Chamber and committees

It would be easier to answer that question if we were not in purdah. I will not keep revisiting that, but in the past few weeks there was a lot of momentum regarding what we would be able to publish in the coming weeks. That will now have to wait.

What will change is that there will be a real sense of action in the economy space. That is how businesses operate. When they make investments, for example, they need to get a deal over the line and need to feel that there is a receptive environment for the work that they will do. However, they also need to know that there are expectations about how they treat their workers and how consistent and coherent the regulatory framework is. I want to enable economic momentum by creating a stable regulatory environment that is coherent and consistent, as well as ensuring that we operate in a no-surprises world.

You and I know that our public finances are extremely challenging—I do not think that we can emphasise that too much at the moment. They are extremely difficult. At the end of the year, we will have to take budget decisions that enable economic prosperity and growth, as well as investing in the public services that, frankly, voters tell us are a priority, such as the national health service, education and the other forms of infrastructure that you have just referenced.

As the Scottish Government is dealing with an 8 per cent plus cut to capital, I am even more interested in how we attract private investment in our great opportunities around the green industries, so that we can create the jobs. Ultimately, that is what will drive economic growth and allow us to reinvest public revenue.

On informing Parliament of how the First Minister’s priorities will be delivered through policy, I would love to be in a position to spell that out before summer. There would be no greater joy or pleasure for me than to do that. It feels extremely frustrating, but I will not argue with the advice that we have been given that an election is an election and that we are in a purdah period.

It is certainly to our frustration that we cannot spell those things out in the parliamentary space, but I hope that we will be able to do so as soon as possible afterwards, because the work is there. The work of Government has not stopped, and that momentum will continue. In terms of spelling out what a refreshed programme looks like and being crystal clear on what the policies are, roll on the beginning of July.

Anything that was due for publication in the next six weeks will, unfortunately, probably be delayed beyond then because, as a result of purdah, the Government is no longer permitted to publish any strategies. Whether that is a concern or otherwise, that will be a challenge. We might come on to, for example, the green industrial strategy and the energy strategy, which will probably also be affected.

To be clear, having an NSET refresh does not mean rewriting it or adding to it, because I still stand by what was published. It is a 10-year strategy. However, there is an opportunity to consider what we have delivered already, what else we can still deliver, and what perhaps needs to be further accelerated.

My own objectives for my role mean that I am keen to accelerate work in four areas, all of which are contained within NSET. Those are attracting private investment in the green industries; ensuring that we have the right infrastructure in place—for example, for housing; focusing on employability, particularly for those who are furthest from the job market; and looking at how we can make business as straightforward as possible.

All those areas are contained within NSET. I propose that we publish something that is consistent with the strategy that was published two years ago, but that looks at how our economy has changed and where we might need greater focus in the document. However, it is a 10-year strategy, and it should be treated as a long-term strategy.

I can ask Aidan Grisewood to contribute on that. We currently report on progress annually. That gives a sense of how things compare to some of the benchmarks in the national strategy. Do you want to speak more about that, Aidan?

Absolutely. We are two years in. You have to understand what drives productivity growth. A lot of it is in the realm of business and public sector reinvestment. We have just come through two years of quite stubborn inflation, with costs of living and high energy prices particularly affecting business. By all accounts, it has been an extremely challenging time for business, and our public finances have been extremely constrained, but the aims in NSET still stand, and the work that we are doing to enable business to invest continues.

The first announcement that I made last week—perhaps this goes back to Murdo Fraser’s question about what is different—was £5 million for new and growing businesses to invest. Technology, systems and people will drive our productivity.

The Government’s overall budget is usually about £50 billion, give or take—

I have already said that I have a lot of respect for Audit Scotland and the work that it does. The approach that we take in every budget is to prioritise the Government’s aims and objectives using the limited funds that we have. Out of the overall budget of £50 billion to £55 billion, give or take, we do our level best to invest in the NHS and so on. It is incredibly and quite remarkably short-sighted of Colin Smyth to ask for a specific budget line, as though the technological work that is going on in our NHS has nothing to do with the economy.

They have been doing it in a number of different ways. I am not going to shy away from the fact that our budget position is extremely challenging; I will continue to come back to that theme.

The agencies can prioritise in a number of ways. The first, which I have already talked about, is being clear about what they are trying to achieve. They cannot do everything. The Government wants to work with them according to the objectives that have been set out in NSET. That is the blueprint, and it is clear about prioritising entrepreneurship and innovation, and attracting inward investment, particularly into the green industries. That is clear and it is happening.

The second part is about working better together. Various parts of the public sector are interested in economic prosperity and growth. There are excellent examples of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise working together, or of them working closely with local authorities, particularly on planning and consenting. They also work closely with the Scottish Government.

We need a more joined-up approach. During the past few years, I have often heard that there is not enough working together in the public sector, or that there is not enough prioritisation. That has changed. People express frustration at having to jump through lots of hoops, but the feedback that I am getting is that things are much simpler and more straightforward.

Although I do not shy away from the budget challenges, I commend the work that has emerged from NSET and from the need to work more closely with other organisations.

The principle is sound. Prestwick is operating profitably. The accounts—the most recent were published in November—prove that. However, ministers’ objective has always been to return the airport to private ownership when the circumstances are right. In addition, the Government has very clear aspirations for it to continue to be part of the local and national economy, because it is a strategic asset. Bids need to be reviewed on that basis as well as on a purely financial basis.

The Government does not run airports in the way that it does other strategic assets that we have acquired for a purpose. When we have achieved our purpose of protecting them and, as in this case, returning them to profitability, the Government should look to find a commercial airport operator that can run them, which will allow the Government to continue to focus on its objectives. However, that will not be to the disadvantage of our aim of ensuring that the airport continues to be part of the local economy.

A last point that is worth making is that the fact that it continues to be of interest to bidders illustrates its value. We should have high ambitions for what Prestwick airport can do in the local economy.