Chamber and committees

Members have heard previously about service rationing and the growing level of unmet needs. Have you looked at that at all? Has there been any change in that? Is there a negative trend in that respect?

It certainly appears that the bar to qualify for services is being raised. It seems to me that that would hide unmet need.

I am looking at the chart that Carol Calder referred to, which shows the impact on unprotected services over the past 10 years. Planning has certainly been hit hardest—believe me, I hear a lot of complaints about that—but central support services come next. What is covered by “central support services”? Is that a uniform term across all councils?

Service users have also sustained reductions in capital budgets. What has been the impact of those reductions in capital budgets? Are any user groups more greatly impacted by those reductions?

Good morning. The commission notes that spending on unprotected services is continuing to fall. Have you conducted any assessment of the impact of such spending cuts—for example, by speaking directly to users of the services?

The bar chart shows percentage changes in spending, but that does not give a feel for how much money is behind the percentage figure. Being able to look at the budgets of those services, rather than a percentage change, would give us a better idea of the impact.

Culture and leisure have also been particularly hard hit. Does that mean libraries and so on?

Who is monitoring local government progress on net zero?

I want to touch on three broad areas. First, over the years, this committee has received section 22 and 23 reports from you, which are obviously in-depth audits, on which we have based our scrutiny. Over the past couple of years we have increasingly been getting briefings from you in the form of blogs. What kind of balance do you anticipate in the future between your in-depth audits and the briefings in blogs? Given that this committee has performed scrutiny against those briefings and blogs, to what extent can we rely on the rigour of the audit principles behind them when we do that?

My last question is on the police and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. I think that your best value reports are quite good. [Laughter.] Well, I am Scottish—that is why I said that.

I know that you are doing research and development work and a best value audit on policing. Can you give me a bit more information about the research and development that is being done and the timescales you are working to in relation to the fire and rescue service? Obviously, both emergency services are vital for the country, and the committee has a huge interest in them.

I would just highlight the high level of public interest—and indeed the committee’s interest—in both areas. I would therefore be hoping for something on this as soon as is feasible.