Chamber and committees

I have a final point on the structures of the Parliament and enhancing scrutiny. Is there a case to be made, as has been made in several years past in the Parliament, that a finance bill accompanying the budget process would be helpful? That would give more and enhanced opportunities to scrutinise exactly where money has gone and how well it has been spent?

That is a very interesting point. Would any move towards longer-term spending—moving from a one-year budget to, potentially, a three-year budget—enhance our ability to scrutinise a bit better the effectiveness of spending in different areas? Let us be honest: this is all about money. Would that help?

Ms Henderson, it is not just about how the system is working; it is also about the scrutiny of the system. Given what you and Ms Fowlie have said this morning, do you think that there are processes within the Parliament that could be changed to assist additional scrutiny? I agree with Mr Mason, in that I do not think that the issue has been mentioned at all in the committees that I have sat on in my 16 years in the Parliament. That suggests to me either that it is irrelevant or that it is too complex and people do not understand it.

To follow up Mr Mason’s question, do you think that there are procedures within the Parliament, and in the committee structure in particular, that could change to enhance scrutiny?

Certainly—again, in my experience in the Parliament—committees sometimes feel that they do not have an extensive opportunity to scrutinise what has happened with a particular policy. We think that we just do not have the time to do that. The committees are so busy that it would be quite helpful if there was a finance bill to help the process. Thank you for that.

I thank the minister for early sight of the statement and welcome the collaborative approach. The minister knows as well as the rest of us that, towards the end of last year, businesses and industry were saying that the Scottish Government had not consulted them enough. Therefore, it is good to hear that there is a change in direction to address their concerns.

I have three areas of questioning. First, on a short-term basis, businesses are obviously desperate to receive support as quickly as possible. However, what analysis has been taking place of some of the successful schemes? For example, the high street scheme in Northern Ireland has generally proved to be successful. In addition, what analysis has been undertaken on the business improvement district schemes in Scottish towns? I am aware of some in Mid Scotland and Fife that have been particularly successful, but there are, sadly, others that have not been successful. It would be interesting to know why some have worked and some have not, so I would be interested to hear what the minister has to say about that.

Secondly, what commitment has the Scottish Government made to look at transportation issues? People will not come to some of our town centres unless good-quality transport is available. I would be interested to know what discussions the minister is having with his colleagues in the transport portfolio.

Finally, in the long term, there obviously has to be a commitment to addressing some of the rising costs that businesses are facing, which are their main concern. Does the Scottish Government have a firm plan to look at reform and modernisation of the business rates system, which many businesses find extremely complex?

I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for her acknowledgement that there is a problem, because I have recently been contacted by several younger constituents across Mid Scotland and Fife who are struggling to get into the farming sector. That issue has been highlighted at some local NFU Scotland meetings. Recent Scottish Government statistics show that, since 2016, the Scottish Government’s opportunities for new entrants programme has helped only 76 young entrants to get into farming. Does the cabinet secretary agree that that is a disappointingly low number and that a new strategy is required to address that?

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is putting in place to attract younger people into the farming sector. (S6O-00915)

The whole ferries fiasco comes hard on the heels of plenty of other examples of SNP mismanagement of taxpayers’ money—the cases of Burntisland Fabrications, Prestwick airport and Rangers administrators, to name just three—and of Audit Scotland’s concerns that there is insufficient transparency from Scottish Government ministers about public spending. Will the Scottish Government commit to Scottish Conservative plans that ministers should open the books regularly and that we should have a formal finance bill procedure in Parliament so that we can have effective scrutiny of what the Government is spending taxpayers’ money on, in order that such a fiasco never happens again?

Minister, you said earlier that an effective tax structure is one that delivers what it says on the tin, and you cited the four principles of Adam Smith in relation to what is good about the Scottish tin.

An effective tax structure must also deliver the effective revenue that we need, specifically when it comes to addressing productivity and economic growth. As you know, that has been flagged up by the Scottish Fiscal Commission, the Fraser of Allander Institute and Scottish Chambers of Commerce as being a serious concern for the Scottish economy.

Both the convener and Mr Johnson made the point that, although income tax revenue is just one part of the revenues that we can hope to receive, it is a major part. I would like to ask about some of the concerns about those returns that were raised by the Scottish Fiscal Commission and, in particular, Professor Alasdair Smith. Professor Smith said to us, very clearly, that, when it comes to some of the regional aspects of income tax returns, there are areas such as the north-east that have been relatively productive in income tax revenue, whereas other areas have not.

What statistical analysis is the Scottish Government doing to consider the projected changes in industrial policy in each of the regions of Scotland, which will affect employment, and to look at which revenue returns might be better in the future? What data is being used for that?

Precisely. We surely need that important data, particularly in the next four or five years, for which the projections from the Scottish Fiscal Commission on income tax revenue are very weak. Do we not need strong data about which other industries people who are displaced from oil and gas would go to and, in particular, about those people who would be able to earn equally high sums of money outside oil and gas, as that would obviously lead to increased revenues? I am not saying that it would be easy, but is some analysis being done to work out where the high-level industries of the future will be, in order to improve income tax revenue and therefore productivity and growth?