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So you think that your ability to meet any broader intent in that regard is limited until we get into reform. Is that a process that needs to be led more—with more indication—and perhaps in the direction that the convener talked about? Would it involve more intent from the Government? Is that what you mean when you talk about the need to “get into reform”?

But you have had consistent budget deficits for the past six years, and perhaps longer, prior to the pandemic.

What does that evidence tell you?

On the broader issue of how you deal with a rapidly ageing population, are you advocating a technological approach to changing services instead of talking about, say, which areas of primary care might be addressed, how we might piece all of that together and so on? I am trying to think about this in a slightly broader way by looking at the driving forces, but you seem quite focused on the technology aspect.

In some of the evidence that we have had so far, there has been a little bit of dubiety about the Government’s absolute position on managing the workforce. The resource spending review, which came out a while back under the previous cabinet secretary for finance, committed the Government to reducing head count to pre-pandemic levels. However, you seem to be indicating that your intent is to remove non-full-time-equivalent permanent staff by trying to manage down your bank nurses and other contractors. Is such a characterisation right?

There would be a major impact on the public finances if we were to take the trajectory that was previously stated. When the permanent secretary was in front of us a few weeks ago, he stated that he was operating on the assumption that that was the direction of travel but that the new Government under the new First Minister had made no specific statement. If there were a specific statement, would you be modelling that?

Are you doing much work on, for instance, modelling on behavioural effects longer term, given where we are with the tax situation and the divergence within the UK?

Of course, but are you doing any of that pre-emptive work?

In the first instance?

Just to conclude, how urgent is the work of the tax group, given the situation that we currently face and also what is outlined in your forecasts?