Chamber and committees

I am interested in the geopolitical challenges ahead of COP27. Other colleagues will talk about domestic aspects that are reflected in Scotland.

I am interested in what Mary Church was saying about climate finance. We know that losses and damages will be huge for the next year, but you made points about climate finance in relation to the sense of realism that the China-India intervention brought. What does that mean now in relation to advancing the phasing out of coal in India? What would need to be realised in terms of the climate finance that we spoke of?

For Teresa, there are the same questions about the geopolitics of the role of China, Russia and India from COP26 and how we go forward. Also, what are your international networks—the global citizenry—telling you as a result of COP26 and the Glasgow pact?

I agree completely that Scotland could play such an international role. In my previous role, I saw directly the impact of that. We should never underestimate the influence that Scotland can have. We were the first to have a climate justice fund, however small it was, and the first to have a loss and damage fund, however small it is.

My next question, which could be quite boring, is about the Paris rulebook. It was a success that it was completed, but who will police it? Who will ensure that all the targets and the transparency happen? Is the UN mechanism strong enough to do that? Will it be ready to do what it needs to do before COP27?

It is great to see a panel in real life; you are all very welcome.

My first question is for Paul Little. It is clear that colleges are very agile and responsive, but as “The Cumberford-Little Report” indicated, they are also engines for economic growth in particular localities. I am interested in what you said about your institution’s expertise in supply chain and procurement. With the convener’s agreement, if experts in that area have not contributed to our inquiry, it would be interesting to get their take on the subject, given what we are looking at in our inquiry.

The City of Glasgow College is an anchor and an engine for economic activity. What are local businesses telling you about the current labour supply issues? What are you doing to use your power as a procurer to achieve sustainability of products and people in the place that you lead in?

Thank you. I will let the college know that.

Chris, can you respond to some of Paul Little’s points? We are particularly interested in immediate labour shortages in retail and construction. Paul made a point about whether we are as connected as we can be, in order to be as agile and responsive as we need to be. Bearing in mind the demographic and systemic issues that need to be dealt with, are there things that on which we can move more rapidly, in order to mitigate some of the immediate pressures?

We are taking a particular interest in retail and construction.

With regard to construction and the opportunities from net zero—Alexander Burnett might want to come in on this, too—Richard McClelland spoke about “choking” in the labour supply. Is there a danger that immediate pressures might not allow us to get to a trajectory of long-term careers in construction that might involve dual fuel or—as Chris Brodie talked about—reskilling later on? In order to make careers in the sector more attractive, should we be trying to get that modern, dual fuel type of training going on now? Why would people want to go into a career in an area which may be overtaken by events as we move into renewable energies?

Thank you. I am also interested in how your organisation uses procurement to help that sustainability, but you might want to follow that up later.

The other issue that I want to ask about is demography. That is one of the biggest challenges that Scotland faces, but there is not an equal split across the country and, obviously, the west of Scotland is losing population at a faster rate, while the east of Scotland is gaining it. That is a challenge, and I want you to answer the question with your Colleges Scotland hat on. In my part of the world, there are students who will not be able to get into the local college in West Lothian, but will be able to get a place in a college in the west of Scotland because there are more places available. We have a bigger and growing population and, with that growing population, we have a growing demand for labour and skills. Is the Scottish Funding Council as agile and responsive as it could be in recognising the immediate issues in relation to labour supply and ensuring that people—particularly young people—are supported, so that we get the required volume of trained young people into the workforce?

Thank you, Malini, for persevering with us; it is important that we hear from you. The people of the world will keep up their pressure; they will keep watching—just because the COP has finished, that does not mean that the world’s attention has moved on.

The Glasgow pact refers to the role of young people, the position of women and the position of indigenous people. Did you expect those aspects to be in the pact, or was that a result of the experience and physical presence that was brought to bear by many young people, different non-governmental organisations and representatives of different communities? Did that add real impetus? Was that outcome anticipated?

Thank you. Jim Skea, do you have any reflections on that?

Both of you have been reasonably positive about the outcome of COP26, but a lot of the media coverage has not been as positive. Bearing in mind that there is now agreement on climate change science and that that was not in dispute at COP26, why was more progress not made? Will you provide a more sobering reflection on the conference than we have perhaps had so far?