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I, too, refer everyone to my entry in the register of members’ interests: I am a serving councillor on East Lothian Council.

Minister, you have touched on whether the proposed measures are primarily about protecting public finances, on whether allowing appeals would reduce non-domestic rates income and require the Government to compensate local authorities, and on whether that would be an effective use of public funds. Do you want to expand on what you have said?

Good morning. I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests: I am a serving councillor on East Lothian Council.

The stated purpose of the group is:

“To increase understanding and delivery of a Wellbeing Economy, one which is in service of people and planet and to promote delivery of sustainable, fair and equal economic development, across a range of interest areas public, private and third sector as well as local and national government.”

The wellbeing economy involves an overview of various areas including health, equalities, the economy and sustainability. We recognise that there is some crossover with existing CPGs—for example, those on renewable energy and energy efficiency and on carers—and with groups that were proposed at the time that we made the application and that have now been approved, on a circular economy and on health inequalities. I think that we can work in conjunction with those groups, as opposed to competing with them.

More widely, since being elected around six months ago, we have heard many members from all parties say that they want to move towards a wellbeing economy. One of the purposes of the group is to increase understanding of what a wellbeing economy looks like and to help with delivery of that. It is proposed that the group will have a wide range of participants. The Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland will be its secretariat, and our membership will include Scottish Enterprise, United Nations House Scotland and the Scottish Trades Union Congress. Since we submitted the registration form, Queen Margaret University and Public Health Scotland have also joined the group.

I am willing to answer any questions, and I look forward to working with the group.

Does anyone else want to comment on that? It seems not. Thank you.

I welcome the witnesses. I refer everyone to my entry in the register of members’ interests, as I am a serving councillor in East Lothian.

As the convener said, my questions are about the parliamentary process. Has there been sufficient consultation on the proposals? Have the witnesses had sufficient opportunity to comment on them? Would there have been more opportunity for stakeholders to feed in their views if the changes had been introduced via primary legislation? I ask Alastair Kirkwood to comment on that first. Please be as brief as you can.

As the convener said, my question is on the parliamentary process. It is a two-part question. First, was there sufficient consultation on the proposals, and did you have an opportunity to comment on the planned changes? Secondly, would there have been more opportunity for stakeholders to feed in their views if the changes had been introduced via primary legislation? I do not know who wants to answer that first—probably Jonathan Sharma.

Thank you for that. Do you have any comments on the changes being introduced via primary legislation?

I have a supplementary question, which I will also put to everybody else. Do you believe that local people want to be more involved in decisions that impact on their communities? Is there evidence for that? Has Covid changed that in any way?

Thank you for that, Alison.

The next question moves away from that, and involves procurement. The percentages of procurement spend on local and social enterprises varies. What are your thoughts on that? What more can be done to increase the proportion of procurement spend on local business and on local and social enterprises?

Thank you for that, Philip. I put the same questions to Pauline Smith.

Yes—thank you. I put the same questions to Debbie Herron.