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Do you all feel, at this point—it is, obviously, very early days—that you have the right people contributing? Should anybody else be contributing? Do you think, “We really need to bring in this organisation or group to make sure that all their views are reflected.”? Have you been able to cover everything?

Tell me whether my assumption is correct. One of the concerns around freeports that are expressed generally is that they displace economic activity. From my point of view, the fact that so much in the bid is centred around Grangemouth means that that will not be the case, because a lot of the economic activity is already there. The bid is simply galvanising that and can only add to it.

Is everyone who needs to be involved involved at this point, given that it is early doors?

Yes—I was going to go on to that.

One would expect the larger employers to have the resources, notwithstanding anything else, to be able to adapt. Nevertheless, around 99.3 per cent of our businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises. Have you given any specific consideration to how you might support them with guidance, beyond the broad principles of fair work?

I will continue on data, which we have started to discuss. I would like to understand a bit more about your specific plans. I fully accept that there is complexity in the types of disability that you are talking about. We have some data, but data is at the heart of getting an accurate picture. Could you give me a flavour of what is happening? You have said that you are looking at that, but what exactly are you looking at? By what dates do you plan to reach conclusions, recommend new data collectors and so on? Do you have any further information about that?

You are simply highlighting what I believe, which is that the situation is complex. It would be useful for the committee, and certainly for me, to understand a bit more deeply what you are planning. It becomes complex when we start to think about cross-cutting issues, and we know that there are various data sources.

Leading on from that, I note that a number of programmes are in place and we want to measure their success through various data collectors, of which we have some. We could, for example, introduce conditionality for grants and so on. It would be useful to understand more about that.

You mentioned culture, which is a fair point. That is linked to self-identification, about which people may, for very good reasons, be reluctant. As part of those plans, do you have anything else that looks at how you might support businesses to develop a culture of awareness and a culture of data collectors that you would potentially be able to support? That would be conditional on whether they were getting grants. That is another question about depth.

I have every sympathy with the view that you expressed and I have probably made myself very unpopular by making my suggestion. I am acutely aware of local sensitivities, but there are duplicated functions, such as the FD function, which are not predicated on important outcomes for people. There is a lot of complexity, but the FD functions are counting and measuring broadly similar things across a range of services. If anything, changing that would cast more light on how money is being spent. That is an unpopular view, I know.

Good morning. I want to pick up on a couple of themes that have been touched on. First, I have been through all the responses with regard to public service reform, and I can see that a lot of stuff is going on—that is absolutely clear. I await further detail on that with interest.

It is no bad thing to ask local government to come up with its own ideas, and I am sure that it will do so. However, a bottom-up approach is only one way. What consideration have you given to a top-down approach? I have raised the point previously that we have duplicate functions—in particular, around human resources and finance directorship—across our 33 local councils. Presumably, we have 33 finance directors on an average salary of 88 grand or so—roughly £2 million in total—not to mention their departments. We could have centralised FD and HR functions across even just some local authority areas, but it is unlikely that local councils themselves would come up with that idea. Is it something that you would consider?

That is understood.

The fiscal framework review came up earlier. I want to dig down into what exactly is happening. I fully accept the issue to do with the multitude of personnel changes in the UK Government—it is clear that there has been quite a revolving door—but I want to understand exactly where we are. As far as I am aware, the terms of reference have not yet been agreed. Where exactly are the blockers? What action have you taken, where you have been unable to make progress? Reading through the responses, I am no more certain of where we are with the review. We have highlighted its importance.

Is it your perception that there is still a genuine appetite for change in the UK Government, or is it hard to determine that before your meeting on Friday, when you might ask that question?