Chamber and committees

What will restructuring of the SHRC office involve?

Convener, if it is all right with you, it would be important to get that additional information on the public record. Could Mr Carlaw produce that in due course? That would be fine.

We will have to disagree on that point. Some commentators—

As I say, we will have to disagree on that point.

Over the past five years, Scottish income tax policy has diverged from the rest of the UK’s tax policy because of the Parliament’s new powers, so the Scottish Government has been able to generate additional revenues. However, the potential additional spending power has been partially offset by weaker growth in income tax per head, and, as you admitted this morning, by weaker economic performance in Scotland—the UK economy has been weak, but the economy in Scotland has been weaker. What specific economic policies should be prioritised to ensure that productivity in Scotland is enhanced?

That is a helpful list. One thing that you did not mention but that I have heard you rightly mention in the chamber previously is the demographic concern. You are right that the size of the working population in relation to the total population is a major concern.

I want to ask about taxation policy, particularly for people in Scotland who are earning around £27,850 or above, who are paying a higher rate of tax than those in the rest of the UK. We have talked a little about behavioural change. Are you concerned that any of those who are middle to upper earners will feel that Scotland is perhaps not the most attractive place in which to live and work and to invest?

Mr Swinney, I will start my questions with a point of clarification. In November, the First Minister wrote in the Financial Times:

“The budget of the Scottish government, for example, is worth £1.7bn less than when it was set in December as a result of inflation”.

I have heard you agree with that figure in the chamber. The First Minister added:

“yet we have not received a single additional penny from the UK government.”

Do you agree that you

“have not received a single additional penny from the UK government”?

Can you explain why you think that that is true, when the Scottish Fiscal Commission outlined extensive Barnett consequentials for 2021-22 and for 2022-23? I think that the current figures are something like £447 million.

Does the ethical standards commission require 7.4 additional full-time equivalent staff because the workload has significantly increased in the commissioner’s office? If that is the case, by how much has it increased? That, too, is a matter of public record. One of important things in relation to commissioners is public accountability for where the money is spent; that is probably the commissioner that has the highest profile in terms of being held to account by the public. Will you give us a little bit more detail about that?

I take your point about some of that but, notwithstanding the perceived advantages that people in Scotland have, if they are asked to pay higher levels of tax than elsewhere, they will look for effective delivery of public services. If we look at the NHS, schools or transport and if we listen to some of the comments from yesterday, what is additional in the quality of delivery of public services that merits those higher tax rates?

However, Mr Swinney, people do not find it easy to see their general practitioner. They are finding that there are cuts to bus services, some train services or services that are provided to our islands. A lot of things add up to concerns about the delivery of public services. That is reflected in some of the comments that were made yesterday.

I will ask you about one other aspect of the tax changes: the change to the additional dwelling supplement. The Scottish Government forecasts that we will get extra revenue from that tax change. Has it done any modelling about that change in light of the number of people who say that they might leave the market for the additional dwelling supplement as a result of the rent freeze?