Chamber and committees

Thanks for that. Does anybody else want to come in on any of those three questions?

How has that been achieved? Was it because of increased income, reduced costs, or a bit of both?

I will continue that conversation, so my questions might be for Chris Kerr.

When Jennifer Henderson appeared in front of the committee last year, she indicated that there was going to be a surplus of £10 million. It turned out that it was actually £11 million, so that was a good estimate. Are you able to give similar figures for the year just ended?

Okay. One thing that I picked up from your “Annual Procurement Report 2021-22” concerns your savings. Using the Scottish Government’s procurement methodology, you saved £1.96 million, or 6.5 per cent, in annual expenditure, excluding salaries. Was that a one-off, or do you anticipate further savings there? How did you achieve savings of nearly £2 million?

We have touched on the fact that there is currently huge volatility in the market. There is the high cost of living, on-going inflation and uncertainty about mortgage rates. At least one house builder has said today that there is a 25 per cent reduction year on year in reservation rates. Given that level of volatility in the market, how does your income and expenditure projection show a balance, using the central income projection number for your income? How are you able to achieve a balanced budget year on year?

My last question is about expenditure. In your four-year projection, expenditure rises by between 1 and 2 per cent year on year. Given that staff make up two thirds of your total costs, and that we are in a period of inflation, it is unlikely—I would have thought—that pay awards will be settled at the 1 or 2 per cent mark. Will the pay award be predicated on reduced staffing? Is that how you will achieve your budget?

If we are looking at school-age childcare, a lot of schools already have breakfast clubs, after-school clubs and some form of holiday provision, but it is clearly not an ideal world. If, in four years’ time, we wanted to see an entirely different approach to childcare, what would it look like and what is the level of task that we face?

Thanks very much.

Good morning, panel. This morning, we have talked a lot about the challenges that the sector faces. Looking to the future, the Government announced in October its approach to expanding the childcare offer. During the previous parliamentary session, it had its consultation about developing the policy. What involvement has the sector had in developing the policy that was announced in October about expanding childcare to school-age children and to one and two-year-olds?

As you rightly pointed out, the policy is at an early stage and, clearly, there are on-going discussions. Do you feel that those discussions are influencing the Government’s policy?