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I much prefer an honest answer. I only raise it because some police officers who knew of your appearance here this morning approached me and said that they are concerned that it breaches their human right to privacy and interaction, and so on. That is why I mentioned it.

Okay. We are short on time, so I have a brief question for Mr Rennick—we are not letting you get away lightly this morning. There was some criticism in the report, particularly of the Scottish Government, on the lack of a—let me get the terminology right—medium-term financial framework. That goes back to another question that was raised in the previous evidence session about single-year capital budgets. An organisation that has a capital backlog of more than £230 million and a further need for £500 million over the next 10 years for capital alone cannot operate in an environment of single-year budgets. Will the Scottish Government consider that issue in the next session of the Parliament? Would you consider three to five-year budgets for policing?

Could you give an example to elaborate on that?

I am glad that you mentioned that. As we are all aware, and as numerous committees of the Parliament have identified, the mortality rate associated with Scotland’s issue with drugs is still unacceptably high. Arguably, that is a public health issue, but behind all that is a criminal issue of supply that meets demand. Major, serious organised criminal gangs are still operating in Scotland. There are production facilities in Scotland, and there is importation across the border from England and from overseas. It feels like the situation is getting worse, not better. The truth of that resonates in the number of people who are still dying on the streets of Scotland, particularly from synthetic drugs. I appreciate that Police Scotland will say that it takes the issue very seriously and is pumping a lot of resource into it, but the statistics speak for themselves. Again, can you give the public some comfort that Police Scotland is addressing the issue?

Have any officers refused to carry it?

What is your current attrition rate? What is the average age of a police officer in Scotland and at what age do you start to lose people? We have kept a watching eye on that over the years and there is a feeling that we are losing many new recruits, who go through training, join the force and find it incredibly difficult, stressful or not rewarding for all the reasons that you mentioned. They might have to sit in an accident and emergency department for seven hours or deal with someone in their home who is having a mental health crisis, or they are abused or attacked. Surely that is not what people signed up to do in their careers with Police Scotland. I am keen to get some statistical information on whether the picture is getting better or worse.

It is interesting that the report identifies the arbitrary figure of 16,500, which is, in essence, a finance-based target. The report said—I am paraphrasing—that there was no evidence that 16,500 officers was the right number to deliver effective policing for the future. I understand that, on top of that 16,500, you have identified a need for a further 850 officers over the next two years and a further 350 staff—that is 1,200 more, in addition to the 16,500. However, there has been commentary to the effect that there is a lack of evidence that 16,500 is the right number.

How can you be in a position to ask your colleague who is sitting next to you for more money and more resource budget for more people when you do not even know whether that is the number of people that you will need?

Are you comfortable that the Government has responded accordingly and given you adequate resources to deal with that issue?

You will be aware of the number of high-profile cases of knife crime in our cities, which often involve groups of young men. A lot of casework is coming through in relation to that issue. People are genuinely concerned about and afraid of what seems to be a perceived, if not a statistical, increase in knife crime in some town centres. I thought that we as a country had dealt with that issue many years ago, but there seems to have been an increase in gang activity, which puts the public at risk. We are not talking about the typical late Saturday nights here—such activity is taking place in the middle of the day on a weekday. Is that an area of concern for Police Scotland? What is being done about it?

I think that you see my point. The flares are getting into the stadium in people’s pockets, down their socks or in other ways, so there is still an issue. The police now have additional powers that they did not have a couple of years ago, so officers on the ground outside the stadium before the match have additional powers to prevent flares from getting in in the first place, but they are still getting in, so there is a problem.