  The Sun shows a global magnetic field cycle traditionally best visible in the
photosphere as a changing sunspot cycle featuring roughly an 11 year period. In
addition we know that our host star also harbours small-scale magnetic fields
often seen as strong concentrations of magnetic flux reaching kG field
strengths. These features are situated in inter-granular lanes where they show
up bright as so-called magnetic bright points (MBPs). In this short paper we
wish to analyse a homogenous nearly 10 year long synoptic Hinode image data set
recorded from November 2006 up to February 2016 in the G-band to inspect the
relationship between the number of MBPs at the solar disc centre and the
relative sunspot number.
  Our findings suggest that indeed the number of MBPs at the solar disc centre
is correlated to the relative sunspot number, but with the particular feature
of showing two different temporal shifts between the decreasing phase of cycle
23 including the minimum and the increasing phase of cycle 24 including the
maximum. While the former is shifted by about 22 months the later is only
shifted by less than 12 months. Moreover, we introduce and discuss an
analytical model to predict the number of MBPs at the solar disc centre purely
depending on the evolution of the relative sunspot number as well as the
temporal change of the relative sunspot number and two background parameters
describing a possibly acting surface dynamo as well as the strength of the
magnetic field diffusion. Finally, we are able to confirm the plausibility of
the temporal shifts by a simplistic random walk model.
  The main conclusion to be drawn from this work is that the injection of
magnetic flux, coming from active regions as represented by sunspots, happens
on faster time scales than the removal of small-scale magnetic flux elements
later on.
