Chamber and committees

Those responses are heartening. The committee has previously had discussions about local authorities facilitating and enabling communities, so it is great to hear that that appears to be developing.

We move on to the theme of Covid support, planned savings and usable reserves, on which Mark Griffin has questions.

That is a nice note on which to end your questions, Paul.

I will now bring in Mark Griffin, who is going to ask about the recent spending review document.

Thanks very much for raising that point. That might be a very good issue to do a bit more work on.

Willie Coffey wants to come in.

Sorry, Miles. Have you finished?

Yes, Bill.

Blyth Deans mentioned ring fencing, so I will bring in Miles Briggs on partnership between local government and the Scottish Government.

That is quite an important point. Willie, you wanted to come in with a question.

Carol Calder, I noticed that you wanted to come in a few minutes ago. Do you want to pick up on a theme that we were talking about earlier?

I have another quick question about ring fencing and drip-feed funding. I am keen to hear your views on lump-sum funding versus drip-feed funding. The issue is coming up again. I am aware that some smaller local authorities in particular feel the burden on officers’ time of continuous funding allocations throughout the year from the Scottish Government, and feel the burden in areas that involve significant statutory duties and ring fencing, such as education. What impact could larger start-of-year lump-sum funding have on local authorities’ ability to plan effectively?

The first item on our agenda today is to decide whether to take item 3 in private. Item 3 is an opportunity for us to consider the evidence we have heard from the Accounts Commission. Are we all agreed?

Members indicated agreement.