Chamber and committees

Thank you. That is helpful.

Carol Mochan has read my mind—that was exactly what I was interested in asking, and the witnesses have answered it fully.

Catherine Shaw, I want to follow up something that you said in response to Tess White. You talked about Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association doing what it can to assist you. Were you talking about a housing allocations policy, perhaps involving a preference for key workers or those with a local connection? What specifically is the association doing to assist?

We could probably look at that issue further. I believe that many public sector areas face the same issue with regard to housing.

That is fair enough—we will find that out.

Before you do, I have a specific question on the pay issue. When we were talking about the importance of housing for health, the issue of aids and adaptations and the need to assess people’s homes when they are moved out of hospital sprung to mind. That tends to be the sort of work that local authority occupational therapists are involved in, so is that where the impact of what you are talking about would be felt?

You might not know the answer to this next question but, if not, we can find it elsewhere. Do you know whether the housing association and the local authority have a common housing register in Highland?

Is any work going on to address those matters? What work is being done by the health board and the local authority?

Had the decision to move the services to a community-based setting already been taken and this was about designing what they looked like, or was it the public’s input that led to it? Which way round was it?

Thank you. That is helpful.