Chamber and committees

I am not asking for a full list. In terms of public perception, the public see that certain building projects have had to be stalled. If there is unallocated money, I think that the question in the public mind will be to ask why that money is not being spent when there is obviously a very considerable tightening of the public purse?

I understand that, minister. I think that you mentioned earlier that we always have the argument about underspend; there is not always good understanding about that. In this case, I think that questions will be asked because there is money that has not yet been marked as being for particular projects, or at least there is not—shall we say?—entirely full transparency about it. That is our difficulty in trying to explain it to the public.

Will that give a little bit more certainty to the planning process for capital spending in the future? Will it be beneficial to the Scottish Government to work with increased flexibility?

Notwithstanding the difficulties with timescales and uncertainties—which I think we all acknowledge, as a finance committee—I will take you back to comments that you made in reply to the convener’s question about unallocated sums in the health capital budget. You were clear that you were giving a broad spectrum on a range of capital projects; you did not give us details on what those projects are. I ask this because, in recent weeks, the public have seen that some capital building projects have been paused. Can you give us a bit more detail on what the money is being held back for?

But the money is not being spent.

I am sure that it is a timescale issue. It is difficult to increase the transparency of how budgets work, but to make it clear we should, if there are specific projects awaiting that money, know what they are. That is the key issue, because—let us be honest—in recent years we have had big arguments about underspends at the end of the year, and the reason for underspend is not always clear.

I will move on to a question about the revised fiscal framework. It has obviously increased the Scottish Government’s flexibility in relation to its borrowing powers. Has that had an important effect in terms of helping you to address some of the constraints that you face?

Okay. I will ask one final question, if I may, convener.

When it comes to capital investment, pressure on supply chains and greater inflation in the construction industry, for example, have obviously been among the difficulties for the UK and Scotland, recently. They have made things very difficult. Does the Scottish Government foresee those easing a little in its planning for big capital projects for the future?

Absolutely. It is a very difficult area, because it is very hard to identify a lot of the bad behaviour. That is a really big issue. Any modelling that could be carried out on behavioural change would be very helpful, because that is what this is about, by and large.

As the convener has been discussing, the issue is about whether the measures that we have to deal with the problem are effective. I think that I am correct in saying there have been a couple of prosecutions in Scotland, but this is about the deterrent factor. What modelling has been done to demonstrate whether the measure will have a really big deterrent effect?

Of course they are, but they are also the ones who can stimulate economic growth.

We received a submission from the Scottish Retail Consortium. It said that it was absolutely flummoxed as to why retail in general, and one sub-sector of retail in particular, has been “singled out” for the potential business rate surtax, which is unfair and inequitable. Will you comment on that?