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You say that people are taking retirement. To what extent do we understand the reasons for that? Did they take early retirement because they were working from home for two years and just decided that they did not want to go back into a workplace environment, or are there other factors behind it? Do we have enough data to explain it?

Those who have retired.

In the health service, that might well be the case.

Thanks very much.

Professor Fothergill opened his mouth; I thought that he was going to say something.

Thank you. I have another question, but before I move on, do any other members of the panel want to contribute?

Thank you. I am going to go to David Freeman again, because the paper from the ONS says:

“Data suggests that some of the increased inactivity could be due to long COVID.”

That suggests that you might take a slightly different view from Professor Fothergill.

That is a very interesting reply, because it leads me neatly on to the second question that I was going to ask, which picks up what you say in your paper about the impact on the labour market of long-term sickness and, in particular, long Covid. You suggest in your paper that you are quite sceptical about the idea that long Covid is a major factor in an increase in economic inactivity.

We can move on—I put the same question to David Freeman of the ONS.

Good morning to the panel. I will pursue a couple of issues, if time will permit.

First, I am interested in understanding to what extent the issues that we are seeing in the labour market, in particular with economic activity, are specific to Scotland or are in line with what is happening elsewhere, whether in other parts of the UK or internationally. Are there Scotland-specific aspects that we should be interested in? I appreciate everything that you have said about the data, and that there might be gaps there, but I am interested in hearing some views on that issue. Perhaps Dr Hannah Randolph, of the Fraser of Allander Institute, can start with some thoughts.