Chamber and committees

Thank you. That was very helpful.

Just to be clear, is it correct to say that the 32 local authorities across Scotland broadly accept the national priorities in terms of policy but you are asking for greater local flexibility in how councils address those?

Notwithstanding what you said about the need to improve intergovernmental relations between Holyrood and Westminster, which is crucial, one of the interesting things that the committee has to wrestle with is what the fiscal framework should look like going into the future and how to inspire growth and make sure that the Scottish economy is doing as well as it possibly could do, as Mr Perman said in his sensible remarks. In that context, and in relation to some of the comments in your submissions, what would you like to see improved in the fiscal framework when it is renegotiated in the next few months?

Thank you. I have a final question. I know that it is difficult to take constitutional politics out of the discussion around the fiscal framework, but if we can do so for a moment, we can focus on what might be the best economic outcome from the renegotiation of the fiscal framework.

We have identified that we could have better intergovernmental relations and improve our forecasting so that, as has just been identified, we could better deal with some of the exogenous shocks that can hit us, notwithstanding some of the risks that are involved in that. Is there anything else that might be helpful to address in the renegotiation that might assist in terms of the growth perspective and the economic efficiency of Scotland?

Councillor Macgregor, you said in answer to Mr Greer that you were hopeful of you and the Scottish Government working towards a better fiscal framework than we have currently. Can you put on record your three top priorities for making it better?

I agree with you about trust—that is very important.

I want to press you a bit more on whether you think that there should be structural changes that would make the fiscal framework easier for local authorities.

I want to probe a little further on the question about forecasts. We had an interesting discussion when the Scottish Fiscal Commission and the Office for Budget Responsibility were in front of the committee. Do you feel that one of the issues that is detrimental to Scotland is the timescale difference between when different forecasts are presented, which makes it difficult for the Scottish Government to play out the national situation, seen on the UK level, against what is very Scottish data? Is there a problem there about the timescales and the methodologies that are being used?

Yes.

That is helpful. Mr Mason raised earlier the question whether it is better and more effective, and perhaps more efficient, for local government to respond to local needs. Do you feel that the increased flexibility that you are asking for would make that more possible, and that local government should better respond to local needs rather than national priorities?

Mr Eiser, do you feel that that is a substantial problem with the fiscal framework, or can we get around that problem?