I am obviously not going to make that concession. As I said in my initial remarks and in my dealings with local authorities and other bodies throughout Scotland, I accept that there are political differences on welfare reform and that we will not necessarily agree on certain aspects of policy. Those policies have been debated at length in the Westminster Parliament and this Parliament, and your committee has engaged in the activities that you set out.
There are specific issues on a number of matters. We have demonstrated that we have listened on issues that the committee has raised. In some of the informal discussions, for example, digital access to benefit claims was raised. The Government took the view that it would not require everybody to access the system digitally, as those people who do not have access to broadband do not have the services.
Concerns were raised that, if direct payments were made to the most vulnerable people in society, people would not pay their landlords, and the landlords and tenants would run into difficulties. We then announced that the most vulnerable people—those who have drug and alcohol issues, for example—will not be part of the direct payments system.
We also considered rurality, which a number of housing associations and local authorities raised with the committee, and introduced measures under the direct housing payments system to deal with that issue, accepting that, in large rural areas, people could not move as easily as in other areas. We put in place a bid-funding mechanism for additional DHP, to which a number of councils applied.
Those were positive responses to issues that were raised. I do not dispute that there are legitimate issues to be raised and that it is appropriate to have a dialogue about them, but we will not agree on the fundamental policy positions.