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No further questions from me, convener.

That is very helpful, because you have covered the final question that I wanted to ask. Are you able to quantify what you spend above your allocation? For example, I see that Glasgow’s DHP spend is £1.33 million. That is a heads-up for Duncan Black—I will come to him in a second. Do you have the detail on what Fife spends above its allocation? If you do not, you can send it to the committee, because it would be helpful to know that.

Please do so, and perhaps you could also send the detail of what you said there, because you were on mute for a second.

I will stick with Hannah Aldridge for the moment. If I have this right, the previous UK Conservative Government relinked to the 30th percentile in April 2024 but it used a baseline from a wee bittie before that, so it is linked to market values from before April 2024. The current UK Labour Government has said that, at least until April 2026, LHA will remain frozen.

I am looking at a Resolution Foundation report from October last year that suggests that any gain from the action in April 2024 may already have been lost. The report—and I apologise, convener, if these are UK figures rather than Scottish figures—suggests that, by this year, the affordability gap could be at record levels and that, by 2029-30, it could be at 25 per cent. Can I check first of all that the affordability gap for low-income families and individuals in the private rented sector is continuing to widen? Are the statistics that I have used for the UK or for Scotland? What is the Scottish perspective on that, Hannah?

That is interesting. Without putting words in your mouth, Hannah, I think that you are saying that the affordability gap is still increasing in Scotland, but at a lower rate compared with other parts of the UK. I see you nodding your head—I did not want to assign that paraphrase to you, if it was not accurate.

Ashley Campbell and Maeve McGoldrick, do you have any comments on a growing affordability gap at a Scottish level? Do you have any data in that respect that you could put on the record this morning? If not, that is okay.

For my final question—and I will bring in Maeve McGoldrick at this point—I just want to check the figure that Hannah Aldridge used. If we decided to peg LHA to the 30th percentile—that is, it would be tied to that, so that it would not be frozen—it could, if the data is reliable, cost £2.5 billion by the end of the current UK Parliament.

My question, then, is twofold. Some will say that there are affordability issues for the UK Government to deal with, and I would like to see it do that. However, is there a case to be made for the UK Government to at least commit to a guaranteed increase of LHA levels each and every year, be that increase 2, 3 or 4 per cent? Would that not give planned fiscal certainty with regard to the impact on the UK budget?

Given the time constraints, I will roll both my questions together. Would there really be a saving of £2.5 billion, or would that money be spent anyway by local authorities, the Scottish Government and individuals in the private rented sector? Would the overall cost to society more generally in relation to getting people into employment and providing them with sustainable and productive lives be much greater than the £2.5 billion that it would cost to invest in the sector?

There was a lot in that, so I will not ask any supplementary questions, otherwise I will meet the wrath of the convener. I promised to bring in Maeve McGoldrick on those two points first.

You could write to the committee about this when you have the time, but is there a case for saying that, if someone were to take the step into the private rented sector, that could still be seen as a short-term intervention, so they should not lose their entitlement to move back into the social rented sector? In relation to how allocation policies work just now, if people have no housing need, they lose their needs-based assessment to get into the social rented sector. Could we be more clever about that?

I have a specific question about the £2 million that the Scottish Government has provided to reduce pressure on temporary accommodation and to support a move into the private rented sector, despite all the challenges in that regard. I will caveat that by saying that I am sure that you could spend that £2 million 100 times over. I am trying to identify the benefits of the money that has been spent; I am not talking about whether the money that has been provided is sufficient.

For example, I think that Glasgow was provided with £169,000 to be spent in this financial year and £620,000 to be spent in the next financial year. Duncan Black, can you provide examples of how that money has been used? If we can provide evidence of good outcomes, that will provide a stronger argument, with the budget coming up, that additional cash should be provided in that area.

That is fine. Sheila Haig?

Thank you. I have no further questions, but I say to all three witnesses that we would like those numbers, not just on DHP but on the wider spend and associated outcomes. If we are contacting Government, we want to say what local authorities are doing, what the outcomes are and what more they could do with additional funding. That is really helpful—thank you.