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I will pick up on the new youth concessionary travel scheme. I say this as somebody who is a non-driver and who therefore uses the bus a lot: it amazes me how many children in Edinburgh are still not using the scheme. They are putting their fare in and paying for the bus.

One reason for that is that the scheme is quite complicated to apply for; I say that as somebody who tried to get it three times for my children. There is variation across Scotland in how to apply and how easy it is to apply. I wonder, not necessarily for this project, but looking forward, whether the Scottish Government could make applying for the scheme easier. The issue concerns me, particularly as people who struggle to get access to the internet or do not have a passport are not necessarily picking up on the scheme. They may be the people who need the scheme more than those who have already applied for it.

I want to get a bit more detail on how the £82 million was going to be used in the first place. I am not sure that I could find that information within anything that has come to us. What was it going to be used for?

If I can push on that a wee bit, Deputy First Minister, I am not sure that I understand yet what that £82 million was going to be used for. I appreciate that the money goes into a big pot, and you described how that pot is spent. However, it is hard for the committee and the Parliament to know the intended purpose if we do not know how the £82 million was going to be spent. For example, was it for social security or education? Presumably, you had allocated £82 million to a particular Government department or budget. Where is that money coming from?

Thank you for making the time to speak to us this morning. To follow on from Pam Duncan-Glancy’s questions, what will be the practical effects with regard to the employability budget reduction? You said that there is an increase in the budget and that the changes will not affect services that are being provided. I am trying to work out what the extra £56 million was planned to do, if its absence is not going to affect direct services.

Maybe I will try just one more time. On a practical level, will it mean that a particular service is affected? It is a reasonable amount of money, so does it mean that a third sector charity will not be getting funding or that a particular project will not now be run? I appreciate that this is happening at a high level, but what consequence will it have for individuals in Scotland for the next six months?

Can you give us a list of those programmes?

Okay. I am a bit confused, but I am sure that others will pick that up.

Thank you, both, for coming. I appreciate the situation that you are in, but today we are trying to look forward to next year’s budget. We must remember that we are here to scrutinise the Scottish Government’s budget, not the UK Government’s budget. This is the Scottish Parliament and we are responsible for the decisions that are made here by our Parliament and our Government.

With regard to the budget for next year—we are considering next year’s budget, not the current position—what priorities do you want the Scottish Government to have?

Good morning, gentlemen. I will go back to Pam Duncan-Glancy’s previous questions about the legislation that will be introduced next week. I appreciate that we do not yet know the details of the legislation—we will see it, I think, an hour before the committee sits. Obviously, there might be more issues in Edinburgh and Lothian, but I have a number of constituents who have buy-to-let properties, so their mortgages are being paid by the rent payments that they receive. With mortgage payments possibly now going up because of inflation and interest rates, are you concerned that those people will have to withdraw their properties from the market? One of the other unforeseen circumstances could be that there is less housing available for rent, because people cannot meet their mortgage payments.

It is a quick question for Gordon MacRae. On Monday, I met with a fairly large homelessness charity in Edinburgh and heard about the impact of the people coming from Ukraine on the demand that already exists. Obviously, we all welcome the Ukrainians coming to Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland, but how do we deal with the other people who are still on the list? Practically, do you see the way forward as being to keep people in the central belt, or should there be a different policy? The committee has discussed previously whether it is better to distribute people throughout Scotland. Obviously, the issue will go on for a number of months, if not years. What is the longer-term approach?