 The First item of business is portfolio questions, which is wellbeing economy, fair work and energy. I would invite members wishing to ask a supplementary question to press their request-to-speak buttons during the relevant questions. There is quite a bit of interest in supplementaries, so the usual plea for briivity in questions and in responses. First of all, I would like to draw members' attention to my register of interests, which shows I own shares in commercial properties from which I receive no remuniation and I have no running businesses. To ask the Scottish Government what measures it will take in the next financial year to boost the confidence of those operating in the business sector and to promote entrepreneurship. Minister Richard Lochhead. The Scottish Government is fully committed to boosting the confidence of our business sector by establishing Scotland's world-class entrepreneurial nation, which is underpinned by our 10-year economic strategy. We absolutely believe that the potential for Scotland to be recognised as one of the best countries to start and grow a business and we continue to support entrepreneurship with over £13 million funding allocated in the next financial year, and we have also provided £307 million to our enterprise agencies as well. I thank the minister for that response. Research carried out by the survey found that many Scots are increasingly looking beyond Scotland for job opportunities, thanks to the SNP higher taxis. The self-employed and business owners were the most likely to think about the shift, with 47 per cent saying that they would consider relocating. Does the minister accept that the First Minister's wanted new deal for business isn't working? What action will he take to make Scotland an attractive location to live and work? I thank the member for her questions. I have pointed out that just in the last few days, I have spoken to a number of businesses in Scotland who are expanding and recruiting more people in Scotland and are very confident about the future, particularly in many of the tech sectors, for instance, and energy transition areas of the economy. It is exciting time in parts of the Scottish economy. I do not think that we should talk it down as an attractive location for people to come and live and work in Scotland. What we are also finding is that many people are relocating to Scotland, particularly from London. I have spoken to companies who are recruiting well from London because people want to move to Scotland for the quality of life and some of the other benefits that they get from Scottish Government policies as well at the same time. Of course, we have to pay close attention to the issues raised by the member and the views of the business community. Our new deal for business is, of course, the best forum for doing that at the current time, and we are listening carefully to what the members are saying. Presiding Officer, in the next financial year, businesses south of the border in the UK will receive 75 per cent rates relief in the hospitality sector. Here, they will receive zero relief. Given that these businesses, hotels, pubs and restaurants, and some business attractions such as Bingo Cubs in my constituency, have incurred major debt to survive the shutdown in Covid, is that really not a serious competitor of disadvantage? Will the minister not urge the Scottish Government in the forthcoming budget to match the lifeline rates relief for Scotland's hospitality sector? I thank Fergus Ewing for highlighting the challenges facing many hospitality businesses in Scotland at the moment. Of course, it is quite a mixed picture. I have spoken to many hospitality businesses that are investing significant amounts of resource for the future and expanding. I will return from Islay to the tourism summit and speak to many local businesses. However, there are many challenges on Islay and throughout the whole of the country in the hospitality sector. Under the Scottish Government policy, we estimate that 63 per cent of hospitality businesses will not be paying any rates whatsoever. Of course, the budget extends as part of the current arrangements relief for Islay's hospitality businesses, which is to help the particular challenges that many of our islands are facing. Of course, we continue to look at all those issues, but we face a very difficult budget settlement from the UK Government, so we cannot achieve everything that we would like to achieve in the draft budget. Many of the factors expressed to me by the hospitality sector relate to increased raw material costs due to inflation, increased interest rates and increased energy bills. The source of the problem is very much at the UK level. We continue to bring those matters to the attention of the UK Government as well. I will have to ask for a brief supplementary question and response, briefly, Daniel Johnson. There is a good deal of concern about what the impact of the draft budget will have on our enterprise agencies. Could the minister outline how many businesses were supported by enterprise agencies in the last year, as compared to pre-Covid times? Clearly, I am happy to look into those figures and not have them at hand, as the member I am sure would expect to be the case. What I can say, though, is that, ironically, I was just meeting enterprise agencies this morning who were pointing to some of the significant success of companies that they have been supporting over the past year. The official statistics for that will be released in the coming weeks, I expect. Our enterprise companies are carrying out a great deal of fantastic work supporting our business community in Scotland. That is why our exports are doing very well compared to the rest of the UK. That is why our investment projects in Scotland are doing very well compared to the rest of the UK. The enterprise companies are doing a fine job at the moment of supporting the business community. