Chamber and committees

Thank you.

Do you acknowledge that National Grid’s plans still penalise Scotland, and that we have people living in fuel poverty in the part of the United Kingdom that generates the most energy, in terms of both renewable energy and oil and gas? Is that not wrong?

In an energy price crisis, the balance might need to shift from the companies to the consumers. I will leave it there. I think that you said that you will get back to me.

Neil Kenward, as Brexit proceeds, the Great Britain and European Union energy markets remain closely aligned. I do not know whether you heard President Macron’s speech. He is looking at the potential for wider alignment of non-EU European countries, particularly on defence and energy. We heard from Scottish Power and other suppliers that sufficient domestic energy market reform to deliver what you have talked about could take place without the need for wider EU reform—although I suspect that there will be wider reform of GB and EU energy markets. What opportunities and challenges are there in the short term and, strategically, in future?

What about a legal obligation to replace a pre-payment meter?

Maybe—

Good morning, and thank you for joining us.

We have a cost of living crisis that is being made worse by an energy crisis, but we also have a climate crisis. My questions will be directed to Neil Kenward, because we want to address the potential tensions between the immediate issues and the transition to net zero, if there are any. What reforms need to be made—they might be in the longer term—so that we have an energy supply sector that can protect consumer interests, but also ensure that we can transition to net zero? What would success look like?

I was asking about a legal obligation to replace a pre-payment meter if the consumer requested that. That would hardly be revolutionary, and it would be practical.

Okay—you want more of it. That is good to hear.

I am interested in what Carolyn Currie said about curating and communities of interest. I had a brief spell as Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture during the pandemic, and I introduced the digital boost programme, which we had to increase massively.

There are some general issues with businesses’ lack of investment in skills. Historically, there has been a lack of demand for digital from businesses, but the pandemic accelerated demand. Who would do the curating, how would we implement it and how can we make the step changes that are needed? It is, I assure you, a given that town centres will have to be both physical and use e-commerce.

Gillian Crawford talked about going to Strathclyde to do a course with Peter Mowforth. Were you talking about the University of Strathclyde?

We have heard some very interesting insights, some of which are contradictory, which is fascinating. Dr Mowforth, I am not sure whether attacking politicians for talking about e-commerce in a committee that is looking at e-commerce is necessarily—

Before the pandemic, the Scottish Tourism Alliance worked to try and stimulate demand and get tourism businesses to embrace e-commerce. It did that using what was almost a roadshow that was done in different towns.

We are looking at town centres, and there are different models. How do we get the curation that Carolyn spoke about? I can see how it would work for women. I do not know whether the Scottish Chambers of Commerce or a chamber of e-commerce could do it. How can we help the retailers in our town centres to do that? What would that model look like and who would deliver it? The whole point of the digital boost was to provide grants to get practitioners to help. It was commercial. How should that be delivered, and what is the role—if they have one—of agencies apart from to deliver funding?