Chamber and committees

First, I believe that Chris Brodie wanted to come in on the previous discussion. I also note that the second part of my question was going to be about the impact on the availability of labour.

I think that everybody accepts that the furlough scheme has been very important, but, as Mairi Spowage said, it will end in the autumn. That causes concern for some but, from speaking to businesses, I know that some feel that labour shortages have increased because people are still on furlough. Jobs are being protected, but there are shortages elsewhere.

Mairi Spowage has covered the issue from her perspective. Would Chris Brodie and Nora Senior like to comment on the importance of the furlough scheme and how it might be impacting on labour shortages?

Some of the problems with remote working have been highlighted today. As someone who joins meetings from Orkney, I am always terrified that it will be me who loses connection, so I have huge sympathy with Chris Brodie and am glad to see him back.

I will let Chris Brodie back in. He can either finish what he was saying or answer my next question. The need for change and what that means has been raised as an issue, so the first question that I was going to ask has been fully answered now. In relation to having the right skills in the right place and ensuring that people with those skills are able to work online from home, what does the Scottish Government need to do to meet that demand? How should it better facilitate home working, ensure that skills are in the right place and encourage people to retrain where we need them?

As a Highlands and Islands MSP and someone from Orkney, I could talk about rural housing and infrastructure all day long, but I will not. I am conscious of the time and the fact that other people want to come in on that subject.

I want to ask Charandeep Singh and Barry McCulloch about the cost of supply infrastructure. I spoke to one importer who had been paying just under £1,000 for a container. In the middle of the pandemic, it went up to around £18,000, and it is now down to about £5,000 or £6,000. Can you give me an idea of the impact of that cost? It would perhaps be helpful if Carolyn Currie could also comment on that.

I think that the issue of business support is about to come up, so I will pass back to the convener.

Good morning. To give you all a heads up, I point out that I will ask Charandeep Singh then Barry McCulloch about the supply chain issue. I would like clarification. We talk about the supply chain as if it is one all-encompassing thing. Of course, some of the shortages that we are seeing are in manufacturing or production at source—for example, there is a lack of production where some products are created.

I want to split the two and look at the supply infrastructure. A number of issues have been raised to do with the impacts of Covid and Brexit. Some of the problems do not relate only to the lack of drivers in this country. There is a shortage of HGV drivers across Europe, so it is not as simple as opening up access to the market and hoping that we will be able to attract people to this country. I am looking, first, for views on that.

The labour shortage is one issue, but there are other issues relating to what I call supply infrastructure, such as people being away on summer holidays and people being forced to isolate and, therefore, not being able to go to work.

The question of what we, as a Scottish Parliament committee, and the Scottish Government can do has been asked repeatedly. We will come on to procurement and business support. Is the aim to make our supply infrastructure more localised and to be able to produce more in Scotland, where we can? Should that involve creating an environment of business support to encourage more Scottish businesses to supply our own markets?

I have no specific interests in relation to the work of the committee, but I am a partner in the farming business of J Halcro-Johnston and Sons in Orkney, and I own a number of properties.