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussion it has had with the UK Government regarding actions that can be taken to preserve energy networks following periods of bad weather. As the member rightly outlines, policy and regulation of energy networks in the UK, including the reputation, maintenance and resilience, are reserved to the UK Government, but Scottish Government officials maintain regular contact with UK Government counterparts on energy network resilience topics. Last week, Scottish Government resilience division officials attended the Department of Energy, Security and Net Zero meeting, where winter energy risk and disruption contingency planning were discussed. We are also working with Ofgem, the electricity system operator and industry on reforms 2 and expansion of the electricity grid, so that electricity networks are robust effective on work for Scotland. Thank you, Minister, for the answer. Strong Asia saw thousands across Scotland lose power with some being unable to be reconnected for over a day. This greatly impacted those with disabilities or mobility issues who require electrical equipment to live in and complete tasks within their home. What discussion has the Scottish Government had with the energy networks in Scotland regarding additional help and reimbursement for those who have additional needs when they are left without power due to energy, disruption and blackouts? Faisal Trouser outlines a situation that, as a bencher, I brought up after the aftermath of Storm Arwin, which was pretty seven days in my constituency of having no power for many thousands of people. It is something that I am always keen to pick up with the operators. I had a very constructive meeting with SSEN last week on rolling maintenance programmes for lines and preventing damage to those lines in storm situations such as the maintenance and tree cutting that they do. The work that they are doing to have their vulnerable customer registers updated so that they know when to step into people who will have vulnerabilities such as the member outlines. There is great work being done with local authorities, police, fire, healthcare services and responsive resilience, working with the electricity suppliers and learning the lessons from Storm Arwin and subsequent storms. We also had a discussion with the cabinet secretary and I with the ESO last week on reforms and expansion of the network. I am very brief supplementaries to Sarah Boyack. The minister did not mention the issue of our railway network. Given that it is becoming more and more powered by electricity, what work is being done to have that cross-UK discussion to make sure that our railway network is reliable and resilient in terms of electricity supply? I am happy to refer that to Fiona Hyslop, who has got responsibility for transport, but Sarah Boyack makes a very good point. Increasingly, as we are changing the networks over to being electrically powered, that is something that we need to take into account in terms of resilience planning. I declare an interest that I am a trustee of the charity Spirit of Springburn, which is currently active in its efforts to develop a local place plan for the area to help bush town centre region. The arrangement is relevant to the question that I am asking. To ask the Scottish Government how its city strategy supports town centres within cities to be vibrant destinations offer a range of services and amenities to support the community. We are committed to supporting the vibrancy of our towns within cities as we continue to implement the world-leading town centre first principle and support progress through the town centre action plan. That is our call to action, both locally and nationally, to revitalise our towns and support the delivery of enterprise and communities and town centre living. In collaboration with Scotland's Town Partnership, we also support the Scotland Loves Local campaign, which aims to encourage people back into local towns to increase footfall and ultimately support businesses to offer diverse services and amenities for the local community, which is an economic multiplier. I welcome that answer, but for city-based town centres, the pool of city centres and the lure of out-of-town shopping creates a significant double challenge, and those can be particularly profound in areas with high levels of deprivation. Can I ask what account the city's strategy takes of those challenges facing town centres within cities in particular, such as Springburn and My constituency, and whether dedicated funds are available to support them, such as the former town centre regeneration fund, which preffers the benefit of Maryhill within My constituency? I thank Bob Doris for that and recognise his long-standing interest in this area, given his work for the Maryhill borough halls and the continued programmes of work that he is supporting within his constituency. As I have said, we continue to support our world-leading town centre first principle as a joint commitment to encourage people back into towns and put the health of our town centres at the heart of decision making. That is underpinned by the national planning framework 4, which recognises towns within our cities as a national asset and seeks to promote and facilitate development. I understand that Glasgow City Council has established a local place development plan fund to help to support communities' developed local place plans. That is going to be ever more important as the role and usage of town centres changes with people's changing shopping habits. I was deeply disappointed to learn today that the latest round of the regeneration capital grant fund has been put on hold due to the announced cut on capital spending on that fund from £62 million to £45 million. That will affect four projects in Glasgow, including one in which I chair the Springwell Winter Gardens, which is applied for essential capital funding. What will the minister do to expedite those decisions and ensure that the capital fund for those critical programmes is protected? Mr Sweeney will understand the financial landscape within which the Scottish Government is operating, with a 10 per cent cut to our capital budget coming down the line and increased costs against those capital allocations because of inflation making some of those projects very difficult to come forward with. He will understand the review that is currently under way from the Deputy First Minister into all those. I also understand the importance that Mr Sweeney places on that fund and recognises the good work that it can do. We will continue to keep that under review to ensure that our town centres can continue to receive our support. