Chamber and committees

I think that the Scottish Government is optimistic that that might change after the budget on 30 October. However, as has been pointed out, we already have a five-year 20 per cent reduction in capital, so there will inevitably be reductions here, there and probably just about everywhere.

Thank you.

David, I note that, on public service reform, you have said:

“there is a widespread lack of resource, capacity and ultimately, delivery.”

I note that you got that comment about higher fees in. I call Lewis Ryder-Jones, to be followed by Jamie Halcro Johnston.

It is also about looking at yourself. When I was in Glasgow City Council, it passed a motion that any organisation that had contracts with a local authority would need at least 3 per cent of its workforce to have disabilities. That does not seem very ambitious now, but I found out that, in the council itself, less than 1 per cent of the employees had disabilities. Sometimes, people are looking outwards and not at their own organisations.

With long-term planning, you are talking about 10, 20 or 30 years, but there are different Governments and stuff like that, with different policy priorities. How practical is it to think that a Government would stick to priorities that someone else decided on umpteen years ago?

I noticed that, throughout your submission, you say things such as that Scotland’s income tax system needs to

“raise more money ... than the rest of the UK”

and that we need to enable

“significantly more public spending on people, public services and green infrastructure”

to improve the

“adequacy of social security entitlements”.

However, you have been coy about how much additional resources should be raised to do those things. Is it an extra £10 million, an extra £100 million or an extra £1 billion?

Max French, you are not particularly impressed with how the framework national outcomes are being implemented. When I was reading your submission, I sat with my yellow marker thinking, “Oh, that’s a really good point”, and I annotated loads of your points.

For example, you say:

“Scotland has lacked a credible—or even discernible—implementation strategy for the NPF since its founding in 2007.”

You said that the NPF is “internationally recognised”, but that

“even when organisations want to adopt and implement the NPF, they lack the tools, guidance and know-how to implement them operationally.”

You are of the view that the NPF is a good idea and that people outwith Scotland have recognised that, but that the framework is not having much impact on the ground. Obviously, I have your submission here, but I am keen for you to talk about that particular issue.

Alison, I note that you have said that what is important is that we have

“a more streamlined, simple and bold statement”

of the national performance framework, and that

“Resources and support for capacity building across public bodies will be essential to align operations with the National Outcomes.”

What are we talking about, then, in terms of “resources and support”?

I apologise, because you wanted to come in on something else, Alice.

We will now open up the session. The first colleague to ask questions will be Jamie Halcro Johnston, followed by Liz Smith.