Seòmar agus comataidhean

You do not need to operate your microphones—we will take care of that. That is one less thing to think about.

Thanks so much for joining us. We will turn to questions from members. I will give you a bit of information on how to involve yourselves. Usually, a member will initially direct a question to somebody, but if you want to comment, please indicate to me or to our assistant clerk, Kath Byrne. Stacey, as you are online, put an R in the chat function if you want to come in. As I said earlier, there is no need for you to turn microphones on and off, as we will do that for you.

I am delighted that we are having this round-table meeting. It feels as though we are making quite a start with regard to the fact that the Government is talking about a community wealth building bill. However, my sense is that community wealth building is already happening in Scotland to some degree, and some of you are certainly representing that. Therefore, initially—I will direct this question to Neil McInroy to start with, just to give you a heads-up—I am interested to know whether you have a sense in your work that we really understand that community wealth building will bring benefits. Is there agreement on that across Scotland? How does that approach differ from what has gone before—for example, with community empowerment and inclusive growth? Neil—I know that you talk quite a lot about the predistributive and redistributive models. How do we ensure that that is taking place?

Thanks for that.

I am hearing from people around Scotland that there is concern that community wealth building could end up being just another form of economic development. From your experience, how can we ensure that that does not happen? How can we make sure that what happens is about community wealth building and that it has the redistributive and predistributive aspects? How have you done that in Preston?

That is a really interesting question. How do we take the people with us?

Louise Kirk—I want to bring you into the conversation. We visited Great Cumbrae and saw some of the work that has been happening in North Ayrshire. As part of the Ayrshire community wealth building commission, you have been doing that work. We are looking at the topic now because we are anticipating a community wealth building bill, so it would be good to hear a bit about your experience in all the work that you have been doing as part of your commission.

Also, what have you bumped into that has indicated that we need some primary legislation? What is in the way of you being able to really flourish in what you are doing?

That is helpful, and thanks for pointing us to that resource.

I will bring in Rob Davidson and then Neil McInroy, and then I will come to Matthew Brown with a question about legislation. Iain Gulland also indicated that he wants to comment, and some of you may want to come back in on things that others have brought up. Please feel free to do that.

Matthew Brown, I said earlier that I wanted to know how Preston has done this without legislation, but perhaps there is legislation. How have you done this?

Absolutely.

That is very helpful. I have had conversations with representatives of Moray Council and Western Isles Council. The Western Isles are a bit ahead and Moray is taking some inspiration, so there is a peer-to-peer learning aspect there.

We are bringing lots of layers to the conversation—I call it a lasagne—and sometimes it is tricky to manage it all. I will bring in Angus Hardie now. I am not sure what point you wanted to come in on, Angus, but I think that it was to do with the five pilot areas. Iain Gulland indicated that he wanted to come in, too, perhaps on infrastructure.

Having talked to people on this subject, I sense that one example would be Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn in the Western Isles, which generates an income of £400,000 a year from three wind turbines. I see that as a community anchor organisation, because it employs a lot of local people and looks after their interests. My sense, then, is that it is about the context in which words are used. It is also important that the local authorities—if they are the anchor institutions—the CPPs that we are beginning to talk about or other anchor organisations really recognise those strong community anchor organisations, as they are an important part of the mix.

Something that has come to mind during this conversation is the local governance review and the whole “Democracy Matters” conversation that is going on in Scotland. There is an opportunity there. Indeed, more and more people are talking about it; I have had conversations with people from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities who recognise that communities need to be supported into a place of leadership. There is a lot going on in Scotland at the moment, and it is very exciting.

I see that Angus Hardie wants to come back in.