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What costs will be saved from your digital strategy if they are not people costs?

You might have some flexibilities coming down the line. I am thinking about the workplace parking levy and the tourist tax. Do you see those as being ways to plug your budget? I always thought that they were intended to raise additional funds, but have things changed to just being about keeping the lights on?

Can we go a step further and look at some functions as a whole—potentially finance, human resources or IT? Is there scope for a centralised unit for those functions that could provide services to each of the 32 local authorities?

As you have said, it is easier with a new system. Would there be difficulties if everyone was going to use the same finance system, because in each local authority, people might say, “Hold on. I want to protect what I’ve got.”?

We have spoken about digital strategies. They save money in the long term, because putting everything online reduces the number of staff dealing with a manual process. For each of your local authorities, have you estimated the impact that your digital strategy will have on reducing your workforce head count?

I want to go back to something that Mr Emmott said at the start about back-office services, which really got my interest. Maybe there is more scope for back-office services to be shared across all 32 local authorities. Can Robert Emmott give a bit more of an idea of what he thinks is possible around that?

What would you like to see? Would you like to see the exact sum that you will get for the next three years, or would you like things to be tied to the inflation rate? Last year, you probably got more than you expected to get two years ago, but that has been eaten away by the pay deals and everything else. I am trying to work out what certainty you would like to see.

My last question is on multiyear budgets. What would multiyear budgets mean for councils? When I was a councillor, we did not know exactly what we were going to have for the next couple of years, but we had a pretty good idea. What do you think a multiyear budget would give you that you do not have now?

Do Iain Tough and Malcolm Burr think that that is a possibility that should be looked at?

The point was made that a central pool of people does not mean that the service is centralised; it could involve more people working in remote areas. That could be to our advantage. It would cut out duplication and costs. That is what public sector reform is about?reducing costs.

I think that Robert Emmott mentioned ERP systems. Is that still taking place? Is there duplication across all 32 local authorities? How can we change that?