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That would be useful. It is about providing a baseline for us to understand what exists for the next round of budget.

My final area of questioning is on public sector pay. When—and on what basis—did the Government assume that public sector pay increases for this financial year would be 3 per cent?

At the outset, you set the wrong number and you immediately overstretched on it: mid-year, you announced £1 billion of cuts. You tell us that you have an assumption that you are getting £1.4 billion but you cannot tell us when that assumption was made and on what evidence it was made. It just feels like it has all been made up as you go along.

However, at that point, there were no pay deals being done at 3 per cent. The Office for Budget Responsibility was saying that public sector pay was running at a higher level than that. The Scottish Fiscal Commission arrived at the significantly higher figure of 4.5 per cent. At that moment—when the Scottish Fiscal Commission said that—the Government must have realised that the budget was burst, did it not?

You did—you made a £1 billion cut in public services in the middle of the year—

Minister, the Government was wrong, and it has clearly been wrong. The Government has awarded pay deals well in excess of 4.5 per cent.

No, absolutely not.

Yes.

Should not the committee be concerned about the conduct of the Scottish Government in relation to public finances, given that you have relied on a lucky windfall in the bank in order to deal with financial pressures?

Minister, your planning assumption, on the basis of the budget, was an erroneously low figure. I would ask officials what level of scrutiny was given to that figure.

That is what was set out by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government in September.