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has held with the South of Scotland Enterprise regarding any preliminary analysis of the outcome of its recently implemented four-day work in week pilot. The aim of the four-day work in week public sector pilot is to assess environmental health and wellbeing benefits and efficiency gains that a four-day work in week could bring. The pilot will ensure meaningful insights that are gained into the benefits and risks of a four-day working week approach that the Scottish Government has held. One high-level discussion with the South of Scotland Enterprise on the future interim evaluation of its four-day week pilot and the meeting did not cover details of the results since the interim evaluation is still pending completion and analysis by SOCI and Autonomy, the expert partner organisation. Emma Harper. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. I met with the SOCI leadership team on Friday last week and heard how the pilot is already beginning to boost staff morale, increase productivity and contribute to greater wellbeing in the workplace. Can the cabinet secretary comment how it is working with business to show the evidence of whether a four-day working week is beneficial? Conversations with business employer organisations on a more flexible approach to the employment market continued. Those are forums that we hold such as the New Deal for Business Group looking at the economic impact of having a more flexible labour market approach and also to their trading environment in ensuring that they have access to a wider pool of potential employees because of the greater flexibility that such an approach could take. Obviously, that is going to be a commercial decision-making by those individual employers, but those discussions will continue. Can I ask what additional costs will be incurred by SOCI from the limited budget as a consequence of implementing the policy and what assessment has been made of how much it would cost if the policy was implemented across the entire Scottish Government and its agencies? I thank Ivan McKee for his interest and note his long-standing interest in the area. SOCI has not and have not incurred any direct costs from volunteering to participate in the pilot. There are some small staffing costs related to time devoted to the engagement with autonomy as the expert partner in supporting that work. The pilot will ensure that the meaningful insights are gained from the benefits and risks of a four-day working week approach. However, as it is a pilot, no assessment has been made on the cost to implement this policy across other public sector bodies, including the Scottish Government. To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the growth of international exports. Minister Richard Lochhead A trading nation guides their approach to increasing Scotland's international exports. As part of that plan, we have added more international trade specialists, nearly doubled the global Scot network, increased their trade envoy network from 4 to 11 and run a programme of major events at other events such as Dubai Expo COP26 and COP28. Scottish Enterprise support helped to achieve £1.73 billion of projected export sales in 2022-23, and there are other sector export plans in technology, life sciences and other key sectors. We worked with the Scottish chambers on delivering 100 trade missions under the particular programme that we have, generating £20 million in projected export sales. In recent weeks, we have seen more of the same from the fallout of Brexit. A trade deal with Canada has broken down, and while new import controls have constrained Scotland, our neighbours and friends in Northern Ireland, who also voted remain, get a completely different deal. We have also even seen over the weekend that, because of Brexit, even a former Scottish Labour leader voted SNP during the European elections, does the minister agree with me that this demonstrates not only that the Tory UK Government is making up its Brexit policy as it goes along, but that Labour also cannot be trusted to stand up for Scotland on this highly important issue? Audrey Nicholl is correct that Brexit has been an unmitigated disaster for Scotland, and while we expect the Tories not to support Scotland in this issue, it is particularly disappointing that Labour Party is going to continue with the pro-Brexit policy, which is causing some problems. What is also disappointing is the exchanges between both front benches, which we will see. I also say, Deputy Presiding Officer, so much for our union of equals, given that we are paying close attention to the welcome progress in Northern Ireland, but at the same time recognising that the barriers to trade do not exist there under the current proposals, whereas Scotland that, likewise, voted against Brexit will continue to have barriers trading with Europe. That is completely unacceptable, and, of course, many businesses' length and breadth of Scotland are suffering as a result of Brexit, which we voted against. If the SNP is so keen to support international exports, why is it opposed to every trade deal done by the UK Government? I recall very well that the former rural affairs secretary in the UK Government spoke out against his own Government's trade deals because they betrayed Scotland's farmers and rural industries such as the deal with New Zealand and the deals with some other countries as well. It is really important that, as the UK Government goes round for the begging bowl around Scotland post-Brexit, trying to get deals at any cost, that this Government Scotland remains vigilant to stand up for Scottish industries and make sure that they are not betrayed by Tory Governments. To ask the Scottish Government whether, as part of the implementation of the recommendations of the city centre recovery task force report, the role of larger retail stores and city centres is being considered. The implementation of the recommendations in the task force report is led by the Scottish cities alliance of which the Scottish Government is a member. The report identifies seven priority outcomes to ensure that city centres have a strong and vibrant offer to attract visitors, residents and tourists, as we referred to in an answer to a previous question. It did not consider the detail of the role of larger retail stores. Retail is an important component of a vibrant city centre economy. Our retail strategy encourages our retailers to promote city centres as retail and cultural destinations. I thank the cabinet secretary for the response according to Scottish retail consortium. Larger retail stores employ a high share of retail jobs and provide a significant share of a low-cost everyday essentials for customers. Shops liable for the higher property rate have been paying more than their English counterparts for the past eight years, and now