Chamber and committees

, I was wanting to ask Dave Moxham about this. We have spoken about HGV drivers today. I noticed that the John Lewis Partnership has given an increase of £5,000 a year to its 900 HGV drivers. There are also sign-on bonuses of £3,000 for British Gas engineers, with £500 for G4S security officers. Although we have to improve the salaries of many individuals, how do we do that in such a way that we do not get inflationary increases that then have an impact on economic recovery?

We have talked an awful lot this morning about the supply chain, which relates to the import side of things. The fact is, however, that many SMEs in Scotland export—and predominantly to the EU, which accounts for 83 per cent of exports. We know about the issue with HGV drivers, but what other issues do exporters face? Is there anything within the Scottish Government’s remit that would allow us to ease that situation? Scottish food and drink exports, for example, have risen substantially in recent years, but I note that, according to a British Chambers of Commerce survey for the second quarter of 2021, 73 per cent of exporters saw no export growth and 28 per cent had reduced export sales. There is clearly a problem here. Some of it is related to HGV drivers, but what else is blocking the system?

Perhaps Charandeep Singh and Barry McCulloch can comment first, and then we can hear from the other panellists.

I have no relevant interests that I need to declare, but now that the committee covers the tourism brief, I should say that I am a member of Historic Environment Scotland.

I nominate Colin Beattie as deputy convener.

Colin Beattie was chosen as deputy convener.