Chamber and committees

Thank you.

I want to talk about how in-year transfers from other Government portfolios are viewed and treated by local government. Central Government contends that in-year transfers are part of the general revenue grants that councils have full discretion over and autonomy to spend as they see fit. What is your view on in-year transfers from other portfolios? What reporting mechanisms are attached to those and what restrictions are there on how you can use them?

I will ask an academic question. Directors of finance have been clear about the gap in the budget in relation to the demands that they are facing and what central Government is providing. What figure can you put on what you would need to increase council tax by in each of your authorities in order to make up that shortfall?

I know that it would never be imposed, which is why I said that the question was academic, but I am still interested to know what the increase would need to be to cover it.

My question is about future savings targets. We have seen some local authorities producing plans showing where they expect to make savings. They are coming to pretty tough decisions: one example would be Glasgow, which proposed making savings on teacher numbers. Then there was a Government intervention that essentially said that that would be blocked. How can local authorities plan for achievable savings targets if there is the potential for Government to step in and say that it does not like that and will not let councils do that?

I guess that the ultimate test of whether councils have autonomy is whether there is any clawback. If you decided to continue charging for music tuition, could the Government claw back the funding that it provided for that? Would that apply for anything else—for free school meals or any other initiative—if councils did not spend the money on what the Government had asked them to spend it on?

In Wales, additional funding for allotments has been allocated, and you know why that is: the benefits that you stated are clear to see. Is the Government monitoring the impact that that additional funding is having in Wales, and is it considering following that path?

Thank you.

I appreciate what the cabinet secretary says about the political and financial cost of meeting that ask. My question was more about the assessment of the quantum of the ask and whether that was reasonable.

Part 9 of the 2015 act placed new duties on local authorities. Will the minister set out what funding went alongside those new duties for councils to increase the provision of allotments and community growing spaces?