Chamber and committees

Please give us the example now. I will then invite Fiona Hyslop to come in.

Does Michelle Thomson have a question?

That is fine.

Thank you, Claire; you have touched on a number of areas that other members will look at in more detail.

James Reid, do you wish to add anything? The initial question was around whether enough came out of Scottish the budget to support the sector and increase the pace of change that we need to see.

Our next item of business is an evidence session on the outlook for business investment, focusing on businesses working in the renewables sector. The purpose of the session is to provide members with an overview of the outlook for the renewables sector in Scotland and to look towards the challenges of 2023. It is the third in a series of meetings that we are having in order to look at the current economic pressures facing businesses.

I?welcome Jonny Clark, who is managing director of ITPEnergised; Claire Mack, who is chief executive of Scottish Renewables; Jon O’Sullivan, who is director of onshore wind and solar at EDF Renewables; and James Reid, who is operations director at ?FES Energy.

If witnesses and questioners could keep their answers and questions as short and as concise as possible, that will help us to get through as much as we can.

There will be a range of questions from members, and I will first focus on the recent budget announcement in Scotland.

There are significant pressures on the Scottish budget and many sectors are feeling constraints. However, renewables is recognised as a sector that requires investment and growth. We have the cabinet secretary here next week, so we are interested in your reaction to the budget and whether you think that it has made enough commitments. The recent Climate Change Committee report said that Scotland was starting to fall behind in some areas and that we need significant investment and pace. Has the budget delivered enough to do that?

I invite Mr Clark to come in first. I will then go to Claire Mack.

I am sorry to interrupt. We are running a bit short of time, so I ask the witnesses to be brief. That will be the last question from Colin Smyth; I will move on to questions from Jamie Halcro Johnston. Two remaining members may wish to ask questions, and I want to give them time to take that opportunity.

Please go ahead, James.

We are having a problem with James Reid’s connection, so I will move on to Jamie Halcro Johnston while we see whether we can get him reconnected.

Our next item of business is an evidence session with Mark Logan, the chief entrepreneurial adviser to the Scottish Government. Welcome to the meeting.

I have an introductory question. You have been in post for six months. Although you have a longer working relationship with other areas of the Scottish Government, you have been in this particular role for six months. I understand that the post is initially for two years. Do you have a shared understanding with the Scottish Government of what is to be achieved in those two years? Is there a way of measuring the impact that the role will have? If you could say something about that first, that would be helpful.

You have partly pre-empted Graham Simpson’s question. Jamie Halcro Johnston wants to ask a supplementary question, but I will bring Graham Simpson in first as he has a question on targets.

The committee will produce a short report, which will be published. I thank the minister and his officials for joining us. I briefly suspend the meeting to allow the next panel of witnesses to join us online.