Seòmar agus comataidhean

Scottish football has a strong track record of delivering on national and local outcomes through projects and programmes such as CashBack for Communities, the Scottish Association on Mental Health changing rooms extra time mental wellbeing programme and out-of-school childcare at Ayr United Football Club. I must also welcome the work of the incredible Diamonds in the Community in Airdrie, in my constituency.

The breadth and diversity of the communities that our football clubs service is considerable. Many of those communities are in areas of significant deprivation, and we continue to work with the Scottish Football Association to improve the wellbeing of communities across Scotland.

We have invested £36 million over two years in our communities mental health and wellbeing fund, with approximately 3,300 grants going to local projects across Scotland. In 2022-23, 15 local community football mental health and wellbeing projects received more than £150,000, including £10,000 to the Falkirk Foundation and just over £30,000 to the Motherwell Football Club Community Trust. A further £15 million is committed in 2023-24, and we are providing local authorities with £15 million a year for community-based mental health support for children and young people.

On 28 August, the First Minister confirmed that leadership of the Clyde mission will move from the Scottish Government to local authorities in the Glasgow city region and Argyll and Bute. The Government is committed to empowering our regions to drive economic development that is focused as much on wellbeing as it is on growing our economy.

The Scottish Government remains a partner in the Clyde mission, investing £1.5 million in a new master plan. Alongside previous investment of £13.6 million and a commitment of £25 million to new heat decarbonisation projects, total Scottish Government investment will top £40 million.

Absolutely. The STUC and the Scottish Government have long shared the view that employment powers should be devolved to Holyrood. Both parties continue to press the United Kingdom Government for the full devolution of employment powers in order to protect and enhance workers’ rights. I hope that they will bring the Labour Party in Scotland with them on that journey, as it has consistently blocked the passage of employment law being devolved to the Parliament.

In “Building a New Scotland”, we set out the protection that Scotland could introduce if it had full employment law powers. For example, we propose repealing unfair labour laws such as the UK’s Trade Union Act 2016, legislating to ban fire and rehire and properly resourcing the enforcement of a Scottish national minimum wage. Policy coherence with the full suite of powers of independence, including powers over migration, would ensure that we had a migration strategy and a labour policy that were joined up and that addressed the needs of Scotland’s economy.

Securing the full range of powers in relation to employment law will enable the Scottish Parliament to implement policies that will best meet Scotland’s distinct needs. In “Building a New Scotland: A stronger economy with independence”, we outlined plans to offer comprehensive employment rights including flexible working, parental leave and unfair dismissal claims on day 1 of employment. Those powers would create fairer workplaces, enhance workers’ rights in Scotland and help to shift the curve on poverty and deliver on our shared ambition for a wellbeing economy that is fair, green and growing, with a just transition to net zero.

Scottish Government ministers meet the Scottish Trades Union Congress regularly, reflecting the important role that unions play as key social partners in sustaining effective democracy in society and contributing to economic competitiveness and social justice. Our strategic relationship with the STUC is underpinned by a memorandum of understanding that includes commitments to include the STUC in relevant policy development and for the First Minister to meet the STUC biannually to discuss current issues.

The STUC and affiliate trade unions have been engaged in a number of recent policy developments, including our national strategy for economic transformation, advancing fair work in adult social care, our retail strategy and our refreshed fair work action plan.

Maggie Chapman is absolutely right that alternative business models, such as co-operatives—I declare an interest in that I am a member of a co-operative—can deliver that scaling up and scaling deep. We will continue to provide support to co-operatives in Scotland, and I will write to Maggie Chapman to provide more detail on that support.

I slightly challenge Jamie Halcro Johnston’s assertion that our tax policy puts off investment in Scotland. Scotland is outperforming the rest of the UK on inward investment, so his point does not quite match up.

For Scotland to be the best place to do business was part of the theme of the new deal for business group. We want to continue to talk about the package of support that is on offer—I was talking to Liz Smith about that this morning. It is my job to sell Scotland as being a good place to do business and I will continue to do so. I will ensure that, as the member has suggested, I continue to listen to entrepreneurs about the work that they are doing—not least, to our chief entrepreneur, Mark Logan—which is what we base our plans on.

As the pathways review report sets out, unlocking Scotland’s full entrepreneurial potential offers a significant—huge—economic opportunity as we fully develop the delivery plans to implement the review’s recommendations. We will widen access to entrepreneurial support and education across all underrepresented groups and deliver accessible support where and when it is needed.

As I have said previously in the chamber, there is no doubt that unlocking the economic potential of women—ensuring that we close the gender pay gap, the employment gap and the gap in female start-ups—is one of the greatest economic potentials that we can invest in.

Part of the challenge that we heard about last night is in where private investment comes from. A lot of it is international rather than domestic.

I point to the support that we are looking to provide to our entrepreneurs and start-ups through our investment in the Techscaler network and by ensuring that it is married and matched to the likes of the NHS test beds, to give better certainty to the projects that they are working on from an investment perspective. I am more than happy to provide more detail on that to Brian Whittle to give him confidence about the work that we are doing.

The Scottish Government’s long-term vision is for social enterprise to be at the forefront of ethical and socially responsible business and for it to be far reaching and central to the way that Scotland chooses to do business. Social enterprises are supported through a world-class system here, which includes a pipeline of social investment into the sector from the pre-start-up stage through to loans for growth-ready business, as well as innovative funding for those businesses in between those stages. Last year, we funded the start of nearly 100 social enterprises through Scottish Government investment; in addition, a range of business support for the social enterprise sector continues to be provided.