Chamber and committees

Yes—I will continue on the same theme. The financial press and so on certainly bemoan western democracies’ lack of productivity growth, so it would be useful if you can frame that for us a bit. Is improving productivity possible? Is it desirable? Does anyone know how to do it, because it seems like everybody is struggling? Is that really what we need to do in order to transform our economy and make it less unequal?

My next question is about tax powers that are devolved to the Scottish Government. I am interested in your thoughts on how those powers, as well as revenue raising by local authorities, can be used to close regional gaps, tackle inequality and improve productivity.

The Scottish Government has limited powers of taxation in its own right, but it could bequeath more powers to local authorities through a form of council tax, for example. There are other ideas, such as cruise ship levies, carbon land tax and so on. Are those useful tools for tackling regional inequality and improving productivity in the regions?

Thank you.

I have one quick supplementary question about an observed regional inequality, which not everyone will want to come in on. When I travelled to Orkney over the Easter recess, I passed through Thurso and then on to Kirkwall, and I saw the difference between Thurso, with its boarded-up shop fronts, and Kirkwall, with its thriving shops and so on. I asked one of the councillors in Kirkwall about that, and he said—again, this is an anecdote, but I would be interested to hear your thoughts on it—that, because such a large proportion of the economy in Orkney is in the public sector, including the council, people are able to maintain a higher quality of life than in Thurso, which has lacked similar investment. In short, for all that the public sector might be inefficient and lacking productivity, it is a tool that, anecdotally, I have seen can be used to manage regional inequality and regional economic success. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?

Thank you, minister, for joining us today. You are right that the new Government coming in is a nice reset.

I have a question about how Grangemouth fits into the wider energy strategy. The Scottish Government has a draft energy strategy, although it has been stalled for more than a year. The idea is that the strategy shows where our energy in Scotland will come from and how much energy demand there will be as we phase out and exit from North Sea gas and move to zero-carbon energy systems. For example, it shows why we do not need nuclear power in Scotland.

Grangemouth has been floated for all sorts of things, including carbon capture and storage—which is not a proven technology at scale—green hydrogen, blue hydrogen, biofuel for aviation and so on. How does that fit into the wider energy strategy? Is the UK Government developing an energy strategy along the lines of what the Scottish Government has done to chart the transition away from North Sea oil and gas and the importation of fossil fuels towards that zero-carbon future? How does Grangemouth fit into that?

There is always a concern that carbon capture, usage and storage—CCUS—does not work. It has not yet been proven to work at scale and it may not be a good investment as it is very expensive, and hydrogen may not live up to the potential that we think that it might have. Our worry would be that any investments in Grangemouth would therefore become white elephants and not be sustainable in the long term.

Can you give us a story about what the UK’s plan is for a wider energy strategy and how we fit into it?

You set out some political intentions as well as some good intentions around outcomes, but I have not heard about a strategic plan. We need to identify sites and infrastructure, such as at Grangemouth. We need to be looking to the future and saying which sites will need to transition and which sites will need to be closed down. An actual plan is needed, instead of setting out intentions and hoping that we will go in the right direction. Will the UK be creating an energy strategy? We are chasing the Scottish Government to get its strategy published.

Convener, if it is helpful, I would be happy to summarise the final page into just two questions.

I have a cheeky supplementary question to Murdo Fraser’s question. Mr Carlaw, we have been speaking about effectiveness. Some of the evidence that the committee has taken about commissioners such as the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner shows that they do a great deal of wonderful work but that nobody ever reads it—it does not get fed into Government mechanisms. In addition to the challenges that you have outlined with the advocacy commissioners, which my colleagues have asked you about, I am interested in your thoughts on that aspect. In other words, when commissioners, the SPCB or the wider public sector are doing excellent work, how effectively is that work fed into Government mechanisms?

Yes. I have one more thing to follow up on but will do so after you.

Brilliant.