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I have a final question. One of the things that might make a significant difference to this year’s budget and to budgets in future years is the spending on the creation of a national care service. However, none of us can identify whether such spending is included in this budget. There is a broad statement and narrative about support being provided. Should the Government provide that clarity?

Does that not also highlight a broader issue relating to transparency? Do the witnesses agree with the Scottish Fiscal Commission that the budget should be stated according to classification of the functions of government—COFOG—principles? Audit Scotland has also made the point that policy commitments should be made much clearer in the budget. What are the witnesses’ reactions to those observations?

I am not sure that I entirely follow what you have just set out. When you talk about market costs, are you saying that, in essence, the costs of the next-best alternative are forgone—in other words, if you went to the market, that is what would be charged—or are you saying that it is just 57.5 per cent more expensive to audit a college because of the nature of the work and the things that you have to verify? If so, could you explain that? Are you saying that there has been a change in circumstances in that sector compared with others and compared with previous years?

Ultimately, we are saying that the costs are going up. Has there been a change in what you are required to audit? What makes doing an audit of a college more than a half more expensive than it was previously, compared with audits of local government and the NHS? If you were to ask me to guess, I would have said that what they do is more complicated than what a college does and, therefore, they would be more complicated to audit. Where does the cost come from?

The other things that obviously impact on that salary line are the overall numbers and your turnover. Can I clarify what the turnover numbers are? I see that in appendix 4 there is a 2 per cent vacancy turnover assumption. Is that the assumption and how is that borne out compared to the actual turnover rate over the last period?

Four per cent delta is quite large if your actuals are at 6 per cent but your plan in front of us is 2 per cent.

What is it about the college sector that requires that much? It is such a substantial amount more.

Do you check the bids against what you think it would cost you to do the work yourself?

Why is there a 60 per cent gap?

I will dig a little bit further into salary increases—and the contingency, since it has been mentioned. In response to Mr Ruskell’s questions you have been talking about the qualitative aspects. Given that you are accountants, can I ask you about the numbers? In particular, your industry is widely understood, with clear transferable skills. How have you compared your salary uplifts to industry norms? What are industry salary increases running at?

That would be helpful. Certainly in a previous life, I was used to a utilisation rate of between 60 and 80 per cent. It would be interesting and useful to know what parameters you are using.

Okay. Thank you very much. [Interruption.] I obviously have the chair looking at that now; I am finished, chair.