Members will know that, earlier this week, the Finance and Public Administration Committee announced its latest inquiry, to investigate the Scottish Government’s fiscal strategy and its approach to taxation and the use of capital for innovation and growth, and to analyse what progress has been made in public sector reform, all of which are important when it comes to the debate about investing in our public services.

The demand for that committee inquiry has come about partly because of on-going concerns that the Scottish Fiscal Commission has raised when presenting its objective data on the current state of public finances, partly because of concerns from Audit Scotland about the lack of effective leadership in some aspects of Scottish Government policy, and partly because of the committee’s concerns about the lack of transparency that, too often, clouds the decision-making process here in Holyrood. All of that is set against the current UK economy, where there have been major issues resulting from high inflation, high interest rates and high mortgage rates.

There is an important and, indeed, urgent need to consider how we stimulate investment and, therefore, better protection for our public services. Ask many people across the economy and they will say that they want economic stability, prudent fiscal management, lower taxation and closer alignment of Scottish taxation with UK taxation, well-maintained infrastructure, fewer barriers to trade and a strong emphasis on training and skills. The huge issue for the Scottish Government, however, is that, despite its higher tax rates—and not just for those in higher-income groups—the public is not seeing any improvement in their public services. In other words, they are paying more and getting less. That is an uncomfortable fact—