Chamber and committees

To ask the Scottish Government what the new infrastructure delivery pipeline means for a replacement eye hospital for Edinburgh. (S6O-05400)

It is a great pleasure for me to speak on behalf of the Economy and Fair Work Committee. Let me use this more reflective debate to express my thanks to the clerks, and particularly to my fellow committee members. The position that I have assumed was not necessarily expected, but I am very much enjoying it.

I will try to reflect broadly the contributions to the committee. Given that many of my fellow committee members are in the chamber, I invite them to intervene if they think that I could elaborate with further detail.

This is a useful debate, because committees are where we should properly be thinking about fiscal sustainability. I welcome the Finance and Public Administration Committee’s innovation in that regard, although I note that its approach to budgeting for foreign travel has become somewhat looser since I left that committee.

Given the scope of the Economy and Fair Work Committee, and the nature of the economy, many of the things that impact the economy fall outwith the economy budget lines. We reflected on that point this morning at committee when the Deputy First Minister was in front of us. Likewise, many of the time periods in which those things will happen fall outwith a single budget year, so it is perhaps not a surprise that the Economy and Fair Work Committee has focused on the impacts beyond single budget lines and on multiyear funding.

One good example of that is the housing budget, which is not just about housing; it supports jobs and helps local economies to grow. We note that the budget line has seen some changes year to year. We welcome the 19 per cent increase in cash terms, but that is only a 3.4 per cent growth rate over the past five years, given the changes that have occurred. Likewise, we note that, over the past five years, the total number of completions across all sectors has declined. We need to see greater focus on that perspective in the budget.

More broadly, the Economy and Fair Work Committee’s priorities have focused on supporting business, women’s enterprise and skills development. I will make some comments about the enterprise agencies in a moment.

One point to note is that, very often when it comes to economic discussion, the Scottish National Investment Bank is considered something of a catch-all solution to the issues in the economy that members identify. It is welcome that we see a continued increase in capital funding towards the target of £2 billion, but that is a finite total. When we had the Scottish National Investment Bank in front of the committee, one area that we focused on was how the SNIB could achieve the status of a perpetual fund, to allow it to reinvest its capital. If we are going to see sustained and sustainable investment, and see the Scottish National Investment Bank achieve the status that we all want it to achieve, especially given the finite target, we need a vision and we need the plans to be put in place.

On the enterprise agencies, we very much recognise the importance of their work.

I am very happy to give way to the deputy convener.

The deputy convener makes an excellent point. In a positive step, the committee wrote to the Treasury to ensure that the Scottish National Investment Bank was included in its broad review relating to capital treatment.

We note that the enterprise agencies received something of a tight budget this year, which is not unique. We must consider whether that reflects our broad priorities for the economy. We must also keep challenging the enterprise agencies on whether they are actually focused and taking the right approaches, given their budgets. I think that that starts with reporting. I alluded to that in my intervention on the convener of the Finance and Public Administration Committee. We did not have up-to-date annual reports from each and every one of the agencies—indeed, we struggled to get a clear articulation of how much of their budgets was being spent on running costs, compared with funds that were going out the door, so to speak. We got that information subsequently, having asked for it.

For transparency, we must start with clear and consistent articulation of the fundamentals. Although the enterprise agencies do broadly similar work, they were not consistently reporting their outcomes. We exposed that some of those metrics are based on self-reported measures. There needs to be greater examination of that issue.

Given the changing focus and scope of the enterprise agencies, we were also concerned about the “missing middle” in some areas of the economy when it comes to delivery of support by our enterprise agencies, especially for older, more mature businesses in non-high-growth sectors. Moreover, it is hugely important that we ensure that there is support from our economic agencies for people from all communities who might seek to engage in business, particularly women who are seeking to start and grow businesses.

One key issue that we must highlight is that we received evidence of a huge amount of concern from businesses about rates. We note the 15 per cent rates relief that is in the budget, but that is against the background of a significant revaluation. It was useful to hear reflections from the Deputy First Minister this morning that more work needs to be done on methodology. The methodologies are far from clear and transparent, and there is an on-going question about the role of the valuation boards, which the Deputy First Minister also reflected on.

As the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government mentioned, we took a good deal of evidence on skills. We reflected on the fact that there is a sense of urgency and need from many industries, and that the agenda for upskilling and reskilling cannot wait. Rather than taking years to reform Skills Development Scotland and other agencies, such reform needs to be urgently brought forward. The changes that are being brought in by technology—

One of the concerns that is often raised with me by the police is that their capacity is very much used up by shortfalls in other public services, which mean, for example, that police officers have to attend accident and emergency departments or deal with missing persons. What lines of inquiry has the committee followed on that, what evidence has it taken and what assessment has it made of those sorts of pressures that the police face?

—-and demographics are important. I will close there.

As well as the lack of people giving encouraging evidence to the Education, Children and Young People Committee, the Economy and Fair Work Committee heard from a number of industry bodies that the bill would be a distraction from changes that could be undertaken now and with urgency. Does the member think that the Economy and Fair Work Committee’s evidence should also be reflected on?

I will just finish this point.

In my view, under the strategy as it must be, we need a skills system that is industry led. We do not necessarily know what the Government’s intention is, because we do not have the strategy, but, if that is the intent, I do not see how two members on a board of 11 or 14 members can deliver that.

I will try to be helpful. One of the interesting points in the Withers report was the need for consistent terminology about different levels of learning. I am interested in how the Government seeks to address that. In my view, a higher should be called a higher, whether it is a vocational, technical or academic qualification. Is the Government thinking about ensuring that we encourage parity of esteem by having consistent understandings about levels of attainment, regardless of the mode of learning? I am interested in the Government’s view.

The minister mentioned growth being contingent on the number of young people who are available. It is really important that we expand the apprenticeship and skills system to deliver upskilling and reskilling, so that apprenticeships can deliver for older people as well. Will the minister reflect on that point?