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Thank you. I look forward to that coming about.

In its report, the Accounts Commission highlighted that the overall absence levels for non-teaching staff in 2021-22 were the highest on record. What are the key drivers of that increase? What could local authorities do to support staff to reduce absence rates?

Thank you. It was helpful to get that clarity. I will now move on to Pam Gosal.

I would be also interested to hear about some of the key ways in which the new deal with local government could support local authorities in addressing workforce challenges.

Well, that is part of the work that we are doing, is it not? We will see what fruit tree we get later on.

Something that came up briefly with the previous panel—it is connected to wellbeing, but also to recruitment—was the idea of a four-day working week. Is that being considered or explored?

Could you unpack what you mean by the preventative services, so that we have that on record? What kinds of preventative services does local government deliver?

That concludes our questions. I thank you for your evidence—your perspectives have been insightful. I suspend the meeting briefly to allow a change of witnesses.

Thank you.

Thanks very much for that detail. Did you want to add something, Johanna?

That would be great—thank you very much.

I will now bring in Ivan McKee.