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First, I very much recognise the role of universities. One of the committee’s recommendations was a fund to turbocharge the output from universities into enterprise. I am trying to remember its name. I think that, at one point, the committee called for £5 million in order to do that. I understand that work is on-going in the enterprise space to look at how that can be done and at how we can support our universities with better link-ups to enterprise and to the Scottish National Investment Bank, for example.

We should always keep the tuition fee payments under review to ensure that we are taking some of the headwinds into account. Some of the main ones that the sector has spoken to me about are the drop in international students, particularly from certain areas of the world. The number of international students that universities assumed would attend has fallen off a cliff, as they are no longer coming to Scotland. Some of the UK Government’s changes, such as students not being able to bring partners with them, have also had a major impact. Employer national insurance contributions is another issue that will have a major impact on universities.

I do not accept that there is nothing that the UK Government can do about, for example—

Yes, I can do that.

First, I put on record my apologies for being late and for keeping people waiting.

In line with the request from the FPA Committee, we provided comparative information in the budget document to show the latest approved budget position, which is the autumn budget revision. I am very happy to reflect on what more needs to be done.

There has been a recognition of the improvement in the position from last year, but there are still issues around in-year transfers. Some of that is quite difficult to resolve, because the issue will sit within a policy and the money will transfer in-year. We have baselined further funding, but if there are more improvements to be made, I am happy to work with the FPA Committee on what those should be.

You know my ambition on the fiscal framework. Previously, the scope for change was very limited, albeit that we got some adjustments. We absolutely want there to be a more ambitious review of the fiscal framework, but, despite our communication with the Treasury being better, I do not get the sense that it is keen to have a fundamental look at the framework. We will keep pursuing that issue as well as issues relating to migration policy and many of the other levers that will be really important to the Scottish economy, but that will require us to face in the same direction on those issues, and, so far, that has not been the case.

I have sympathy with the principle of the issue. We were concerned about the unintended consequences of crofts being captured, so it would need to be done carefully. The data issue remains problematic. I am happy to come back to you, Ross, with an update on where we have got to on that, if that would be helpful.

We are very conscious of that issue. The SFC analysis looked at some of that, but I suspect that it will do more. It looked at some behavioural changes, and we have been cognisant of that in relation to the Scottish child payment. We consider any research or evidence that suggests that there will be a cliff edge.

Bear in mind that the two-child cap is a penalty on families with more than two kids, which means that the universal credit system does not at the moment recognise the costs of children beyond two children. We believe that that is—

I take your point. On 4 December, alongside the budget, we published a memorandum detailing borrowing policy and guidelines, which includes an update on progress towards a future Scottish Government bond issuance. I recognise that, as you say, it is quite high level. The initial phase of due diligence has been completed and we need to take a number of things into consideration. For example, market conditions, which are very topical, must be taken into account, and a compelling value-for-money case must be made. The next stage of due diligence work will consider all of that in more detail.

I will update Parliament over the course of the financial year, but we will proceed with caution and take all the issues into account. The current circumstances are one of the issues that will be considered as part of that due diligence work.

Jennie, do you want to add anything?

Again, I can do so at a high level and perhaps come back with further evidence from social security colleagues. The social security system, which was supported by all parties, was designed to be fairer, easier to access and more humane. That has encouraged families to apply for child disability payment rather than discouraging them.

Another issue is relative levels of disability. I will correct this if I am wrong, but I think that there are slightly higher rates of disability in the population for various reasons—perhaps that applies more on the adult disability side.

The discussions are on-going and I have the next round of them on Thursday. I will be corrected if I am wrong, but I think that that will be the fourth engagement that we have had.

Some of the engagement, not just with parties but with stakeholders, was reflected in what was contained in the budget statement. There is always a balance to be struck between what you put in the budget statement and what might be held back because of the budget issues that you anticipate. We very much front loaded the budget statement with the key planks of our investment and priorities.

The discussions are very positive. I will not divulge the detail, but you will have heard Opposition politicians talk in the chamber about their priorities, so the areas on which they might want us to go a bit further will be no surprise. It is not about fundamental unpacking of and replacing the budget statement. The work is around the edges—for example, if there is a view that we need to go a bit further on something. Those are the types of discussions that we are having. They are very positive, which is a good thing. I have said from the start that I want to try to build the broadest support for the budget that I can. That would be a good thing in the current political climate.