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Minister, given the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, are there any plans to bring forward the deadline for postal votes at the local government elections, as was done for the Scottish Parliament election in 2021? Any change might affect voters’ ability to register for an absentee vote, so the sooner that can be decided, the better.

I have a question about your assertion that the Scottish block grant is to increase significantly next year. David Eiser of the Fraser of Allander Institute observed recently that next year’s block grant is

“really not very generous at all”.

Do you agree that, once non-recurring Covid consequentials are stripped out, Scotland’s resource budget will be cut by 7.1 per cent in real terms and the capital budget will be cut by 9.7 per cent in real terms? That gives rise to a difficult budget situation that is presented to the Scottish Government. The 5 per cent uplift for local government is therefore as fair as it is possible to be. You asserted that the Scottish Government’s budget will experience a real-terms increase from Westminster.

I welcome the panel. My first question is directed to Gail Macgregor from COSLA. The figures from Her Majesty’s Treasury, as published in a “Block Grant Transparency” document, show that the Scottish Government’s resource budget has been cut by £2.6 billion in real terms between 2021-22 and 2022-23. Taking that together with the real-terms capital budget cut of 9.7 per cent, does COSLA agree that the Scottish Government’s budget position is quite difficult and that the focus must be on the priorities that are shared by local and national Government, such as lifting children out of poverty?

Thank you for adding that. I think that we all agree that money is definitely well spent on the shared priorities that we seek to achieve, which will have a significant impact on communities.

My final question is for Gail Macgregor. COSLA’s blueprint for local government called for the

“Removal of a cap on Council Tax so that this is a truly local tax.”

You touched on that. I will move on to ask about the proposed fiscal framework, for which we have been waiting for a long time. The cabinet secretary has said that it will enable us to have multiyear settlements. I would like to get a feeling for the perspective of Gail Macgregor and COSLA on that. COSLA asked for the council tax cap to be lifted. How will the negotiations about a fiscal framework take us to the next level of local flexibility?

Thank you very much for that, Gail. Does Eileen Rowand want to comment on that, or did she want to come in on the previous question?

I know that this matter has been touched on, but I will raise it again, given its significance. Given that the budget year is particularly difficult for the Scottish Government in relation to the real-terms cut to the block grant, and if we think of the £2.6 billion from the resource budget alone, how has the Scottish Government focused on shared priorities with local government, such as lifting children out of poverty, building more affordable homes, investing in social care and tackling the climate emergency? How will the vast in-year transfers from other portfolios help to deliver on those critical shared priorities? We need to consider some of the latter aspects—I am thinking specifically about housing—in relation to a whole parliamentary session and not a single year. We will start with Ms Forbes, and Ms Robison might want to come in on housing.

Given what you have said, how does Unison respond to the fact that local government reserves have increased by about £300 million over the course of the pandemic?

Will Shona Robison say something about housing and about the idea of looking at it over a parliamentary session as opposed to a single year?

I have a final question for Kate Forbes, which relates to something that she has mentioned and on which we heard Councillor Gail Macgregor set out her clear position. The fiscal flexibility that has been looked for is being given through the removal of the cap on council tax rises. There is a lot of discussion about the fiscal framework—Gail Macgregor mentioned the negotiations between the Scottish Government and the UK Government in terms of reworking that agreement. Will you reiterate how important the work on the fiscal framework will be? How quickly can we expect that to be agreed?

Before I start, I refer everyone to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which states that I am still a serving councillor at East Ayrshire Council.

My first question this morning relates to the fact that Unison recently called on the Scottish Government to introduce incentives in the 2022-23 budget to attract more people to work in the care sector and to encourage social care workers to stay. Does Unison welcome the £233.5 million in this year’s budget to help to ensure that the living wage is paid to those care workers? Should that money be ring fenced for that stated purpose?