Chamber and committees

My amendments 12 and 14 would give Parliament a greater role in relation to the good food nation plan by ensuring that Parliament was consulted on the plan and had to approve it. Amendment 14 would require the Government, if sufficient progress had not been made, to set out what action was being taken to address that lack of progress.

Amendments 12 and 14 would mean that the Scottish Government was more accountable for achieving its good food nation aims. The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 provides a helpful example of enabling a greater level of parliamentary scrutiny and transparency. It places a duty on ministers to lay a draft plan before Parliament for a period of 120 days and to have regard to any representation on the draft plan. The Government thought that that period was reasonable, and I agree, which is why the same period is replicated in amendment 12. It is unclear why the cabinet secretary thinks that that is not a reasonable period.

The lack of opportunity for Parliament to scrutinise the bill is a recurring theme in the responses from stakeholders and in the committee’s report—for example, in its submission, Obesity Action Scotland stated:

“the Scottish Government has a commitment to Open Government, which outlines the government’s dedication to improving its own practices relating to transparency, participation and empowerment ... This commitment needs to be met and enacted in delivery of the national good food plan, with learnings cascaded down to the local plans”,

Government and scrutiny of Scotland’s food system.

I urge members to support amendments 12 and 14, which would ensure that the Parliament was given its rightful place and was able to effectively hold the Scottish Government to account on how it delivers our collective ambition to be a good food nation. I note the cabinet secretary’s offer to consider further the details of my two amendments and I would certainly welcome that discussion. It is disappointing that there has been very little engagement from the Government to date on amendments to the bill, but I look forward to that changing.

This question is for the team from SDI. Which sectors and areas offer the best international opportunities when it comes to Scottish retailers? How can the support that you provide directly benefit our high streets by ensuring that some of those retailers are not in out-of-town developments, but are based in our town centres?

I do not mind. We will kick off with Siobhan, as that will make things easier for the camera operator.

Is there a gap there at the moment? Retailers have been so used to their footfall coming from people walking up the high street that they might not be aware of such opportunities. Do you detect that there is a gap—an untapped resource, if you like, of businesses on our high streets that could benefit more from having that digital reach?

Neil, is it realistic to think that we will have a team of businesses on our high streets that will reach out to international markets from the back of the shop to make up for the fact that they are not getting as many people coming in through the front door?

I want to follow up that point with Mr Francis. You are effectively saying that, simply because of the displacement issue, Scottish Enterprise’s role and focus in our town centres is entirely on economic growth rather than inclusive growth, which means that there is no support for retail in our town centres.

One of the messages that we are getting is that our town centres need to change—that they need more cultural facilities, for example. Are you really saying that, because of your remit—which might differ from that of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise, which have that social element—you do not see a role for Scottish Enterprise in supporting a high street business?

Perhaps I can follow that up with David Lonsdale. Martin Newman has just said that bigger retailers, many of which I suppose are your members, are now more interested in the high street. Is that what you are seeing? We have spent a lot of time allowing out-of-town developments, which, arguably, have had a devastating impact on town centres. Are your members taking an interest in the town centre again and wanting to reverse that trend, or do we have to take further action to stop out-of-town developments?

That is helpful.

My next question is for Paul Gerrard. You talked about how Scotmid weathered the pandemic storm and, in many ways, delivered in our town centres. What will help to ensure that that continues?

That is the nature of online meetings. We are used to lots of noise.

Much of the evidence that we have heard so far highlights the fact that the future of our high streets may include fewer big retailers, a lot more smaller independent shops and growing online sales. What does that mean for trade unions, first on the issues of organisation and recruitment and then in supporting the fair work practices that are important to unions?

I want to bring Bryan Simpson in on a similar point. Bryan, you mentioned the impact of the pandemic on the hospitality sector through job losses at a time when supporting fair work has probably never been more important. What impact has the pandemic and the changing face of our high street had on trade union representation and the fight for fair work? Has it made it more challenging for you to organise in workplaces?