Seòmar agus comataidhean

There is no doubt that that every council has been managing efficiencies and savings for the past decade, and they have done it in different ways to ensure that services continue. That is already part of their DNA and processes. However, we are hearing that those savings are not going to be enough in future. It has been suggested that the cumulative savings that councils are facing could be £1 billion by 2027-28. Given that they have already made many savings, how can they prepare to bridge that gap without diminishing services and losing the service level agreement to provide for the communities that they represent?

As you have identified, there is a necessity to have an overview. You are there in a capacity to guide and give scrutiny at the end of the day. Some councils have kept reserves and tried to manoeuvre and play around with other finances to keep themselves in a stable position, but that is not the case for all councils, because not all of them have the same opportunity to do that.

It is interesting that you identify that elected members are not always given all the information, because that should be the case. If they are part of that local authority, they have collective responsibility to manage its finances. As you have also identified, if that does not happen, some may fall off the edge of a cliff.

We do not want to go down the road of putting councils in special measures or taking them over in any shape or form, because, at the end of the day, the professionals and the officers in a council organisation are there to advise and give clarity. The elected representatives make the decision, but it is based on the guidance and scrutiny that they have been provided with to ensure that they have stability. I hope that that is still the case—I have been out of local government for a decade. Your saying that in your report flags that that could be an issue.

Thank you.

You have touched on the criteria for ensuring that disabled individuals are supported. Many individuals who have a disability want to work, but there are still difficulties in accessing work. There are still far too many barriers to disabled people’s opportunities to get some kind of employment.

Emma Jackson, earlier, you touched on the difficulties for people in rural communities. We know, for example, that it is much harder for a disabled person in the Highlands, Moray or Orkney to be given employment opportunities, and we see quite considerable gaps in those areas. I can understand why more people are trying to apply for benefits, but what are we trying to do to change the cycle and ensure that people who want to work get the opportunity of employment, which would help them to progress through other areas of life and take away some of the stigma that you talked about? It would be good to get a view from the witnesses on how we tackle that, because, if we managed to achieve some of that, we would see benefits in other areas, and it would help individuals to progress.

Thank you.

As a relatively new member of the committee, it has been enlightening for me to hear about where we are. In answer to the deputy convener’s questions, Emma Jackson said that 20,000 people had been supported through the citizens advice network to receive or progress to ADP. That is quite a large number of people to contend with. Was that because those people were not aware of ADP? Were they signposted to it by your organisation? There has been quite a large campaign to try to identify individuals. It would be good to get a flavour as to why those people felt that your organisation would help them through that process.

No, I am quite content.

Good morning to the witnesses. Last year, the committee heard about councils’ increased borrowing when it comes to funding capital projects. A recent BBC Scotland report talked about there being an estimated local government debt of around £19 billion. How confident are you that councils are managing debt, and that we will not see councils getting into financial difficulties? I will go to Malcolm Burr first.

Thank you.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. I will touch on procurement and the guidance around it. We have heard a lot of evidence about that, so it would be good to get a flavour from you. Does the Scottish Government intend to provide guidance to local authorities on good food procurement? Last week, we heard that the “Catering for Change” document has not been updated since 2011. That seems to be causing some issues in ensuring that small and medium-sized companies have the opportunity to participate in such procurement.

Last week, East Ayrshire Council said that “not a single” butcher firm had made an application to ensure that the council was getting a supply from it. That means that, when it comes to procurement, there must be a blockage somewhere for such small and medium-sized companies. Why are local suppliers still having difficulties in benefiting from local authority food procurement?