Chamber and committees

Decisions on future local government budget allocations are subject to negotiations with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the results will be confirmed as part of the Scottish budget on 19 December.

The Scottish Government places great importance on sport and leisure facilities, which are vital in supporting the physical and mental health of the nation. Sportscotland, our national agency for sport, is working with local and national partners to help it to assess the impact of any potential facility closures, and those discussions will continue over the coming weeks and months.

Mr MacGregor highlighted the local campaigns that encouraged North Lanarkshire Council to change its decision. Although it is for democratically elected councils to make decisions on the priorities for their local areas, it is always good to see communities influencing those decisions.

The member will be aware that there is a joint approach with COSLA to look at various means of raising money for local government, which is headed up by my colleague Tom Arthur.

A number of streams of work are under way. One recent stream of work is the proposal to allow local authorities to raise 100 per cent additional council tax from second homes.

I know that Maurice Golden takes the matter very seriously, despite the cheap political point he made at the start of his comments, so I will answer the question on that basis.

Maurice Golden is absolutely right about the importance of moving to a more circular economy in relation to procurement. Our sustainable procurement tools include circular economy e-learning that helps public bodies to take account of the climate and the circular economy in their procurement activity. There is also guidance on materials and waste that is aimed at making best use of resources, including by using circular economy principles. [Interruption.]

We will promote the updated guidance on procuring for repair, reuse and remanufacturing from Zero Waste Scotland once—

A number of tools are in place. Clearly, we are not yet where we want to get to, which is why we are working really hard to get there. I know that ministerial colleagues engage with Mr Golden regularly on this really important issue and that he wants to work to help the Government and the Parliament to get this right.

Tom Arthur, the Minister for Community Wealth and Public Finance, is on an international engagement in the United States during which he will speak at a plenary session at the Obama Foundation leaders event in Chicago. He will hear at first hand experiences of best practice relating to community wealth building initiatives in the United States of America.

The minister has regular discussions with ministerial colleagues on a range of matters, including the circular economy and procurement. The Scottish Government is committed to using public procurement to contribute to the strategic priority of a transition to a more resource-efficient and low-carbon economy.

The council tax freeze will be fully funded. It is important that, at this time of pressure on family budgets and other financial burdens, we are able to remove that uncertainty. It took two weeks, but it is pleasing that the Labour Party now appears to support the council tax freeze. I do not know the Conservative Party’s position on the council tax freeze, but it is important that, at a time when family and household budgets are so pressed, we do everything in our powers to support people, and that is what we are doing. I am pleased that we have Labour’s support.

It is important to recognise the appropriate negotiating forums. The Scottish Government frequently meets COSLA to continue to consider what more we can do to support it in finding a resolution to the dispute, which no one wants to continue. Obviously, it is important that we respect the trade unions’ right to withhold their labour—that is absolutely a right, which the Government supports—but we cannot overstate the impact of the closures on the children affected and their parents.

Negotiations on local government pay are rightly between the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, which is the representative of the employer, local government and the trade unions that represent the workforce. As recently as last week, COSLA re-emphasised the importance of the Scottish Government respecting that negotiating arrangement.

We have worked constructively with COSLA to find a solution, provided £155 million at stage 3 of the budget to support a meaningful pay offer, and provided funding assurances for 2024-25. We have also worked with COSLA to identify an additional £80 million for the improved offer of 21 September, which was accepted by two of the three local government unions.

That is one of the interesting aspects of Unison’s ask. One of the challenges that COSLA is reflecting to us is that, although two trade unions have accepted the offer, it is not 100 per cent sure what the ask of Unison is. There is talk about the rate of £15 an hour. The Scottish Government and COSLA are certainly keen to look at language that might help. If that is what it takes to get a settlement that prevents more disruption of our children’s education, we should definitely sit round a table and discuss that.

Work is on-going across the Scottish Government on a much wider approach. It is important for the discussion of £15 an hour for local government workers to be part of that. We are agreeing to look at that, but it is clear that Unison is looking for something more.