Seòmar agus comataidhean

You were questioned on the issue of teacher numbers in the chamber and by the committee, and you did not at any point, I think, say that there was any mechanism or push to try to resolve things. However, as I have said, between 18 January and 1 February, you resolved to ring fence in its entirety one third of the net revenue budget of councils across Scotland. The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers—SOLACE—said at that point that it was impossible, with no notice, to rewrite budgets by 5 pm and in one working day. Is that the way in which the Scottish Government should be running not just education but, frankly, its finances?

I am afraid that that was not an answer to either of the questions that I have asked. The situation can be described only as chaos, which is how SOLACE has described it. There has been a complete failure of planning on the part of the Government to deal with a fundamental issue in relation to ensuring that teacher numbers are maintained over the long term. It strikes me that the one thing that seems to have changed is that the First Minister was challenged on that very issue on television on 30 January—

I will take answers to that question from your colleagues, as well, but I suppose what I am trying to reflect is the frustration that we are talking about. Ross Greer mentioned CSPs, but only about 1 per cent of people with ASN have those plans. The evidence that we have taken from families tells us that that is an awful situation for an awful lot of people, so we are not talking only about small tweaks. What can we do to drive that change? At the moment, it does not feel as though it is happening.

I am looking for a timeline. At what point will you be able to assess whether that work has worked?

That is precisely my point—

Is that why you changed your position between 30 January and 1 February?

I am frustrated because you are describing a chronic situation and short-term actions, and you are telling us that the bill before us does not deal with that. The Parliament is trying to find a mechanism to accelerate change and to make the process work because, at the moment, it does not seem to be happening. I am not being offered a timeframe in which you, as professionals, would be able to make a judgment as to whether the approaches that you are putting in place work. Would 18 months be enough for you to tell whether we are on the right path? Would six months do? We are talking about pilot programmes.

On 18 December 2022, the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, issued his budget circular to COSLA; on 18 January 2023, cabinet secretary, you were in front of us, giving details of the budget; and, on 1 February, you wrote a letter to COSLA, saying that you would be ring fencing one third of its net revenue budget and demanding that it get back to you by 5 pm to say how it was going to deal with that and whether or not it would be accepting that. What changed your mind between your appearance here and your letter of 1 February?

You have talked a little bit about the structures for accountability to ministers, and you seem to be saying that they are working and that this is the most effective way in which they can work. We have also talked about the policy regime. You will recognise the scale of the failure. Some estimates talk about 4,000 young people a year requiring action, and we heard in previous evidence that it could be up to 800,000 young people. People tell us that they are falling off a cliff or that they feel as though they are going into an abyss. They are half as likely to be employed: 44.4 per cent of them are economically inactive against the average of 16.1 per cent. Those statistics are really stark.

How long will you persist with the approach that you are taking before you decide that something different needs to happen? Previous evidence said that a year would be enough to evaluate that. Do you agree?

My question was about how long it will take.