Chamber and committees

There are probably a million other questions on housing—for example, on the impacts of rent controls and things like that on the collapse of mid-market rent—but I will move on to my final question.

The new UK chancellor has suggested that the Treasury may be open to changes to the definition of public debt. What conversations has the Scottish Government had with the UK Government on that? What impact could that have on capital budgets and what are the possible changes?

It is 3,000.

Yes, it is specifically around voids and empty properties. What co-ordination work is being done in COSLA on that? Here in the capital, we have 3,000 empty council-owned properties. That has not changed for a long time. Across Scotland, where is COSLA seeing that solutions to bring empty properties back into use are not being realised? How can that work be taken forward between the Government and local government? The Government is saying that councils should be bringing those properties back and councils are saying that they do not have the resources, yet we are seeing those properties being left unutilised, with record numbers of people and families in temporary accommodation.

In all those discussions, where is bringing empty properties back into use being made a priority?

I will try to merge my two questions, convener.

First, the Accounts Commission has stated that councils

“urgently need to transform how they deliver services”.

What is your view on that?

Moreover, at a recent CIPFA conference, a director of finance said that councils need to

“do less with less, but do it really well”.

How can there be more efficiency in local government? What should the Scottish Government do to help take that forward?

Good morning, cabinet secretary, and good morning to your officials.

I return to the subject of the council tax freeze. I did not quite hear you rule out the potential for another council tax freeze. I am therefore wondering whether the freeze is not just a one-off, as was suggested last year. Is there on-going work with local authorities to freeze council tax? If not, what work has been done to consider a cap, at least, on any increases?

What impact would that have on duties? For example, councils have a duty to find accommodation, but duties suggest that children should be in temporary accommodation only for two weeks. In Edinburgh, people are often in temporary accommodation for two years. What impact would it have if there were a competence rather than a duty?

I know that the sharing of resources, co-location and so on are happening in many council areas, and Police Scotland has been looking at some of that, too. It is all about bringing your infrastructure together and looking at the associated costs. I just wonder whether the councils that Keith Yates and Bill Howat were associated with ever did that. If so, was it more about improving services, or was it just a way of making savings?

I was about to ask about your views on the integration of health and social care, but perhaps that is going too far. [Laughter.]

Finally—this is my million-dollar question—how would you like to see the Verity house agreement taken forward? We have touched on the council tax freeze, which was thrown into the conversation when the ink was not even dry on the agreement. Do witnesses have any views on why it is taking so long to implement or on what could be useful to take forward the fiscal framework between the Government and local authorities on the principles that are set out in the agreement?

We have heard a lot about consensus on allowing councils to do their own thing. On the flipside, most people do not accept a postcode lottery—most politicians in this room will have used that phrase in discussions about all portfolios that we have worked on. Do you all think that, because local decision making is more important, it is absolutely fine that we should have a postcode lottery?

What if I used the phrase “variation in services” instead?[Laughter.]

Does anyone else want to add anything?