there is a threat of rates surtax on grocers. Given that the city centre recovery task force report already emphasises the need for out-of-town larger retail stores to be restricted and the prominence of large department stores on Scottish High Street, why does the cabinet secretary believe that Scottish scholars are better placed than their counterparts down south to be paying more rates? Of course. I am assuming that Ros McAll still supports the austerity agenda that has been a hallmark of the UK Government over the last decade and a half that is pushing us into the position of having to look at broadening our revenue base. The discussions with the likes of the Scottish retail consortium are on-going. I am due to meet with the Deputy First Minister and Tom Arthur this afternoon, because this is a consultation that we are talking about in terms of the retail surtax. In terms of the non-domestic rates, 95 per cent of businesses in Scotland pay lower rates here in Scotland than they do elsewhere in the UK. The small business bonus scheme means that we have 100,000 business properties in Scotland taken out of rates altogether. Even in a very difficult financial landscape that has been made worse by decisions taken at a UK level, we are still investing in supporting the trading landscape of our businesses here in Scotland. The city centre recovery task force is supporting Scotland's eight city centres at a time when businesses are increasing the cost of food and goods as a result of new import controls. The UK Government estimates that new Brexit red tape will cost businesses an extra £330 million a year. Seven years after Scotland rejected Brexit, what is the Scottish Government's assessment of its impact on retail and businesses? The business survey data shows that many businesses in the retail and wholesale sector continue to report additional costs due to Brexit, with 30 per cent of businesses reporting additional costs in Scotland, 21 per cent due to red tape, 14 per cent reported higher transportation costs and 9 per cent faced extra tariffs, directly responsibility of Brexit. It clearly varies by sector as the import and export variances, but I am still to see or hear a positive viewpoint of Brexit from a business and economy perspective, only negatives, and it is clear, whichever party is returning to government after the UK general election, that the economic pain will continue as both Labour and the Conservatives are signed up to that Brexit Britain future and the economic drag that it causes independence is the only way. Question 7, Beatrice Wishart. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact of the reduction in funding for Highlands and Islands Enterprise on women in business. We have prioritised funding for Highlands and Islands Enterprise to the extent possible given the extremely challenging settlement, but the reduction to its budget will require to revisit its plans for 24-25 and to be rigorous in deciding which activity it can support. I know that Highlands will continue to make a key contribution to achieving the government's objectives, including through its support for women in business. Having had regular engagement with the chair and chief executive in recent months, I will be meeting again with them shortly to discuss how we can continue to work together to achieve our joint ambitions boost investment, accelerate opportunities across the region and maximise the impact of available resources. Beatrice Wishart. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. Shetland is rightly proud of its world-famous textile and knitwear heritage and Shetland will wake attracts knitters from around the globe to the islands each autumn. HIE's budget faces further cuts, which would total 40 per cent since 2018-19, but the significant concern that in the small women-led businesses in the creative industries in Shetland funding won't be there to help them address the current threat to their businesses. Changes in the operation of the textile facilitation unit at UHI Shetland mean that individual local producers face a serious challenge to continue to the production of their innovative designs, which are very much in demand. So what can the Scottish Government do to ensure that HIE is in a position to support those women in business who want to keep this traditional sector alive? I think that this is a very fair point from Beatrice Wishart. The market is changing as it has, and the popularity of traditional knitwear, ferial, gansies and others is evident and is growing. Indeed, the offering from your own constituency is also evident. I am well aware of that. I will continue to work with Highlands and Islands Enterprise on what can be done to support that as export potential and ensure that, as Beatrice Wishart points out, the largely women-led businesses continue to be supported. In advancing the arguments put forward by Beatrice Wishart about encouraging more women to enter business, is the Government prepared to engage in dialogue with Women's Enterprise Scotland to make use of the formidable resources and skills and capacity that it has to offer on this agenda? Absolutely. I can give the assurance to John Swinney that I have already had significant engagement with Women's Enterprise Scotland and will continue to look at what more can be done to support women-led businesses. Through Anna Stewart's Pathways report on how we can encourage a greater proportion of women to start their own businesses in the first place, which we have invested millions of pounds over last year and this coming year into achieving. Jackie Baillie To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress against the five fair work benchmarks in the national strategy for economic transformation. