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There is pressure in upward costs. What you have cited raises costs. Balancing that against greater efficiencies is not easy, I am sure, but it is a key point.

There is a frustration, Mr Boyle. As the convener said, we have highlighted the issue several times in our reports. Mr Marra commented that Audit Scotland reports have come out recently in which it is a constant theme. We have also heard it from the Scottish Fiscal Commission. A frustration is building because if we are to have better government—I do not mean that in a party-political sense—we need to be able to have better scrutiny.

I am conscious of time, convener, so I will leave it there.

I have a quick question on your dilemma of how to ensure that more people use public transport as you try to rationalise the workforce. I represent Mid Scotland and Fife, and we have had a lot of problems with the train service in central Fife—specifically, the reduction in the numbers of carriages, because of the drivers issue. How will you go about making those two difficult pieces of the jigsaw come together?

Can I push you a little bit more? I know that you cannot make policy. However, do you think that there is evidence, perhaps from other jurisdictions, that a finance bill helps to improve the amount of time that is given to the scrutiny of the public finances?

I have heard complaints from across the political spectrum in Parliament that we are not doing enough to fully scrutinise budgets. Our committee does a huge amount of the heavy lifting on that work, for obvious reasons, and some other committees do a bit, but we are not getting the depth of scrutiny that perhaps we need. I am interested in whether you think that a finance bill might help that situation, because—let us be honest—we are standing still when it comes to the problem of transparency and we have not been able to move on.

Where is the evidence that this policy is improving investment in the housing market and the spirit of entrepreneurialism that the Scottish Government is very keen to deploy?

To be specific, where is the evidence that the policy is creating investment potential in the housing market?

The overall scenario is that there are considerable difficulties in the housing market, which the Scottish Government and other parties are grappling with.

Is it not important that the policies that aim to address those concerns create investment opportunities, particularly for small developers and people who are there to provide a greater mix and supply of homes? I am interested in where the evidence is that the policy is driving that.

That was in my question.

However, do you agree, minister, that it all comes down to the issues that the convener raised about behavioural change? Behavioural change is important when it comes to not only demand for housing but supply, which Craig Hoy and Michelle Thomson mentioned. Surely there is a need for much more data to be able to see what effects the measure is having.

You cite countries including Germany, Switzerland and New Zealand in your sustainability statistics. One of the interesting dilemmas that we face in Scotland is how we react to increasing social security spend in the UK. If the Scottish Government makes a different policy choice, it will have implications for the block grant adjustment and the overall gap—that is the critical point. How is that gap funded? When you come to do your next fiscal sustainability report in due course, will you look at statistics that show that the trending increase in the proportionate share of the budget spend on social security will continue to increase, and probably substantially? Is that correct?