Chamber and committees

Stakeholder groups such as the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations have, on several occasions in public, referenced their meetings with the UK Government—as the minister did during the debate on 22 March—and said that there has been seriously good engagement and that, far from breaking promises, they are working well together to ensure much greater economic growth.

The second reason relates to the current economic forecasts for Scotland, which, by whatever measures are used, are extremely gloomy, particularly in terms of weaker economic growth, weaker productivity and weaker trends in the job market. We know that all that has led to weaker income tax revenues, which in turn demonstrates some of the frailties in the Scottish economy. That issue is very much a focus of the Finance and Public Administration Committee’s current deliberations. It also demonstrates that, as has been the case throughout the pandemic, Scotland benefits hugely from being an integral part of the UK. No doubt, that is why there are so few dissenting voices.

Will the member give way on that point?

I reiterate the belief among those on the Conservative side of the chamber that, in the post-Brexit era, the UK Government must make every effort to ensure that there is no loss of equivalent funding to the devolved nations in terms of the money that we would have had available had the UK still been part of the EU. Whether it is provided via the community renewal fund, the levelling up fund or the shared prosperity fund, it is absolutely vital that there is at least equivalent funding to address the loss of EU structural funds. In other words, to adopt one of the principles of the Smith commission, there must be no detriment.

However, I stress once again, as I did in the previous debate on exactly the same issue, that three things matter in the whole debate. Those are, first, the very best interests of Scotland, especially in terms of improving our economic performance; secondly, that our local authorities, which have, for a long time, been asking for more autonomy, should feel empowered; and thirdly, that there is a joined-up approach between Westminster, the Scottish Government and local authorities. I will dwell on each of those for a minute.

In recent weeks, this Parliament has had two debates on the cost of living crisis, and quite rightly so. In both debates, the Scottish National Party set out its very strong criticism of UK Government economic policy. It claimed that the policy direction was all wrong as it ignored the plight of the poorest in society and was failing to address the concerns of Scotland’s communities where there is low economic growth and investment and fewer opportunities in the job market.

What I do not understand, therefore, is why the SNP is continuing to moan about the shared prosperity fund when it is designed to do just that—namely, to address the economic imbalance and income gap.

I am afraid that that is not what is coming across from the SNP just now. What is coming across is the allegation that UK Government’s economic policy is all in the wrong direction, but the shared prosperity fund is addressing many of the exact issues that the SNP has been complaining about.

On the second point, we know that there are many inside local government—I just quoted one when I intervened on the cabinet secretary—who have felt heavily constrained not only by the weaknesses in their local government financial settlements, which have, year on year, handed down real-term cuts, but by the lack of autonomy that they have had to endure. Again, the shared prosperity fund is designed to provide greater autonomy to local communities—

On exactly that point, the roles of the two committees are different. You are absolutely right that the committee that investigated the issues surrounding the extensive problems before the 2021 election had a specific role. We have a different role, which is about how public administration is made accountable. For the committee to scrutinise ministers such as yourself, it would have been useful for us to hear from the horse’s mouth, as it were, exactly what some of the perceived challenges were. That is nothing to do with the events and what went on, which was for the other committee to question. Rather, it is about what structures could be improved. Do you accept that that issue has been difficult for us, as we have not been able to hear the evidence on that?

The Deputy First Minister will be aware of the fact that the committee requested the presence of the former permanent secretary and was very disappointed that that request was declined. I know that the Deputy First Minister cannot comment on the specifics of that, but it has raised two issues for the committee.

First, this Parliament has, as yet, not been able to scrutinise the previous permanent secretary about the issues that he felt had caused difficulties in the administration process. Secondly, it raised a concern about the accountability of the permanent secretary, whomever he or she may be, to not only the Scottish Government but to Parliament.

I raise those points because they are extremely important in the context of public scrutiny. We wanted answers to specific questions that were nothing to do with the events of the difficult trials that had taken place but were about what procedures might be organised better. However, we have not been able to question and get that evidence from that person, who was right on the front line.

Do you accept that that is a problem for the committee? How do you think a permanent secretary should be accountable to Parliament?

Thank you for that, but I just make the point that the scrutiny is the important thing. That is what this committee’s role is about, I think.

Thank you. That is helpful, but I still think that there are two issues. You are quite right that the first of those is what will happen with accountability and ensuring that the process is as strong as it possibly can be. The previous permanent secretary was very much involved at the time when there were obviously serious issues, so given her non-appearance before the committee, the committee’s problem is that we have not been able to get some of that feedback, so it is much more difficult for us to scrutinise what the best way forward should be and to ask ministers about that.

You are absolutely right that you have been up front about what is happening. However, do you accept that our work has been slightly compromised by the fact that it has been difficult for us to find out in a public committee session exactly what went on in the processes and how they could have been run better?

To ask the First Minister whether she can provide an update on the Scottish Government’s strategy to include libraries in the policy to address the attainment gap. (S6F-00989)

The First Minister set great store by the national strategy for school libraries, which was launched in 2018. However, the Scottish Library and Information Council and the Scottish Parliament information centre have told me that the advisory group met on four occasions in 2018 but there are no records of any recent meetings and no updates on progress made—particularly regarding how effectively the school library fund is being spent. I am also told that a large number of primary schools remain without a library or—just as important—without a librarian.

The strategy was supposed to be a key component in schools addressing the attainment gap, but we know that the curriculum for excellence achievement levels in primary 1 to primary 7 literacy declined between 2018 and 2021. Why has there been no formal parliamentary update on the strategy, and why are primary school literacy levels going backwards, not forwards?