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That uncertainly does not make the situation easy for councils. They do not know what settlement they will get from year to year, which is why everybody wants multiyear funding agreements.

Jo Armstrong talked about workforce costs. Our colleagues in the Scottish Parliament information centre indicated that between 60 and 70 per cent of local authority budgets can be for pay. Another figure shows that total employment costs have increased by 16 per cent in real terms over the past 10 years. That is clearly having a huge impact on the overall budget that is available to councils, not to mention—although you did mention it—the national insurance issue. Will you give us a flavour of what that continued uncertainty and the cost of workforce wages could mean for local authorities?

Is there a forecast figure for the potential impact of the increase in national insurance contributions?

Is that at the low end or the high end?

Blyth Deans, you talked about the measures that councils are adopting to try to bridge the budget gap by looking for recurring savings and so on. Will you give the committee a flavour of what councils are doing to assist that process?

Thank you.

Aye.

Okay—that is very clear. Are there other views on the position between tenancies? Should the measures apply in the gaps between tenancies or not?

I have a couple of questions. Do you anticipate any differential impact, either positive or negative, on rural private rented markets because of the proposed amendments? Aoife Deery, do you have a perspective on that?

My other question is about the measures—the CPI plus 1 per cent rise, with a ceiling of 6 per cent—applying between tenancies. What are your views on that? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Should there be more flexibility between tenancies?

I turn to Natasha McGourt. Are controls between tenancies good or bad?