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Thank you for your indulgence, convener. Previously, I asked the Scottish Fiscal Commission about the difference that a more generous and quicker approach to terminal illness is making to the Scottish budget. Obviously, it is important to get that right for the claimant. You touched on that in your opening comments. Do you have any further observations that you can give to the committee?

Thanks. I was trying to understand that. We are talking about non-means-tested benefits, so I was wondering why a cost of living crisis would drive up the cost of disability benefits. You also indicate that take-up of disability benefits through the form of ADP will be higher in Scotland. What is the case for that?

Are you aware of any reasons why that is the case? Is it to do with promotion?

Thank you.

Thanks for that. It is very helpful.

Good morning, panel. Happy new year to you. You suggest that the cost of living crisis might be causing a short-term increase in applications for disability benefits across the UK. Will you explain further how that impact occurs and why you would consider it to be short term?

Good morning to the panel. I wish you a happy new year.

Councils across Scotland continue to pay for capital programmes and projects that are funded by various public-private partnership agreements, some of which were negotiated a number of decades ago. How much of that debt are your local authorities saddled with? Have those schemes provided good value for money?

Obviously, the cost of paying back the PPP increased as you got to the end of the contract each year.

We can raise that with the minister.

Does anyone else want to comment on PPP?

I declare that, until 2022, I was a local councillor at West Dunbartonshire Council.