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I am very grateful to Mr Balfour for his intervention. We should set out in law our expectations about Government and local authority processes that will inform strategic housing investment plans and various council mechanisms to develop houses of the right size and scale. That will have an impact on what I am trying to do to help larger families who face challenges. As well as a legislative requirement, there would be a requirement for guidance and interaction with local authorities and housing associations that deliver housing on the ground.

Good morning. As we have discussed throughout our inquiry, the Scottish Government has revised its approach to inclusive communication. Instead of there being a specific duty, the intention is to use ministerial powers to draw attention to guidance and materials on inclusive communication.

John, you raised the concern that, given that the Equality Act 2010 already provides for reasonable adjustments, the Scottish Government’s proposal could be viewed as unclear. Could you maybe explain the EHRC’s position on that proposal?

Part of the challenge is that, although we heard from public bodies and local authorities that they are aware of the duty and want to ensure that they are fulfilling it, we also heard from disabled people’s organisations in particular that inclusive communication is just not happening as standard. A resourcing issue was mentioned, too. Would you want to see all that brought together and acknowledged so that we have a more robust system?

Good morning. Throughout our evidence sessions, I have asked about inclusive communication. The Scottish Government has revised its approach such that, instead of having a specific duty on inclusive communication, it will use a ministerial power to draw attention to guidance and materials on inclusive communication. It would be useful to understand why that change was made to the initial proposal on inclusive communication. What do you think that the new proposal will achieve?

So, your view is that public bodies will be able to access the resource as a means of delivering. That is the challenge. Local authorities say that they are aware of their duty and that they want to do more, but they very often do not have the resources that they need in terms of people and staffing—let us be honest—or time. Will that work have a demonstrable impact on the availability of time and staffing resources?

That was quite an overview. Do you recognise the evidence that we have taken from other witnesses—particularly those from local authorities and other parts of the public sector—that the challenge is one of resourcing? I appreciate what you said about practical support and resources, although this piece of work is more about developing and standardising guidance and trying to “fill the gaps”, as Nick Bland said.

Do you recognise that there is an overall resource challenge for local authorities regarding making things available in easy-read format and ensuring that that happens as a matter of course, rather than happening reactively? Do you recognise a lot of the things that those witnesses said? What is the Government’s intention with regard to providing that resource support?

The point that the duty is anticipatory, rather than reactive to a request, is a good one. It is perhaps about the sector being more prepared. There are services that are offered in the public sector that should have such materials available as par for the course—for example, the Electoral Commission did good work on access to voting, because we know that that happens on a cycle. Is it your view that public bodies should, as a first step, consider where the very common interactions are, and then consider the more reactive stuff when it concerns a relationship with the person using the service?

Okay. I heard your offer to come back to the committee on the detail of that, which I think would be useful to colleagues, and then we can perhaps review the implementation.

I think that colleagues around the table recognise the challenge of bank branches on the high street disappearing. The Bank of Scotland branch will be the last bank branch to leave Barrhead, in the region that I represent, and the neighbouring community in Neilston has lost its post office service. There is a perfect storm of reductions in post office services and high street bank branches.

I will make two points. First, the Link Scheme assessment that is done on whether a bank branch should remain in a community often does not take account of the views and experiences of the elderly population. Secondly, as the deputy convener was keen to talk about practical solutions that we can advocate, it would be good to get your reflections on the banking hub model that has been developed in some communities. How does that work? Should we push the UK Government to support us to do more of that?

I will come to Kyle Scott first, because he touched on that in his previous answer.

Louise Coupland, do you recognise the synergies in relation to what you said about having access to a human being to talk to and get information and support from?