Seòmar agus comataidhean

I reject that slightly, because it feels to me that the nub of the question is this: what do you identify as being the restrictions that are preventing that from happening?

Can I challenge you a little bit on that? The approach taken in Scotland to closing the attainment gap, for example, was to ring fence a certain amount of money to go into pupil equity funds rather than change the way that things were delivered. Where the approach worked, in the areas that the former First Minister went to study in London and New York, there was a significant policy change and a change in the way that public services were organised. She rejected that and went for a cash injection. Other places perhaps have more of an appetite for reform. Why was that choice made here?

Good morning, and welcome to the 15th meeting in 2023 of the Finance and Public Administration Committee. Apologies have been received from the committee’s new member, Keith Brown, who attended our past couple of meetings as substitute. On behalf of the committee, I put on record our thanks to Kenneth Gibson for his hard work and the support that he has given to the committee in his role as convener over the past two years.

The first item on our agenda is to choose a new convener. Parliament has agreed that only members of the Scottish National Party are eligible for nomination as convener of the committee. I ask any member to make a nomination.

I want to push you a little bit on what you said earlier about innovation in our response to Covid. One issue related to the availability of methadone for people with drug and substance addictions. They could take it home rather than having to attend a chemist, and that became far more widespread. Part of my worry about that policy is its elasticity, because things have bounced back. Is there a reason why our system has pulled back from such innovations and is now saying that, in fact, we want to retreat back to the norm?

My final question is about your sense of those fundamental blockages. I agree with Alison Payne; I do not think that Scots are averse to reform and change. There is absolutely nothing in our national character or the way that we do things to suggest that; it is something in our politics and structures. Is there anything that is changing those blockages at the moment, or is there potential for change? You have talked about increasing demand, but is there something to give us some hope that there might be a change in the political and structural set-up?

Are there any other comments? On the timeframe, it is 12 years since the Christie report was published. What I am trying to get to is whether there is a character to our politics, our public services and the way in which we do things in Scotland that is stopping change.

We will do a little bit of shuffling, so that John can take the chair.

In the paper that you produced in 2020, you stated:

“what differentiates Scotland is the acute level of policy focus upon constitutional matters … leading to ‘policy distraction’”.

Can you unpack that a little for us? Is that just bandwidth, or is it something more structural?

You get what I am trying to push at, though, about the structural issues.

Professor Connolly is nodding at that point.