Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Official Report 560KB pdf

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Budget Strategy Phase

Item 4 is consideration of a response to the Finance Committee on the budget strategy phase. A paper on the matter has been circulated to members. The convener of the Finance Committee has written to all the subject committees to ask us to specify areas that should be priorities for an update from the Scottish Government on its progress in delivering on the 2011 spending review. Members will see attached to the paper a list of priorities in relation to economic recovery and the Government’s economic strategy, about which we may want updates. What do members view as the principal issues? It goes without saying that people will say that they want reports on everything, but if everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. It would be helpful if we could focus on two or three particular issues.

The paper’s annex B lists “Priorities in relation to economic recovery”, under which the priority of “Access to finance” for small businesses is of interest. Under the heading “Priorities in relation to the Government Economic Strategy”, a table lists initiatives and I suppose that the second one,

“Providing advice and support to help SMEs grow”,

falls within the same category.

At the top of page 7 of the paper, the table has a column headed “Maintaining and further developing a supporting business environment”. In view of the amount of money that we are spending on VisitScotland, I suggest that that category be looked at. Under the column heading “Focusing on infrastructure development and place”, we should look at the priority

“Develop a coherent approach to assisting our cities and city regions in being the engines of growth for the Scottish economy.”

Thank you.

We should also look at skills, which the paper mentions. We need more information about what is happening in that regard, given that we identified skills gaps during our renewable energy inquiry. We need to know what is being done to fill those gaps. In addition, when we took our budget evidence, we heard about the loss of jobs in the public sector not being compensated for by the creation of jobs in the private sector with capital funding. Perhaps we can also look for more information on that.

I support Chic Brodie’s call for helping and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises. Page 6 of annex B also refers to

“Maximising the public sector’s direct contribution ... through smart use of public procurement”

and helping

“SMEs compete effectively for contracts.”

The table on page 7 has the column heading “Transition to a Low Carbon Economy”, and I favour the contents of that column. I also agree with the portfolio priority in the table at the bottom of page 7 that states:

“Capitalise on existing competitive advantage in renewables to attract investment and establish a strong supply chain.”

I also agree with the portfolio priority in the table on page 8

“Deliver 25,000 Modern Apprenticeship opportunities”

and the priority in that table to continue investment in home insulation. Those are the areas that I want to highlight.

I reinforce what Chic Brodie said about access to finance for SMEs and what Alison Johnstone said about our competitive advantage in renewables.

Okay. It sounds as though we have a reasonable spread that is not too long a list. Some of it overlaps quite nicely. That probably gives us enough for our response to the Finance Committee. Thank you for that.