Chamber and committees

Thank you for your comments so far. I will continue on the same theme as Colin Beattie’s questions on job security and job availability. We have heard about the tension in respect of workers wanting hours but shifts not being available. Leon Thompson said that the sector is diverse and that there are geographical and other differences. How is your organisation engaging with your members? What are you focusing on to deal with differences relating to geography and marginality? Obviously, job security does not tell us everything that we need to know.

I will come to Bryan Simpson and ask a little bit about what else Unite is looking for from employers. We have heard about paying appropriately, offering flexibility and so on. What other things could employers look at? What discussions are you having with employers about attracting and retaining people in hospitality, apart from issues around job security? Finally, what kinds of things—this is part of our pre-budget scrutiny—should we require as part of our budget discussions?

Good morning, minister, and thank you for being here this morning. My question is similar to those which we started off with for the other LCMs that we have already discussed this morning. What discussions have you had since 13 June, when the Scottish Government published its LCM with the UK Government, and do you see any progress being made on the areas of concern that you have highlighted?

I will move to Marc Crothall, with a similar line of questioning. Leon Thompson has mentioned geographical variations. Can you pick up on variations in size and the differences between what larger organisations are doing and what smaller businesses are doing, specifically on job security? What does that mean in terms of targeted support to ensure job security—not only through the coming season, which will be very difficult, but beyond it?

On a point of order, convener. I do not think that my vote registered. I would have voted no.

A constituent of mine, who was first referred in October 2019, has been waiting—all the while in pain—for surgery since March 2020. They recently had to move—fortunately, still in the north-east region—which required a transfer from NHS Grampian to NHS Tayside. To get on to the Tayside waiting list, they have to undergo a fresh assessment. Will the cabinet secretary outline how patients can ensure that they do not have to redo assessments, at the cost of time, energy and resources to both themselves and the NHS, in order to get on to their new health board’s waiting list? What guidance can we give patients who might be willing and able to travel to another health board that has available capacity so as to expedite their surgery or other treatment?

To ask the Scottish Government what its advice is for patients who move from one regional national health service board to another while on a waiting list for essential surgery. (S6O-01420)

I have no questions or comments; what we have in front of us is fine. However, I wonder whether the committee should take an interest in any impacts that the instrument might have, especially given that Scottish orders will not be recognised elsewhere. Should we bear that in mind as regards the impacts on victims and survivors? Perhaps we should write a letter to the Government to ask how it will monitor such impacts, or whether it will do so at all.

Thanks, Ruth. That is very clear. The response does not seem to be mobilising in the same way as it did around Covid for any of the next few months, which I find quite concerning.

Good morning. Thank you for what you have said so far. You have covered an awful lot. I am very aware that what we are trying to unpick here is decades of structural and systemic inequalities in all our structures. You have mentioned procurement. Even in the way in which we think about the economy as a whole, there are clearly very deeply embedded inequalities. As Michelle Thomson said, and as our witnesses have both referred to, it is blind to expect the same old, same old to deliver change by just throwing money at it—I think that “blind” was one of the words that Carolyn Currie used.

Given the context in which we are now, facing a cost of living crisis and a cost of doing business crisis, if we look at how we were able to respond—and the benefits and problems that came with that—to the Covid crisis a few years ago, we see the cultural shift that you have referred to in how we have revalued some women’s work and some of the priorities that we give that.

Carolyn Currie talked about things such as the digital portal working well, but during Covid there was a very clear increase in violence against women and economic abuse and control. What lessons can we learn from the policy and cultural responses to Covid to inform our decision making now? What are the consequences for and potential impacts on women in the workplace and women-owned businesses if we get it wrong? We are talking specifically about this immediate budget, but I am also thinking of the longer-term economic strategies that Claire Baker has mentioned.