Thanks for the reply, it triggered a decision to go with an interim fix.
A proper solution to this problem is a little beyond the scope I have right now. In the meantime I’ll hardcode the first list item (to the homepage so I know it’s not going anywhere) then list the rest, minus the page that has the hardcoded link (not a great solution but better then what we had before). Just telling people this incase they come up against the same brick wall and are wondering what the possiblities are.
I’m still interested in a decent resolution if anyone has one.