Chamber and committees

Professor Bell, would you like to comment? According to its submission, the RSE would like the Government to look at “all tax options”.

I think that, in the 2011 to 2016 session of Parliament, there was a £500 million three-year ring-fenced budget. The difficulty—John Mason has asked questions about this many times; he is quite messianic about it—was in trying to get organisations to disinvest in existing programmes. Even though there was that £500 million on top, people said, “That’s great. Thanks very much,” but there was still real resistance to disinvesting. It is very difficult.

Richard Robinson made an important point about co-operation. The SFC has emphasised that, on an issue such as peatland restoration, for example, although most peatlands are in Scotland, the UK cannot achieve its climate targets without peatland restoration, so co-operation is important.

I will open up the session to colleagues.

Thank you for that. We have so much more that we could explore, but we have another panel of witnesses. Just before we wind up, would our witnesses like to make any further points on areas that we might not have touched on fully in our evidence taking?

Omertà—that is okay.

I thank our witnesses very much for their responses to our questioning. We will take a wee break now before hearing from the next panel.

Are you suggesting that implementing those regulations would prevent small businesses from expanding or from focusing on what they are trying to do as businesses?

In order to deliver the levels of innovation, productivity and economic growth that the university sector considers that we could deliver, what additional funding would you like from the Scottish Government in the year ahead, and what private sector leverage could that attract? I know that that is not an exact science, so perhaps you could respond on the basis of previous experience.

If you means test businesses, those that are doing particularly well or that are innovative, profitable and have in-demand products will be disadvantaged compared with those that might not be as well run, that might sell something that nobody wants or that are based in a location that nobody visits. That is the opposite view to John Mason’s point.

David Lonsdale, where do we strike the balance? When the UK Government had consequentials for the hospitality sector last year—apart from the islands, which I lobbied for—that was not passed on. The Scottish Government said that the money was being put into the NHS. People who run small businesses and who work in retail rely on the NHS, too, just like everybody else. Where do we strike the balance, given the restricted nature of the Scottish budget? What would provide for the retail sector and the businesses that you represent in the wider Scottish budget and economy?

Thank you for that. Time is against us, so I want to give our guests an opportunity to make any final points if they so wish. Vikki Manson, you can go last, because you started first. Would David Lott or David Lonsdale wish to add anything further?

Are you hoping that the new UK Government will look at, for example, the imbalance in paying rates between businesses on the high street and online businesses? Is that something that you are looking at?

Yes—there would be a minimal cost to the Government but a benefit to business.