Economy and Fair Work Committee
Construction Materials Shortages Working Group
Letter from Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, 25 January 2022
Dear Claire,
Thank you for your letter of 9 December 2021 requesting an update on the Construction Materials Shortages Working Group and on the Supply Chain Resilience and Capability activities within the Construction Leadership Forum Recovery Plan. I would firstly like to apologise profusely for the delay in this response, due to internal administrative error.
I attach a paper summarising the key findings from the Materials Shortage Working Group’s work, which I set up to see what could be done to remove barriers and build capacity. Manufacturing companies in the construction sector’s supply chain had been impacted by global shortages of many key commodities at the same time as there was a spike in demand as businesses were in ‘catch-up’ mode following earlier COVID-19 restrictions. In addition, there was an overall increase in the amount of home improvement and home renovation works, further straining the supply chain.
In response, I called for Scottish manufacturers to come forward with proposals to increase capacity, and for our enterprise agencies to prioritise support for such efforts where possible. I also met with a range of organisations from across the supply chain to inform our efforts.
More widely, the Construction Leadership Forum is linking with our Supply Chains Development Programme (SCDP) to identify opportunities to strengthen domestic supply chains, improve resilience, support net zero ambitions and help grow the Scottish economy and last month published an update on progress on the Recovery Plan.
I hope the Committee find this information useful.
Yvan McKee
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