with UK and Welsh Government officials. What are they doing on that? Rachel Sunderland touched on this, but there are UK, Welsh, Northern Irish and Irish companies that do this work as well. We need to look at the capacity in Scotland, but also at the capacity across the UK. What do we need to do under that four-nations approach to ensure that we all have capacity, given that we will all be looking to do the same things at roughly the same time? We will have those discussions with UK, Welsh and Northern Irish officials to determine what we need to do to look at the issue as a whole. Again, I will be happy to report back on the discussions that we have at that stage.

I will ask Rachel Sunderland to comment on that in a second, but first I will comment on the point that you made at the start of your question. I heard Chris Ashurst talk about the importance of communication even if people can only say, “Here’s where we are” and not what is happening. I will certainly take that away and discuss it with officials.

On the point about political leadership, one of the first meetings that I had as a minister was about the cladding programme and what we could do to take it forward. One of the first meetings that I had—within the first week, I think—was with Homes for Scotland, and we discussed the issue. I am glad that, within a reasonably quick period, we have reached the stage that we have reached and that we continue to move on. We will move on to the SMEs, as I said. We have talked about the need for legislation to try to quicken the pace. In the first two months, I have tried to show that leadership by moving on the agreement and moving on legislation that we require to do that. I am certainly keen to discuss that.

I will meet Chris Ashurst in the near future and I continue to meet Homes for Scotland regularly and keep on top of that programme. I have already mentioned having meetings with the UK and Welsh Governments to take the issue forward. I think that I am showing that political leadership, and I am keen to make sure that I do that not just in the first two or three months but on an on-going basis. As I said, the process will evolve in Scotland and in the UK, but I am really keen to make sure that we give people as much peace of mind as we can and that buildings are as safe as possible. That is the key thing.

I ask Rachel Sunderland to comment on the number of orphan buildings.

Discussions are under way on that. I will bring Rachel in, as she has been undertaking those discussions.

We have reached agreement in principle. There will be on-going dialogue between officials, Homes for Scotland and me, and they will be part of how this will evolve and work in practice. Those discussions will be on-going and regular.

Rachel Sunderland touched on the importance of squeezing out as much information as possible to make sure that we do not get orphan buildings. It is about pushing that as far as we can to find out who the owner of the building is and whether they are responsible for it. As Mr Briggs mentioned, there can be mergers and companies can be bought over. In such cases, where does the responsibility lie?

In looking at the budget that we have, there is an element of expectation that some orphan buildings will become part of that. We have reached an agreement with Homes for Scotland about the buildings that it is responsible for. With regard to the ones that it is not responsible for, we have to look at how we maximise the budget.

The key principle is to try to make sure that we find the owners who are out there. We need to acknowledge that there may be buildings for which we do not have owners but, again, that was part of the process of looking at the budget that was required at the start. That is on-going. At times, it can be difficult until we get into the building and find out what the remediation need is. However, that element is built into the budget.

The SFHA made a good point, and that was picked up by the First Minister, who tripled the fund to £30 million to recognise that there is an issue in that regard. That is the broader picture.

We are talking about heating costs, but food costs are also going up, so there is a broader impact. We will be undertaking an evaluation of the effectiveness of the fuel insecurity fund. A key point is that I also have responsibility for debt and welfare advice, so I have had initial meetings with agencies about that. It is about trying to ensure that they have the capacity to deal with the issue. That is an incredibly important issue that I have already raised with them, because we want to ensure that people can access that advice as well as the fuel insecurity fund.

We will evaluate the scheme later on this year. It has had a positive impact so far, but the issue is not going to go away this year. I think that it will continue for a number of years, so we need to support the sector in dealing with it. As I said, the fuel insecurity fund does that, and I have talked before about the net zero energy fund. It is about trying to understand how we can accelerate the programme, because the more houses that are net zero and more energy efficient, the better the housing stock becomes in each area and across Scotland.

I knew that that question was coming because I watched the earlier session and heard you saying that you were going ask it later on.

I will be back in a few weeks’ time to talk about another important issue.

Thanks, convener.