Chamber and committees

Thank you, Susie. That is very helpful.

I will move on to the link between long-term sickness and economic inactivity. Scotland has a higher proportion of 16 to 64-year-olds who are inactive because of long-term sickness when compared with the rest of the United Kingdom; in Scotland, the figure has increased to 7 per cent, compared with 5.4 per cent in the rest of the UK. Why is Scotland relatively worse than the rest of the UK? On an international scale, how do we explain the continued rise in the UK inactivity figures in comparison to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, where the figures are declining?

Professor Sheikh wants to come in.

I put the same question to Tom Waters. We have two Toms with W names, so I will have to say your full names.

I will bring in Alex Rowley now and then go back to Tom Wernham.

I know that Professor McCartney wants to come in, but could I ask a quick question? Do you know why the figures are so much higher in Scotland than the rest of the UK?

Would any members or witnesses like to make any final comments?

Welcome to the 23rd meeting in 2022 of the COVID-19 Recovery Committee. Today we begin our inquiry on the impact of the pandemic on the Scottish labour market.

I welcome our witnesses to the meeting. Dr Hannah Randolph is an economic and policy analyst at the Fraser of Allander Institute. Joining us in person is Professor Steve Fothergill, who is from the centre for regional economic and social research at Sheffield Hallam University and the national director of the Industrial Communities Alliance. Tony Wilson is director of the Institute for Employment Studies. David Freeman is the head of labour market and households at the Office for National Statistics. Louise Murphy is an economist for the Resolution Foundation.

Thank you for giving us your time this morning and for your written submissions. We estimate that the session will run up to 10:30. Each member should have approximately 14 minutes to speak to the panel and ask their question.

I ask those who are present to please catch my eye if they would like to come in at any point. If the witnesses who are attending remotely would like to respond to an issue that is being discussed, please type “R” in the chat box and we will bring you in. I am keen to ensure that everyone gets an opportunity to speak. I apologise in advance: if time runs away from us too much, I might have to interrupt members or witnesses in the interests of brevity.

I invite the witnesses to introduce themselves briefly.

Thank you, everyone, and welcome. I will begin by asking the first question.

As I said, I thank the witnesses for their written submissions. There is a lot of evidence for us to look through in the papers. A common theme throughout the submissions is that an in-depth analysis of the impact of the pandemic on the Scottish labour market specifically has been difficult, given the lack of available Scotland-specific data. What could the Scottish Government do to improve the amount of available data on the Scottish labour market specifically?

That is helpful. I will bring in David Freeman.

We were having a bit of difficulty with the sound there—there was a bit of interference with Dr Randolph’s microphone.