Chamber and committees

Thank you for your response, cabinet secretary.

I agree that it is a cross-party decision now, but my question clearly referred to the point at which the relationship was between COSLA and the Scottish Government, not cross-party groups. That is why I asked you question that I did, which I got some earlier evidence on. Basically, the relationship broke down. It is very important that we never have that relationship break down; we talked about that previously in a session on the Verity house agreement. However, COSLA’s chief executive clearly stated in evidence earlier that the engagement by officials dropped. Were you aware of that?

I will go on to my next question. Given that the Scottish Government obviously agrees with the pay uplift recommendations—you have said that it is a good report—how would you see the requirement for £4.6 million being met? Is the Scottish Government suggesting that individual councils would find that money? I know, because I have spoken to 31 of the 32 council chief executives, that it is clear that they are struggling right now to meet essential spend. We also heard in the evidence earlier today that there will be fewer people out there now making decisions in councils. It could mean that, but it could also impact services, because services may have to be cut if local authorities have to find that money.

Last but not least, I would say—especially being a person from a minority ethnic background—that we will not attract key representation from people from disabled backgrounds and people from minority ethnic backgrounds but also, very importantly, women. We have heard today from SLARC and COSLA that there are barriers for women to come into the profession and salary is one of those. Would you like to say a little bit about that? Also, you mentioned that it is not just salary that is a barrier and that there may be other things involved. It would be good to hear from you about that.

Martin McElroy has just mentioned that he could see that Government officials were not attending and relationships were changing. Did any of you voice that to the cabinet secretary? Was anything written or emailed to say, “You are not attending”?

Good morning. I thank the witnesses for their opening statements.

The cost of the pay uplift for ordinary councillors would be around £2 million and the cost of increasing pay for senior councillors would be around £2.6 million, which is a total of £4.6 million. Could COSLA provide more details on how it sees that being funded? Angela Leitch touched on the thinking behind its being in the Government’s settlement. Jane O’Donnell mentioned that that was stressed many times to the cabinet secretary. You said that you met 28 times as a committee, is that right?

I want to get some more detail on the issue. Were any promises made at the time? Did you feel that the money was going to be in the settlement and was that stressed to the cabinet secretary? What were the responses? Can you give a bit more detail on how this will be funded?

Good morning, cabinet secretary, and good morning, Fiona.

It is clear that SLARC was set up as a joint review by COSLA and the Scottish Government. That was echoed earlier by the COSLA chief executive, Jane O’Donnell. Also mentioned in the evidence session was that the relationship between COSLA and the Scottish Government started positively but that, as time went on, especially around April, attendance by Scottish Government officials fell, especially around the time when the council tax freeze came in, with relationships worsening. Therefore, could the cabinet secretary explain why the Scottish Government is now saying that it is up to local government to fund the salary changes for councillors, which account for a total of £4.6 million, when it started with a joint partnership between the Scottish Government and COSLA?

I echo the point that representation of communities is important. I was one of the first women of colour to come in to the Parliament, along with Kaukab Stewart, and was the first Indian woman. It took a long time—until 2021—for that to happen. It is important that we spread that through our councils to ensure that they represent communities in the right way, with the right people as councillors, so I absolutely agree with you.

If the Scottish Government refuses the request to pay for the SLARC recommendations, is it COSLA’s view that regulations should not be introduced early next year? I know that we have talked a little about timings.

In your answer to the first question, you said that a task force had been set up. Is that task force working? You told me that investors and banks are on the task force and are giving you guidance, but over the weeks that the committee has been taking evidence on the bill, we have heard that there is a big issue with certainty in investment and the fact that people do not want to invest in the housing market any more. People who have given evidence to the committee have said clearly that there is an issue.

Previous witnesses told us that there is a lack of robust data, which could leave councils liable to legal action should they decide to enforce a rent control area. In fact, data on the private rented sector is so poor that we cannot reliably tell whether it is growing or shrinking. Witnesses are sceptical about whether a robust data set will be in place by 2026. Do you share those concerns? If so, what action is the Scottish Government taking to improve data on the private rented sector? I also have a question about the national side of the matter, but I will let you answer that right now.

When will that report come out?