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That leads me to my next comment, which is about local government. You have mentioned this a couple of times but, in your previous appearance here, you noted that the Scottish Government is keen to codify the local government fiscal framework. You mentioned some of the considerations, such as transparency. I want to check where you are with that codification.

I have a question about trading standards and public administration. We have ended up getting quite embroiled in talking about public sector head count and accountability, but one benefit—as I have talked about in earlier commentary—stems from having shared services. We know that the trading standards service in Scotland is at quite a critical juncture. The service is administered through all 32 local authorities, which has led to it becoming very fragmented. It is an example of a service that might be more efficient and more effective, from a provisioning of service point of view, if another model were created.

Once we get past the public sector focus on the civil service, will that sort of issue be looked at sympathetically? I think that the intention of leaving the service to local authorities was probably a good one, but it is no longer functioning as it should, because it is so disparate and fragmented.

I have a teeny last question. Last week, I had quite an interesting exchange in the chamber with Angus Robertson, the culture secretary. I was asking a question about the assessment of the fiscal sustainability of our performing arts companies. We had a good discussion about how important they are, what value they add, and so on.

It appears that there is some differentiation between the performing arts companies in relation to how focused they are on their fiscal sustainability and understanding the gross value added that they bring into the wider community. It is too late for this budget cycle, but that made me think about how consciously we look at those organisations from a fiscal and financial perspective, rather than just saying nice things about them because they do nice things for our community. The culture secretary was very open to that point. There is a bit of a silo because they go through culture, and nobody looks at them. Those organisations have to be sustainable, and they are very grateful for the support that they get from Government, but do you have any reflections on how actively that scrutiny goes on in the Scottish Government?

Yes. Can you walk us through how that is working?

In Grangemouth specifically. Grangemouth is part of my constituency.

Okay. Can you outline how your approach to the assigning of the Scottish Government moneys differs from how you understand that the UK Government will eventually—obviously, this has not happened yet—assign any of the £200 million?

That is what I thought, and I am glad to get that on the record.

We know that, in some of the industries that we are talking about, the amount of risk is heightened, particularly when they are involved in innovative work. To go back to an earlier question from the convener, do you have a different set point with regard to the risk that you are prepared to take with projects that involve higher innovation, or does the level of risk need to conform to the average risk profile across all your sectors?

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. Arguably, my questions follow on from those of Kevin Stewart. I want to explore and to get a general understanding of—for my benefit and, I suspect, for that of businesses and some members of the public—how the triage process is working for the Grangemouth cluster post the closure of the refinery and the Scottish Government’s announcement about the provision of £25 million. We will also discuss the £200 million from the United Kingdom Government.

The reason I ask is that I have fairly regular meetings with a range of businesses that approach me. Sometimes they do so as a courtesy to indicate that they are interested, but sometimes they express to me that they are uncertain as to what the right criteria are. I would like to obtain an understanding of how that process is working. In your response, could you also explain your thinking on how you are developing an ecosystem and an infrastructure that will be sustainable for the future? That is a big question.

In some respects, you have made a similar point to the one that I would make. I totally understand what you have outlined—that is exactly what I had envisaged—but the fact that we cannot share such information is a challenge, because it means that companies that have made an application are uncertain. Even though they might present with a viable proposition that has the potential to get through the checkpoint by offering sustainability and delivering jobs at pace, which is obviously a consideration, a common theme that I hear is that although they might think that their proposition is a great idea, they are uncertain. I explain to them, “There’s a lot going on in the background—it’s a constant juggling act.”

Do you have issues with capacity, given the volume of interest? Is that part of the reason for the uncertainty that exists, as well as your having to be coy because of commercial sensitivity? How is your capacity?

Thank you.