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Ian Storrie, do you have anything further to add, particularly on the local government response?

You said that people would be happy to accept paying a little bit extra. How much is that? Is it the 2.8 per cent that you mentioned? Is it the 5 per cent that the Scottish Government thinks that this funding is? Is it 8 per cent, which one of the contributors last week thought that it could be? We never quite pin down what an acceptable little bit extra figure actually is. Does COSLA have a view from its member authorities of what they consider that figure should be?

Thanks, Katie. I will move on and ask you about workforce challenges, which have featured at the committee during the course of our scrutiny. We know that there are workforce shortages, but there are also workforce challenges, which are different. I think that was alluded to earlier, when we were talking about directed spend and the lack of flexibility. What kind of discussion is COSLA having with the Scottish Government about workforce issues? Am I interpreting correctly what your colleague said earlier about flexibility when it comes to directed spend? Does that include workforce issues and workforce numbers?

While you were talking, I was double-checking some of the figures that I mentioned. Our briefing from our SPICe colleagues shows that an additional £120.6 million is being switched from capital to revenue for the 2024-25 budget. That is quite clear in the figures. I do not know whether SPICe could clarify that, but that is what the briefing says. The same capital to revenue switch that was made last year is being repeated for the coming year.

Good morning to everyone on the panel. I will focus on the council tax freeze and I put my question to you, Councillor Hagmann. As you know, the offer on the table is £144 million, and we think that that represents what would be about a 5 per cent council tax increase. Everybody says that that is not enough, but what is enough? Has COSLA got a settled view on what the figure should be? The minister will be joining us in a wee while for part two of the committee session, so unless you have directly told him what is enough, what do you say to the committee about COSLA’s view on that?

Okay. Thank you very much for your responses to all those questions. I appreciate that.

I am sure that that will be an important part of your on-going discussions with the minister. I am absolutely certain about that, because it crops up time and time again.

My third question is about capital budgets. I will start with you again, if I can, Councillor Hagmann. There has been a reduction to Scotland’s capital budget, but one of the provisions that the Scottish Government has made is to allow a transfer of £120 million from capital to revenue. On the one hand, that will help the revenue budget but, on the other, it will clearly have an impact on the capital budget. I am thinking particularly about issues such as reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete and how we make progress towards net zero in our various council estates. Councillor Hagmann, will you give us your view of whether that is the right measure to take, or whether we need to do more or do things differently?

Good morning, minister and colleagues. I want to ask about the thorny issue of multiyear settlements. The Verity house agreement made clear the intention that we would try to take that approach wherever possible, but as a Government, you face constraints in that regard, as you do not get multiyear settlements in your own budget.

How do we square those two things and resolve the situation? Is there ever going to be an end to this particular debate? I have been hearing for years that everybody wants multiyear settlements, but we never quite seem to be able to deliver them.

Minister, you yourself mentioned a 10 per cent cut in the capital allocation to the Scottish Government, but we have switched some capital spend—about £100 million—to revenue in the past two years and for the year to come, as far as I am aware. What impact will that have on some of our priorities and the issues that we face, particularly with regard to RAAC in the local authority estate—and particularly, perhaps, in the school estate—and our net zero commitments? Having a reduced capital budget and then switching capital to revenue are bound to have an impact in that respect. Can you give the committee a flavour of that issue?

I am delighted to hear that.