Yes, that's a really important and interesting point, actually, about the independents being a very, very large group of individuals in terms of local government. So, it is more difficult, then, to have that kind of strategic approach that we, hopefully, will be taking within our parties about identifying and nurturing a more diverse group of people for the future. I'll certainly give some more consideration to that point about support for scrutiny in the sense of having access to advice and the range of support that they will need—that councillors will need—in terms of undertaking scrutiny effectively.

We are considering what further guidance might be necessary, but also that important point about whether mandatory training should be in place for councillors as well. I think, potentially, one of the areas of training that we should be looking at would be effective scrutiny as well. Because, when people first become a councillor, this is all new. You don’t know what questions to ask, necessarily, and you don’t know what the right avenues to go down are to get the answers that you need.

So, I think that we do need to be considering what further support might be necessary for scrutiny arrangements, and the point was very well made about it often being women who are doing the scrutiny work, which I think is important as well, when we think about having environments where people feel comfortable and able to undertake the role. So, I think that this session this afternoon has given me some good food for thought for some further things that we can be doing in this space.