Chamber and committees

Ian, I must apologise for mixing you and Paul Sheerin up earlier. Does your sector have same the mismatch with regard to the skills and labour balance, or are there just gaps everywhere?

Good morning. I thank the witnesses for their comments so far.

I wonder whether David Thomson could unpick that 9.1 per cent figure for vacancies. Does it relate directly to specific types of jobs? Earlier, you said that 95 per cent of the businesses that you represent are small to medium sized, but what is the variation in that figure across the organisations and businesses that you represent?

That is helpful. It sometimes strikes me that, when we try to grapple with the mismatch between labour and skills shortages and vacancies, we are trying to fix the problem with solutions that will not be fit for the future. Given that you have introduced the issue of automation and how we shift the way in which business works, what focused support would you like to see in the Scottish Government’s budget in those areas to pull together the vacancy, labour and skills gaps? After all, automation could significantly transform how we do what we do and how you manufacture what you manufacture.

Thanks. I was going to ask what engagement you had had with SDS, so it is good to hear those comments.

Euan, do you want to respond to the same questions on the mismatch of skills?

Ian Laird, I think that you said that up to a third of businesses are thinking of reducing their size and letting people go—or potentially closing—given the cost issues that they face.

I am sorry—it might have been Paul Sheerin who said that.

What would be the knock-on consequences for employment more generally as a result of that? Is there a tension between that and people wanting to work? I accept what has been said about the shifts in people’s approaches to employment, but how are you balancing those tensions?

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I want to start the conversation with questions of process and how we define and describe the process of human rights thinking in our budget decisions.

Oonagh Brown said in her opening statement that centring people with lived experience in the process is important. One challenge with access is that inclusion and participation, which are a cornerstone of realising rights, sometimes seem impossible because of the time that budgeting processes take. What would a transparent, inclusive and accessible process look like for you and the people whom you work with and support?

That is helpful. It is very useful for us that you have pointed out some of your strategies and documents, just now and in your written submission.

My next question is for Clare Gallagher and is on similar lines. Oonagh Brown rightly pointed out how inaccessible the resource spending review documentation and process can be, and we need to learn from that. Clare, from your work at CEMVO, what is your assessment of how we can learn from looking backwards compared to taking a purely forward-looking approach? It is about a revisionist approach versus saying that what we have does not work so we should create something new. How do we get the best of both approaches?

That is helpful. I could go on, but I will let others come in. Thank you.

In the same way, do you hope that you will be able to work something out, or do you get the sense that your officials are meeting a group of intransigent UK officials?