Chamber and committees

Can I then ask a question about progress on plans to update NSET? Where are we with that? We have spoken a few times this morning about the reset and refreshing. I completely understand the fact that the turbulent political times and changes might have inhibited the extent to which you can answer some of the questions firmly. However, could you tell us what your expectation is about the timescales, and what the scope of the update is likely to be?

If you do not mind me saying so, director general, that is a rather ambiguous answer. Do you accept the recommendations and do you accept the conclusions of the Auditor General on NSET?

Do not put words in my mouth. [Laughter.]

When you say “new ministerial team”, do you mean the First Minister? The cabinet secretary responsible for the economy remains the same, doesn’t she?

I am not sure that many people would describe themselves as pre-scalers. I have to confess, Mr Cook, that it sounds less like jargon and more like gobbledegook to me. You do not have to answer that.

I am glad that we have made a difference on the Public Audit Committee. The deputy convener, Jamie Greene, has some questions for you.

There may well be a revision in light of the Bute house agreement being terminated, I would speculate, but you may not need to answer that, director general.

Can I also turn to a point that I raised with the Auditor General? I know that you were not in post at the time, Mr Irwin, but I was struggling a little bit to understand why the previous strategy from 2015 was not updated in light of the Brexit vote in 2016. That quite clearly is a potential economic shock and a change to the framework in which you work. Of course, the UK left the European Union in January 2020 and there was no reset of the strategy at that point either. Can you offer any explanation why that would have been?

You were not able to co-ordinate the diaries of half a dozen, at the most, cabinet secretaries and the president of COSLA to fix up a meeting of the economic leadership group. The Auditor General told us on 14 March that the economic leadership group was a key part of the Government’s NSET accountability framework. I am struggling to understand why it has not met. I do not know who can answer that question.

The second item on our agenda is further consideration of the Auditor General’s briefing on the national strategy for economic transformation. We are pleased to be joined in the committee room this morning by three witnesses. First, we have the director general of economy in the Scottish Government, Gregor Irwin. Mr Irwin is joined by Aidan Grisewood, who is the director of jobs and wellbeing economy in the Scottish Government, and by Colin Cook, who is the director of economic development in the Scottish Government.

We have quite a number of questions to put to you this morning, director general, but before we get to those, can I invite you to make a statement to the committee?

I reflect on the fact that one of the recommendations is about clearer timescales, as well as clearer targets, and I think that we would all welcome greater clarity over the future of the strategy, what it will look like and when we will be able to rejoin a public debate about it. After all, it is not just the property of the Government; it is about engagement with other stakeholders who will deliver it. If we are genuine about wanting to see a transformative change in the economy, achieving that will demand popular support right across the board.

I will close the evidence session now. There are a number of areas where you have agreed to provide us with further written information. As I always say, we prefer to get accurate information rather than speculative information from our witnesses, so we will very much appreciate it if you provide us with that information timeously.

I thank all three of you—director general, Colin Cook and Aidan Grisewood—for your time, the evidence that you have given us this morning and the information that you have been able to supply us with. I move the committee into private session.