Chamber and committees

You have described some good initiatives, but I am less clear about the extent to which ensuring that women and girls are, from now on, at the heart of a just transition is a fundamental SDS policy, which is slightly different to just having good stuff going on. Is that at the heart of the just transition?

Thank you for that. I want to pick up on what Ronnie Palin said about the skills perspective. I know that a lot of work is going on to make sure that girls in particular can participate. Surely part of the just transition has to be that more than half the population has skin in the game. How do you ensure that women and girls are at the just transition party? What is the latest position on your active development of that?

I strongly agree. Perhaps that is where allowing for flexibility in the planning system, as outlined by my colleague Fiona Hyslop, becomes increasingly important. Town centres must be community hubs that allow for a variety of activity.

Even now, economic activity in town centres is more broadly based than many people realise. I can go to town centres in my constituency and find retail shops—of course—but I can also find professional services such as accountants, pubs, entertainment venues, community playgroups, cultural centres, coffee shops, and many other types of SME. Sometimes, however, the challenge is that those different activities interact with different support funding opportunities, different regulatory controls and so on, which means that a town centre can find itself amidst a complex web of policy and funding support streams. That is part of the challenge in moving things on.

An added dimension to that complexity is that the situation is not the same everywhere. The committee has pointed out the different remits and sometimes very different delivery focus of the three enterprise agencies that together span Scotland. It worries me that there is a gap in the place-based support that is available for towns and communities that are not covered by either Highlands and Islands Enterprise or South of Scotland Enterprise. I know that the Scottish Government has been asked by the committee to respond to that concern; I, for one, hope that it will do so before long. It cannot be justifiable that, in effect, some towns and communities have less ease of access to support funds than other towns and communities have.

Another issue that has been known about for years is the need to address the cost imbalance between out-of-town development and town centre regeneration. That has come up in the debate. We have to find creative ways to lower the barriers to town centre development. In my judgment, we will simply not be able to realise our aspirations to regenerate Scotland’s towns if we do not tackle the issue head-on and give it due importance in policy development.

The committee has further commented, including during the debate, on how current VAT rules add to the imbalance. They add to distortions in local economies and create disincentives—we have heard examples of that. The Scottish Government is asked to set out what discussions it has had to date with the UK Government on VAT, but I would go further. If it is possible to devise tax incentives to support free ports, which are much more controversial business places, then perhaps we can think more creatively about relieving some of the tax burdens on town centres. I venture to point out that if, say, a reduction in overall tax burden had the result of encouraging many more small start-up businesses in our town centres, the cost to the Exchequer would be minimal—or even better.

Although I have focused on economic and business issues, I end by joining my colleagues in recognising the quality-of-life benefits to be had from thriving town centres. They are of us and from us, and we will continue to be within them. They can bring real social and environmental improvements to town-centre communities, and that should be nurtured and treasured. After all, is it not the purpose of politicians to provide such improvements for the people we serve? I am sure that we all aim to do that.

I thank the clerks, the convener and the deputy convener for guiding our long and complex inquiry. I am pleased to speak in the debate as a member of the Economy and Fair Work Committee but I am also influenced by my other work, including my work as a member of the Finance and Public Administration Committee.

I will outline a few personal thoughts on why town centres and their regeneration are important. I guarantee that I will take less than the prescribed six minutes, Presiding Officer.

As an important yet often forgotten part of Scotland’s economy, town centres have an important role to play not only in local communities but in relation to sustainable economic growth. We sometimes forget that, among other things, they are powerful hubs of business activity, not least SME activity, which has a critical role to play in our national economy. If town centres contract, it is not only a tragedy for many communities but almost certainly has a negative impact on sustainable growth as well as a multitude of other areas such as culture and sense of place. Claire Baker, the committee convener, has already noted the range of areas that are affected.

Do you all feel, at this point—it is, obviously, very early days—that you have the right people contributing? Should anybody else be contributing? Do you think, “We really need to bring in this organisation or group to make sure that all their views are reflected.”? Have you been able to cover everything?

Tell me whether my assumption is correct. One of the concerns around freeports that are expressed generally is that they displace economic activity. From my point of view, the fact that so much in the bid is centred around Grangemouth means that that will not be the case, because a lot of the economic activity is already there. The bid is simply galvanising that and can only add to it.

Is everyone who needs to be involved involved at this point, given that it is early doors?

You have given me a lot of information. I know that other members want to come in, and I sense that Liz and perhaps Hisashi want to come in as well.

Thinking about the very important chemical cluster and SMEs around Grangemouth, how do we make this real for them? Part of the problem is that, although they are there, it might be difficult for them to get oven-ready, if you like, in order to be able to go on to procurement frameworks. It is about that linkage of working at both ends of the conundrum. The witnesses may want to pick up on some of the earlier themes, but I am interested in exploring that. Perhaps Liz wants to go first.

I want to ask about targeting young people. I appreciate that the Forth Ports bid is at its very early stages, but I am interested in knowing more about how you will be able to drive down—if, indeed, you intend to do that—to actively target young people in job creation, which is another issue that Grangemouth, as a centre, struggles with.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for attending.

We have already alighted on a theme—from the inside looking out, particularly with reference to Grangemouth town. The people who live there often refer to the economy as a “DIDO economy”—drive in, drive out. That is the feeling.

Stuart, you have already touched on some of the active consideration that you gave to your bid, and I want to put some meat on the bones of that. When do you think that Grangemouth, as a community, will start to see some of the activity that has meaning to people there? I suppose that that also links in with what Liz was saying about frameworks for SMEs. A considerable amount of work is needed to change what is a good, thrusting sentiment about that involvement into actual meaningful engagement. I would appreciate some meat on the bones of that.

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the final details of its proposed agriculture bill. (S6O-01900)