Chamber and committees

I appreciate that. I have no further questions.

I know that a number of schools in South Lanarkshire have done the same. There are examples of where that can be done, and it is really helpful that you have set that out in that way.

My final question in that area touches on the organisational issue that we spoke about earlier on. Some of the submissions say that, when local government is cash strapped—which it is—it tends to fund only that which it is required to fund through statutory provision. My concern is about third sector organisations and the work that they do in particular. I know that it is early days, but have you heard of any indication that the flat cash settlement might have an impact on some of your organisations? Do you have any plans to monitor that?

I thank Alison Hosie and Sarah Cowan for joining us and for the information that they submitted in advance, which is, as ever, really helpful.

My first question is for Alison Hosie, but Sarah Cowan might also want to comment. Has the Government maximised its available resources to deliver on human rights outcomes?

Do you have a sense of what you would do in balancing that? Maybe you do not and it is a really difficult question. However, how would you balance giving enough funding and uplifts to continue what is already being done, against starting to fund new projects? How could we, as a committee, and the Government begin to try and address that?

Sara, in your written submission, you talk a lot about unpaid carers and the impact that the care economy can have on women’s poverty. What support for unpaid carers have you been able to identify from the budget?

The spending review.

Absolutely, convener.

Have either of you been able to analyse the recent £53 million of cuts in employability support that were announced by the Deputy First Minister? Could those cuts represent a retrogression? Do you have any concerns around that?

Thank you both for being so clear on that issue. I hope that the committee can take forward the point about the need for someone to explain the situation to the sector. That seems to be a sensible approach, as opposed to one that involves the Government saying, “There’s nothing we can do about it,” given the impacts that you have just described.

I have a further question on the impact of the cost of living on organisations. I know that the Government put about £1.2 million into additional funding for advice services, which I am sure will have been welcomed. Has that met the demand? Given what you have already said, I am a bit sceptical about whether it has. If it has, that is excellent. If it has not, can you give us an idea of the scale of the difference and what impact that will have on the ability of services to continue?

Thank you. I really appreciate that.

On a slightly broader point, have you been able to look at any analysis at all of the flat cash settlement for things such as local government, education and employability services? Have you been able to do that in detail?

Thank you—that is really clear.