Chamber and committees

Yes, and we have a UK budget coming in March. We do not know how that will impact.

I see Keir Greenaway playing with his fingers—when I see you doing that, Keir, I keep thinking that you are going to put up your hand to make a contribution.

There does not seem to be any great enthusiasm to say anything, so, if that is the case, we will—[Interruption.] I see that Shona Struthers wants to come in. On you go, Shona.

I will let John Mason ask a question in a minute.

One of the issues is the process: we get the autumn statement and then we have three weeks for the Scottish Government to produce a budget. The Scottish Government has to wait for the Scottish Fiscal Commission to come out with its forecasts, because that is what the budget is based on. The SFC comes up with the forecasts and says how much is going to be available. The Government then starts divvying up the pot. It also has to haggle with Ross Greer and his colleagues, because there is a two-party agreement at that stage, and then it has to put it all together. That is the background and, to a large extent because of that, one of the things that the budget document lacks—as it always does—is the reasons why the decisions have been made. I do not think that it would improve transparency if we were to get the equivalent of “War and Peace” on every budget line—it would be more than the 125 pages that it is already—but it would be useful if we had more of an explanation in the document about why one decision was being made, as opposed to a different decision. That is something that we can press for.

Time is against us, so I want our guests to have a wee think about any final comment that they want to make after John Mason has asked his question and before we wind up the session.

For example, if you had an underspend on paper of £150 million, that is less than one day’s revenue for the Scottish Government; it is a nonsense. That is the money that you have available in order to move things forward. It is always 100 per cent committed, in my understanding.

Yes. You said that resource funding will rise by 8 per cent by 2028-29 but, in the figures on page 5, in the second line, there seems to be a 4.2 per cent rise rather than an 8 per cent rise. I just wonder why that is, or have I got it wrong?

Before you ask another question, John, I see that Claire Murdoch wants to come in.

It is not about commenting on policy choices; it is about showing which policy choices are available, and then it is up to politicians to decide whether to take one or other forward—I can see that.

I will open up the session to questions from members.

Sorry, but you are talking about 0.4 per cent of income tax revenues, which is £82 million.

About 90 per cent comes from the UK Government.

Thank you. I now open up the meeting to members’ questions.