Chamber and committees

Thank you convener—I know that you were just making sure that I was paying attention.

Is there a way in which we can stimulate manufacturing in Scotland by having clear targets for the substantial procurement that the public sector—everything from local authorities to the national health service—is involved in? Is that one way to build that stronger manufacturing base?

Nick Shields, based on your work, if we had clear targets for local procurement contracts, would the sector be geared up to adapt to that?

The witnesses have touched on a few issues, and I have mentioned procurement targets, but would you like the Scottish Government to pursue any other policy initiatives that have not been mentioned in order to tackle our supply chain challenges?

That is very interesting. You touched on skills and perceptions, but what are the other reasons why we have missed the boat on manufacturing? Denmark is far ahead of us on offshore turbines, for example. What did we fail to do? What lessons do we need to learn from that?

Do you have any idea why that unnamed roof tile manufacturer in Stirling is not producing the tiles? Has it been taken by surprise by all the factors such as the pandemic?

What needs to be done to get them to do that? Is setting up those manufacturing bases to do with access to Government support? Are you aware of any barriers that businesses that supply your business face in achieving that? Are they not getting grants from the Government to do that, or has that simply not been on the radar so far?

I put the same question to Bill Ireland. Is it about supporting the manufacturing base to grow, or are there other policy initiatives that the Government should be pursuing?

That is helpful. I put the same question to Stephen Kemp. You mentioned that the support scheme for buying new homes has been discontinued. Obviously, reinstating that scheme would be one policy initiative that you want. Are there any other initiatives that you think the Scottish Government should pursue?

I will follow up Colin Beattie’s questions and ask about the policy response to some of the supply issues that the witnesses have highlighted. What are your views on the Scottish Government’s initiatives so far to tackle those challenges? We have had the working group on construction supply chain and building materials. We have the supply chain development programme. Are those initiatives having any positive impact on the problems? What other initiatives would you like the Government to pursue?

Is it about stimulating the manufacturing base in Scotland so that we are producing the products, rather than relying on imports?