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The Scottish Government reports on progress on the national strategy for economic transformation through its annual reports. The most recent from June 2023 showed that, in 2022, 94.1 per cent of employees were in contractually secure employment and 35.4 per cent were affected by collective bargaining arrangements. Updated estimates are available for the gender pay gap, which was 1.7 per cent for full-time employees in 2023. Estimates that were released last month indicate that 89.9 per cent of employees aged 18 and over earned above the real living wage in Scotland last year and the latest employment rate in Scotland was 74.4 per cent for September to November 2023. Jackie Baillie Thank you very much. It is disappointing that the SNP Government has decided to cut the £10 million flexible workforce development fund, a key intervention to support upskilling across the Scottish economy. As a result of that, some 2,000 employers and 45,000 learners will miss out on training opportunities from April onwards. Does the Cabinet Secretary agree with Stephen Montgomery, director of the Scottish hospitality group, who said that losing the fund is another sucker blow for many hospitality businesses who used and relied on the fund to develop career paths for their employees? It was seen for many employers as a great aid for recruitment and giving training for career progression, and it is essential that the Scottish Government rethink this budget cut. Does the cabinet secretary think that Stephen Montgomery and the many other businesses, trade unions and colleges are simply wrong? No, I have received that representation. I understand the challenges that are being faced, and I hope that Jackie Baillie would understand the challenges that are being faced by Government in taking very difficult decisions in the financial landscape that we are entering. I assume that that is the first of the Liberal Party's representations on the budget. Bookers, I believe that that has not arrived as yet. If that is an area that Jackie Baillie wishes to see changed within the budget, we look forward to those discussions. The Deputy First Minister is more than willing to have those discussions on a constructive basis. In Scotland, we have lower unemployment, a lower gender pay gap, and the highest proportion of workers paid at least the real living wage. That is because of the investments that we are making compared to elsewhere in the UK, and we will continue to ensure that we provide that support so that we have a strong workforce for employers going forward. Thank you and apologies to those who I was not able to call. That concludes portfolio questions on wellbeing economy, fair work and energy. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next portfolio to allow the front benches to change. The next portfolio is finance and parliamentary business. Again, there is a lot of interest in this, so members wishing to ask a supplementary question to press their request to speak buttons during their relevant questions, but should be brief in their questions and as brief as possible in their responses. I also remind members that questions 1 and 8 will be taken together, and I will take any supplementaries on those after the questions have been posed. To ask the Scottish Government how much it is allocated to local authorities from its 2024-25 budget. The Scottish Government is providing record funding of over £14 billion to local authorities, including funding for the council tax freeze. We have also allocated an increasing share of the discretionary Scottish budget to the local government settlement for 2024-25, highlighting the importance that the Scottish Government places on our local services. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has found that the finance secretary's budget spin has been misleading. The finance secretary told me in this very chamber on 1 November 2023 that the Government took advice from civil servants in the normal manner regarding the council tax freeze announcement at SNP conference. It has subsequently been revealed by the daily record that civil servants were, in fact, just given seven hours' notice. Does the minister agree with the comments that the finance secretary made to me in this chamber in November? If so, how can he stand up with any credibility and say that this decision was made in the normal way and expect us to believe it? Scottish Government brings forward its draft budget in line with the recommendations of the Parliament's Finance Committee comparing the draft budget to the draft budget. The Labour Party needs to put their hands up and tell us what it thinks. The people of Scotland are absolutely clear that, in these difficult times, a council tax freeze is absolutely crucial. The question for Mr Bibby is does he and his Labour colleagues support a council tax freeze, or does he support Putin's council tax up across Scotland? Will he back the people of Scotland, or does he want to increase the council tax? As with the previous portfolio, we will have the questions asked and we will have the questions answered without the person who has asked the question, then providing a running commentary. To ask the Scottish Government what consideration is being given to increasing the funding settlement for local authorities. Despite a worst case autumn statement that did not prioritise public services, the budget delivers record funding for local government, and we will continue to work with Coloslaw through the very House agreement to ensure the sustainability of local services. We will continue to work with local government throughout the year ahead to ensure that we are able to provide the services that the people of Scotland want. It is not just the IFS who are challenging the Scottish Government's figures. Coloslaw also says that local government is facing a real terms cut, giving significant cuts to both core revenue and capital budgets, and that using reserves is not financially stable. Their figures are confirmed by SPICE. Will the minister revisit the funding settlement? The starting point is to go back to my point that the budget figures that we produce are in line with the requirements of the finance committee. At the end of the day, we know that this has been an absolute disastrous settlement for Scotland from the UK Government. Rather than simply backing up the Tories and saying that the Scottish Government needs to find more money from within that limited budget, surely the member will join with the Scottish Government and call on the UK Government to use the spring budget in order to prioritise public services to ensure that there is more money for Scotland, including Scottish local services. Can the minister advise if any opposition party has come forward with alternative budget proposals that are costed otherwise that would increase local authority funding? Given that Labour plans to have a bumproof UK manifesto that will mimic the Tories with whom Labour has already de-facto coalition in Edinburgh, Fife, North and South Lanarkshire, Stirling and West Lothian, has the minister had any indication whatsoever that a change in the UK Government will mean greater resources being made