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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 20 December 2024
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Displaying 1357 contributions

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Economy and Fair Work Committee

Scotland’s Supply Chain

Meeting date: 10 November 2021

Michelle Thomson

My second and last question is for Paul Hunter and/or Professor Simms. It is a slightly cheeky one. It strikes me that we do not have that many people who understand supply chains. Even so-called supply chain directors might just be logistics specialists or procurement specialists. That is my perception. Does Professor Simms or Paul Hunter have a view on that? Do we fundamentally have too few people who understand what supply chains are, given our background of being in Europe?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Scotland’s Supply Chain

Meeting date: 10 November 2021

Michelle Thomson

Thank you.

As a final word, do you have anything to add to that, Paul?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Scotland’s Supply Chain

Meeting date: 10 November 2021

Michelle Thomson

Thank you. Needless to say, I strongly agree with you. I see that Paul Hunter wants to come in.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Scotland’s Supply Chain

Meeting date: 10 November 2021

Michelle Thomson

That is a very good point.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Scotland’s Supply Chain

Meeting date: 10 November 2021

Michelle Thomson

I do not disagree with what you say. The point that I was trying to make is that there is nothing preventing somebody who has done a music degree—often, they will be producing their own music—from switching tack and doing something different. I know that, because I did it. That was 30 years ago, when it was arguably even less common than it is now.

I see that Mark Logan wants to pop back in before I go on to my final question. Mark, do you want to pick up on this thread?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Scotland’s Supply Chain

Meeting date: 10 November 2021

Michelle Thomson

Good morning, everybody. It is nice to join you, albeit remotely. I have a couple of short questions.

The first is for Mark Logan. I am interested in your comments about the pace of change, creativity, entrepreneurs and so on. What can be done to utilise the creatives? I say that as someone who initially did a music degree and who quickly came to understand it, and describe it, as precision engineering, due to the accuracy required to produce certain types of music.

Subsequently, I did a postgraduate qualification in IT. I was told at the time, and then at the company for which I eventually went to work, that I had been recruited because of evidence of creativity. The company wanted that creativity in its IT department. Therefore, it seems to me that, in business and in the Government, at whatever level, there is not necessarily the understanding of how creative the creatives are, and how useful they can be in IT.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Transition to Net Zero (Financial Support)

Meeting date: 6 October 2021

Michelle Thomson

That would be useful, thank you. How about Triodos?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Transition to Net Zero (Financial Support)

Meeting date: 6 October 2021

Michelle Thomson

In some respects, I appreciate that I was being unfair in asking that, but, on legislators’ understanding of the transition, you have correctly identified that interim moves could be claimed to be greenwashing. A classic example is to say that zero waste is going to landfill, when 50 per cent might be incinerated and ultimately end up in landfill. You have correctly highlighted some of the transitional points that businesses might go through in scoping out the various options.

My final question is this: how would you help legislators to understand the transitional steps from your perspective, and the complexity that you have highlighted? John Ferguson did not have a chance to answer the previous question, so do you want to come in here?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Transition to Net Zero (Financial Support)

Meeting date: 6 October 2021

Michelle Thomson

I draw the attention of the panel to the fact that I am an ambassador of the all-party parliamentary group for fair business banking, which took part in the bankers for net zero work that has been mentioned.

Some say that there is a paradox between the endless drive for profit and the drive to reach net zero. Arguably, that is nowhere more evident than in our financial system. I want to ask the bankers, first of all, about the banks reaching net zero. Have your pension schemes set targets for when they will reach net zero and do you measure that? I see that Fraser Sime is nodding, so I ask him to respond first, then Simon Crichton.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Transition to Net Zero (Financial Support)

Meeting date: 6 October 2021

Michelle Thomson

Following on from that, I have a couple more questions for Fraser Sime and Simon Crichton before I bring David Ovens in on a general question. How, specifically, have your banks changed their measures—the balanced-business scorecard or whatever—in order to put net zero and not just profit at the top?