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Blyth, have you seen any innovation in how local authorities are engaging with communities? In the committee, we hear about consultation fatigue. Have you come across any councils that are engaging with communities in a different way that is perhaps a more uplifting experience for people? People feel that they are consulted but do not then see a result of the consultation.

Do you see any councils moving towards full-feature participatory budgeting?

So, are you thinking about the administrative or backbone-type stuff?

That is very helpful. Blyth Deans, I liked that you laid out the process and mentioned that things are unearthed through the series of work that you have been doing on those areas of focus.

Given the forecast financial environment, how robust are the financial plans that are being developed by councils? Obviously, they are probably different for different councils.

That is very interesting. I want to come back on one point. I do not know who wants to answer this one; perhaps Jonathan Carr-West can start, because he mentioned the subject.

Jonathan, you said that the power of general competence should be properly scrutinised. If we were to move to giving councils in Scotland that power, who do you think should pick up that role?

Thanks for that.

I come back to financial sustainability, which I asked about earlier. Some local authority service areas are experiencing significant cost pressures—as we have been discussing all morning—in particular, adult social care. I am not asking you to single out any local authorities, but do you see a pattern in terms of a connection to demographics or something like that?

We have come to the end of our questions, but we have a bit of time in hand, so if there is anything that you were expecting us to ask about, or anything that we have not touched on, we have time for you to add to or emphasise what you have said.

Thank you very much for that. I will now bring in Emma Roddick, who has a couple of questions.

Thank you. That is noted—we will take on board the need for those frank conversations.

I bring in Willie Coffey.

Blyth Deans mentioned that Clackmannanshire Council gave 2 per cent of its budget to participatory budgeting. We have participatory budgeting in Moray, but people are now starting to refer to it more as participatory grant making, because it is not really getting to the heart of the council’s budget. It is more about communities choosing to fund good community projects, rather than going back to the original idea of communities engaging in setting the council budget. That idea came from Brazil, I think, where communities were really getting in there and deciding about buses and engaging at that level of decision making. Is that happening in Clacks, or are we still at the grant-making stage because that process acts as the training wheels in getting a sense of agency into communities?