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Do you feel that the matters that are covered in the bill were covered in the extensive dialogue that you, Kate Forbes and Ivan McKee had with businesses?

Can I pick up on that point? It is right that the local authority would engage with the local public health authority on those issues. A bit of clarity is perhaps needed around roles and responsibilities, because the committee was specifically told that, when efforts were being made to close schools before Christmas 2020 to protect staff and pupils—and rightly so—local authorities were telling the EIS that they could not close schools early before Christmas because of the way that the powers are set out. It sounds to me that there is a bit of confusion there that needs to be clarified.

I want to move the discussion on to the lessons that have been learned about how we can do this better in light of the experience of the past two years. Last week, the committee took evidence on the powers of local authorities to close schools on public health grounds. It was told that they do not have such powers.

Has the Government considered, or would it consider, including in the bill a local decision-making power of that nature? Have you thought about amending, replacing or repealing the Schools General (Scotland) Regulations 1975 to clarify duties around the closure or keeping open of schools? You talked about engagement with stakeholders. Can you touch on the extent to which you have engaged with local authorities on the issue? That seems a bit anomalous if what we were told last week is correct, which is that the local authorities cannot close schools on public health grounds. They can close them if they cannot physically staff a school, but they do not have that power during an emergency. Would you be prepared to look at that?

I have nothing to declare.

Compared with the very serious matters that we have been discussing, the aspect of the bill that I want to ask about might seem quite trivial, but I would like some clarification on it. Throughout the meeting, the cabinet secretary has said that ministers would be dependent on public health advice, which would drive the actions that were taken. Section 6 of the bill states that ministers would need to

“have regard to ... advice from the Chief Medical Officer ... or from another person designated for the purposes of this section by the Scottish Ministers, about protecting public health.”

Is that simply a cover-all provision in case the CMO is not available—the advice might be from the deputy CMO—or the job title changes? What is the reason for that provision? At face value, it seems a bit odd.

Thank you.

Thank you for reminding me of a previous life. We should reflect on those days. They were dark and difficult days, but the Parliament was at its best, as Willie Rennie will remember.

However, as we moved through the pandemic, Parliament became frustrated about its level of oversight. By way of response, we established the COVID-19 Committee. Is it not the case that the point about the approach that you are taking here is that it must be a package? The protections are being built in right at the outset, and Parliament knows exactly what its role will be. It will have every opportunity to have the input and scrutiny that were perhaps lacking during the early stages of the pandemic. Is it not the case that we are looking at a package and that, regardless of the concerns that are expressed by individuals, over the piece, the bill provides for the kind of input that Parliament began to cry out for at the height of the pandemic?

Presumably, however, it would not have an impact on the harder cases anyway.

Good morning, minister. One of the key issues in the debate on the introduction of the private residential tenancy was about ensuring a balance between the rights of tenants and the rights of landlords. That is why some eviction grounds remain mandatory. How does the proposal to make all eviction grounds discretionary retain an appropriate balance between the rights of tenants and the rights of landlords?

Thank you.