Chamber and committees

At this point, is it correct to say that overall workplace planning across the country has not really taken place yet?

I will ask another question that is somewhat related to what I was talking about. Do we have an understanding of the skills that will be in demand and do we have enough confidence that a pipeline will exist to deliver those in time for investment in the coming years?

You have touched on the labour market. It is very tight in almost every sector that we have looked at, with the skills and labour gaps in some sectors more acute than in others. You have touched on this a little already, but can you expand on how fair work can improve recruitment and retention for employers and help build a bit more resilience in the labour market? I know that that is a very hard question, but I ask Mary Alexander to comment.

You have clearly taken on board the issue and understand its impacts on businesses and workers. How has it changed or informed your course of action and your approach—in other words, what you yourselves do? That question is for Patricia Findlay.

I think that most companies recognise the fair work approach. I will come back to the issues that we have just talked about but how in this present crisis, in which smaller businesses, which do not have a great deal of resources, are focusing simply on survival, do you get across the message that there is a benefit to them in fair work? They are just trying to pay their bills day by day and get through. How do you get your message across, given this feeling of crisis and the day-to-day chaos of trying to survive?

Good morning. We have already talked about the significance of the increased costs that businesses face; energy costs are a big part of that, but material and labour costs have increased, too. When these things happen, they tend to focus people’s minds. Businesses focus on survival, while their workers focus on their own day-to-day issues. Will that situation make it difficult to progress the fair work vision? That question is for Mary Alexander.

Perhaps Hanna McCulloch might be keen to come in at that point.

Paul Johnston, you are an obvious person to bring in now, but can you comment on my original statement, which was about the fact that most of the levers sit with Westminster? How do we link in with Westminster’s child poverty policies? I have not seen them, but I presume that they exist. How can the Scottish Government link in with those to create an effective response? That also goes back to the question of how better preventative action can be taken in dealing with the current situation of children in poverty.

Usefully, the Auditor General has summarised on page 5 of his briefing the different areas of responsibility belonging to the UK Government, the Scottish Government and local government. It is clear that the vast majority of levers remain in the hands of the UK Government, which of course does not mean that the Scottish Government and local government are absolved from the actions that they take. How can the Scottish Government and local authorities make a shift towards more preventative action at the same time as helping children who are living in poverty?

Yes, please.