Chamber and committees

Thank you for that, Jessie.

I have one more question. How successful has the rent pressure zones legislation been for councils?

Good morning, minister. I have heard my colleague Jamie Greene speaking about housing associations not being able to increase rents and maybe having to stop maintenance or modernisation programmes. What conversations have you had about that? Like Jamie Greene, I am aware of this; my mum is a housing association tenant, too, and she is worried about whether her rewiring will be done and stuff like that. How can we give people confidence that these things will still go ahead?

Good morning, cabinet secretary. The committee heard from the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations on the need to progress with the review of “Housing for Varying Needs: a design guide”, which has been in place for more than 20 years. Will you update the committee on progress with the review and comment on how it might help to address the delivery of homes for those with particular needs?

That is great. Thank you very much. I have one more question, convener.

Given the emphasis on placemaking in the draft national planning framework 4, how are you making sure that the new homes that are approved through the affordable housing supply programme contribute to those aims?

Thank you, convener, and thank you to the panel for joining us today. I have a few questions to ask. I will try to make them as simple as I can and not too wordy. What are the main causes of the skill shortages within councils? What are the impacts of those shortages and how are councils attempting to address them? Is there any evidence of services being significantly reduced or changed as a result of staff shortages?

Thanks very much. The pandemic has made workforce planning more difficult and more necessary. Do any of the other witnesses that want to come back on that?

That has answered quite a few of my questions, so thank you very much for that, but I do have another question to ask. With the evidence of higher staff absence levels and some degree of burnout, how are councils attempting to improve staff wellbeing and promote fair work?

Thank you, Carol. Thanks, convener, that is me done.

Following on from Marie McNair’s question, when might an expansion to the list of property types that are covered come into effect?