To ask the Scottish Government how it is working with local authorities to deliver transformation programmes and accelerate any reforms needed to achieve financial sustainability and ensure that local services are fit for the future. (S6O-04877)

Alongside record funding, our public service reform strategy, which was published in June, sets out how we are working with local government on programmes such as whole-family support and fairer futures partnerships to accelerate change and deliver services that are preventative, better joined up and more efficient. By tackling systemic barriers and empowering local leadership, we will ensure that services remain sustainable and fit for the future.

Will the Minister provide reassurance that the Scottish Government will continue to work constructively with councils such as Fife Council, which serves my Constituency, to support innovation, protect front-line services and ensure that communities such as Kirkcaldy benefit from sustainable, modernised local services?

Yes, I can categorically offer that reassurance. Along with the record funding settlement and early and meaningful budget engagement, the Scottish Government will continue to work in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and individual local authorities such as Fife Council on how to ensure that we provide sustainable, people-centred services.

We will also continue to engage constructively with the United Kingdom Government to highlight the importance of sustainable public services to ensure that the people of Scotland continue to receive the high-quality public services that they expect and deserve.

The Minister will be aware that Scottish National Party-run Dumfries and Galloway Council has withdrawn some key subsidised bus services as a result of what it describes as “funding constraints”, following a widespread review of the region’s bus network. From Sanquhar to Langholm, that is causing huge difficulty and distress for residents, young and old. Will the Scottish Government, as it prepares its next budget, commit to a full and fair funding formula for Scotland’s rural councils, and ensure that it properly funds Scotland’s at-risk rural bus network?

Of course, those decisions are for local authorities, but it is worth pointing out that the Scottish Government is providing record funding to local government in the current financial year. Discussions are under way—indeed, my colleague the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government is undertaking budget discussions at the moment—to make sure that we continue to offer ever-increasing amounts of funding to local government. The funding formula is a matter for COSLA, which, in conjunction with local authorities, decides how best to allocate that funding across the country.

Is the Minister open to the offer that was made by the UK Government to work in collaboration to strengthen public procurement rules, guidance and legislation to ensure that local authorities and the Scottish Government can drive greater value from procurement into local supply chains and that we get better value in the Scottish economy as a result?

We are always in the business of looking for opportunities to further improve in that area. However, it is worth recognising that, when we look at the specifics of what the UK Government is offering, we see that it is trying to catch up with where the Scottish Government already is on procurement rules and practice. The data shows that 46 per cent of public procurement spend in Scotland is with small and medium sized enterprises; that compares to around 25 per cent of spend south of the border.

We have made significant progress in that area in Scotland, and we continue to make it. I met with the Federation of Small Businesses during the past couple of weeks to talk about what else we can do, but as I said, it is the case that the UK Government is running to catch up to where Scotland already is.