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Yes, absolutely. Ms Hyslop and I spoke about some of that yesterday. We discussed the need to ensure that we have a strong domestic supply chain to feed our offshore wind opportunities. We will continue to do what we can to make sure that that is brought forward.

I will bring in the chief economist to supplement that and give more detail.

Thank you very much indeed, convener. I also thank the committee for giving me the opportunity to be here today to share the Government’s priorities in my portfolio area.

The impacts of the cost crisis, the pandemic, Brexit and fiscal instability resulting from United Kingdom Government decisions have brought untold damage to our economy, with persistent high inflation and unprecedented drops in living standards. Coupled with the climate and nature emergency, these crises have exposed fundamental weaknesses in the current economic system, and that backdrop underlines the need to transform our economy into one that is resilient and which prioritises wellbeing—an economy that serves people, not the other way round.

As we transition to a wellbeing economy, we will embed equality, inclusion and human rights in everything that we do. I am committed to the First Minister’s three interlinked missions of growing a fairer and greener economy, seizing the opportunities of net zero and creating better communities.

At the heart of a wellbeing economy will be economic growth for a purpose—that is, to drive improved living standards, promote wellbeing, reduce poverty and deliver sustainable high-quality public services—through harnessing and combining the economic power and opportunity of Scotland’s rich renewable energy resources.

The skills and talents of our people and businesses will be critical to achieving that. We will work closely with the private sector and the public sector, locally, nationally and UK-wide, and we will engage directly with communities and partners in the third sector.

Working with my Cabinet colleagues, we will deliver our national strategy for economic transformation, with a sharp focus on policies and actions that have the greatest potential to grow and change Scotland’s economy, expand the tax base to fund excellent public services and make people’s lives better. That will require a new approach to the Government’s relationship with business, so at the First Minister’s request, I will engage widely with business leaders to develop and agree with the private sector a new deal for how we will work with business to deliver a growing economy that increases wellbeing.

In the First Minister’s prospectus, I have laid out my priorities for what I want to deliver over the next three years, and you will no doubt want to hold me to account on them. Those priorities include: more people being in work; more people earning at least the real living wage and a narrowing of the gender pay gap; more business creation and more businesses growing to scale; increased investment in productive assets; internationally competitive clusters of excellence, including in green technologies, health and life sciences, digital and advanced manufacturing; greater regional and local economic empowerment, including through our programme of community wealth building; more growth in exports; and more high-quality inward investment.

A just transition for our energy sector is, arguably, the biggest opportunity that we have. We have a huge opportunity to establish Scotland as an exporter of green hydrogen to Europe, and analysis shows that, overall, the number of low-carbon jobs in energy production could rise to 77,000 by 2050. The potential can be seen in the ScotWind offshore leasing round, which has already delivered more than £750 million in revenues and will bring billions of pounds of investment into the Scottish supply chain and the wider economy. Indeed, the recent announcement that the Japanese company Sumitomo Electric Industries will be coming to Scotland to build a cable manufacturing plant demonstrates the strength of investors’ confidence in our net zero economy vision.

I look forward to discussing some of those points with the committee in greater detail, and I appreciate the opportunity that you have given me to set out my stall.

Yes, I will. We are looking to build on the city and regional growth deals; to respond to the regional economic policy review; to work with regional economic partnerships to ensure that there are regional intelligence hubs; and to simplify the funding landscape. I am due to meet our enterprise agencies over the coming weeks, when I will be seeking to discuss that, the suggestions that they have and how I respond to those over the coming weeks and months.

The honest answer is that we are competing—we are competing on an international scale. That is why our international network and the work being done by the likes of Scottish Development International and by our office network internationally are so important. They build the relationships, such as the one that we have with Sumitomo Electric, to provide confidence and they outline the opportunities that investing in Scotland gives. We will continue to work with Scottish Development International and our international network to ensure that our investment priorities—which, as we have already outlined, are around our net zero commitments and the supply chain—are communicated to potential investors globally.

If you look at investments that have been made both in the United States and in Europe through the green deal, you can see that we are competing in a highly competitive international market. We cannot afford to allow ourselves to be left behind at a time when our net zero ambitions are very challenging, and when the decisions that are taken over the next couple of years on areas such as offshore wind and hydrogen will be crucial in determining whether we continue to be a world leader in offshore wind and whether we will still have the opportunity to be first to market with green hydrogen. I therefore encourage the UK Government to look at matching some of the investment incentives that have been made by the European Union and the United States, to ensure that we are not left behind on a competitive front with regard to those nations and regions.

I am happy to do that, and I will ensure that I follow up in writing with the committee.

Yes, I absolutely take that suggestion from Ms Hyslop and will ensure that it is given due consideration as we examine the consultation responses. I cannot pre-empt that process, obviously, but I expect to go into some of the areas that she has laid out. We will ensure that we have a concrete strategy that ensures that we can realise the potential and have a just transition that does not leave communities behind in the way that they were left behind in the 1980s and 1990s under Thatcher.

NSET is the guiding light—it has the metrics and measures to ensure that we are tracking our progress. I do not think that there are tensions. There are areas where we need to ensure that we are delivering well for people and for our planet; the deposit return scheme is one example of that. However, the DRS is also an economic opportunity because, if we can get recycling rates right, that will show that there is a clear business opportunity for dealing with commodities that come through the waste market.

Major opportunities are coming forward. The wellbeing economy elements ensure that we are focused on delivering for people; we are not focused just on the traditional gross domestic product growth elements. Growth is important for the purpose of ensuring that we are delivering better lives for people across Scotland.

It is fundamental. Grangemouth produces 8 per cent of our carbon emissions. As Ms Hyslop rightly outlines, it is our greatest emitter. Ensuring that there is a just transition means that we need the UK Government to move much faster on delivering Acorn from track 2. It is an absolute priority for us to continue pressing the UK Government for that, and I am sure that it will come up in the discussions with Graham Stuart following my appearance today.

It is very challenging to see an alternative. Carbon capture is critical, and the Acorn project is the most advanced and the most secure project. It can get up and running incredibly quickly, and we will see a massive decarbonisation of our largest carbon emitter at Grangemouth.

I again encourage the UK Government to act as quickly as possible. I heard the committee do that when Mr Bowie was before it a couple of weeks ago. It is really important for Scotland’s net zero ambitions and if the UK is serious about its net zero ambitions that carbon capture in the Acorn project continues to be progressed and is progressed quickly.

The pumped storage capacity will be important for giving the consistent energy supply from renewables that we are looking for, particularly as we look to replace the fossil fuel baseload that is provided. We will look to ensure that that is done in a holistic way that is the most efficient way and that takes communities with us on the journey. We will make sure that we keep those matters under consideration.