Chamber and committees

I put the same question to Adrian Gillespie: will you use that metric?

A YouGov survey that was carried out earlier this year—I accept that these numbers are UK-wide—found that 40 per cent of SMEs had to stop or pause an area of their business due to a lack of funding, and that they were struggling to get funding from the banks. If Scottish Enterprise is not investing in, or is reducing its investment in, SMEs, where can alternative funding be found?

Okay. In its submission to the committee, Highlands and Islands Enterprise suggested that, over a 10-year horizon, its activities will increase tax revenue by two and a half times. Stuart Black, can you tell us how you arrived at those numbers?

I thank Edward Mountain for lodging the motion and securing the debate. I was not intending to speak tonight, but, having heard Mr Mountain’s earlier question to the minister, I thought that it was important to highlight my experience as an ostomate and one of the one in 335 people across the United Kingdom who has lived with a stoma. I have learned to live with having a stoma over the past seven years. I take this opportunity to thank the staff of the Western general hospital, especially my consultants Mr Wilson and Mr Clark, and the stoma nurses Isla and Sheena.

Earlier, Mr Mountain suggested that there was a need for an annual review for all ostomates. In my experience, that is not necessary. Support is required but predominantly that support is needed when a person first finds themselves with a stoma. When a patient leaves hospital after major surgery to have the stoma formed, the stoma nurses visit them at home to provide stoma care support. The stoma nurses then invite the ostomate to their clinic, where they will receive a regular check-up until such time as their stoma settles into a regular pattern.

The Western general hospital also has a dedicated helpline, and if a patient does not manage to speak to a stoma nurse immediately, they will phone them back, no matter how trivial the inquiry is, as it is about providing reassurance.

Anyone who lives with a stoma has many questions, especially at the start, such as about the food they can eat, how much liquid they can drink and whether they should avoid anything, how they should deal with ballooning and pancaking, whether there are any activities that they should avoid, such as heavy lifting, and whether they can travel abroad.

In my experience, the current system works, given the pressures on our national health service. This Saturday is stoma awareness day, and this year’s theme is “Smash social exclusion”. Many people, including me, have that hidden condition and can, from time to time, require toilet facilities that are safe and clean to make stoma bag-changing easier. We require simple changes to facilities to make life easier, such as a hook on the door, shelf space, a mirror and a disposable bin. Research by Colostomy UK found that some people living with a stoma found that a lack of suitable toilet facilities led them to feel socially excluded, as they have concerns that clean, safe and suitable facilities will be difficult to find when out in public or at events.

Edward Mountain has said that we have accessible toilets in Parliament, but even here they are not suitable for stoma users. Minor changes would resolve that situation, and I am sure that, now that it has been highlighted in public, the facilities management team will address that shortcoming.

Those of us in Scotland with a stoma are fortunate that we do not face the prescription charge of £9.60 an item that is chargeable south of the border. For my stoma care, I require seven individual items, five of which must be ordered by prescription from my medical practice. In England, a person may qualify for free prescriptions if they have a stoma but not if they have a temporary ileostomy. Given the cost of living crisis, the UK Government should introduce free prescriptions for all those individuals living with serious health conditions, as the Scottish National Party Government did in Scotland.

You mentioned Developing the Young Workforce. I was pleased to see that your report talked about the armed forces and veterans and the need for lifelong learning and retraining. There are three Army barracks in my constituency. Much of the current system quite rightly focuses on young people and positive destinations to break the generational unemployment situation that we have had over a number of years. Given the state of the financial situation and the public funds, how can we get the balance right so that we maintain positive destinations for young folk and also introduce lifelong learning? Do you see efficiencies that would help that in the reorganisation?

Good morning, James. I want to go back to apprenticeships, which Murdo Fraser touched on. Two of the 12 essential pillars for success for post-school learning relate to employers, which is great. However, I noticed from your comments this morning that you want to take skills planning from SDS and put it in the Scottish Government. There is the apprenticeship approvals group, which is made up of employers and is responsible for approving all Scottish apprenticeships, and there is the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board, which your report says does

“excellent work in influencing the shape of apprenticeships”.

How can we retain that employer expertise within the system if we are going to devolve it down to city regions?

Okay. I have a final point to ask you about. You mentioned in your report that apprentices

“struggled to have their voices and opinions listened to within the system.”

Unless I missed it, I did not see how you think we should be able to address that.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I had the same issue, and I would have voted no.

This is my final question, and then I will pass back to the convener. I have noticed that, although pharmaceutical exports were up by 9 per cent, the value of exports to the rest of the UK was down from £155 million to £50 million. Was there a reason for that?

I was going to pass back to the convener, but I have just thought of another question. In January, Deloitte produced a report that said that the

“average expected return on investment for research and development fell from 6.8 per cent ... to ... 1.2 per cent in 2022.”

That was the lowest return on investment on record. Is that making it more difficult to attract the funding that you are talking about?