Seòmar agus comataidhean

I have a question about the Scottish crisis fund and about how you think that has made a difference. In the interests of time, I will merge that with my second question. When you look at pressured areas, such as Glasgow City Council and the City of Edinburgh Council, how has that made a difference, and how has it been administered?

Andy Sirel, you touched on the role of the British Red Cross. I will bring you in, and anyone else who wants to comment can put an R in the chat function.

We have already touched on infrastructure. The draft NPF4 says:

“We want an infrastructure-first approach to be embedded in Scotland’s planning system.”

What should that look like? Will NPF4 as drafted help to achieve that?

Yes, please, convener. I want to drill down into the competing pressures and strategic outcomes. For example, we know the targets that the country has set itself for the production of renewable energy. Do the witnesses think that NPF4, as it is currently drafted, will help to deliver renewable energy in their council areas, given the competing demands that exist, such as those relating to the restoration of peatlands? How will that be taken into consideration? That is quite a wide question, but I want to look at how NPF4 will meet the targets in the world of renewables.

The development of the national planning framework is the opportunity to demand of all councils that we meet our renewable energy targets. Will NPF4 help you to do that? There will be more difficult and challenging issues. For example, many communities will come to you with objections to larger wind turbines, but the job of meeting the targets has really been given to planning departments. Will you have the tools to help you to deliver in that regard? This is a national mission across Scotland, which planning departments are tasked to achieve. What would make the process easier? A lot of applications end up being called in by the Scottish Government because of the challenges. Will NPF4 make your job easier or more difficult?

In that case, can I go back on my word and briefly ask another question, convener?

Would anyone else like to come in on that?

I want to ask a couple of questions about the pressures that councils face, a number of which are highlighted in the helpful briefing from COSLA. Glasgow City Council and the City of Edinburgh Council face particular pressures. How do you manage to balance your resources? Specifically, what work are you doing with the third sector, which can play an important role, especially in assisting people who have no recourse to public funds?

Andrew Morrison, Alistair Dinnie and Pat Togher all want to come in. I will bring in Andrew Morrison, specifically on my question about the third sector.

I want to move on to the budget pressures that will be faced as a result of the coming budget. We know about the concern that has been expressed about cuts to council funding. Martin Booth, who colleagues from Glasgow will know is the executive director of finance at Glasgow City Council, recently represented the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers at the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee. He expressed concern about support for English as a second language, which will undoubtedly come under challenge as a result of the budget. We know that around 100 different languages are spoken in the school population in Glasgow.

How is the specific issue of the need for language assistance to access services prioritised by councils? I will bring in Susan Aitken first. If anyone else wants to answer that question, I ask them to put an R in the chat.

I am not sure whether anyone else wants to come in on that.