Chamber and committees

Thanks very much for those answers.

We know that, during the pandemic, more than 300,000 of our fellow Scots have become carers and have taken up a caring role. I want to touch on what Colin Toal said. Although I asked about young carers, there is a question about where people can access information about support. Do any of you have views on support that is available outwith the social security system, such as carers breaks and respite care? I know that those services have also been hit during the pandemic. What difference would that support make? I know that local carer centres in my region are doing different things to support people. What does the national mix of additional support that is available that you have seen during the pandemic look like?

Thank you—I appreciate that. A number of points were raised with the first panel about ensuring that respite care is fully returned, and about carers breaks, which I think attracted cross-party support when the initial Carers (Scotland) Bill went through Parliament. In fact, my colleague Nanette Milne lodged the amendment on carers breaks. Could you update the committee on the restoration of respite care, and on funding specifically available for carers breaks? That was something that I really took on board, and the first panel very much emphasised how desperately needed breaks are for carers across Scotland.

Thank you, convener. What is the commission’s understanding of the local governance review and how it is progressing? What are your views on the fiscal framework that will be developed between the Scottish Government and local government, and on how it will work?

I know that we have crammed a lot in this morning, but I want to ask a question about what is probably turning out to be the Government’s flagship policy: the national care service. When the consultation was published, COSLA’s president, Alison Evison, described it as “an attack on localism”. I know that there are concerns about what it will mean for local authorities’ budgets, with potentially 40 per cent of their budgets taken out of their control. What is your view on that? Are those concerns well founded? Will you ensure that local government is defended so that more is not taken off its budgets?

The SNP-Green co-operation agreement includes a point about council tax reform. What is your thinking around that? How might that affect the work of this committee? Will council tax reform be brought forward in this parliamentary session?

One of the most pressing issues at the moment is pay settlements in local government. Going back to some of the questions about ring fencing that you have faced this morning, I would like to ask what the Scottish Government’s position is on that. When it comes to the £188 million bill for that, in the agreement that has been put forward, the Scottish Government has provided £94 million of non-ring fenced funding for councils. Do you accept that that will mean that councils will have to make cuts or eat into their reserves?

Good morning to the whole Accounts Commission panel. Ms Calder has just touched on the question that I wanted to ask, which is specifically on any analysis that you have done of local government workforce issues. You have already outlined the challenge that planning departments across the country are experiencing. My key question is this: what assessment did you make pre-pandemic, and what assessment have you made post-pandemic, of the workforce challenges that are facing local government?

I bid the cabinet secretary and her officials good morning. After what we have heard this morning, I feel that I should first declare that I am not a councillor.

It is now a decade since the Government accepted the Christie commission’s recommendations on a shift towards prevention. Notwithstanding Covid, can you give us some examples of where that shift has happened in practice?

Is it fair to say that there is a disconnect between the workforce that we need in local government and what our university and college sector is producing? I was struck by the comments that Ms Calder made on the 100 planners who are qualifying for both the public sector and the private sector in Scotland, with 35 per cent of the workforce being over 50. Is that something that you have considered with regard to what we will need in the future? It seems that, in the NHS, too, we have not got that national workforce planning right, even though we know that people are heading towards retirement.

I have no interests to declare.