Chamber and committees

I will certainly endeavour to do that, Presiding Officer.

Kaukab Stewart makes an important point about the management of the public finances and ensuring that we have sufficient resources at our disposal. Sharon Dowey asked whether I would avoid any underspend this year and asked for such underspends never to happen again. There has been an underspend every year since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, so last year was not really any different in that regard. I will have more to say to Parliament tomorrow about the current financial position that we face. However, one of the advantages of the underspend last year is that I have been able to access resources to deal with the enormous financial strain that we face this year in the absence of resource borrowing powers, which would allow me to borrow to deal with the volatility in the public finances.

The Scottish Government is developing a talent attraction and migration service, which will launch in 2023. That service will attract people to come and live in Scotland, help people who are moving to Scotland to settle into their communities, and support employers in navigating the United Kingdom Government’s complex immigration system.

The Covid recovery strategy, which aims to reduce inequalities and reform public services, includes a focus on creating good, green jobs across Scotland. The talent attraction and migration service will support our wider ambitions in that space by attracting and welcoming people with the necessary skills to contribute to a net zero economy.

I acknowledge the significance of the issues that Mr Fairlie raises. We share constituency boundaries and I am aware that similar issues are being wrestled with in my constituency.

As coincidence would have it, the Minister for Transport hosted the second bus task force meeting earlier today, which the UK Government minister Richard Holden attended, to discuss the issue of driver shortages.

As Mr Fairlie will know, there are acute shortages of employees across a range of sectors. The shortage of bus drivers is particularly acute. The situation is being exacerbated by the loss of free movement of people and the pressures that that has put on our labour market.

Yesterday, it was announced that we have very high levels of employment and very low levels of unemployment, so we still have a very tight labour market.

We are continuing to work with operators and our partners across the public sector to promote the bus sector as a place to work, while recognising that many of the levers to address the issue of population migration rest with the UK Government.

I point out to Mr Sweeney that the Government has been actively involved in trying to resolve pay disputes for some considerable time. I spent a large part of the summer working to resolve local government pay issues and I have spent a large part of the autumn trying to resolve civil service and health service issues, and I am delighted, as I said in my answer to Jackie Baillie, that Unison and Unite have accepted the offer that the Government has made.

I acknowledge the claim that members of the teaching profession have made, but I simply say that all claims must be affordable. Mr Sweeney knows very well that, in this financial year, the Government is significantly constrained by the availability of resources. I have explained all these issues to the leaders of all the teaching trade unions and have set out the very real challenges that exist in trying to deliver the pay increase that members of the teaching profession have proposed, which is, in the Government’s view, unaffordable. We are open for negotiation, but the propositions must be affordable, and the Government and our local authority partners must be able to find the resources to finance them.

Scottish ministers last met Orkney Islands Council on 30 November, when I met Councillor James Stockan, the leader of the council, to discuss revenue and capital funding in relation to the 2023-24 budget, the 2023-24 local government finance settlement and funding for the Orkney Islands Council ferry services.

The Government is immensely transparent about its expenditure. The Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth gave a statement to Parliament on the provisional outturn figures, and I have come to Parliament on two occasions to set out the financial challenges that we face this year. I did not need to do that—Opposition parties did not ask for it—but I voluntarily gave two statements to set out significant adjustments to our budget for this year.

I return to the points that I made when I answered Murdo Fraser’s question on the matter last week. It is completely and utterly economically illiterate to suggest that there is money within that total figure that I could have spent, because there is not. There are ring-fenced budgets of about £900 million, and it is beyond my right to spend that money.

I ask the Conservatives to look at the Official Report from 6 December, when I went through all this with Murdo Fraser. If Sharon Dowey reads the Official Report, she will understand how ridiculous the question that she just asked me is and will perhaps, in due course, ask me a question that gets nearer to the substance of the issue.

I see that I will have to send Jackie Baillie a copy of last week’s Official Report, too. I would have thought that she would have known that the Government cannot redeploy for other purposes large parts of the total figures that were set out in the Government’s accounts. I reassure her, in case she is worried about this, that all available spending power that was not fully utilised last year will be utilised this year and in future years, so there is no loss of resources.

On the subject of picking pockets, the Government has reallocated and reprioritised resources within the health budget—nothing has been removed from the health budget—to ensure that we can afford a 7.5 per cent pay deal for agenda for change staff in the health service. We are, in fact, putting money into the pockets of staff.

I am delighted that members of the Unison and Unite trade unions have voted to accept the Government’s pay offer. The quality of dialogue between the Scottish Government and trade unions in Scotland is significantly better than the quality of discussions between the United Kingdom Government and trade unions in England and, I might add, between Mr Wes Streeting and the Labour Party in England and trade unions south of the border.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My machine was unable to connect. I would have voted no in that division.

The autumn statement did not do enough to support devolved budgets to address the 41-year-high inflationary pressures that are impacting Scotland’s families, businesses and public services. I have already taken the unprecedented step of making an emergency budget statement to Parliament to reprioritise more than £1.2 billion of expenditure. Although most portfolios were required to make savings in that exercise, ministers took a conscious decision to protect local government, and the funding available to councils actually increased. Despite that, Parliament should be under no illusion that we are facing the most challenging budget circumstances since devolution. I will set out the financial support for local government in the Scottish Government’s budget next Thursday.

The Scottish Government annual accounts provide explanations of all significant variances in the portfolio outturn statements and make it clear that the underspend that was reported does not represent a loss of spending power. The underspend includes more than £900 million of non-cash and ring-fenced budgets, is before allowing late funding adjustments of more than £500 million and makes use of the limited carry forward in the Scotland reserve. The Scottish Government has reported transparently on the carry forward position at the provisional outturn and will confirm the final outturn position to Parliament shortly. All funding is fully utilised in supporting the 2022-23 budget.