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I have a brief question, cabinet secretary. Mr Balfour mentioned the Scottish Fiscal Commission, which gave evidence to the committee not long ago. I asked it what forecasting work it might do on suggested changes at UK level in relation to reserved benefits or, indeed, to benefits with a devolved aspect that would have Barnett consequentials if changes were made at UK level. The SFC said that it is very much tasked with forecasting with regard to the policy decisions of the Scottish Government.

However, you said earlier that the SFC also looks at what is happening across the UK and the potential impact on Scotland, although it looks only at what has been decided at a UK level, not at what has been mooted by the UK Government. Should the SFC’s role be expanded for the purposes of preparedness, if you like, so that, if the UK Government implements one of its mooted cuts to UK welfare benefits, whether reserved or devolved, the Scottish Government will have at its disposal relatively quickly facts, figures and statistics on what the impact on Scotland might be? That would help it to decide what actions and policy decisions it might take.

That is helpful. Thank you.

I have the reassurances that I need. The minister has nudged on to other areas, but I have no further questions.

Minister, with the question that I will ask, I do not seek to undermine support for the scheme; I just want to make sure that we are getting the best value for money in relation to it.

My understanding is that the reimbursement rate, which is capped for older persons but not for younger persons, is based on a percentage of the average daily single ticket fare. Over the course of a year, bus companies will increase that fare, so the amount that is reimbursed to them will increase during the year. How is that taken into account—your officials might have the detail on this—in the modelling work to set the reimbursement rate and the cap in the first place? There could be an incentive for bus companies to price gouge—although I am not saying that they are doing that—in order to increase their overall take within the scheme over the course of an individual year.

I do not want to get into the weeds of the detail, but that is positive and reassuring.

My final question is for the minister. Part of the modelling work predicts what price increases could look like in the commercial market in the year ahead. There is a relationship between that and the money—the best part of £450 million a year—that goes to commercial operators through the two concessionary schemes. We are getting quite close to a mechanism whereby we could price cap bus services across the board. Have you considered that, or could it be considered for the future?

That may or may not be a wee bit different from the 60,000 instances of fly-tipping, but I would like a bit more information about the scale of what you are talking about.

My question is inspired by Mark Ruskell’s line of questioning. It is slightly different, but it is about getting SEPA’s reflections on a recurring situation in my constituency, on which SEPA has been proactive, I must say. Late last year, SEPA, Police Scotland and the fire service and I had a meeting about Promat, which is a former industrial site in the Springburn part of my constituency. It is a huge derelict site, it is incredibly difficult to secure its perimeter, and there is a dangerous building. I am convinced that criminal elements are fly-tipping there—I am talking about not occasional fly-tipping, but industrial-scale fly-tipping, if you like. Goodness knows what is in there. Tonnes of stuff appears there from time to time.

In the summer months, young people breach the perimeter, go in and have fun. Mr Ruskell talked about fires, and fires tend to happen there, too. The fire service does not know what is in there and SEPA has deep concerns. However, it is a constant war of attrition and I am sure that there will be additional issues when the summer months come again.

I genuinely think that Police Scotland, SEPA, the local authority and the fire service are all doing what they can with their existing powers. Regarding the responsibilities of the site owners, I make no judgment about the work that they are or are not doing because that is not the reason for my question. I suspect that Promat is not the only site in Scotland where such things keep happening. Does SEPA have a view about how all public agencies can work more effectively to tackle such hazards? I do not expect you to comment on the Promat site in my constituency, but is there a more general gap in legislation, monitoring and enforcement, and if so, what is it, and how could we plug it?

I apologise for cutting in and really do not mean to be discourteous, but I am not talking about a man with a van dumping a few mattresses; I am talking about organised, high-volume, industrial quantities of waste.

Forgetting about the concessionary schemes, I am merely pointing out that, if we predict that bus fares could increase by as much as 5 per cent, there is a relationship between that, the reimbursement rate and the capping in the concessionary schemes. What will reimbursement look like if we get into mechanisms to control bus fares in Scotland—for example, if we say that the most that any bus ticket may be increased by is 2 per cent? There would then be a cap in Scotland and a knock-on effect on the concessionary travel schemes. I am not saying that that is the mechanism that you would use to do it. The point that I am making is that there are levers that could be used to bring in price capping in the bus sector. Has the Government looked at anything in relation to that more generally?

I will be ever so brief. In speaking in support of the affirmative instrument, I must commend Kevin Stewart and Douglas Lumsden for pushing for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to be part of the flat fares pilot. Their cases are almost as compelling as that for the north Glasgow and Maryhill Road corridor, where, with the fare capping that will be essential for my constituents, we could have excellent integration between buses and the rail network in that area, and we could work out the relationship between both. Notwithstanding that, though, I completely support the affirmative instrument that we are debating.