Chamber and committees

To be fair, I point out that I anticipated that that would be the answer. However, would it not be easier if that information was included in those lines in the reports? Another sentence to explain that would be helpful. That is why I asked the question.

I was going to ask you something else, but I cannot read my own writing, although I wrote it down only two minutes ago. I apologise—it might come to mind in the next minute or so. Oh! I see what it is, now.

I want to ask about the spring revisions. Many of the changes arise from changes in portfolios following the First Minister’s realignment of Cabinet and ministerial portfolios. Do you anticipate significantly fewer changes in the spring and subsequent revisions because of that, and that the next time we have a revision, there will be only relatively minor changes, as the pandemic eases?

Thank you. Professor Mitchell, you talked about how difficult it is to change and to move people away from existing budgets. Obviously, it is easier to have preventative spend assisting change when budgets are growing rather than under stress and strain. What can be done even in such adverse circumstances?

There is clearly an issue whereby one can cynically say, “We will bring in these wonderful new changes, but we will have to take all the flak from those with vested interests now, and someone else will see the benefits in 10, 15 or 20 years.” That can be a selfish approach, because politics is often about the here and now. How would you address that issue in practical, pragmatic terms?

I thought that you would.

As Professor Mitchell will know, I have long been keen on decluttering the landscape and major public sector structural reform.

We will move on to Liz Smith, to be followed by Ross Greer.

Thank you. This will be my final question, because others want to come in.

In the main, the Christie commission’s report did not offer specific recommendations to the Government on how to progress the proposed programme of reform. That issue has been touched on already. Was that a weakness? Do you think that the reform acts that have come through in recent years, such as the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014 and the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, are steps in the right direction?

The committee is aware of that; we have discussed the issue in recent weeks. Is it fair to say that the Government has concerns about the matter?

I thank the minister for coming. We will, in due course, publish a short report to Parliament setting out our decision on the regulations.

Our next panel of witnesses will be ready to start at 10 past 11, so I suspend the meeting.

I notice that there is a Whitehall transfer of £24.5 million to increase Scotland’s share of the immigration health surcharge that is collected by the Home Office. Can you tell us more about that?

I have one other question. You touched on the issue of further decisions on allocations being announced when the spring budget revision comes forward. Can you update us on any change to the balance that is available for deployment and allocation in future with regard to the reserved balance that we have now?

I have a couple more questions before we open out to other members of the committee.

What was the level of engagement with the UK Government prior to its announcement that it will set out a multiyear spending review, given the impact that that will have on Scotland’s finances?