Chamber and committees

That is helpful, but I am interested in whether there are areas in local government in which we are making good progress. It is important to know what they are, because that will provide a lead as to where else we might make some changes that could benefit revenue but also improve outcomes at the end of the day. That is a critical part of scrutinising the budget, because we want to know whether money is being spent well and whether it is giving us the right returns.

Do you think that that is true in local government as well as in national Government?

On that point, irrespective of the debate about the nomenclature, do we need a national performance framework?

That is helpful.

Thank you.

I presume that that relationship has to be mended if we are to move forward.

I want to pursue the question of why, when the NPF was first introduced, there seemed to be considerable commitment to it. It was mentioned in different documents. Indeed, at our away day two years ago, I think, we spoke to Dundee councillors and people working in various local authorities who were very keen on the framework and were making quite a strong link between what they were delivering in local authorities and the framework itself. Why has it slid away from people’s interest? What has happened to take it from being very prominent to not being mentioned at all?

Why do you think that the three documents are not talking to each other? Where does the problem of the lack of coherency lie?

My question builds on what Heather Williams and Michael Kellet just said about economic inactivity. One of the considerable concerns that we have in Scotland is the number of people who are economically inactive; that is partly for health reasons, but there are also a lot of people who do not have health reasons and are not persuaded back into the labour force. Heather Williams mentioned childcare improvements. Do the witnesses have any suggestions about what else we have to do to persuade more people to come back into the workforce?

That is interesting.