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You have made a very compelling argument against fixed budgets.

My final question concerns the cleaning budget. You have noted the increase, but the budget submission says:

“The contract price increase for the 2023-24 budget was omitted.”

I was not clear about that, but having read it out, I think that I understand what it means. We did not have the base price—that is now clear.

I am just checking my notes, but I do not think that I have anything else to ask. Everything else has been covered.

One of the other areas of interest, which might already have been brought to your attention, is the use of the ScotWind money to fund day-to-day revenue expenditure. Professor Bell said:

“The ScotWind money can be thought of as equivalent to a sovereign wealth fund, and a sovereign wealth fund should be used to support future generations, because it is a sort of one-off payment.”—[Official Report, Finance and Public Administration Committee, 9 January 2024; c 14.]

What thinking did the Scottish Government give to that use of that money and the breaching, if you like, of the sovereign wealth fund principle? I know that we have often commented on what appears to be the UK Government’s arbitrary waste of money gained from oil that could have been used to the benefit of future generations. I would appreciate hearing more about the thinking that led you to consider, despite that, still spending it on day-to-day revenue.

Just to put something on the record, at last week’s Education, Children and Young People Committee, Minister Graeme Dey pointed out that

“The starting point for colleges next year will be slightly better—only slightly better, I stress—than the finishing point for this year.”—[Official Report, Education, Children and Young People Committee, 10 January 2024; c 30.]

My first question, which is a kind of rapid-fire one, picks up on a point that you have just made, cabinet secretary. Have the Opposition parties put forward budget proposals this year for what they would like to be cut in what is a very difficult budget, as you have set out?

I will move on to public sector reform. I have seen the phases that have been set out, but I am aware that the committee did not receive an accompanying financial strategy, which the former Deputy First Minister committed to in March 2023. Is the intention to provide an updated financial strategy at an appropriate point, once the early scoping phases are out of the way? If so, what timescales are you working to?

That was a very helpful response. In your opening remarks, you alluded to who might have the best oversight of future requirements. One challenge is how we can correctly map today’s gaps against future needs. Can I make the assumption that, in reflecting on who has the best oversight of that, the focus will be on the future? That is where we need to get ahead of the pack as we go through the exercise.

That is very helpful. You have illustrated the complexity of the matter.

The independent review of the skills delivery landscape highlights

“the importance of getting the structures and balance of responsibilities within the system right, alongside an agreed vision for success and a shared language.”

Although the report may say that, the mix of stakeholder groupings needs to be able to buy into it.

There are big key terms in that excerpt: “agreed vision for success”, “shared language”—presumably, there will need to be shared outcomes as well—and

“the structures and balance of responsibilities”.

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts about the approach that you are taking to pull that multiplicity of stakeholders together to achieve that.

I thank the minister for joining us. I fully appreciate the scale of the challenge that is in front of you. I appreciate that there are multiple stakeholders, but I first want to ask about how the enterprise agencies’ role in post-school education reform will work. What will their role be in relation to the interface with workforce planning, to ensure that we get the skills that we need for the future? What are your thoughts on that?

Is it fair to characterise that approach as creating a new culture of engagement? You are describing a considerable amount of engagement, which is time consuming. I appreciate that. Are you consciously undertaking changing culture in your engagement?

Thank you. I suspect that my colleague Liz Smith will want to come in on that, as I know that education is an area of interest to her.

Chris Birt, a so-called just transition and the challenges of getting to net zero affect socioeconomic groupings differently. Are you concerned that the cuts to some of the spending on the ambition to get to net zero and enabling a just transition will affect people who are most in poverty or might help to push people into poverty over the longer term? If so, what are those concerns?

Would you have expected fiscal rules to be applied to that, in effect?