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I have been listening with interest to the answers that have been given thus far, but I do not believe that it is fair to ask council tax payers to plug gaps in local authority budgets, especially at a time when the level of public services is decreasing. Council tax payers are experiencing a lot of cuts in their communities, which is causing a lot of unrest. I will come on to a question about that in a second.

We have also heard a lot about the discussions between COSLA and the Scottish Government. I am pleased to hear that those discussions are progressing. However, councils will have to grapple with two issues over the next few months as they prepare their budgets—how they can meet workers’ pay demands and how they can address the dissatisfaction that exists with council services. At a previous committee meeting, Unison said that the growing dissatisfaction was “dangerous”.

I would be interested to hear the witnesses’ views on the situation in the round, given that there is a reduced level of trust in local government and that the number of complaints about council services has increased by more than 21 per cent in the past year.

I hear the point that the cabinet secretary is making, but it is important to say that, if points of principle are not set out and the Government does not clearly set out its intentions—bearing in mind that it has taken nearly two decades for the Scottish Government to get to a point at which it is conducting another consultation on council tax—we could end up in a situation in which a consultation is had but members in the next session of Parliament do not agree and the conversation stops again. Does the cabinet secretary agree that there is a risk of that, given—

Thank you, convener. We have discussed lobbying the Scottish and UK Governments. Given that council tax revenue makes up roughly 15 to 20 per cent of councils’ overall budgets, do our witnesses believe that this year’s budget could result in another reduction in services? Is it possible that, rather than growing provision in areas of need, there might be a reduction in statutory services? I am thinking about areas such as education, social care and environmental services, which are areas in which people see the impact of direct cuts on their communities.

When it comes to council tax reform, I am interested to hear whether the cabinet secretary believes that, as a point of principle, households on council tax bands E and upwards should pay more in council tax.

Thank you, convener. Good morning, cabinet secretary and officials. I am interested to hear the cabinet secretary’s view on local authorities being able to increase council tax next year as they see fit.

Last year, in the 2025-26 financial year, we saw Falkirk Council increase its council tax by 15.6 per cent. I am increasingly concerned that if councils follow in that same mind this year, it will have consequences for council tax payers—individuals and families who might be struggling to meet those increased costs.

My question is not for this panel—apologies.

I thank the cabinet secretary for her answer, but I hope that she also understands the huge pressure on core budgets. There are areas in which there has been no ring fencing and there are services that have not been protected effectively by the ring fencing of Scottish Government funding. Those are the areas in which there are decreases and cuts to services.

I turn to the issues that councils will be grappling with. We have heard in our evidence sessions that local government is required to meet the pay demands of workers. Heading into budgets, discussions will be on-going on that and also on the growing dissatisfaction with council services. You will have heard Unison’s evidence, which claimed that that was “dangerous”. There is a reduced level of trust in local government, and the number of complaints about council services has increased by 21 per cent over the past year.

I am interested in hearing the cabinet secretary’s view on how she will assist local government with those situations, to find solutions to the issues and to ensure that we do not go into local government budget setting with communities put against councils that are just trying to tackle the financial pressures that they experience in their own local authority areas?

Good morning. Before I move on to my questions regarding single building assessments, how many buildings could be contained in a single building assessment? That is important for transparency and making sure that we have the full picture.

I will pick up Evelyn Tweed’s initial line of questioning on the affordable homes target. The funding for that was reduced in previous years and although its level has now been reinstated, that is still a real-terms cut. I am looking for reassurance from you, cabinet secretary, that that will not happen in future years in order to give certainty to the market, particularly when you are trying to meet affordable house building targets.

I understand. The issue is about having certainty of funding, and I appreciate that you have talked about providing multiyear funding.

It has taken 18 years for the Government to elevate housing to a cabinet secretary post. We have got there—I am pleased that we have done so—but it should not have taken that long.

You mentioned investing up to £4.9 billion over the next four years. I refer to the report by CIH Scotland, Shelter Scotland and the SFHA, which says that you will need almost to double that amount—I think that you will need £8.2 billion as opposed to £4.9 billion—to invest in housing and to build the number of homes that are required in order to tackle the housing emergency overall.

Will the cabinet secretary review the target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 and update it to the 15,000 homes that is said will be needed each year? Are you looking into that? What is your response to the calls to double the investment from other housing spokespeople and charitable organisations?