Chamber and committees

Is that in every area? It will not go beyond half past 4.

So, there have been cases. In recent months, around 22 staff have been dismissed in Scotland. How many of those dismissals were based in part on social media posts that you had been monitoring?

On the attempts to axe Saturday letter deliveries, you have said several times that that is still your aim and desire, but the reality is that it is not going to happen, is it? The UK Government has already said no, so you will need to move on from that plan. How central to your current strategy to return to profitability within the next two years was the move to five-day deliveries? If that option is no longer there, what is your strategy now?

Do you have a particular target for the volume that you are looking to manage? When do you anticipate that would start? Much will depend on your own balance sheet, so to speak, but when do you anticipate that starting, if permissions are given? What sort of volume are we talking about?

So, when you made the decision to invest the money, you were fully aware of the fact that that hurdle needed to be jumped, so to speak.

The bank has expressed a desire to manage third-party capital. I think that you said in your opening statement that you had applied to the FCA for the relevant permission. What is the anticipated timeline for that process?

Assuming that the FCA grants permission, are any further permissions or regulatory approvals required, or does managing third-party capital represent the settled state of the medium-term operation of the bank?

In March 2020 ministers announced that there was going to be a delay in the DRS scheme until July 2022. In December 2021 there was the announcement of a further delay until August 2023. There were numerous internal reports flagging up concerns about the scheme and there was widespread opposition from many potential customers. It does not say a lot about your due diligence process that, given all that, you thought in May 2022 that it was a good investment.

You said there will be challenges in getting the loan back. The reality is that Circularity Scotland has no income. You will not get the money back, will you?

How do you define “significant”? From looking at CSL’s income, we see that nobody is paying any money into the scheme.