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What are your views on what councillors can, cannot and should not do in relation to lobbying in respect of planning applications? The guidance seems to be clear that a councillor must not divulge an opinion in advance, but in my experience as councillor, the advice from senior officials was often not to engage at all with the supporters or opposers of a planning application. I always felt that that restricted a councillor’s ability to look at all the information that was available to enable them to make a decision.

Do you have any views on whether that is still a grey area in the code? Are you clear about whether councillors can meet people who are proposing or opposing a planning application? It is still a little unclear to me.

How do we ensure that a councillor gets the fullest picture of something? When an application is made, there will be opinions on both sides. For me, the question is whether a councillor should disengage from the process for fear of being lobbied and possibly forming a view as a result, or should embrace the process and declare that they have done so in order to allow the public to see that an objective assessment is still possible.

Last week, we chatted to Colleges Scotland. One challenge that we as elected members face—I think that everybody faces it—is how to move young people into the world of work. Do we need to do more with employers to understand their needs? You will know that recruitment almost dried up during Covid and it is fair to say that it has not recovered yet. On the other hand, we are hearing about the number of vacancies right across various sectors in Scotland. Do we need to do more to understand employers’ needs and to promote those needs in the education setting to assist and encourage youngsters to make positive transitions into the world of work and beyond?

I want to kick off the discussion on a point that Stephen Boyle made. Clearly, despite the success that we have seen—[Inaudible.]—for those who get a community sentence, as you have said, the numbers of those who get a community sentence have basically flatlined for the past four or five years. What are the reasons behind that? What can we possibly do about it?

I will focus on the current impact of Covid on young people and will also invite you to look ahead to what the future might look like. Has Covid changed the way that we think about education and how we help young people to make successful transitions, either into the world of work or into further and higher education? I am thinking about digital technology, which largely came to the rescue for school pupils by allowing them to study remotely and from home.

Looking ahead, will the world look the same as it did before Covid? Do we provide youngsters with the right skills? Are we matching up those skills with what employers want? Is there a job of work to be done by the Government to help employers with the recruitment process? I would be obliged if you could give us a perspective on the impact that Covid has had and how things might change.

Thank you very much.

I lost a bit of the discussion earlier, so I apologise if I tread on old ground. There is a sense that our town centres, in particular, need to be much more than they are at present if we are to be successful in delivering a concept of place that includes sustainable community and safe and pleasant environments. What are the panel members’ views on that?

In a town such as Kilmarnock, which I represent, there are a number of properties—shops, pubs, buildings and pieces of land—that have, in effect, been abandoned by their owners. They are overgrown with weeds, have posters stuck to windows and stuff like that. In your view, does that issue play a part in the concept that we are trying to achieve? If it does, what can we do to overcome that problem? Does Craig McLaren or Tony Cain have a view on that aspect?

That is really encouraging to hear—thank you.

Convener, if there is a chance near the end, I would like to ask another couple of questions.

I have a question for Karen Watt. It is probably two years almost to the day since I asked you this same question about Ayrshire College and the recurring private finance initiative obligation of about £1.4 million each year that the college has hanging around its neck. Is there any possibility of a review of that situation so that Ayrshire College could perhaps enter a level playing field with all the other colleges, especially given the particularly difficult times that we are in post-Covid and post-Brexit?

It would be good to hear from Matt Crilly to begin with on the broader issue of the response to the pandemic. What was the student experience during the pandemic and now, particularly with remote learning and the digital side? Did that throw up more gaps in opportunity and access for students and lecturers alike? Could you give us a flavour of what the experience has been?