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Pam Gosal raises an important point. It is important that veterans are supported, and I know that local authorities are doing a lot of good work to do that. The rapid rehousing transition plans are critical in ensuring that people are moved into settled accommodation with the correct support. A number of veterans, but not all, require additional support, for all the reasons that we fully understand.

That approach is the best way to solve homelessness, and it will remain the Scottish Government’s focus. If there is more that we can do by working with local authority partners, I am happy to investigate Pam Gosal’s suggestions.

We do not want to see any increase in homelessness. I am sure that the member will be aware that Glasgow is the largest dispersal area in Scotland for asylum seekers, and some of those issues are impacting on the statistics. I would be happy to write to Pam Duncan-Glancy with a bit more information on that.

We work with all local authorities to make sure that their plans for addressing homelessness are the right plans. The welcome centre that I mentioned earlier is a really good centre that provides high quality advice and assistance to people. It is trying to get people into settled accommodation as quickly as possible, and to reduce the use of temporary accommodation. There is always a lot to do, but that centre has worked hard, along with stakeholders and the third sector, to dramatically reduce the levels of rough sleeping. We cannot be complacent, however, and I am happy to write to Pam Duncan-Glancy with more specifics on what Glasgow is doing to tackle homelessness.

The first thing to say is that OSCR is an independent regulator and registrar for, as the member said, more than 25,000 charities in Scotland, and it reports directly to the Scottish Parliament, not the Scottish Government. Such issues could be pursued through that route.

OSCR does a good job at overseeing and monitoring the charitable sector, but if I can give the member any more helpful information, I will write to him.

The rental eviction ban was a temporary public health measure that ended on 9 August 2021, when the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations were revoked. That reflected advances made against the pandemic.

Since then, data from the first-tier tribunal has not shown any significant increases in repossession action compared to pre-pandemic levels. Existing measures such as the private landlord pre-action protocols, tribunal discretion and the £10 million tenant grant fund are helping to sustain tenancies and prevent homelessness. Where evictions are unavoidable, we have strong homelessness legislation in place to support people.

As Jackie Baillie will be aware, the action taken at the time in the form of the eviction ban was based around the public health guidance at that time. Once that changed, we could not impose a measure that was based on public health guidance, because it would not have been sustainable. I think that it would not have been sustainable in the courts either.

So, what can we do? As I mentioned in my earlier response to Miles Briggs, we will look at what further measures can be taken. The tenant grant fund is helping people in the here and now, and local authorities are working hard to ensure that those in both the private and the social rented sectors who are struggling with arrears and who are at risk of homelessness are being helped through that. We also have discretionary housing payments of £80 million, which are also helping people who need support with housing costs.

As a Government, we are looking at what more we can do around the cost-of-living crisis. Kate Forbes will make further announcements about support for families tomorrow. We will continue to look at what more we can do across portfolios to support people through the coming weeks and months, because we know the pressures that families will be under.

Throughout the pandemic, local authorities and front-line organisations have worked tirelessly to ensure that rough sleepers and those who are at risk of rough sleeping can access accommodation and support. That includes the replacement of night shelters in Glasgow and Edinburgh with self-contained rapid rehousing welcome centres. I had the opportunity to visit the Glasgow centre a few weeks ago.

Councils and third sector organisations share our commitment to ensuring that everyone has a safe place to stay, and I thank them for the work that they have undertaken. The Scottish Government remains committed to working in partnership with them to end rough sleeping.

The homelessness prevention and strategy group has a really important role to play, and it is getting on with its work between meetings. Coming together to check the progress of the work is the aim of the meetings.

Over the past few months, I have engaged with numerous key stakeholders who are working on that agenda in the housing sector, so there is no lack of meetings. However, the most important points are the action from those meetings and our ensuring that progress is made to deliver the strategy to eradicate homelessness.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to supporting local authorities across the country to develop a housing first programme as part of their rapid rehousing transition plans, in which a key component is the prevention of homelessness.

We are aware that 27 local authorities have developed, or are in the process of developing, their housing first programme. More than 1,000 housing first tenancies have started across Scotland to date, and the Scottish Government is working with partners on a suite of tools to support the continued scaling up of housing first, because we know that that works.

Although it can provide an important safety net, temporary accommodation must be of good quality, and time spent there should be as short as possible, especially for families with children.

The number of households in temporary accommodation is too high, despite the efforts of councils, charities and other partners. The Scottish Government is supporting local authorities with £53.5 million between 2018 and 2024 to implement their rapid rehousing transition plans and housing first approaches. Those measures support councils to reduce the overall need for temporary accommodation as well as the length of time that is spent in temporary accommodation.

Together, Brexit and the pandemic have created a perfect storm—the costs of getting materials from various parts of the world have increased, shipping costs have increased, the costs of raw materials have increased and labour costs have increased. If we put all that together, we can see the impact on goods and services across the board—the construction sector is no different.

A number of projects are still coming in under the agreed benchmarks. There is a bit of geographical variation, and we need to be mindful that costs get higher the further north we go, because of a lack of economies of scale, the reduced number of contractors and so on.

The minister Ivan McKee has been in regular dialogue with the construction sector to consider what we can do, but the issues are global, and it is difficult for the Scottish Government to change things dramatically. We are working with councils and registered social landlords to support them in keeping the momentum going.