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Sharon, you mentioned IJBs using reserves. What is the state of reserves across IJBs? What kind of money has built up that has not been used from previous years?

My question has largely been covered, but I wanted to ask about the wider issue of improving sustainability in the context of increasing demand and fiscal pressures. Kathrine, you mentioned collaboration as being key to getting there, which comes as no surprise to me as a former health minister. That is what we have been trying to do across the system.

I want to push a bit on how can we do that better. Paul Sweeney mentioned the short-term situation in which an IJB looks at its budget and sees that it can save money, but that often means additional pressure being put elsewhere in the system. Can you widen that out from IJBs and the health boards to third sector partners, unpaid carers and the wider workforce? How can we get a collaboration that brings in the whole system?

I will bring in Kathrine Sibbald, as she has been talking most about collaboration.

Do you think that they are being considered as part of that approach, or is it just a case of thinking, “This will not cost any money, because they will just do the work”?

Paul Sweeney strayed into the area that I was looking to talk about, which is longer-term sustainability and ensuring that there is collaboration, which we heard from the previous panel is key. Caroline Cameron touched on carers, which I also wanted to make sure that we touched on. I want to ensure that, when we talk about collaboration, we are not just talking about the IJB, the council and the health board but also recognise that the third sector, the voluntary sector and unpaid carers are important parts of the system.

How do we ensure that we are collaborating in a joined-up way? The pressures that the system is facing are only going to get more challenging as the population gets older and has more complex needs. I would be grateful if you could answer briefly.

Maybe Sharon Wearing can answer my other question. We have talked a lot about finances for long-term sustainability, but the other side of that is workforce planning and the challenges with that. The services were really impacted by Brexit. Are we getting over that and managing to start recruiting or is it still a real challenge that we are unable to have the full range of people who want to work?

Thank you, convener. I am pleased to be on the committee and I have no relevant interests to declare.

Morning, convener. I, too, have no relevant interests to declare.

I would be pleased to nominate Ruth Maguire.

That is exactly what the education assurance board is for. I think that it has been set up: if it has not been set up, it will be shortly. That will allow the Scottish Government and local government, with other partners in education, to take forward that issue in a meaningful way and to get the shared reality that we all want. What is the right number? What is the best way to spend money? What will achieve the outcomes that really matter on attainment, which ultimately will help to drive down poverty levels?

No one is suggesting that there is anything easy in the budget this year. There have been really difficult decisions for the Scottish Government—for the Deputy First Minister, in particular—in looking at all the challenges across the Scottish public service. Equally, it will be challenging for our local government colleagues. It would be disingenuous of me to tell local authorities how they should allocate their budgets. Differing decisions will be made based on local circumstances.

We have increased the discretionary budget by £1 million, which is un-ring-fenced. I want to go much further than that, but it is difficult for us to do that without the work on the fiscal framework and the accountability and assurance framework, which ensure that not just the Scottish Government but Parliament have confidence. That will give us the two-way trust that Councillor Hagmann talked about. It has to be two-way trust. That is why so much effort is being put in to those discussions with COSLA.