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That is helpful. In other words, there is no decoupling. There is no world in which the provisions of the 1964 act would be repealed and any new fee regime that the Scottish Government wished to bring in would be brought in separately. Both would happen at the same time. We are simply debating whether the commencement power sits with the UK secretary of state or with the Scottish Government. That is what I am trying to establish.

Okay.

The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee has said that, if the power in clause 96 was conferred on the Scottish ministers, that would allow the Scottish Government to control the sequencing of the repeal so that it aligned with when the Scottish regulations under new paragraph 9A of schedule 3 to the Harbours Act 1964 were ready to come into force. The DPLR Committee has asked the UK Government why it will not simply confer the powers on the Scottish Government.

What is your understanding of why the UK Government will not simply do that to make sure that there is absolute alignment?

So the safest option would be simply to put the commencement powers fully into the hands of the Scottish Government. Is that the Scottish Government’s position, cabinet secretary?

I will be brief, convener.

Good morning, minister. I was pleased to hear that you are keen to look at the cost of the school day, which was the question that Marie McNair was exploring. When women leave a household, they do not always leave with all their belongings and clothes, and they may have children.

I do not expect you to say yes to this today, but in relation to the cost of the school day, I note that school clothing grants are issued once a year. Could there be circumstances in which a bit of flexibility could be considered in relation to an additional application for a school clothing grant where a woman is fleeing domestic and economic abuse from a perpetrator? I am just asking for consideration of that suggestion, rather than saying that we should do it.

Before I move on to the next theme, I will ask a little more about Jeremy Balfour’s line of questioning. Something that has come up consistently during our evidence taking is that women need a pathway to leave. Victims and survivors might leave because of a crisis, but they sometimes know for a long time that they need to leave, before they take the final step of leaving an abusive relationship.

Mr Balfour said that the five-week wait for the first universal credit payment is a major challenge. Women cannot apply for universal credit in confidence and have certainty that an award will be issued seamlessly. Community care grants and crisis grants can take domestic abuse into account, and we have heard about the fund to leave. Should consideration be given to cross-Government working, and to work between the DWP and the Scottish Government, to give financial certainty to a woman who decides that she must leave an abusive relationship? Should a package of measures be put in place before a woman, often with children, has to flee an abusive relationship? Real partnership working could mean the end of the five-week wait and could also change some of the criteria for Scottish Government grants. Could you work with Shirley-Anne Somerville to take that piece of work forward across Government and could you encourage work between the Scottish and UK Governments on that pathway to leave?

I am very aware—again because I represent a Glasgow constituency—that Glasgow City Council sees some of those issues at first hand, as new Scots who want to get their leave to remain status to stay in the country have very quickly become homeless and have gone into that system.

Glasgow City Council and Paul McLennan, as housing minister, made representations to the UK Home Office, which seems to be shirking its duty and responsibility to ensure that proper support is in place. They made those representations from a housing perspective, but you are the Minister for Equalities, so have you added your weight to those calls?

In my, as always, rather long-winded way, for which I apologise, I am asking whether you think that you could work with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and with the UK Government to have in place a package of measures in advance of a woman leaving, to ensure that she has certainty and has cash in her pocket at the point at which she leaves, instead of being in crisis after she leaves?

Thank you. I got my money’s worth out of that question, minister.

There is going to be a new legal duty for social landlords to develop and implement a domestic abuse policy. The equally safe strategy commits to supporting social landlords to embed gender equality commitments. How is that going? What work is taking place in relation to that?

I find that a reassuring answer. I do not want to follow up on that. That answer was pretty strong.

The committee has heard how the high cost of refugee accommodation, the lack of suitable temporary accommodation and the high cost of housing all contribute to the difficulty of leaving an abusive relationship. In what ways is the Scottish Government taking that into account when developing its housing policy?

I get that that is a cross-portfolio issue that also goes across Governments, because some of the structural issues are Home Office matters; however, what is the Scottish Government doing to try to resolve that?

So there are no specific actions at the moment. One suggestion that was made about how to reduce the costs of green hydrogen was to blend green hydrogen into the existing gas networks, which could reduce costs by up to 30 per cent. That could be actively considered now and taken forward, so is the UK Government actively looking at that?