Committee
Enterprise and Culture Committee, 28 Jun 2005
28 Jun 2005 · S2 · Enterprise and Culture Committee
Item of business
Business Growth Inquiry
I have two points to raise. Like everyone else, I think that the five priority themes are useful. I am particularly drawn to the first theme on demography, migration and so on. Wolfgang Michalski has rightly identified the fact that, although we train a lot of people, we do not get the benefit of doing so. Is there any way of finding out how many of our young people leave to gain or enhance their skills and come back? I suspect that the figure is higher than we imagine. We picked up on the issue from the Irish example. For years, Ireland was entirely about emigration, but nowadays many people are returning to Ireland, particularly those who went to the United States of America a generation ago. How do we take stock of the extent to which that is happening and encourage it in future? Demography is an issue, as are future birth rates. Stephen Boyle said that skills are not the issue, as demand can largely be met. His point was that somehow we have to increase demand, particularly among employers.My second point concerns what Wolfgang Michalski calls "dynamic clusters". I take Jamie Stone's point that Bremen and Hamburg are not of much relevance to the area that he represents in the Parliament. The inquiry is, of course, a Scotland-wide inquiry and we must consider it in those terms. Dynamic clusters appeal to me in part because I happen to represent a Glasgow constituency, and it is inevitable that many of the economic drivers are in the central belt, but that does not mean that we should ignore other parts of the country.Both of the German examples will be helpful to us in examining dynamic clusters and the idea of the city state, to which Susan Deacon referred. That said, I am not sure that the city state is quite what Wolfgang Michalski meant by a dynamic cluster, although the two are linked. I accept that dynamic clusters also relate to industries or sectors. We can hope to gain something from those ideas. I assume that we will move on to consider what we want to get out of the visits. Certainly, the geography of Sweden or Finland is more diverse than that of Hamburg or Bremen. At the same time, Hamburg and Bremen are devolved parts of a larger country, which makes them more like Scotland, whereas Sweden and Finland are autonomous countries. There, we want to examine not the regions but those countries' model of future business growth.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
SNP
We will take evidence from three panels of witnesses. Our first witnesses are Alan Wilson, the chief executive of the Scottish Council for Development and In...
Alan Wilson (Scottish Council for Development and Industry):
Thank you for the invitation to the committee. I apologise for producing a written submission that is 21 pages long—I did not notice until afterwards that it...
Christine May:
Lab
I have several questions so I will try to confine myself to asking some of them and hope that other committee members ask the rest. I am particularly interes...
Alan Wilson:
It should be borne in mind that there was a business poundage rate freeze in 2003. We estimate that that cost about £35 million. At that time, we asked for a...
Christine May:
Lab
Thank you. I thought that you might say that, so my next question puts the point back to you. If, for example, that money was to come from the current budget...
Alan Wilson:
That is a leading question.
Christine May:
Lab
Yes.
Alan Wilson:
Should I say that we should suddenly slice £100 million off Scottish Enterprise's budget? Jillian Moffat is behind me and she is already kicking me. I would ...
Christine May:
Lab
Thank you. I will leave that one sticking to the wall. However, the money would have to come from somewhere and you have suggested that it should be from som...
Iain Duff (Scottish Council for Development and Industry):
The issues that have been raised with us most recently seem to be in the environmental sphere, such as water regulation. Our members have recently talked to ...
Alan Wilson:
If I may, I will add a little to that. The member asked about specific industries. We have had dialogue with the whisky sector, which is particularly concern...
Christine May:
Lab
Thank you. I have a comment and a quick question, which I hope will lead to a quick answer. My comment is that you will shortly receive a call for evidence f...
Iain Duff:
The model could be extended to other areas. From the young engineers' point of view, SCDI has been driving the model through for many years—since the 1980s. ...
Christine May:
Lab
Thank you. Perhaps the SCDI could write to us with evidence on the progression of young people from young engineer clubs into engineering disciplines. It wou...
The Convener:
SNP
That would be helpful.
Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con):
Con
I have an observation to make on business rates before I launch into my questioning. Our new Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning is on record as sa...
Alan Wilson:
The point that we are making is that there are an awful lot of schemes and initiatives that keep an awful lot of people busy in implementing and administerin...
Iain Duff:
The anecdotal evidence from companies is mixed. Some of them get an incredibly good service from particular initiatives; but others, as we say in our submiss...
Murdo Fraser:
Con
What is your view on the effectiveness of the business gateway, as opposed to Scottish Enterprise as a whole? For many small and medium-sized companies, the ...
Iain Duff:
We do not deal with it every day of the week, but reports suggest that the gateway is useful. Alan Wilson spoke about streamlining and a one-stop shop is the...
Murdo Fraser:
Con
I want to ask Alan Wilson one final question. A moment ago, you seemed to suggest that you were in favour of slimming down the LECs and centralising things a...
Alan Wilson:
I was referring only to administration—just the back-up services. What we require is more work at the coalface.
Murdo Fraser:
Con
Are you generally happy with the structure of Scottish Enterprise and with the devolving of responsibilities to local areas?
Alan Wilson:
In recent times, Scottish Enterprise has gone in the right direction in the devolving of responsibilities. I am not sure that I would like to go further than...
Susan Deacon (Edinburgh East and Musselburgh) (Lab):
Lab
I would like to ask three questions. The first is broadly on education. I would like you to address a couple of points that were not really addressed in your...
Alan Wilson:
The determined to succeed initiative has an £86 million budget over three years or perhaps longer. Teachers and practitioners to whom I have spoken say that ...
Iain Duff:
Well, I am involved in the business school at the University of Strathclyde. Business schools should have an increasing role in training Scottish managers. T...
Susan Deacon:
Lab
That is helpful.I have two more questions on potentially big subjects, so I am simply looking for an indication of your thoughts. My first question is on pla...
Alan Wilson:
I will comment first—Iain Duff can then comment and elaborate on what I have said. We are looking for more automaticity in the system. I have been told that ...
Iain Duff:
It is right to say that the Scottish Council for Development and Industry has never been against just third-party rights of appeal, although we do not think ...