Chamber and committees

I was not suggesting a league table.

This committee looks at the public expenditure and outcomes from that public expenditure. The Auditor General’s report does not pick up the work that you described as a component of the cost per pupil, and I wonder why. You said that all those measures are in place and good practice is being transferred back and forth. There must be some measurement in there, because if there is no link between spending per pupil and educational attainment, do we know whether the money is being spent in the right place, for the right purpose?

I recognise that some of the issues that the Auditor General picked up are technical, which adds to the cost. If we strip that out, do we have any idea how much the outreach to pupils’ families—that sort of wraparound approach—is costing and how effective it is? Is it being targeted in the right way? Is the volume of expenditure enough? I am trying to grope towards where the most effective expenditure of public funds is to achieve the outcome that the Government is looking for.

Just before we bring in Antony Clark, do you have a timescale for that, or is it open ended?

We seem to be back to the hoary old issue of data, which, as you know, we encounter not only in this area. There are deficiencies in data pretty much across the board: data is not up-to-date, it is not produced in a common format and so on. Are data collection requirements not keeping up because events change so quickly? Five years ago, the range of data indicators might be adequate, but we have not transitioned to new and more effective data collection. As we know, because of the size of the public sector, it takes a long time to make these changes. Could you give us a little bit of information around that?

It certainly appears that, as we have discussed, if all the stakeholders are not on board and pointing in the same direction, the programme will not be as effective as it should be. One should precede the other.

Convener, is there time for a further question?

Cabinet secretary, will you update us on the measures to mitigate the Covid-19 labour market impact, particularly for young people?

How does the Scottish Government envisage that the provisions of the bill would interplay with the relevant provisions in the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020?

The committee has recently taken evidence on the supply chain challenges. We understand that it is a complex area that comprises not just domestic but international supply chains. We have also looked at labour and skills shortages. We recognise that there are limits to what the Scottish Government can do to fix the supply chains. What policy levers does the Scottish Government have to alleviate the supply chain issues and the labour and skills shortages? How will those issues be reflected in the upcoming budget?

I think that that would be useful.