available to the Scottish Government to allocate to local authorities? On the first point, Deputy First Minister has confirmed to me that there has been no suggestions from the Labour Party about how the Scottish Government could further increase the shared resource going to local government this year. Absolutely nothing. On the wider point, Mr Gibson makes a very strong point. The Deputy First Minister met the chief secretary to the treasury two weeks ago and made it clear that the UK Government needs to prioritise investment in public services over tax cuts in the forthcoming UK spring budget. Surely it is not unreasonable to expect support not just from the benches behind us but from colleagues right across the chamber to call for more spending for public services rather than tax cuts for the rich. Cozla in its budget briefing yesterday was complaining bitterly that the multi-year funding settlement that has set out in the Scottish Government's medium-term financial strategy has not yet been delivered. Can I ask when it will be? I think that everyone knows that multi-year settlements would be better, but given the massive uncertainty that we have in relation to the funding that this Government gets from the UK Government, it would be disingenuous to give further multi-year settlements that are based on sand. Scottish Government ministers and officials meet regularly with Cozla and individual local authorities to discuss a range of issues. Scottish Government has had extensive engagement with Cozla on behalf of all 32 local authorities in relation to the 24-25 local government finance settlement. I thank the minister for that reply. The minister will be very much aware of the social economic challenges that my constituency faces. I will always advocate for more money to go to Inverclyde as I recognise the consequence of the Cozla agreed funding formula, which only exacerbates our issues with population decline and deprivation as it is heavily weighted towards anerious population level. Can the minister indicate whether there is any scope for additional resource to go to Inverclyde Council as it is receiving a 4.8 per cent budget increase lower than most other affluent council areas in Scotland, due to the aforementioned Cozla funding formula? I think that Stuart McMillan is a strong advocate for his constituency, but it is important to acknowledge the role that deprivation plays in the funding formula and to recognise that Inverclyde continues to receive funding equivalent to £159 ahead, which is 6.2 per cent more than the Scottish average. That is equivalent to £12.3 million more overall than it would receive if it was funded at the Scottish average. However, the Scottish Government remains committed to strengthening the Inverclyde economy and its current investment proposals from the Inverclyde task force with that aim. The Minister for Small Business, Innovation, Tourism and Trade is due to attend the next task force meeting on 20 February. As the member mentioned, the wider formula on distribution is a matter for Cozla, but the Scottish Government is always keen to hear suggestions on how that can be taken forward, but it has to be in collaboration with Cozla. To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of the potential impact on its medium-term financial strategy and future Scottish budgets of reports that the cost of a national care service could rise to £2 billion. Our medium-term financial strategy will be updated later this year, and the medium-term financial framework for health and social care will be published this spring. The costs of the national care service are continually reviewed, as demonstrated by the recent update on the national care service bill provided to the finance and public administration committee. The £2 billion quoted as a cost forecast over 10 years for the bill as introduced and does not reflect the proposed government amendments for a new shared accountability approach to delivery, so the figures quoted are therefore an outdated position. The updates clearly set this out, and should Parliament accept those amendments at stage 2, the costs of implementing the national care service will reduce substantially to between £238 million and £345 million over 10 years. Finally, the bill also includes a commitment to breaks for carers, the costs of which would be between £393 million and £571 million over 10 years. I am glad that someone is getting an update, because it is certainly not the health committee. The finance committee is unhappy with the national care service, the financial memorandum, and I am still scrutinising it. Given that the start date for the bill is many years in the future, how can we be confident that the money allocated will be enough? The government does not even know the number of additional staff that will be needed to deliver the service on the ground. Given the SNP's appalling record on public projects, notably the disastrous Edinburgh tram scheme, will the cabinet secretary guarantee that the sum of £2 billion is already above £1 billion? Dr Gullhane, if you resume your seat, as I have said on three occasions now, could we please listen to the questions and listen to the responses as respectfully as possible? Can you please complete your question, Dr Gullhane? It is incredible that John Swinney is laughing after what was said about him, but given the SNP's appalling record on public projects, notably the disastrous Edinburgh tram scheme, will the minister guarantee, the cabinet secretary guarantee, the sum of £2 billion, that is already a billion higher, will not rise further? Or will this be another case of vastly escalated costs based purely on pursuing SNP dogma, only for the SNP telephone estate? First of all, on infrastructure projects, of course it was the Tories who voted for the Edinburgh tram system. I do not think that a Tory coming here has any grounds to criticise because I could talk about HS2, I could talk about aircraft carriers. I really think that Sandesh Gullhane should perhaps have a little bit more humility when it comes to his Government's infrastructure projects. He also clearly did not listen to my answer when I said that the £2 billion is not what the plan is. I gave him the revised figures, clearly in my answer. Sandesh Gullhane should really update his knowledge of the position, a willful misunderstanding of the position of the costs of the national care service is a bit like his unedifying willful misunderstanding of the public health