Chamber and committees

I commend my colleague Bob Doris for trying to keep politics out of this, but I am going to throw it back in again. Is the problem not that the relationship between the two Governments has never been worse, and that the lack of collaboration and the intransigence towards each other are complicating the way in which we are trying to develop the bill?

The focus of your answer was very much on penalising those who do not comply, but there is another side to that coin. Should we not be encouraging people to comply? Instead of just a stick, do we not need a stick and a carrot? How do we encourage rather than penalise? I think that that is always a better approach to take, if you can.

I will open that up slightly. We have heard that the issue is not just about allocation of the funds but is about having to apply for them annually then spend them in-year, which seems to be prohibitive. Mark, do you have thoughts on that, and on my initial question?

Thank you. That is really helpful. In the world of investment, it is almost easier to get bigger sums of money. You mentioned some significant investments that you have made in core projects. What is SNIB doing to make sure that smaller companies—SMEs, start-ups and third sector organisations—that will not be looking for such large amounts of investment still have access to the just transition fund?

Good afternoon, panel. I will ask this of Fergus Mutch, if I may.

We heard this morning about the just transition and the impact that it is having, or not having, on the SME sector. Panellists have mentioned carrots and sticks several times. I was musing on the fact that, as has already been said, much of the just transition fund is allocated through financial transactions. Given that the money is being administered in that form, is there understanding among your SME members that money is available to them? I will throw start-ups and the third sector into that, because we heard from such bodies when we visited Aberdeen just a couple of weeks ago.

I am sorry to labour the point, but you talked about significant investments that are in the pipeline, and you said that investment was mostly in SMEs. The amount of money that you are investing in projects is significant. How do smaller SMEs that do not, traditionally, look for such levels of investment, access the just transition fund?

Ronan, is there anything that you want to add to that?

Where have we heard that before? We should be aligning bus and rail timetables. I will leave it there.

Good morning. I will be brief. I will ask my question in two parts. The first part is to Jordan Jack and the second is to Mike Duncan.

The Scottish Government has a target of reducing car mileage by 20 per cent by 2030. I am interested in the impact. Currently, we are trying to prevent cars from coming into city centres. I had my own experience of that in Aberdeen a couple of weeks ago, as I tried to navigate my way around, having not been there for a while. First, I wonder whether our public transport system has the capability to pick up the slack, if you like, of people travelling into and out of our city centres for purchases or for work. Secondly, what will be the impact on our city centres of preventing people from coming in and out by car for work and to shop when it comes to recruitment and retention and turnover for businesses? Jordan Jack, is the north-east set up to take up a reduction in cars?

I thought that SNIB funded £5 million and up, and that Scottish Enterprise funded £1 million to £5 million.