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Good morning. Ahead of the meeting, I received personal correspondence about public consultation, including from Islay community council, for example. It is fair to say that some of the community councils that were involved in the process do not feel that their views were taken on board by Boundaries Scotland, specifically around the reduction in the number of councillors. What views have you heard on that?

I want to follow the line of questioning that Willie Coffey has begun. As the cabinet secretary who is responsible for local government around the Cabinet table, is it your principle that, during this session of Parliament, local government will have more powers and not fewer, and that it will have more control over budgets, or are you willing to see that centralised to the Scottish Parliament?

I have a couple of questions relating to the emergency response to rough sleeping and homelessness during the pandemic, which we all welcomed. What consideration has the Scottish Government given to the proposals for legislative changes to improve homelessness prevention? Given what was set out in the final report of the homelessness prevention review group, what proposals might be introduced in this parliamentary session?

I think that we were all taken by your strongly worded statement on behalf of COSLA. I would like your views on whether integration of health and social care has worked and whether that is what is driving consideration of a move to a centralising approach. I will put to you the question that I put to the cabinet secretary: will local government have more or fewer powers and more or less control over budgets by the end of this parliamentary session?

Shelter Scotland has recommended a pledge on annual housing and social justice reporting. Is the Scottish Government looking at producing a report to Parliament, so that we are able to benchmark and see how progress on the building of social housing is being made across Scotland? If so, will the report be wider and include information on marginalised groups? Specifically, what assessments and benchmarking will the Government take forward and how can the committee play a role in that?

Good morning. I want to start by putting on record the committee’s thanks to councillors across Scotland for the additional work that they have done and the support that they have provided to their communities during the pandemic. It is important to recognise that.

As we look towards next year’s council elections, what additional things could the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliament do to help to encourage higher voter turnout and to encourage more people to take up the challenge of becoming a local councillor?

That was a very helpful answer.

I want to pursue the issue of remuneration for councillors. Some people might not want to discuss that issue, but since local government was reformed to create larger wards with three or four members, it has become a focus. I know from the information about age range that was gathered for the research that was published in 2018 that standing as a councillor has become something that people do in later life.

Do you have any views on support for councillors and the remuneration that they receive for the work that they do?

Thanks very much for those answers.

We know that, during the pandemic, more than 300,000 of our fellow Scots have become carers and have taken up a caring role. I want to touch on what Colin Toal said. Although I asked about young carers, there is a question about where people can access information about support. Do any of you have views on support that is available outwith the social security system, such as carers breaks and respite care? I know that those services have also been hit during the pandemic. What difference would that support make? I know that local carer centres in my region are doing different things to support people. What does the national mix of additional support that is available that you have seen during the pandemic look like?

Thank you—I appreciate that. A number of points were raised with the first panel about ensuring that respite care is fully returned, and about carers breaks, which I think attracted cross-party support when the initial Carers (Scotland) Bill went through Parliament. In fact, my colleague Nanette Milne lodged the amendment on carers breaks. Could you update the committee on the restoration of respite care, and on funding specifically available for carers breaks? That was something that I really took on board, and the first panel very much emphasised how desperately needed breaks are for carers across Scotland.

That is helpful. It would be useful for you to provide the committee with information on what independent evaluation—as opposed to internal evaluation—has taken place. If the cost is associated with evaluation by independent organisations, it would be useful for us to have that information.

What reporting duty is there—I did not see any attached to the bill—in relation to progress towards taking over and delivering other devolved benefits? Is that something that you would engage with committee members on?