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I am interested in the lack of take-up that you mentioned where the training could be good. Is that down to the pressure that councillors are under? They often manage second jobs, and they have fairly high committee burdens and casework. Do councillors have time to take up the offer of training where that training offer might be very good?

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

I want to ask about the ability of the Government and the Parliament to deliver a new local government settlement or landscape. We have talked about, essentially, a public acceptance that the system that we have now is the result of political gerrymandering 30 years ago, and one wonders how such a system can have lasted for 30 years. First, it is because nobody agrees what should replace it. Secondly, it is because there is an inbuilt resistance. You have 32 leaders, 32 chief execs, finance directors and education directors who will be thinking, “If there is a change here, will there be a space for me?”. There is also the political make-up of the Parliament. In the entire history of the Parliament, we have had minority or very small majority Governments with limited political capital looking at an item that is probably not very high up the public’s priority list. With all of that in mind, can the Parliament and the Government ever deliver the change that we all probably agree, in principle if perhaps not at the detailed level, that we should be pushing for?

The previous cabinet secretary said that they expected the accord to be agreed and delivered, I think, in time for September last year. Fionna, are you able to set out why it has taken so much longer to get that agreement in place than the Government predicted? Was the Government deadline of last September simply too ambitious?

That is helpful. Thanks. You have touched a couple of times on outstanding technical issues. You will know that the minister is coming to the committee after this evidence session. What are the outstanding technical issues? We can ask the minister on the record when we are likely to have them resolved.

That is great. Thank you.

Thank you. That is helpful. My final question is to do with the remediation work that small or medium-sized building businesses would potentially have to carry out. What kind of support packages, whether loans, grants or other things, would the Government have to put in place to support those small and medium-sized businesses that otherwise might be pushed out of business?

Good morning, minister. The Government and developers have both talked about outstanding technical questions when it comes to getting an agreement on the accord. Can you outline the outstanding technical questions from the Government’s side? Can you summarise those and set out how quickly you think the technical questions will be resolved to get that full legal agreement signed and delivered?

My second question is similar to one that I put to Homes for Scotland and is about responsibilities for small and medium-sized developers. The Government has said that it is open to negotiations on responsibilities. What does that mean in practice? Are you considering either the turnover threshold of £10 million, as exists in England, or the loan system that has been introduced in Wales? Obviously, the last thing that we want is developers going out of business and the potential for more orphan buildings. What reflections do you have on that, minister?