Chamber and committees

I am going to ask a question about the retail workforce before I hand over to Fiona Hyslop. We heard from Close the Gap during a previous evidence session, and some questions were asked about the retail strategy and recognition of change in the workforce. The example that Close the Gap used was that there has been a reduction in front-of-shop work, which tends to be female dominated, and an increase in logistics—whether in warehouses or in other types of work—which tends to be male dominated and in which the jobs are better paid. As we see a shift in the workforce and retail is delivered in that new way, how can we ensure that the existing workforce, and women in particular, have opportunities? There is some concern that the retail strategy does not reflect those challenges.

I am sorry to interrupt, but the question was more about skills and the opportunities for skills training.

Before I bring in John Mason, I have a question on e-commerce. We had an evidence session on e-commerce and omnichannels, and Gillian Crawford was one of our witnesses. I think that she suggested that Scotland is underperforming when it comes to e-commerce businesses and that we do not collect statistics on it or invest in our workforce. She said:

“we know that if we do not have a thriving e-commerce sector in Scotland, that money will flow into the hubs in Manchester and London, where fantastic e-commerce businesses are being built around airports and transport links.”—[Official Report, Economy and Fair Work Committee, 4 May 2022; c9.]

I think that she was expressing the view that we are missing the boat on e-commerce and that we do not put enough investment into building e-commerce businesses. During that evidence session, we also heard about the digital boost programme. People welcomed that programme but felt that more resources could have been put into it. Michelle Thomson and I met representatives from a business last week that had developed a website, but they were not aware of the support that is offered through Business Gateway and the digital boost programme.

Therefore, there are two issues. One is about the digital boost programme and what kind of investment is going into that. There was a recognition that it was a good programme. Could it get some more investment? The second issue is about how we grow our e-commerce sector and recognise it as an important sector. We have heard suggestions that it is not valued enough in Scotland.

Colin Smyth is next.

The committee might return to that in the report. The issue was raised in evidence that we heard on one of our visits.

We took evidence from Culture Counts, which talked about more practical measures, such as a business rates scheme or giving access to properties for the cultural community or for artists to set up workshops or studios. A more sympathetic rates or financial regime to support that would be a helpful practical measure. The witness from Culture Counts gave an example of a town—Dunoon, I think—that had taken the role of artists to its heart and artists had successfully settled there. Some of that success was about having access to buildings and a sympathetic financial regime to support it.

Thank you very much for your evidence, minister. It has been helpful for our inquiry. I also thank Catherine Brown and David Cowan.

There are also some concerns about capacity. We heard about the shortage of planners and the pressure—which you will be well aware of—on planning departments and their capacity to pursue a lot of their ambitions for communities. The programmes are quite ambitious. You mentioned partnership; how can you ensure that there is enough capacity for partners to deliver?

Under our second item of business, we will continue our evidence gathering for our town centres and retail inquiry. I welcome our first panel. Derek Shaw is director of innovation and place at Scottish Enterprise; Douglas Cowan is director of communities and place at Highlands and Islands Enterprise,and Bryan McGrath is director of place and enterprise at South of Scotland Enterprise. As always, if members and witnesses could keep their questions and answers as concise as possible, that would be helpful.

I will start with a general opening question about the town centre action plan. I am interested in the witnesses’ views on how their agency will be supporting the town centre action plan and what they see as their role. I will bring in Douglas Cowan and then Bryan McGrath. I have an additional question for Derek Shaw, so I will bring him in at the end.

Thank you. Communities Scotland came to an end in 2008, but we recognise that Scottish Enterprise has a different role. SOSE and Highlands and Islands Enterprise play a role in those parts of the country. Who is playing the equivalent role in the rest of the country? We understand that it is not Scottish Enterprise, because it has a different remit. Is it local authorities? Is it a combination? Bryan McGrath talked about partnership working.

Derek Shaw, one of the pressures that high streets have faced is online sales. It is a number of years since Scottish Enterprise invested in Amazon—I recognise that that investment is now quite old. With Scottish Enterprise’s focus on creating jobs and investment, Amazon was an appropriate company to invest in. However, it is one of the companies that has arguably led to pressure on high-street sales.

Although Scottish Enterprise’s remit is different from that of other enterprise agencies, I think that you have just said that the overriding principle is still around investment and job creation. Is there an improvement in the synergy between your remit and other things that the Government is progressing, such as the town centre retail strategy? There is an agenda around town centres but Scottish Enterprise made a decision in Fife—I accept that that was eight or 10 years ago—that could be seen as having a direct negative impact on high streets.