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Are the other witnesses in favour of an alcohol levy?

Just to give an example, Diageo, which is located in my constituency and Jenny Gilruth’s constituency, made £4.6 billion in profit alone last year from its alcohol sales. I know that both Paul Waterson and Dr Cheema have agreed that, if a levy were targeted, they could go there. Mr Price and Mr Richardson, do you think that the taxpayer should pay for all the damage that alcohol causes and for all the costs of the NHS and the various treatments and charities? Should businesses not contribute something back that would be targeted to help?

Thank you for that.

Does that average figure include convenience stores that do not sell alcohol? Does it cover every convenience store in Scotland?

Yes. Thank you, convener.

Mr Barn, I will go back to your original answer about planning for dualling the A9. Is it not very difficult for the Government to do long-term procurement and planning when it only gets a year-on-year settlement and does not know what that settlement will be?

Thank you.

I want to ask about timeframes. You just mentioned the lack of people in the construction industry. How could that affect the timescale for the work? As someone who uses the A9 a lot, I know that the environment in that area and the weather conditions at certain times of year make it difficult for people to do any work at all. How would that affect the timescales?

Good morning to the panel members. On that point, what discussions did Transport Scotland have with the civil engineering industry and financiers before deciding on a hybrid procurement approach? How confident are you that that approach is deliverable?

Considering that 13 councils have expressed an interest in a national procurement exercise, the committee could write to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to ask whether, in light of the response from local authorities, she would consider progressing the petition’s aims with the 13 councils that indicated an interest in a national procurement service.

You know that I like to close petitions when the Government has consulted on the issue, but I would like the committee to write to the Scottish Government to seek an update on the consultation on the burial regulations. Specifically, we should ask when the consultation responses will be published and what work the Government intends to prioritise as a result of the responses that it has received.

I wonder whether the committee would consider closing the petition under rule 15.7 of the standing orders on the basis that the UK Government has now introduced the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill, which aims to ban the live export from Great Britain of animals that are destined for slaughter or fattening for slaughter, and the Scottish Government has confirmed that it will work to implement a ban.