Chamber and committees

However, we do not live in a command and control society, and much of this is market driven. A lot of the solutions seem to be what you would like other private sector suppliers to deal with. The issue that we are trying to get to is whether there is anything that you think that Government can do to help with the situation. I would be happy for you to send in any additional information after the session.

Perhaps we could give Stephen Kemp a chance to answer that, and then move on, unless time is an issue, convener?

Gordon Banks, do you want to reflect on that?

My question is for Gordon Banks. I will follow up on the theme of whether Scotland has sufficient demand to sustain a secure and stable construction sector. We should bear it in mind that we are dealing with global forces and markets, and that, given what we have heard, people might be taking advantage of global disruption in their pricing.

If we get the policies right—whether on heating standards, if we were specific about procurement in that area; on carbon miles, if we were looking at importation; or on some of the energy issues—and take account of the £1 billion of additional infrastructure investment from the Scottish Government, would there be sufficient demand in Scotland from housing, hospitals, education and so on to enable us to develop a sustainable local supply chain that would give us a bit of stability?

Does Stephen Kemp have any comments on that?

We are at a key stage in looking at the regulations, but part of the process will be about the guidance that the Scottish Government will provide. From your perspective, is there sufficient guidance on the implementation of the regulations? Would additional guidance be helpful for successful implementation of the regulations?

The issue is not just about guidance but about awareness. I know that the regulations are a long time coming, but is there sufficient awareness? Big companies will obviously be cognisant of what is happening, but smaller outlets and organisations might need to be alerted. Do you have a sense of that? Does everyone know what is happening, or is more communication required?

Good morning. Thank you for joining us. We are looking at building resilience into the supply chain. We are interested in your views on what can be done, primarily by policy makers but perhaps also by banks and others, to help to build resilience for your sector in the short and medium terms. We would be pleased to hear from all of you on that.

I will come back to the infrastructure issue later. For now, I would like to hear from John Lee.

Thank you. I know that colleagues want to pursue some of those issues.

It is very interesting to hear about the parallels and the interconnection between resilience and sustainability, and decarbonisation generally.

Ewan—you wanted to comment on what policy makers could do on infrastructure. I take it that the banks have been quite happy with you and that you and your membership are quite content on that. It occurred to me that, in relation to cash flow, there might have been a point to make about resilience. If no one wants to pick up on that, we will hear from Ewan on infrastructure.