Chamber and committees

Is it correct to say that, in a large number of cases, there are no funds and that they do not get paid back? In those cases, would the creditor need to pay?

Good morning. I will ask one question before I come to my main line of questioning. A number of my colleagues have asked about the impact of leaving the EU on our economy, and the general answer seems to be that we can see some impact but that it is quite hard to tell because of Covid and other aspects.

One of the focuses of the Scottish Government at the moment is another referendum to leave the United Kingdom, with all the potential questions around borders, debt level and currency that have not been answered. We have estimates of deficit, but nothing that is agreed.

I will go to Professor Chadha first and then to Emma Congreve. How might that constitutional and political uncertainty impact? We might find ourselves out of the UK—that is certainly the intention of the Scottish Government—while also having been out of the EU for a number of years. I wonder how that might impact on business confidence and economic recovery.

I come to Emma Congreve on that point. If you have any specifics on how we get people who are out of work back into the labour market, that would be very helpful.

The issue that has been raised is about what we want the Scottish Government to do in terms of its competencies to help deal with current economic uncertainty, including the cost of living crisis and the like.

I will not ask what you want John Swinney to say tomorrow, but can you outline some of the areas that are within the competence of the Scottish Parliament in which the Scottish Government can act to deal with the impact of the challenges that we face over the next few years?

Professor Chadha, if you have anything to add to that, your thoughts would be helpful.

Thank you, minister. It is a really quick question. There has been an issue in Orkney about a lack of meter installers, which is holding back house building and means that there are not enough people to install smart meters. Has that come across your desk? What opportunity might there be for you to become involved in training more meter installers? I do not know whether you are aware of that issue.

Domestic boilers might be ruled out. In that case, people would be making decisions about whether they should go to another form of renewables. However, there might be potential for domestic boilers to run on hydrogen. The difficulty is that we do not have the detail yet, although lots of people are talking about the potential for its use in agriculture and other industries. I am interested because there is a lack of clarity despite all the positivity about it.

You have talked about 300,000 jobs. It would be good to know where those might be.

That would be helpful.

We have talked about the opportunities of the just transition. In previous such schemes or processes, there have been many opportunities for big business and perhaps fewer for small and medium-sized enterprises to take advantage of what is happening. How will you ensure that SMEs take advantage of the opportunities of the just transition?

The need for the just transition and to hit climate change targets are not reasons for the Government not to go ahead and deliver those projects.

I have met representatives from a number of sectors recently, and they are all talking about skills and about delivering. I know that you said that it was mentioned in a previous report, but we are talking about 300,000 jobs. There are skills shortages in various sectors, including construction, aerospace, defence and some financial services. How will we ensure that we have enough people to train up in those sectors? How will we deliver those jobs?