Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you. I have been inspired by the point about needing to interact more with high schools. Maybe we can do something about that.

Looking to the future—this is a question that I asked in the previous session—what is COSLA doing to ensure that we do not have the same conversation in 2027?

Thank you for that very thorough response. I appreciate the work of Engender, Elect Her and Women 50:50. Last week, a couple of MSP colleagues and I participated in a wonderful event on raising confidence and inspiring women to consider stepping forward for Parliament.

I will move on now, because we have a range of questions about issues that you have touched on. The first of those questions is from Annie Wells, who joins us online.

To pick up on the point about representation, do you think that young women and young people in general face further barriers to standing for office?

I think that Annie Wells is asking about the rates for women candidates across Scotland.

Thank you for that response. It is good to hear about the work that you are doing to gather what data can be gathered. Hopefully we will be able to get better data down the line.

I call Marie McNair, who has a couple of questions.

Thank you. That was very interesting. I participated in that workshop, which was very useful. It is concerning that people cannot come forward.

I will move on to questions from Miles Briggs.

On the point about support, do you have any thoughts on whether the Scottish Government has a role in helping or encouraging councils to provide more support?

Talat Yaqoob would like to say something, but I think that her audio has gone. Maybe we will have to move on. We were doing so well.

Actually, we now have Talat Yaqoob’s picture. It is nice to see you.

Jessie Duncan wants to come in on the issue.

That concludes our questions. Thank you very much for giving evidence today along with your officials.