Chamber and committees

Agenda item 6 is consideration of a legislative consent memorandum?on the UK Parliament Trade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill. This UK Government bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons on 11 May 2022, changes the law on devolved matters.

I welcome back to the meeting the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, Ivan McKee, as well as Julie Bain, who is a lawyer, and Alasdair Hamilton, who is procurement policy portfolio manager, all from the Scottish Government. We are joined this time by Leslie Henderson, who is team leader in food and drink regulation and trade at the Scottish Government.

I invite the minister to make a brief statement on the Scottish Government’s position and then we will move to questions from members.

Thank you very much. I will take questions from members.

There is an issue that I want to follow up on before I bring in Colin Beattie. You mentioned that the national insurance cut will be worth about £10,000 a year. The UK Government has sold that change by saying that it is

“committed to a low-tax, high-growth economy”

and to ensuring that businesses have

“the right conditions to drive investment, growth and productivity.”

It has stated that,

“As a result of this tax cut, businesses will have more money to invest in becoming more productive, pay higher wages, create more jobs and support the overall growth of the UK economy.”

However, it does not appear that that £10,000 will be useful for that this year.

We have had one statement from the Scottish Government about this year’s budget. Within the budget that the committee is responsible for scrutinising, a saving in the region of £50 million has been made in the employability line. That has been partly to fund the Scottish child payment, so it is a decision that the Government has made. In correspondence with us, it has explained that, given the high employment rate at the moment, it feels that it can take some savings out of that budget line.

Bryan Simpson, do you have a view on that? The Government is not denying that it will have an impact, but it says that the impact should be minimal, because there will still be money in the employability budget although £50 million is coming out of it. Do you have any concerns about the impact of that?

Have there been discussions with the other devolved nations? Will the UK Infrastructure Bank cover Wales and Northern Ireland and are there similar concerns from them?

Can I ask for a brief response?

In comparison with last year, quite a bit of support of different kinds went into the sector during the pandemic. At that time, the sector was closed, but furlough, business rates relief and other packages were available. You consider this crisis to be more significant, but is the support comparable in any way?

I will bring in Bryan Simpson. Members will have a number of questions that are directed to you, but I first ask that you reflect on Leon Thompson’s comments on businesses making decisions about closing over the winter. Obviously, they employ people. What will the impact of such uncertainty in the sector be on people who work in it?

Thank you. Other members will focus more on the issue of data as we go through the session.

I move on to Carolyn Currie. We will have the budget and more information after the October recess. It is now more than six months since the 10-year economic transformation strategy was published, but we are waiting on the sectoral reports, which should have come within six months. What are you looking for from the budget and how it will deliver on that 10-year economic strategy? When it was published, some questions were asked about whether it prioritised women enough and whether it recognised women’s businesses. I think that there was some language around supporting women but maybe a lack of detail on how that will happen. I do not know whether you have had any discussions with Government around the six-month plans and what your expectation is, but how do you think the budget will support that work?

I am sorry to interrupt, but we have to make some progress. I have allowed members to ask a few questions each, but we need to move on. If we have time at the end, members can come back in. I ask members and witnesses to keep questions and answers as short and concise as possible.