Chamber and committees

Is there a way in which the Scottish Government can build more resilience into the Scottish end of the supply chain in order to mitigate the impact of Brexit? I realise that, as you said, there is a limit to how far we can go in that regard, but would that work, or is the issue so totally out of our control that what we can do is marginal?

When you are endeavouring to put in place the measures that you are talking about, I assume that the skills shortages that have apparently arisen as a result of Brexit will constrain how far we can go in encouraging manufacturing in Scotland.

Scotland is facing an acute demographic challenge, perhaps even when compared with the rest of the UK. Inward migration has, over a number of years, been the key driver of population growth. Does the Scottish Government have levers to attract the inward migration that is necessary in order to reduce labour shortages? Have there been discussions with the UK Government on Scotland’s particular issues?

We hear a great deal about the many skilled migrants who came to us from Europe while we were still a member of the European Union, and who have returned to the EU. In particular, we hear that shortages in social care and construction, for example, have perhaps been exacerbated by that. Do you have a firm idea of the actual impact of Brexit on the skills shortages that we are facing?

On Brexit, new restrictions on imported products from the EU came into effect on 1 January. Do you have any sense of what the impact of those restrictions is on Scottish businesses? I know that it is early days, but perhaps there are some early indications.

The impression that I got from Paul Lowe was that the £21.6 million is mitigated by the benefits that you have been able to achieve in additional experience and being able to look more closely at the programme and enhance it and so on, but that still does not actually mitigate the £21.6 million. It is still costing £14.4 million more than it would have had the census gone through.

It says specifically in the report that it is due to the cost of extending suppliers’ contracts. I do not know whether you negotiated with the suppliers to change their contracts, but that would obviously create an additional cost element. It is also mentioned that part of the additional cost is the increase in the cost of goods. What are those goods that are so significant?

Okay. You said that supplier costs increased, which was a substantial portion of the cost increase of the programme. What actions did you take to mitigate those costs?

Earlier in 2021-22, you identified additional financial pressures of £1.5 million in the census. You have reduced that to £0.5 million through implementation of mitigating actions. What are those mitigating actions?

Obviously, one of the main costs is people. What you are doing to manage the workforce costs, particularly your numbers of temporary staff? What are you doing to make sure that you keep a tight hold on that?

Can you confirm that you have now achieved financial balance?