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I was going to ask about fairer funding, but you have covered that.

Another issue is additional borrowing, which you touched on earlier. As you know, I raised that issue at the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee’s meeting on Tuesday in relation to the fiscal framework discussions that are going on. The areas that are covered by this committee are probably more demand led than those of any other committee, so do you want to say any more on that point?

We talked about three-year funding during the discussions on the fiscal framework, but the point about additional borrowing powers also applies to the areas that are covered by this committee. Who could have forecast, 18 months or a year ago, that inflation would be at 10 or 11 per cent? The Scottish Government has to find funding from elsewhere.

Thank you for that answer, cabinet secretary. As fellow committee members know, I have raised that issue on a number of occasions with a number of ministers and cabinet secretaries, so—yes—we will be keeping an eye on it.

Additional borrowing powers would assist what is going on in the housing sector, for example, considering the inflation increase, which we talked about.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. You have talked about the impact of inflation and so on. That relates to the affordability of capital projects, particularly for councils, which have been impacted by inflation and increases in interest rates and the costs of materials and labour. How can the Scottish Government help councils to ensure that there is continued investment in council stock, including schools and housing?

Thank you. I have a question on the fiscal framework, but I know that we are moving on to that later, so maybe I will come in on that then.

Secondly, we have just gone through the national planning framework 4 process, and many local authorities are looking at their local development planning processes. Does the Government agree with the committee that food growing needs to be a category of land use that is included in frameworks such as local place planning? That is really pertinent, given that a lot of LDPs are being progressed.

I have a couple of questions about planning issues. First, when does the Scottish Government anticipate that it will consider widening permitted development rights to incorporate allotments and other land for growing?

I have touched on this issue before. At the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, I asked the Deputy First Minister about the fiscal framework discussions that are going on between the Scottish Government and the UK Government and whether more flexibility would assist the committee and a demand-led service. I suppose that local government and housing are demand led. I do not know whether there are any thoughts on the on-going discussions between the UK Government and the Scottish Government about flexibility that might help your portfolio. Have you any comments to make on that?

Yes—additional borrowing powers and anything else that you think would be useful. We discussed that in the Social Justice and Social Security Committee.

The next question, which is an extension of that, is about the governance and accountability arrangements between the Standards Commission, the ethical standards commission and also the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. Are those arrangements adequate given the issues that have been faced over the past two years? Are there any lessons to be learned on that in terms of the wider relationships?