Chamber and committees

Thank you for that. I had better let other committee members come in.

I am sorry to jump in at the end, but I have a question for Martin Reid. He talked about the shortage of available HGV drivers, which is a problem across Europe. I am looking at some of the figures that we have in our papers. The salary for an HGV driver has reduced in comparison with salaries for those in comparable jobs, such as supermarket cashiers.

As I said, there is a large issue with a shortage of drivers across Europe. If the job of HGV driver was added to the shortage occupation list, why would the UK, and Scotland in particular, be an attractive destination for people to come and work in? There are additional costs for travelling to and living in Scotland. What sort of numbers would you expect, in the event that the job was added to the list?

We talk about supply lines as if they happen just in the United Kingdom. Given, for example, the huge amount of press coverage about the availability of toys at Christmas, are there issues with, say, the increased cost of manufacturing abroad, transport of products to the UK and so on? Are some of your members recognising that the price of a certain product means that it is just not suitable for the UK market? How is all of that impacting on what might or might not be available?

I have one more question, which is for Andrew Richards. I will be very brief, as I know that Fiona Hyslop or some other committee member is going to ask about the same issue.

Given the current unpredictability of the residential and commercial property market, where do you see the construction sector going in the next few years? Where will you find the opportunities to build, and how will demand, or lack of demand in some cases, be met, addressed or otherwise dealt with?

I can hear you fine.

You said that the agencies have had to do things differently. How much are you having to focus on supporting businesses to do things differently to the way in which they might have done before the pandemic? We have heard a lot about businesses needing to go online and how it has been a fundamental issue that a lot of businesses did not have a strong enough online offering although I appreciate that there might be differences between the general business side and the tourism sector side. How are you supporting businesses within your sector to do things differently, and how important is that going to be in the future?

I am conscious of the time, so I will ask both of you just one more question.

You have talked about some of the limitations, and you have highlighted digital issues. We have seen some of those issues today. Given the issues that are faced with rural broadband and the nature of the areas that you cover, what do we need to do? How can you work to try to deal with some of those barriers, particularly digital barriers? You mentioned the rural housing issue. What do we need from the Scottish Government to address that? As you have said, there can be jobs in a place, but if there is no broadband, rural housing and other services, it is very difficult for businesses to grow and to encourage people to move in.

We have heard today that Scottish Enterprise continues to deliver growth, but throughout the pandemic there has been a focus on supporting existing businesses through extremely difficult times. I will go to Adrian Gillespie first and then on to Malcolm Roughead to get an idea of how that focus might have impacted on long-term growth as it has turned away from new businesses and, over the next few years, how you will balance supporting existing businesses that are still struggling or still need that support. How will you look to develop and support new businesses and entrepreneurship?

My question is for the two chief executives. Throughout the pandemic, there has been a need to support businesses to get them through it. However, as we come out of it, how will you balance the need to continue to support certain sectors with the need to ensure that there are new businesses and start-ups and to support entrepreneurship? As South of Scotland Enterprise is a relatively new organisation, I ask Jane Morrison-Ross whether she feels that she has sufficient budget and resources to be able to do that.

I will go to Carroll Buxton first and then to Jane Morrison-Ross.

If you have a concern about your budget, I am happy for you to raise it, but the question is really about how you achieve a balance between supporting existing businesses and supporting new businesses and entrepreneurship.