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Good morning. Minister, a number of weeks ago, I submitted a written question to the Government to ask whether the Government would provide an update on how many buildings have been identified as having flammable cladding. The response that I received from you states:

“We have previously estimated that around 350 high-rise and up to 500 medium-rise buildings across Scotland may require assessment and some level of remediation, across all tenure and building ownership types.

We continue to use this data as an outline planning assumption. However, we are working through a number of routes to enhance both the quality and efficacy of our estimate of potentially affected buildings in Scotland.”—[Written Answers, 25 November 2024; S6W-31234.]

That suggests to me that you still do not know how many buildings are impacted with cladding across Scotland. That is really concerning. How can we accelerate the programme of cladding remediation when we still do not know how many buildings have cladding?

I take your point, but this goes back to the speeding up of processes. You could achieve the work on the 500 buildings and the 350 buildings that are identified in the budget that you have allocated, but then more people could come forward with concerns about cladding on their buildings. How long do you expect this to go on for? Will funding be available until all the identified buildings have been remediated? It will not be a quick fix if you are relying on people to come forward with information for assessments to be carried out. I am trying to get an idea of the scope and the scale of the work, because it will not be a quick fix or a speedy process, as you highlighted earlier.

To go back to the annual report, it states that only 4 per cent of all complaints that were closed last year went through the SPSO’s full investigation stage, which is a much lower level than was the case seven or eight years ago. Why are so few full investigations taking place? Does that undermine the ombudsman’s job of identifying the systemic improvements that need to be made?

Good morning. We have had a really interesting conversation so far. Jan Savage has just picked up on one of the questions that I was going to ask about the role of commissioners, but if anyone else has anything to add on that, please do so.

One submission that the committee received was about the ombudsman and the public complaints system as a whole. We have heard a lot this morning about issues, concerns, accountability processes and perceptions of the ombudsman and the public complaints system. Looking at the rest of the UK, and indeed across Europe, what do you think is the ideal, best-practice scenario that we could use here in Scotland to improve things with regard to the ombudsman as a whole?

I do not know who would like to kick off with that. I know that it is a huge question.

Good morning, Professor Gill and Professor Mullen. Fulton MacGregor has touched on one of the questions that I was going to ask about vulnerable groups and broadening access. Professor Gill said that the ombudsman is more likely to be used by people who are seen as middle class. How do we broaden that? How do we tackle that challenge to make sure that people in more vulnerable groups—I am thinking of female prisoners and younger people—get involved if they have concerns to raise?

So it is about clarity.

Following that train of thought, the Parliament is looking at the role of commissioners over the next six months. It is taking a root-and-branch approach to working out whether we have too many commissioners, their role in advocacy, the roles that they are meant to play and how people can access them for support. What would you like to see the review of the commissioners achieve with the SPSO?

Do disagreements on outcomes happen often or is that rare? There were only four cases here, and I appreciate that two of them were not taken forward for other reasons, but I take it that that is a rare occurrence.

You mentioned committing to the review but you do not have any further actions at this point. However, we are a year on since the introduction of the short-term lets policy and there have been increases in rents and hotel prices. One platform showed that guest bookings during the Edinburgh fringe and the world-renowned festival dropped 13 per cent as supply constraints priced out guests and performers. Do you think that the short-term lets policy as it stands is working?

Rents and hotel prices have soared throughout our capital. The average hotel price in Edinburgh rose to a record high over the past year, increasing by 11.5 per cent, which is double the national average. What is your response to that? Do you understand the frustration of the sector, which feels that the Government is not moving quickly enough to resolve the issues with the short-term lets policy?

Good morning. My first question is about waiting times, which, as the annual report outlines, reduced in 2022 and 2023. That, of course, is welcome, but how long are current waiting times from the beginning to the end of the process and what is being done to further reduce the length of time it takes to conclude a complaint?