Chamber and committees

My questions follow on from Kevin Stewart’s line of questioning. There are currently six refineries across the UK. We understand that the Grangemouth refinery is set to close, but we are not aware that there are plans to close the others. As we heard from the previous panel, that means that customers in Scotland who are currently supplied via Grangemouth will have to source supplies from elsewhere—it might be elsewhere in the UK or elsewhere in the world—although we will still produce oil and gas from the North Sea basin. Does the Scottish Government have any concerns about energy security, given that we will lose the capacity to refine crude oil in Scotland?

All right. Thank you.

Ultimately, it is a Scottish Government decision to accept any bid.

At what point do you advise the Scottish Government that a bid has come in? Is that done routinely, or is it done only when you receive a bid that you think is credible and appropriate? I ask the question because clearly there is a lot of public money tied up in the airport, so you would expect the Scottish Government to want to be sighted on bids that are coming in.

I have a couple of fairly short questions to follow up on Colin Smyth’s line of questioning about potential sales. Can you explain to us how the credibility of bids is determined? Is that done by you or is it done by the Scottish Government?

What gap in knowledge or oversight was identified that led to the establishment of SCAD?

Okay. Finally, is there any potential conflict of interests, given that if the airport is sold you will, I presume, no longer be in the positions that you currently hold?

I have a couple of questions to follow up on Colin Smyth’s line of questioning around a potential sale. We discussed with the previous panel members their role as the management in assessing bids. What is the relationship between them and the strategic commercial assets division in the Government? Who assesses a bid?

Okay. We have loans outstanding to the taxpayer of £43.4 million. Are there circumstances in which you would accept a bid that is less than that?

The Scottish Government set up a strategic commercial assets division to manage its investments in private enterprises such as Glasgow Prestwick Airport Ltd. Will that make any practical difference to the way in which investment in the airport is managed?