Chamber and committees

The same question is also for Charandeep Singh.

Thank you—it would be helpful to have that data on the differences.

Have members of Women’s Enterprise Scotland reported similar issues with the enterprise agencies?

You mentioned the prevalence of co-operatives in the Highlands and Islands. Is the agency in that region doing anything specific that is perhaps different from what Scottish Enterprise is doing to enable that to happen, or have other factors contributed to that?

I ask the same question of Rose Marley. I recall that, when the legislation to set up South of Scotland Enterprise was going through Parliament, I moved amendments to try to get specific references to supporting co-operatives as one of the agency’s aims. I declare an interest as a Co-operative Party MSP. What is co-operatives’ view of the support from enterprise agencies, including during the pandemic?

That is very helpful. I put the same question to Dave Moxham, and I ask him to respond to my second question, which is about the conditionality of business support. I think that, previously, business support in general focused on the number of jobs created, turnover and growth targets. However, during the pandemic, I have been struck by how little conditionality has been attached to the grant support around jobs and the removal of the furlough scheme. Is there a need to consider increasing conditionality when it comes to business support in general? Do we need to consider not just jobs and turnover, but fair work, inclusive growth, the transition to net zero and many of the other issues that we need to start bringing more to the fore in the support that we give to our business sector?

Thank you very much for that. It was not a leading question, because I knew that you would be very balanced and talk about the practicalities and challenges.

I do not know whether Barry McCulloch and Charandeep Singh have particular views—

Is the prevalence of co-ops in the Highlands and Islands related to any work that Highlands and Islands Enterprise is doing, or have other factors contributed to that?

I do not want to put you on the spot, because you might not have spoken to all your members across the country, but to follow up on that point, did any of your members notice any difference in approach between Scottish Enterprise and the Highlands and Islands Enterprise or South of Scotland Enterprise agencies when it comes to support for small businesses?

I want to discuss business support, which was touched on earlier. I suspect that all the witnesses might have views on that, so I invite them to answer in the order in which their names appear on the agenda, kicking off with Barry McCulloch.

What are your thoughts on how the economic development agencies—Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise—have performed over the past 12 months? I know that much of their work has been around administering grant support, but apart from that, has their response met the needs of businesses and workers, and has that response told us anything about the changes that we might need to make to the ways in which our agencies function?

I nominate Claire Baker.

Claire Baker was chosen as convener.