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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 2 August 2025
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Displaying 2597 contributions

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Economy and Fair Work Committee

National Strategy for Economic Transformation

Meeting date: 18 January 2023

Colin Beattie

An obvious question to ask is how we evidence that there is alignment. How do we know? We might have it in policy and in all the documents and so on, but how do we evidence that it has been achieved?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Chief Entrepreneurial Adviser to the Scottish Government

Meeting date: 11 January 2023

Colin Beattie

I will follow up on two very basic things that you mentioned in your interesting answer. You spoke about there being an endemic lack of confidence in the culture in Scotland. Are there any indications that the situation is improving? Further to that, is it possible to teach entrepreneurship? Could you create a class in school that would teach pupils about entrepreneurship?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Chief Entrepreneurial Adviser to the Scottish Government

Meeting date: 11 January 2023

Colin Beattie

I have one last question. You touched—you did not dwell too long—on Government policy. Are there deficiencies in Government policy? Are there things that need to be done?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment Outlook

Meeting date: 11 January 2023

Colin Beattie

James, what is your experience?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Chief Entrepreneurial Adviser to the Scottish Government

Meeting date: 11 January 2023

Colin Beattie

Let me ask you a very obvious question. What do you consider are the barriers to entrepreneurial activity in Scotland?

11:30  

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment Outlook

Meeting date: 11 January 2023

Colin Beattie

What indication have you seen of people transitioning out of the oil and gas industry into renewables? Has there been any significant movement?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment Outlook

Meeting date: 11 January 2023

Colin Beattie

Would John O’Sullivan like to comment?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment Outlook

Meeting date: 11 January 2023

Colin Beattie

I do not think that anybody is unaware that Scotland and the United Kingdom are seeing fairly substantial labour shortages across the board. The transition to net zero will increase the demand for certain skills and occupations. How significant will that constraint on skilled labour be on the renewable energy sector?

On the back of that, how confident are you that the skills and education system will deliver the pipeline of people and skills that you need?

I ask Claire Mack to kick off on that.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment

Meeting date: 21 December 2022

Colin Beattie

Let me move on logically from that and ask you to get your crystal ball out. What is your expectation with respect to consumer spending in 2023?

Our economy is consumer led to a greater extent than practically any other economy in Europe. We rely on people having disposable income to spend, which drives the economy. I will start by asking Carolyn Currie whether she has any thoughts on that. How much of a concern is that for businesses? How are they factoring in that risk on the consumer side? Alternatively, is there reasonable confidence that people will have that disposable income and that it will be spent as it has been in the past?

10:15  

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment

Meeting date: 21 December 2022

Colin Beattie

Fergus Mutch, do you have a more cheery approach to this?