evidence on minimum unit pricing. Perhaps he should go away and do his homework. Finance committee has heard worrying and at times deeply confused evidence from the minister and officials suggesting the cost of the original proposals as introduced to Parliament and on which Parliament will be asked to vote at stage 1 could have been as much as £3.9 billion. Is it not the case that the Government has lost control of the flagship bill, which now amounts to a little more than expensive bureaucracy? Can the Deputy First Minister confirm that the cost of the legislation will not recruit a single extra care worker or put a penny more in care workers' pockets? We are putting money in care workers' pockets by our commitment and delivery in the next financial year of £12 an hour. Michael Marr might not remember that the national care service used to be a Labour party policy, which has now shifted for reasons that I do not quite understand. I set out the figures in my initial answer, which are very, very clear. If those are accepted at stage 2, the cost of implementing the national care service will reduce to between £238 million and £345 million over 10 years. That is very clear, and I would hope that something that the Labour Party would support. To ask the Scottish Government what its latest engagement has been with the UK Government regarding the cost of living support. So I met the chief secretary to the treasury two weeks ago and raised the continuing need to support people with the cost of living. I made clear that the UK Government should prioritise investment in public services over tax cuts in the forthcoming UK spring budget. I again pressed the UK Government to introduce an essential guarantee to ensure that the universal credit enables households to cover essential costs such as food and utilities. Since 2022-23, the Scottish Government continues to allocate around £3 billion a year to policies that tackle poverty and protect people as far as possible during the on-going cost of living crisis. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. As she outlined in part of her answer, the Scottish Government is doing all it can with its limited powers and fixed budget to improve living standards and address the cost of living crisis, including through the Scottish child payment, capping in tenancy rent increases and freezing council tax. However, Westminster is failing to act in the areas that have responsibility for, including on energy costs and spiralling mortgage bills. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that the UK Government should have introduced a £400 energy bill support scheme to help households over the winter months, as well as set up a social tariff to help the more vulnerable customers and look to introduce mortgage interest relief to help homeowners? As Clare Haughey has rightly pointed out, the Scottish Government cannot mitigate everything connected with UK austerity, many of the tools to tackle the cost of living rest with the UK Government. I called on the Chancellor to reinstate the £400 energy bill support scheme in last year's UK autumn statement. I also called for a social tariff scheme that would provide a much-needed safety net for priority consumers, and we continue to press for that. The Chancellor chose to ignore those calls and prioritise tax cuts over public services. The UK spring budget is, of course, an opportunity for the UK Government to change course and support people with the cost of living. On the topic of utility bills, water bills are going up by 8 per cent despite Scottish Water Reserve's net sitting at almost £2 billion. How is that justified, given that Scottish Water could clearly absorb or defer that increase? Of course, Scottish Water has made sure that, over the years, customers in Scotland have been paying significantly less than customers south of the border, but what is important are the investment plans that Scottish Water has, because people want to make sure that the investment in the infrastructure across Scotland is fit for purpose. The infrastructure plans that Scottish Water has are contingent on being able to raise the revenue in order to make those investments. 5. Murdo Fraser To ask the Scottish Government how its budget for 2024-25 will support the delivery of local services in the Mid-Scotland and Fife region. The budget delivers an additional £795.7 million of funding for all local authorities, including those in Mid-Scotland, in Fife, equivalent to a 6 per cent cash increase. The budget also baselines almost £1 billion of funding prior to agreement on an assurance and accountability framework to offer councils greater flexibility on how those services are delivered. Murdo Fraser I thank the Deputy First Minister for her response. The Scottish Government's budget for the coming year is up in both cash and real terms over the current year, but it delivers savage cuts to local services, according to COSLA, a cut in core revenue of £62.7 million compared to the current year. In my region, Perthincan Ross Council is closing public toilets, restricting access to… Mr Gibson Mr Fraser In my region, Perthincan Ross Council is closing public toilets, restricting opening hours of recycling centres, and it is a real prospect of Perth Ice Rink, the leisure pool and local sports centres being closed and not replaced. Who should residents in Perthincan Ross blame for those cuts to services? Is it the SNP-run council or the SNP-run Scottish Government? Let me remind Murdo Fraser that the Tory-controlled UK Government did not give a penny for local government in the consequentials for 2024-25, nor a single penny came for local government. Lots for business tax cuts, not a single penny for local government. If Murdo Fraser thinks that the funding for local government is the overriding priority here, why does he not have a word with the UK Tory chancellor to make sure that in the spring budget on 6 March, we get more money for local government? That is where the issue begins. I just correct him on the funding available to local government. It has increased 6 per cent in cash terms and 4.3 per cent in real terms, taking into account £144 million to support the council tax freeze. In difficult circumstances, I think that that is a fair deal. Mr Fraser, I would encourage you not to follow the lead of Mr Gibson and shouting from a sedentary position. A brief supplementary, Willie Rennie. Fife council leader David Ross has written to the First Minister warning that Fife is