Hansard

I congratulate Gordon MacDonald on securing this important debate. He pointed out the huge importance of convenience stores to Scotland and set out his stall by summarising some of the salient facts—for example, the more than 40,000 jobs that are sustained by the sector, with £0.5 billion or more of turnover, and the enormous contribution that convenience stores make to the communities that they serve, not least in his constituency of Edinburgh Pentlands. I have had the pleasure of working with Gordon MacDonald and with some of his constituents and the Scottish Grocers Federation. He has been a champion of the cause, which he has persevered in pursuing. I note, incidentally, that the Scottish Grocers Federation is 98 this year and will be celebrating its centenary in 2018, which is something to look forward to.

The cross-party support that we have heard for the sector is extremely encouraging. This has been a very positive debate and I praise all members’ contributions to it, which have given us the opportunity to discuss some of the enormous contribution that the sector makes.

These businesses are truly local businesses—perhaps more so than just about any other type of business, as “The Local Shop Report 2015” exemplifies. I think that they come second only to the post office in being the most community based and the most local of businesses, and in making the greatest commitment to communities of perhaps all the retail sector. That is the message that I took from the various contributions to the debate as we went on a sort of virtual geographic tour of Scotland, from Aberdeen and Kirkcaldy through to Glasgow Cathcart, which left me with the indelible image of Mr James Dornan leading a conga to raise money for a children’s charity as a sort of Pied Piper of Hampden, as he might describe himself.

We know that Mr Adam always champions his native town of Paisley, which he always mentions, so I was surprised that he got a whole three seconds into his speech before he said the word “Paisley”, which showed uncharacteristic forbearance.

A number of issues were raised in the debate, some of which I will highlight. Business rates were mentioned; they are a necessary contribution to Scotland’s finances and businesses make an enormous contribution to sustaining public services through the rates that they pay, but when did we last hear a business getting recognition for contributing enormously to helping maintain our health, education, police and environmental services?

Smaller businesses value highly the small business bonus, as we heard. I think that near 100,000 businesses now receive the small business bonus. My ambition—or one of them—is that the small business bonus becomes a sort of embedded part of policy—not something that is liable to be removed but something that will continue to be part of the system as long as we have the current rating system. Our party has made the commitment that we will, if re-elected, retain the small business bonus to the end of the next session—which, by my arithmetic, will take us to 2021. That is important, because that sort of certainty and long-term planning would be really appreciated by the smaller convenience stores that, as Mr MacDonald clearly set out, value the small business bonus that they obtain. I hope that the parties that do not presently support the small business bonus will join us in recognising the enormous contribution that is made.

However, the sector makes other contributions, including employment of young people. From a convenience store in Mr MacDonald’s constituency I learned of the contribution that such businesses make to employment of young people through the provision of what used in the old days to be called Saturday jobs, such as paper rounds—which, if I may say so, you and I can remember particularly well, Presiding Officer. Okay—the salaries are not high, but the experience inculcates the work ethic in young people and presents an opportunity for them to learn that they must arrive and finish at a certain time and get the job done. Businesses provide such work to local children, in a safe environment. That can be easy to overlook.

Problems such as parking, planning and regulation are at the heart of the nitty-gritty experience of running a small business. Such frustrations and irritations can be considerable, as I well remember from running my own small business. I will not share with members the frustrating experience that I had in relation to planning, although I might do so in a different environment.

When we are taking steps to encourage responsible use of tobacco and alcohol, we must, prior to making and implementing regulations, consider what they will mean in practice for the people who will have to apply them. It is easy to make a high-minded rhetorical speech about the value and rightness of such action; it is far more difficult to ensure that regulations can be applied in a practical, consistent and proportionate way, which does not impose an undue burden, as our better regulation policy sets out.

I think that almost every member in the debate mentioned convenience stores’ enormous contribution to charity, which we cherish. That contribution perhaps explains why such stores are the second most popular type of retail business in the country, as it says in the independent report.

As the minister who has sought to build a close relationship with the whole retail sector and to recognise its value in employing around a quarter of a million people in Scotland, I have a particular affinity for the small and often family-run businesses that are rooted in Scotland and its communities—the convenience stores that are open from 8 til late and whose staff start work from 6 am or 7 am and work hours as long as anyone in the country works. It is a great experience to have the opportunity to thank all those businesspeople and their staff for the enormous contribution that they make to their communities and to Scotland.