Chamber and committees

We support this review, which we think is needed, but it should not have taken an Audit Scotland report that was heavily critical of the minister’s lack of leadership in this area to stimulate some action. We are five years on from when it was agreed that the agencies and the Government would work together to sort out this agenda, so we need urgent action.

Yesterday, college principals delivered a stark message of real-terms cuts to college budgets, with drastic cuts to staff numbers. How does the Government deliver any skills agenda with that dark future for colleges?

The minister is only too happy to take the credit when things go right, but he is absent when things go wrong.

There has been a dramatic impact on students at the University of St Andrews, as well. The minister knew that that was coming. We knew that there would be an uptick in student numbers as a result of Covid and that there would be consequences from the housing legislation, whether we supported it or not. However, the minister sat idly by and did nothing. What is the practical plan to make a change now and for next year, because the problem is not going away any time soon?

I am intrigued by the very careful language of the education secretary. She now says that she is going to “substantially eliminate the poverty-related attainment gap”. I have checked the Scottish National Party website, which is very clear that the party wants to “close” the poverty-related attainment gap.

The education secretary was pulled up by the First Minister before when she tried to slip away from the 2026 target for closing the poverty-related attainment gap. Is this another attempt to get around that very important target to help young people from our deprived communities?

I will help the minister to understand the impact, particularly on rural workers and social care workers across the country: they are leaving the service. People are going without care packages and the minister just washes his hands of the whole affair and says that it is somebody else’s responsibility. We need some action to deal with the problem, particularly in rural areas, where workers are travelling hundreds of miles every week to go from house to house. Their fuel bills are going through the roof and it does not pay to work any more. What action is the minister going to take?

I want to talk about the GFG Alliance, the Lanarkshire steel mills and the Lochaber aluminium smelter. The minister is laughing, but this is a very serious situation and he has not addressed the substance of the matters that I am about to cover, at all. Since we did not receive the documents in advance, I think that it is appropriate for the minister to answer questions despite his desire to shut me up.

We know that the Lanarkshire steel mills are owned by Liberty Steel, which is part of the troubled GFG Alliance and was previously owned by Tata Steel. The minister did not refer to this, but auditors King & King quit recently, stating that they were unable to complete audits, and I have new information today. A new freedom of information request confirmed that ministers—including the First Minister—were told of the risks of the deal when they signed it off. Those are risks that the minister, Ivan McKee, has since avoided telling Parliament about even when we asked him directly.

Let me spell out exactly what that means. Ministers chose to throw their weight behind Liberty Steel despite the Government’s top economic official writing to Nicola Sturgeon warning of

“very significant political, financial, state aid and legal issues”

and stating that they carried

“significant state aid and financial risk”

because of Tata’s terms.

Ministers were specifically warned—by their own advisers—about a lack of due diligence, the risk of the “untested” state aid position and the risk of not having a business case

“that sets out the rationale for our intervention.”

Ministers were also warned that the Government could become liable for the environmental costs. That calls into question Ivan McKee later telling Parliament that

“it was not our intention to sign up to a contract clause which may not comply with state aid requirements.”—[Official Report, 15 December 2021; c 24.]

He did so despite being warned by the top economic adviser that that was exactly what they were getting into. Ministers knew fine well that that was a risk, and they were warned about it by their adviser.

Tata refused to deal directly with Liberty Steel because it did not know enough about the company or its business plan and it was already in a discussion with another company, Greybull Capital. The price of Tata not selling to Greybull, was for the Scottish Government to take on Tata’s “past and future” liabilities through a back-to-back deal. Members will recall that the Scottish Government has since tried to renege on the commitment to take on the environmental liability if Liberty Steel were to collapse and the GFG Alliance were unable to step in.

Tata had another buyer and the Government was warned about the state aid rules and financial risk but charged ahead with a company that is now on the verge of collapse, and the minister does not think that it is appropriate to fill us in on any of that detail. All that reveals a reckless disregard from ministers, a dismissal of advice and warnings and a failure to be open and straightforward with the Parliament about the decisions that were taken behind the scenes. The workers and the taxpayers might pay the price.

I turn to the Lochaber aluminium company, Alvance British Aluminium, which is also owned by the GFG Alliance. In unaudited accounts, Mr Gupta outlines

“material uncertainties that cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

That is the top man expressing his real concern about whether the company will continue to be a going concern. However, again, the minister does not think that it is appropriate to update members on his—

Believe me, I have more to come.

Members will recall that Mr Gupta acquired the Lochaber plant and its accompanying hydro power station in 2016. However, documents filed at Companies House reveal that, although the Scottish Government provided guarantees of up to £500 million for the deal, Mr Gupta put in just £5 towards it. Now, the assets are valued at £100 million more.

No.

It is pretty clear now that the minister and the Government were duped by GFG Alliance. The Scottish Government must set out what will happen to the financial guarantees that it has provided, to the plant and, most importantly, to the workers.

The minister has time later.

I do not have the time to remind the chamber of the issues from the failed company BiFab and the loss of millions of pounds for no return. All in all, we have a Scottish Government that is cavalier, ignores advice and uses vast sums of public funds to make political gestures rather than sound economic investments.

The industrial intervention strategy is simply not working. It is about time that the Government was open about the situation that it has created.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I seek your guidance on whether it is discourteous to the chamber for members to receive documents pertaining to the next debate just over an hour before the debate takes place. How is it possible to have a meaningful scrutiny session and discussion about the documents if we do not have sufficient time to look at them?

On that point, we are almost halfway through the minister’s contribution and he has not mentioned the alarming and troubling situation with GFG Alliance, the Lanarkshire steel mills and the Lochaber smelter. Will he address that? Everybody would like to hear what the Government’s response is to that situation.