Chamber and committees

Clearly, greater strategic analysis is needed. At the end of the day, the masters will decide whether a vessel sails, but this will be the reality for the future. Does there need to be more strategic thinking across all our ports? We should bear in mind that not all of them are CMAL assets; local councils own ports and there are other ownership models. As a country, we are so dependent on our islands and coastal communities, so rising sea levels and worse weather will have a major impact. Should the Government look more closely at how we future proof that whole asset base? Is there a danger that if CMAL, understandably, just looks after its own asset base, our thinking might not be as joined up as it might be when procuring vessels that need to operate at different harbours?

Are you open to a different arrangement whereby some of the strategic thinking might lie within the Government, particularly as a lot of it is about wider connectivity and net zero issues? Some of Transport Scotland’s strategic work could well overlap with some of CMAL’s current functions. Are you open to thinking about different approaches to ensure that we have the required governance and accountability, potentially informed by what the committee recommends?

Thank you. That was a bit of a diversion, but I thought that I would ask about it.

Do any of you want to let us know anything else about skills, such as what you would ask for or what you need? This is your chance.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. You have talked about labour shortages, so I will leave that to one side. I want to focus on skills development, in particular. I will ask the business organisations first.

We need to time the development of skills in the supply chain to meet what we know future needs will be. How do we develop new skills now, even though they will not be deployed now but will need to be deployed in the future? The conundrum is that, if we do not do that now but wait five years, the skills that we will need will not be available, and the supply chain is such that other countries and manufacturers elsewhere will benefit from our domestic capability and potential.

I will come first to Hisashi Kuboyama, then to Liz McAreavey. What is your perspective on how we can bridge the skills gap and ensure that we are building our skills base? What does that mean for SMEs?

There will be a skills gap in five years, but graduates coming out now need jobs. They cannot hang around for five years.

We talked earlier about the corporates being able to help to develop the SME base in respect of business opportunities and training. Will that be a shared responsibility? Will corporates such as you and others that you work with do that?

You have all spoken about schools and colleges, which cover young people. However, obviously, there is an existing workforce in the area. You talked about your employees sometimes having 15-plus years of experience. What engagement have you had, or will you have, with the existing workforce to identify whether skills in it can be adapted or reskilling is required? Is the work with the trade unions a joint arrangement to develop the sight line for those employees as individuals?

I will ask something completely different, if that is okay. You talked about the importance of the Acorn project. Parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee did an inquiry last year that was very supportive of that on a cross-party basis. The development of hydrogen will be interesting. We do not necessarily see it being within the heat network, and we know that the UK’s decision on hydrogen is not due to be made until 2026. Do you see an opportunity for the area—people and housing in Grangemouth—to use hydrogen as a heat source as part of that community’s just transition? What does the community get? Is that within scope?

We have heard examples from Edinburgh and Leith, but we are focusing on Grangemouth. Is the model that you have just talked about in existence or in development in Grangemouth, or does that need to be pushed?

I have finished my questions, convener.