Chamber and committees

Okay. Thank you.

Do you have any indication of why that variability exists? Is that because of structural issues, or is it purely about personnel issues?

Carol Calder touched on absence and talked about planned work. Is there any indication already that the sickness absence level in 2021-22, which I think was the highest on record, was purely pandemic driven or was driven by the burden that we put on council staff in asking them to do more with diminishing resources? Before you start that detailed work, is there any early indication of why sickness absence is at that level and whether you expect that to come down as we ease out of the pandemic?

Is it even going to be possible to deliver some of the changes that we are talking about with sickness absence levels as they are right now?

Good morning. The Accounts Commission’s local government overview 10 years ago talked about how

“Councillor involvement in performance, improvement and governance is crucial”.

Is the experience of leadership in councils by councillors driving councils to improve performance and become more efficient and effective? When I talk to councillors—particularly longer-serving councillors—they speak with real regret about how their councils are more officer led than councillor led. What are your reflections on leadership among elected members in councils?

I am interested in the lack of take-up that you mentioned where the training could be good. Is that down to the pressure that councillors are under? They often manage second jobs, and they have fairly high committee burdens and casework. Do councillors have time to take up the offer of training where that training offer might be very good?

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

I want to ask about the ability of the Government and the Parliament to deliver a new local government settlement or landscape. We have talked about, essentially, a public acceptance that the system that we have now is the result of political gerrymandering 30 years ago, and one wonders how such a system can have lasted for 30 years. First, it is because nobody agrees what should replace it. Secondly, it is because there is an inbuilt resistance. You have 32 leaders, 32 chief execs, finance directors and education directors who will be thinking, “If there is a change here, will there be a space for me?”. There is also the political make-up of the Parliament. In the entire history of the Parliament, we have had minority or very small majority Governments with limited political capital looking at an item that is probably not very high up the public’s priority list. With all of that in mind, can the Parliament and the Government ever deliver the change that we all probably agree, in principle if perhaps not at the detailed level, that we should be pushing for?

The previous cabinet secretary said that they expected the accord to be agreed and delivered, I think, in time for September last year. Fionna, are you able to set out why it has taken so much longer to get that agreement in place than the Government predicted? Was the Government deadline of last September simply too ambitious?