Professor John McHale:

The Chair has asked some big and important questions. Until now, the council's analysis has focused on the near and medium terms. We recently started a new work programme. A new member of staff has joined us to work on a long-term issue. This is our major project for the summer. When we come back to this forum after we bring out our next report - we hope the joint committee will invite us again - we will be in a position to set out the results of that longer-term analysis. That will give us a good sense of what the longer-term fiscal pressures are. Longer-term issues such as energy sustainability really go beyond our mandate. While we have views on these issues, we are not really experts on them. The Deputy would be better off asking people who have significant expertise in those areas to comment on them. We are beginning a major project on the fiscal side and we will be able to comment on that in the context of the next report.