Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you.

I know that me asking brief questions is an oxymoron, convener, but I will try to keep this one brief.

It lets us know that that is not with the local authority right now, so it is helpful.

Okay. Thank you.

I would like to check something. How do those providers know that they are financially viable if they do not know what the uplift in the hourly rate is going to be before they submit to work in partnership with you? Surely that has to be co-produced.

It sounds as though there is quite substantive and meaningful dialogue going on. The sector might not be getting everything that it wants and it might still be dissatisfied, but there seems to be on-going meaningful dialogue. Are all three local authorities committed to closing the pay differentials between the local authority sector and the PVI sector? I appreciate that all the evidence suggests that, financially, it will not be possible to completely close the gap, but is there a commitment year in, year out to narrow it? If so, how will you monitor that and, if not, why not?

Do you have that discussion ahead of setting the hourly rates?

I share Mr Mountain’s sentiments, which would be put on record irrespective of which cross-party group was seeking approval this morning.

We normally ask questions about duplication and overlap. We did not really do that this morning, which tells us that there is a clear gap in the Scottish cross-parliamentary group landscape for this particular CPG. On other occasions, we have said, “Yes, we will approve this CPG, but it should work closely with this CPG and that CPG.” We did not do that this morning. I wish Jackie Dunbar, Emma Harper and other members of the cross-party group the very best in filling that identifiable gap dynamically and positively—I am sure that they will do that, should we approve the CPG this morning.

That is helpful.

I was quite staggered by the number of individual members of the cross-party group. Sometimes, we are asking the opposite question: “You’ve not got very many individual members. How are you engaging with wider society?” I am staggered by the number of individual members and the number of associate organisations that want to be key partners of the group. How you engage with that wider membership presents a challenge—a welcome one, but a challenge nonetheless. There is no requirement for them all to be active, but how many of them do you think will be active and dynamic in the cross-party group? It is quite something to see—I think that you have 120 or 130 individual members. That is to be commended, but it will also be a challenge to keep them engaged.

I have a few questions. One of the purposes of the cross-party group is

“to preserve, promote and encourage the use of the Scots Language amongst MSPs, the wider Scottish Parliament and Scottish Society.”

When this kind of matter is raised, we all start thinking about wir own background and upbringing, and about wir own language, dialect, slang, Scots—whatever. I am thinking about that now, and I wonder whether we are using Scots in everyday conversational exchanges in this place and beyond and do not even know that we are doing it. It is sometimes about raising awareness.

It would be very contrived to give examples, so I will not do that. Is there a need for awareness raising among people who stay in Scotland who use everyday Scots? Would this help to identify that? It is not about educating people in how to use Scots, because many people use it anyway but simply are not aware that they do.