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I am grateful to Jeremy Balfour for his comments, because I have a point that follows on from that. The minister and I had a good meeting and discussion, and I recognise some of the concerns that he had. Rough sleeping is not a new problem. Some circumstances exacerbate it, and some years are worse than others.

Minister, can I confirm that you believe that it is possible to end people being forced to sleep on the streets in Scotland, that the Government is committed to that and that it is simply a question of timescales?

I thank everyone who has contributed to the discussion. The last point that Jeremy Balfour raised was very important, and I think that the minister committed to ending rough sleeping by the end of this decade, which is what my amendment calls for.

I want to ask the minister about that commitment; I am happy to take an intervention from him on it, which I think that I am allowed to do. One aspect of that commitment is having an understanding of the cost, because, as Mr Balfour rightly pointed out, in many ways, the ability to meet the commitment will come down to the costs. If the Government is making that commitment, we must have an idea of the relative costs of providing people with the alternative accommodation. Is the minister able to make an intervention to outline those costs?

Thank you. Rough sleeping is an extremely important issue that has probably been going on since time immemorial. It is a serious issue, and I am very keen that it is included in the bill. On the basis that I will have meetings with the minister, the cabinet secretary and other organisations and colleagues, I will not press amendment 1086 or move amendment 1087. However, I look forward to working with the minister with a view to possibly bringing those amendments back at stage 3.

Amendment 1086, by agreement, withdrawn.

Amendment 1087 not moved.

Section 42—Assessment of housing support services

As I am sure that everyone on the committee knows, incidents of rough sleeping increased last year. However, given the nature of rough sleeping, we are probably seeing only the tip of the iceberg. I hope that nobody round the table opposes the principle of my amendments 1086 and 1087, but I recognise that ending rough sleeping is not a simple task and that there are many and varied reasons why people find themselves sleeping rough, and many challenges to overcome. The very definition of rough sleeping may not cover some of the more gendered aspects of the problem.

However, I do not believe that the challenges are insurmountable if the Government is truly committed to ending rough sleeping in Scotland. The actions that were taken during the pandemic, albeit in unique circumstances, highlight that. The objective of my amendments is to end rough sleeping across the country, and they do not call for anything that the Scottish Government has not already committed to in 2018 and 2020.

Amendment 1086 seeks to end rough sleeping by 31 December 2029. It would require the Scottish ministers to provide a report on progress by 31 December 2027 and a second report by 31 December 2028. Amendment 1087 would require the Scottish ministers to produce an action plan to end rough sleeping by 31 December 2029, and it provides that the plan must be published by 31 December 2026.

I am grateful to the minister and the cabinet secretary for meeting me to discuss my amendments and to raise some of their concerns and the issues that they have, and I welcome the offer that was made to meet further on the issue.

I move amendment 1086.

I am glad that this issue came up because I visited Serimax as part of apprenticeship week and this is exactly the issue that they were talking about—the lack of transport and the fact that, even if there is a bus, it does not always run to the timings that young folk need to get in to their apprenticeships.

Another issue that was raised, which is a particular concern in a lot of rural areas where there is limited choice, is the lack of accommodation, housing and the like. I know that that is something that has come up. How does that impact on you? It is perhaps easier when folk are living at home but if we are looking at 2,000 jobs in our area, which are competing with other jobs as well, we simply do not have the accommodation to be able to accommodate a lot of these people. What are your thoughts on that?

The timescales and the timelines that we are talking about, particularly for the freeport, just do not seem to add up in terms of what we need and when we need it and what we will be able to deliver.

SDS mentioned potential investment of about £260 billion in various sectors, including construction, oil and gas, shipbuilding, advanced manufacturing, over the next 10 years. You spoke of a five-to-10-year vision in your report, which I imagine is about its implementation. If we accept that the system needed to be changed—which we did, because you were asked to carry out a review—what concerns do you have that the opportunities to take full advantage of the investment that is needed might be missed in that timeframe?

In your response to Murdo Fraser, you talked about the need for change. That was not just a question of asking for more money, but you recognised that, certainly on the apprenticeship side, 3 per cent of the total spend is probably not enough. Government has been quite clear that it will not change its approach to tuition fees and university funding. Money is extremely limited. Do you see a contradiction in what can be delivered for apprenticeships? Having spoken to some in the college sector, I know that there is a real fear that, as has happened in the past, it will be the one to get its budget squeezed again. We all recognise that there are not enough apprenticeship places and that there is huge demand.

Those who are unable to get a place for a modern apprenticeship may go to college and then on to university, and they will be unavailable as part of the workforce for longer. We are still investing in them, quite rightly, but we are perhaps spending more money than we might have done if we had provided them with apprenticeship places in the first place.

I will resist the temptation to move on to other aspects of graduate apprenticeships and funding. However, on my visit to Serimax during apprenticeship week, I heard the same thing as Murdo Fraser—that there are a lot more applicants for graduate apprenticeships than there are places. Which route do those who are unsuccessful and do not secure an apprenticeship predominantly take? Where do they go?