Chamber and committees

The savings from the legislation are clear. I am just wondering what the net position is. It is hard for us to say, “Local authorities want more money.” We really need to pin it down to a ballpark figure. Surely Dundee City Council has considered how much additional funding it would require—if it needs additional funding—to deliver the bill and over what time period.

I am looking for ballpark stuff. Ms McGuire, do you have anything to add?

Mr Jack, you are my last hope.

I will open up the evidence session to colleagues around the table. The first to ask questions will be the deputy convener, Michael Marra, who will be followed by John Mason.

I will make one point, which is that Dundee’s boundaries were set pre-devolution.

Thank you very much. That concludes questions from the committee. “Circular economy” is one of those phrases that just appeared and I do not think that the public really know a lot about it. It is like when Tony Blair came in in 1997 and “social exclusion” suddenly became the phrase that everybody used. I think that some education is needed in relation to the circular economy.

I am just going to say one thing. The financial memorandum itself points out that it does not have all the answers. For example, it says in paragraph 33:

“It is not possible at this stage to provide definitive estimates about the extent of any additional costs or benefits to local authorities that would be associated with the introduction of enforcement tools for local authorities in relation to householders’ recycling obligations”.

The financial memorandum admits that it does not have the full answer there.

I thank all three of you for giving evidence. It is greatly appreciated. We will take evidence on the bill from the Scottish Government at our meeting on 7 November. With that in mind, do any of you have any final points to make? Is there anything that we have not touched on that you feel that we should have? Are there any specific points that you want to ensure that we do not omit when the minister comes before us in a couple of weeks’ time?

Ms McGuire, one of the issues that you have raised is how much the financial memorandum seems to believe that local authorities will have to pay in order to hire additional staff to monitor this. You talked about the assumptions around the full-time equivalent enforcement officer as being nowhere near the actual real cost. Can you touch on that? It is obvious that your colleagues are also concerned about that.

Are you saying that those are hidden costs that are not really considered in the financial memorandum?

I see Mr Devine nodding there.

Mr Devine, from the recycling improvement fund of £70 million, £53 million has been allocated to 17 local authorities. Do you feel that that means that there is not enough left to cope with the changes that will now have to take place, given the changes to the DRS and so on?

Mr Jack, I note that you also did not comment specifically on these early questions, but I am sure that you will have some thoughts on them.