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That is great.

Good morning to the panel. First, I thank Councillor Ashraf for mentioning Bashir. I was privileged to serve in the Parliament at the same time as Bashir, and I assure people that he is very much missed around the Parliament.

I will put to our councillor colleagues the question that I put previously to Councillor Evison, which was about how to get more people who may be working attracted to local government. Soryia Siddique said that she gave up her full-time job in order to become a local councillor. Junaid Ashraf mentioned that a lot of his friends and colleagues already earn well beyond what a councillor’s pay is. How do we resolve that? Do we put the pay up from the £17,000 or £18,000 that it is and, if so, to what level? How do we attract people who are earning at the moment, and who have to support their family and pay a mortgage, into local government? Do we need to somehow match what a person’s salary is so that they do not lose out financially, to enable them to do the councillor job full time, as Councillor Evison suggested we should? What is the solution? Perhaps Soryia and Junaid could offer a few thoughts.

As you have said, access to the database will be on a national level—any authority will be able to access the database, even if a person with a dangerous dog that is subject to a notice moves around. Should an animal commit a second offence—if I can put it that way—in a neighbouring authority, would that become the first offence in that authority, or would it count as a second offence? You have said that the notice is a civil notice, but breaching it becomes a criminal offence, so it is probably important that a person knows whether, if their dog commits a second act of aggression, such as an attack, in the neighbouring authority, it will be a criminal offence.

In relation to paragraph 11 of the clerk’s paper, it might also be worth asking the Scottish Government to outline to us the benefits of aligning Scots law with European law and to give us a regular update on progress with that—perhaps annually, if that is appropriate. That is all that I would suggest that we do in addition to the bullet points that are in the paper.

Thank you for that.

I have a final point of clarification. If a person whose dog is subject to a DCN moves to another authority, who is obliged to tell the authority? Is it that person who is obliged to report to the authority whose area he or she has moved into that they have a dog that is subject to a DCN, so that that can be recorded in the database? Is that how it works?

If they did not notify the local authority, would that be an offence under the 2010 act?

My question is about another barrier that perhaps has not been explored yet, and Alison Evison might be best placed to answer it. We are having great difficulty attracting people into local government, and I am thinking of those who are perhaps lucky enough already to be in a job and earning more than the salary that councillors get. How do we get more of those people into local government? Inevitably, it will touch on the issue of getting time off for public duty. When I was a local councillor, I found it incredibly difficult to continue with what I will call my day-to-day job as well as do my council work, given the hopelessly inadequate time off that I managed to get from my employer in order to carry out my public duties.

How can we begin to address that? Should we be thinking of, say, giving people fully paid sabbaticals so that they do not lose the money that they earn from their main jobs? If not, how do we attract such people into local government? How do we ensure that their employers do not lose their service—or. indeed, have to pay for the loss of their service—and that people do not feel as if they are being run off their feet trying to do two jobs at the same time?

We heard about difficulties when local authorities felt that there was no flexibility or discretion for them to assist companies that do not fall within the guidelines on and scope of the various schemes. If any further support funds arise, do you intend to afford local authorities a little more discretion and flexibility to look at their local situation and ensure that businesses get the help that they need?

I did not hear a word of it. The minister’s microphone is dropping in and out.

Good morning, minister. As you know, the UK Government also plans to rule out the use of the MCC process in such circumstances. On the back of that, in March, it announced a £1.5 billion scheme to support businesses, Scotland’s share of which would be about £145 million. Have we received any of that money yet?