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Roddy MacDonald, what is the capacity of the voluntary sector and volunteers to be involved in the big projects that we have heard about?

Briefly, for the record, we acknowledge that there is no proposal for any tourism tax in West Lothian and that Linlithgow palace is closed because of unsafe masonry.

On the point about that culture change and the fact that business improvement districts could do more, what would enable them to do more? You talked about their doing bigger projects. However, is there not a risk that, if they do small things, business improvement districts have the challenge of justifying what they are doing? How do we get that trust among all the public sector bodies to empower business improvement districts to do more?

I will come first to Anthea Coulter and then to Mark Darragh. We have heard that considerable funding is now available for town centres. We also know that there is a great deal of entrepreneurship, not just in the third sector but in the business improvement districts. Would that enable better collaborative working with councils? There has been a period of austerity in which councils may have been risk averse, because things have been tight financially. What enablers would help a culture of bigger projects, potentially? People want to see value from a BID, which they might not see in a small project. Are capabilities opening up that perhaps were not there five years ago?

We have heard from Phil Prentice about the various funds that are available, and we know from the examples that have just been given that their success is due to a common alignment between different funding streams, whether they be from Historic Environment Scotland, Creative Scotland or the town centre fund. The common theme is that there is a common vision about the story of the place and what needs to be done.

My question for David Grove, though, is about risk aversion. Many council officers involved in towns have to get a return for the council, which might own the properties and might well be under financial pressure and stretched in many different directions. Is there a danger of risk aversion preventing us from making the step change that we need? It all comes down to people; the capital investment might well be available but, in relation to people, what sort of culture and resource do we need? If we are to take communities and, indeed, the business community, artists and so on with us, we need to remember that, although these people are often the most entrepreneurial, they also run businesses and can get exhausted by the time and effort that they have to put in, constant consultations and so on. How do we make that step change to ensure that people embrace entrepreneurialism and become less risk averse?

Very briefly, Danny, given your previous experience in working for the council and with community groups, what do you think are the key elements culturally to enable people to have that trust and, particularly for local authorities, to pass over power and decision making to local communities?

Thank you. Phil, can you comment on the danger of risk aversion and on the benefit of entrepreneurialism in the public sector as well as working with partners in the private sector? Again, we had better focus on successes rather than on where that has not happened. What are your reflections on good practice that we can follow up on, and on practice that we need to try to move away from?

The Scottish Government has clearly encouraged Creative Scotland to have a more place-based agenda with regard to funding, and Jennifer Hunter has given examples in that respect. How can we enable culture, heritage and a wider arts focus to be taken into account at the start of development, instead of being perceived as “nice to have” at the end of the process? What people resource will be required to get that engine of activity going? After all, freelancers often have to take on other jobs to help with their work, and they need the time to take on such engagements. What is your view on that?

Okay. Dr Lowes, did you indicate that you want to come in?

Thank you. The other area that I want to cover is energy market reform. I come to Dr Hannon first on that. You talked about decoupling gas, for example, when it comes to price setting. I am interested in your views on energy market reform—what is needed and when—and whether we should be shifting to make sure that the energy market is designed to ensure secure, affordable and sustainable energy. If you could unpack the separation of gas from that price setting, that would be helpful as well.

Good morning, panel, and thank you for joining us. Please feel free to expand on your previous remarks. I am interested in the historical context that we have just heard about from Dr Lowes and that rapid acceleration of electrification, particularly in Scandinavia, in the 1960s and 1970s. Some of us are old enough to remember the 1973 oil crisis, and the very practical implications that it had.

My question is first to Dr Lowes. What can we learn from the speed of the response in the 1960s and 1970s? Indeed, are there any lessons that we should learn from that? What should we expect now?