Chamber and committees

Is that question for Siobhan McDermit or Neil Francis?

I thank the witnesses very much. That brings us to the end of the evidence session and concludes the public part of the meeting.

I have a final question for Neil Francis. Siobhan McDermit described what—I will get the acronym right—SDI does. Do you do proactive work as well? Do you promote the idea of online sales as well as supporting it? You described what you do when a business comes to you, but do you promote what you are able to do?

You also talked about the changes that came from exiting the EU. When we were in Dumfries, we visited a specialist shop that does online sales as well. The people there told me that they sell a lot down south, specifically to London, but they said that their European sales have really dropped since we left the EU. There is a difference in taxation, and selling online is different from how it was before our exit from the EU. Is that a common experience? How do we rebuild confidence in those areas?

We will have to make some progress as we are pushed for time.

Alexander Burnett is joining us online.

Thank you very much. I thank our four witnesses for their contributions. I briefly suspend the meeting while we change to a new panel of witnesses.

Will you reflect on how the retail sector has changed and the kind of support Business Gateway has provided? You mentioned the digital boost project, but how have the sector and the type of support that you offer changed?

Scottish Enterprise has previously supported Amazon—a development in my region at Dunfermline has had support, and that is retail. Would the argument that supporting one retailer might have an impact on another not hold for other sectors, too, and for any business that is in a competitive field?

Good morning and welcome to the 12th meeting in 2022 of the Economy and Fair Work Committee. Our first item of business is a decision on whether to take item 4 in private. Do members agree to take item 4 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Our next item of business is the continuation of our town centres and retail inquiry. The broad theme for today’s meeting is e-commerce and opportunities for Scottish businesses. The committee will hear evidence from two panels. I welcome the first panel: Gillian Crawford, managing director at Lily Blanche; Carolyn Currie, chief executive of Women’s Enterprise Scotland; Stuart Mackinnon, head of communications and public affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses Scotland; and Dr Peter Mowforth, chief executive of Indez. Thank you all for coming.

As always, I ask members and witnesses to keep their questions and answers as concise as possible. The witnesses may not be asked to respond to every question, but they will get an opportunity to speak during the evidence session. I will ask the first question, and will give all our witnesses an opportunity to have a brief go at it.

During the evidence that we have heard so far, there has been a discussion about the role of e-commerce. Some contend that it is an undue threat to high streets and that it is one of the contributing factors in the demise of high streets because everybody shops online now, and nobody goes down to their high street. Is that how you see e-commerce in the future? What do you think is its relevance? Is it a threat to the high street or does it have something positive to bring to the high street? I will bring in Gillian Crawford first.