Chamber and committees

When you look at the data from the UK—or, indeed, from other countries, depending on how you do it—you must find additional flexibility within, say, the UK market. Is that what you expect to see?

Good morning. I just want to follow up on a couple of points that have already been made. On the point about productivity, what would be the impact if there were high UK productivity but low Scottish productivity?

I just want to ask briefly about a couple of other things. We have talked about fiscal sustainability over the next 50 years, but I wonder whether that can be broken down on a regional basis. In the Highlands and Islands, which I represent, healthcare and other services are very difficult and more expensive to deliver, and one would therefore expect the fiscal sustainability of those services to come under even more pressure. How much can the data forecast or reflect that?

Although you do not look at that aspect, the data is there to be enable those projections to be made. In rural areas and island communities, such as the one that I live in, there is already concern about how expensive services can be, and I will not even go into issues such as ferries. Lots of decisions to do with spend there will need to be made in the future. The concern is that that pressure is only going to grow, so how does the Government prioritise that spending, or at least ensure that that spending is there?

Yes.

Thank you.

The only interests that might be of relevance are that I am a partner in a farming business and that I have a number of shares in Tetragen (Knapton) Ltd and in Standard Life.

It would be interesting, from our point of view, to be updated on how that engagement goes.

I recognise what you say about wanting to be there from the beginning of the process and be part of that decision making. This is a devil’s advocate question, really, but do you not see value in that engagement even now, with the two winning bids—the two consortiums—at least around getting that information to them and ensuring that they are aware of it all?

I understand the point that you are making and the arguments that you have made previously, but it does not sound at this stage that you have asked either, so that might be an area in which to start.