Meeting of the Parliament 02 June 2015
I am pleased to acknowledge that all approaches to entrepreneurial benefit and business development have a benefit for wider communities if they are properly managed and utilised.
In March 2015, the Industrial Communities Alliance reported that
“the upturn in economic growth is leaving older industrial Britain behind”.
In relation to Scotland’s communities, the impact affects 17 areas across the country, including Ayrshire on the west coast, Glasgow, the central belt, Fife and many other parts of our nation.
During the period 2009 to 2013, the indices for British private sector employment rose by 3.4 per cent, whereas, in the older industrial areas, the recorded rise was 0.9 per cent. The average British claimant rate in terms of benefits support was 10.3 per cent, whereas, in the older industrial areas of Scotland, the rate was recorded as 15.4 per cent. Those factors, taken together with the growth in zero-hours contracts and part-time working, have reduced the opportunities of many families to play a part in the economic life of their community. The lack of access to mortgages or credit and the absence of dependable earnings for the future act to disable whole groups in our society for a generation and beyond.
What to do in a global market, where substantial parts of what we identify as Scottish industries are actually owned and controlled outside this country? Our fishing industry, our spirits industry, our power industry and the engineering and oil and gas industries are all substantially operated by overseas companies, which have located here because of our environmental opportunities, our relatively stable society and the education and expertise of our workforce. Transnational companies strive to make profits—quite properly—but nations compete internationally in a desire to succeed and prosper by attracting such industries to their doorsteps. For some companies, that attraction to locate can be quickly undone, to the detriment of dependent communities.
Nevertheless, we have terrific advantages. Our environment, our education system, the quality of our people, our commitment to innovation and our ability to adapt all contribute to offering the opportunity for success in a small, well-connected nation that is capable of dealing with change.
We also benefit from our membership of the EU, in terms of both direct funding from the EU itself but, more important, access to a single market. We must continue to put the positive case for EU membership in the run-up to the EU referendum, whenever that may be.
That success is not a gift for the taking. It needs hard work, focus and engagement from all sections of our communities and from public authorities. It requires vision, leadership and a hunger to succeed against the ever-changing global challenges from emerging nations on the capitalist scene, such as China, India, Mexico, Turkey and, shortly, many African nations. Although the so-called BRIC economies—Brazil, Russia, India and China—may not have lived up to the more over-the-top hype of the past few years, the emerging economies are markets with unparalleled potential. It is remarkable that China’s 7.4 per cent GDP growth in 2014 was regarded by some as sluggish.
Entrepreneurs and investors must be helped to access those markets. Although the creation of enterprise and the growth in numbers of entrepreneurs are critical to Government, they are very much the business of the private sector. However, Governments can do more and, importantly, they can encourage success.
What can we expect the Scottish Government to do? It should increase its commitment to ensuring that all our young people, particularly those from deprived areas, gain access to university and see an opportunity for the future. It should also report on the progress that it has achieved on that. The number of young people from the poorest parts of Scotland who attend our ancient universities continues to be stagnant. Official figures for 2013-14 show that 196 of the 810 undergraduates who were accepted to study at Scotland’s five medical schools were from private schools. What does that mean for the chances of people from the most deprived areas of Scotland of getting into biomedical sciences, which is a key area of growth?