Chamber and committees

You touched on SAF, Mr Pritchard. I think that Murdo Fraser has a question on that.

I call Lorna Slater.

Finally, what input have your companies had into the development of the Government’s just transition for Grangemouth plan?

I have a final question. You talked earlier about clarity for the workforce. There has been some speculation about the possibility of a buyer for the refinery. Can you tell us for the record whether there have been any notes of interest or discussions about a possible sale of the refinery?

You can write to the committee if you want to give us a comprehensive list.

Good morning. I will ask a couple of questions about your staffing projections. The delivery plan sets out the projected size and composition of the workforce over the five-year period and 2025-26 is set to see a notable shift of staff resources from operational to digital and data. At 6 per cent, your staff turnover is quite low and there is not a lot of detail in the plan on how the shift in staffing will be delivered. Are you on track to deliver that change and to do so entirely without compulsory redundancies? Can you say more about how it will be managed and implemented?

You mentioned issues around agency staff costs and a planned reduction in those, but I notice that in 2023 the cost of agency and temporary staff was £23.5 million, which is 28 per cent of your total staff cost. That is up from 23 per cent in the previous year. Can you say more about why, when you say that you want to reduce the overall reliance on agency staff, we have seen an increase in that cost?

You have got a double challenge. You want to get the temporary staffing numbers down, but you want to overall increase your digital staffing levels. That seems incredibly challenging and I will be keen to see what your projections for those numbers are for the next few years.

Just to be clear, what is your overall projection for the number of agency/contingent staff who are likely to be in place over the next few years? What share of your staffing costs is that likely to be? It is 28 per cent at the moment. What is your projection for the proportion of your overall staffing costs being due to agency staff?

Are you doing that without any compulsory redundancies?