teetering on the edge of a housing emergency. He points out that there is a 26 per cent reduction in the capital funding for affordable housing budget. He says that that is making the situation a whole lot worse. He wants to know from the minister why there is a cut of 26 per cent when the overall capital budget is only being cut by 4.3 per cent? The capital budget is being cut by 10 per cent over the next few years. That amounts to £1.6 billion over the parliamentary term. That is a huge reduction in our capital availability, something that I put centre stage at the meeting with the chief secretary of the Treasury, because infrastructure investment is important, including in affordable housing. As I made clear at the finance committee when I was giving evidence, should capital availability improve at the spring budget on 6 March, my absolute overriding priority is to improve the position of the affordable housing supply programme. I cannot confirm that until I know whether or not 6 March will bring an improved position on capital and resource spending or a negative position on capital and resource spending. I need to know that before I can make that decision. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how much money it expects to be able to reallocate from back office costs to front-line services in its budget as a result of its work on public sector reform. I set out a programme of actions alongside the budget in December to do just that. The budget itself provides envelopes in which we expect our public services to operate over the coming years, and we expect our partners across the public sector to shake their services in both the short and longer term, driving efficiencies into their planning. Reducing the cost of services is part of that, and we have made it clear that we expect to see all parts of the Scottish public sector, including the Scottish Government itself, to explore efficiency measures, including for workforce, in order to extract maximum value from public spending. Work continues to develop metrics to capture the investment that is required and the savings generated across the long-term programme of reform. Of course, Scottish Government running costs are now more than £700 million per year, and that does not include the running costs of 129 agencies in non-departmental public bodies. Can I ask the Deputy First Minister how much is the total running costs of all those bodies, and how much does she expect to be able to reduce those costs by through the public sector reform programme? Our approach to reform includes testing public bodies on the scope that they each have to work more efficiently with more impact, not just alone but across organisations as well. In terms of the size and function and the operating challenges that bodies face, we consider that approach to be more effective than perhaps applying a standard running cost savings target to all bodies. What I would say is that savings will have to be made. That is a key priority through a number of corporate efficiency levers being implemented, including the single Scottish estate programme, the commercial value for money programme, the national collaborative procurement and intelligent automation. All of those aim to reduce costs, increase efficiency and deliver better outcomes. The Scottish Government has already hauled out the backroom staff in public services, such as Police Scotland, meaning that the police officers have to spend more time and administration as opposed to working in their communities. How can the Scottish Government possibly suggest that there are more cuts to be made in the backroom staff? First of all, Brian Whittle should understand from the budget that in difficult circumstances we have prioritised front-line spend, including for police and fire. He will see that from the budget. In terms of the efficiencies made by Police Scotland, I would be the first to recognise that. The move to Police Scotland has enabled a number of reforms and efficiencies to be made. What I am saying here in response to Ivan McKee is that across the whole of the public sector there are opportunities for organisations to share services, to do things differently, to use digital technology to deliver more effective and efficient services. Given the austerity budget provided by the UK Government, those matters become even more important. We will get on with the reform that we need to make. Of course, we are always welcome for positive suggestions, Presiding Officer. There just seem to be very few. Question 7, Evelyn Tweed. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is regarding any potential impact on Scottish public finances to reports that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is considering reducing taxes in the UK budget in March. The UK Government should use any additional fiscal headroom to support public services that it has decimated through 14 years of under-investment. The IMF agrees with its position and has advised the UK against further tax cuts, saying that proposed UK spending plans were unrealistic and that money should be spent prioritising health and education, for example, and reducing debt. The Deputy First Minister met the Chief Secretary to the Treasury two weeks ago and made clear that, instead of tax cuts, the Chancellor must prioritise investment in public services, infrastructure and support for people with the cost of living crisis. Evelyn Tweed. Recent UK Government's bending decisions have meant that Scotland's block grant has fallen in real terms by 1.2 per cent since 2022-23. Does the Minister agree that the UK Government should be using its spring budget to rectify the mistakes of the Chancellor's autumn statement and provide adequate investment in our public services rather than prioritising tax cuts? Although the UK Government has chosen to prioritise tax cuts at the expense of the NHS and other public services, our values and, therefore, our choices are very different. Our missions and values of equality, opportunity and community are the guiding principles of our 2024-25 budget to protect people, to sustain public services, to support a growing and sustainable economy and to address the climate and nature emergencies. We call on the UK Government to invest in these important issues at the upcoming spring budget, rather than offering more tax cuts. That concludes portfolio questions. There will be a brief pause before we move on to the next item of business to allow front benches to change.