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We have always been interested in who is not applying the S codes properly. Are you able or willing to share such information? I am talking about employers rather than individuals. Does the S code error always arise with high tax payers or low tax payers?

The figures in the report are for 2022-23, but looking slightly ahead, we could argue that the position might look a little bit better, given that an extra £574 million is being allocated to local councils next year. That is a cash-terms uplift of 4.3 per cent or a real-terms uplift of 2.5 per cent. Has the commission had any chance to do an analysis of the current figures and the potential impact that that might have in resolving some of the issues that have been discussed round the table so far?

So, you do not have a direct role to shape, assist or develop that.

That is really helpful. Do the Scottish Government and COSLA agree with your method of analysis?

I look forward to that day.

I have a final question on the council tax freeze. The Scottish Government provided £147 million to councils to freeze the council tax, plus another £63 million through Barnett consequentials, giving a total of £210 million. However, a comment in your report says that freezing the council tax

“suppresses the growth of the council tax base over that period and the income generated when the freeze is lifted is potentially lower”.

Will you explain to committee members what the Accounts Commission means by that?

It certainly does. However, given that explanation, why would the councils choose to freeze the council tax if, by your estimation, they could actually generate more income in future years by not freezing it?

Jo, could I ask you for some views on the Verity house agreement, particularly the planned monitoring and accountability framework? It sits alongside other frameworks such as the national performance framework and the local government benchmarking framework. How does the Accounts Commission see those frameworks working together, or is there a better way to consolidate them to give us a single picture?

I will turn to a favourite question that the committee poses, on ring fencing and directed funding—using all the terminology that surrounds that. It sounds a bit like the debate that we had about reserves earlier, with multiple categories here and there. You have a figure of 26 per cent: that is your guess about the actual amount of ring fencing and directed funding. If we talk to the Scottish Government, it could be as low as 10 per cent; if we talk to COSLA, it could be as high as 60 per cent. Could you offer a wee flavour of why those discrepancies are there? Could you explain to the committee and to members of the public why there are those huge differences in figures?

Thanks. I will leave it there, convener.