Chamber and committees

Despite promises that leaving the European Union would remove red tape, the most immediate impact of Brexit on entrepreneurs was the change in VAT regulations. With United Kingdom businesses now treated as those in a third country, VAT now applies to imports from and exports to most EU countries. Retail Economics and Tradebyte are reporting an 18 per cent drop in non-food exports from the UK to countries in the single market.

Will the cabinet secretary say more about the impact that the Scottish Government expects that those checks will have on small Scottish businesses?

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to support entrepreneurs and start-up businesses. (S6O-03554)

Employment in Edinburgh is at 82 per cent and has increased compared with the previous year. What steps is the Scottish Government taking to further boost Edinburgh and Scotland’s economic activity?

It is welcome that the Deputy First Minister has confirmed that the Scottish Government’s expectation is that most of the funding will be spent by the time that the programmes conclude. Can the Deputy First Minister say any more about the projects that those EU investment funds have supported in Scotland to date? Does she share my concern that the UK Government’s replacement funding programmes fall far short of the EU funding that was lost to Scotland after Brexit?

To ask the First Minister what the potential implications are for Scotland’s economy of the United Kingdom Government’s immigration policy changes for graduates. (S6F-03158)

Universities Scotland has written to the UK Government, stating:

“Further restrictions to the graduate route would benefit literally no one”

and pointing out that

“international students make a net positive contribution of at least £4.75 bn to the Scottish economy.”

Does the First Minister agree that even the threat of changes to the graduate route could damage our international reputation and that that shows us why decisions about immigration should be made in Scotland, to allow us to put Scotland first and make decisions in our economic interest?

The head of high-value manufacturing at Scottish Enterprise has stated:

“The energy transition is the single biggest market opportunity for Scotland’s manufacturers”.

With the Scottish Government bringing vast opportunities to Scotland, such as the Sumitomo Electric Industries development, will the minister provide an update on the Government’s efforts to incentivise growth and diversification in low-carbon technology in the Scottish manufacturing industry?

Will you comment on the 11,500 council houses that are lying empty? There are 1,200 here in Edinburgh, which has a Labour-Tory-controlled council, and 400 in West Lothian, which also has a Labour-Tory-controlled council. The quickest way to get homes for people, especially when the capital budget has been slashed, is surely to bring those 11,500 empty council houses back into use.

Let me finish my point first.

Lothian Buses is the largest municipal bus company in the UK. The City of Edinburgh Council owns 91 per cent and the other councils in Lothian share the remaining 9 per cent. In its last profitable year, prior to the Covid pandemic, it paid out £7.7 million in dividends to local councils.

I will take Sue Webber’s intervention.

The £7.7 million that I just referred to is paid to the council, and the reinvestment in the network is made by Lothian Buses.

I also want to touch on the move towards a national integrated ticketing system. In my experience, bus companies are protective of their market shares and are reluctant to share the data that is required to allow ticket income to be properly allocated. An example of those difficulties can be seen by examining the performance of One-Ticket Ltd, which was formed here in Edinburgh in 2001. Its main objective was to increase the use of public transport and to achieve modal transfer from car to public transport in the Edinburgh and south east of Scotland transport partnership—SEStran—areas. The company brought together all the bus companies and ScotRail under the umbrella of an integrated ticketing system, but, in my experience, it has offered a very marginalised product. In 2010, it had a turnover of £1.3 million, but its annual accounts in 2017 identified total sales of only £850,000, and that figure has declined further in recent years. If a multiticket scheme is to be successful, the 20-year operations of One-Ticket in the Lothian area need to be closely examined so that lessons are learned and its difficulties are not replicated.

One mode of travel that was not mentioned in the review relates to the Edinburgh tram service, which does not qualify for the national concession scheme. Until last year, its costs were borne by Edinburgh taxpayers through their council tax payments; those costs are now being met by Lothian Buses. Although I understand that the tram service is considered a fixed-rail mode of transport and that, if it became eligible, there could be calls for other fixed-rail operators to ask for a similar subsidy via the concession scheme, it is the case that the bus company in Edinburgh is bearing the tram service’s concession costs, which not only distorts the transport market but impacts on the bus company’s profitability.

As a result of Covid, many people are still reluctant to take public transport. If we are to reduce the number of car journeys in our towns and cities, we have to reassure the public that, post-pandemic, public transport is safe and reliable. I welcome the report as a foundation from which to move towards a more affordable, reliable and accessible public transport system.