Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you.

Richard Hughes, you said that fiscal policy changes over the past six months will have added £40 billion of borrowing by 2027-28. Will you give us a breakdown of what has caused that? Is it due to the Bank of England having to step in on the bond market? Is it because of policy decisions such as the energy price guarantee? What is behind that rise?

I have a question about negative inflation, which we are due to have by the middle of the decade. Should that be universally welcomed, or does it provide any risks to the Scottish economy?

Right, okay—that explains a lot. Thank you.

Yes, that would be helpful.

House prices are starting to fall. What impact will that have on the UK economy and the Scottish budget? Will there just be a reduction in land and buildings transaction tax revenue, or will there be a block grant adjustment around that? Where do you see things going?

If you can provide them offline, that would be great.

My second question is about the energy price cap, which is quite an expensive scheme for the Government to run. Are there equivalent schemes in other parts of the world?

I am looking at the line entitled “Employability”, which is about halfway down, under the “Finance and Economy” heading. That £53 million figure is one of the big ones; in fact, it is the biggest one.

Was there a contingency of £191 million that was eaten into?

Minister, was it assumed that this £191 million would be covered by extra funding that perhaps has not come through, which means that that figure has to come back down?