Chamber and committees

We move to questions from Fiona Hyslop.

Catherine, did you say that the retail strategy is tied to the national 10-year economic strategy, and will there be a strand focused on retail?

Do we have a timescale for the skills audit and action plan?

I am going to make some progress now. Alexander Burnett is next, to be followed by John Mason.

When we went to Midsteeple Quarter, the people there shared with us that they had had an issue with insurance, in that they had maybe not realised the significance of their insurance liability. There was a discussion about expert support for such projects that could be accessed centrally.

We will go on to questions from Jamie Halcro Johnston. However, you mentioned the town centre first principle. The committee has heard about difficulties that can exist in delivering it when there are out-of-town developments. We will all have, from our regions and constituencies, examples of there being a desire to invest in a town centre, but applications for out-of-town developments being granted and businesses in the town centre feeling that that will pull business away from them.

I think that it was in the session that we had with Leigh Sparks that we heard the suggestion that a moratorium on out-of-town developments be introduced, which would clearly prioritise town centre developments. Is that something that the Government is considering?

Good morning, and welcome to the 15th meeting in 2022 of the Economy and Fair Work Committee. Our first item of business is a decision on whether to take in private item 4, which is consideration of our annual report. Are members content to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

I thank witnesses for their contributions this morning, which is much appreciated. I will now briefly suspend to allow for a changeover of witnesses.

Mr Iles, you are not here as a VAT expert, so if you do not know the answer to this, that is fine. I understand that new builds are zero rated for VAT, but I thought that there was a rebate for the conversion of commercial buildings into residential properties.

Would the council take on the work only if it reached the point of being a public safety issue, because there is uncertainty about being able to recoup the funds and having the owner be responsible?

We will come back to that later; other members will be interested in some of the examples. Bryan McGrath, can you say anything about the new action plan, which is a refresh since we have passed the 10-year point? Are there ideas or proposals in the new action plan that you welcome and think will make a difference or that you think need expansion?