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I have one final question. I know that others are keen to come in.

There are claims that this money is simply being used to patch up budget holes elsewhere. Can you guarantee that that is not happening?

If you had your time again, or if exactly the same circumstances happened again, would you commission a fully independent report rather than an internal one that was externally verified? Would you do it differently?

Fiona, I have a problem. Claire Burns’s description matches what I witness in my constituency case work. Just as she has described, I have come across several examples of families and individuals in crisis and social workers who are on their knees and cannot cope. The question has been put to you and you have spoken in high-level, vague terms about substantial progress and fantastic work, all while there is a fire in the basement. I have a problem with that. Are you really speaking as clearly as you should be about the crisis in the system?

Okay.

There is not a long-term commitment to the funding; it is limited. Does that mean that you still have the same problem of people not wanting to take up a position because the money is not there for the long term?

No, I understand.

It is additional to the reduced service, but not additional to what was there before.

I get all that, but that does not explain the variation.

But we then get a briefing that says that there has been “fantastic work” and “substantial progress”.

There is a disconnect. When I met the care-experienced young people who came into the Parliament a few months ago, they were incandescent with rage. They thought that what was being said was all mumbo-jumbo and did not mean anything and that nothing was really changing, because their experiences were just the same as they were before. They felt let down and betrayed. However, the briefing that you have provided says that there has been “fantastic work” and “substantial progress”. That is a different world from what those people are experiencing.

We can take the whole family wellbeing fund as an example. Yes, £500 million is there, but it has been delayed—the money has not been able to get out the door. Why is that? Why has there not been a peep from you this morning about why the money has been delayed and why local authorities are not spending the money? Why have you not said, “This is what we’ve found, and we’re calling it out”? Why has there been nothing about that?