Economy and Fair Work Committee
3rd Meeting, 2025
The Committee agreed to take item 4 in private.
The Committee took evidence from—
Carolyn Currie, Chief Executive, Women’s Enterprise Scotland;
Vikki Manson, Deputy Head of Policy Scotland, Federation of Small Businesses;
Duncan Thorp, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Social Enterprise Scotland.
The Committee considered the evidence heard earlier in the meeting.
The Committee noted the Scottish Government’s responses to its reports on Closing the Disability Employment Gap in Scotland and Post-legislative scrutiny of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and agreed to seek clarification on the response to the call for a clear definition of Fair Trade within legislation.
The Committee then considered its work programme to the end of the session. The Committee agreed (1) an approach to scrutiny of skills policy, (2) to consider a paper to support scrutiny of progress since publication of the Scottish Government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET), (3) that scrutiny of skills policy and NSET would form its pre-budget work and (4) to hold an evidence session to consider the economic opportunities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and in preparation to write to the Scottish Government for an update on its AI strategy and funding. The Committee also agreed to write to the Scottish Government seeking updates on Glasgow Prestwick Airport, following the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic’s letter of June 2024 and, following the Committee’s visit to the yard, the future of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow.