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I sense that you are laughing. I apologise if that was an unfair question but we will follow it up with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy. My understanding is that the UK Treasury says that the health and social care levy is included in Barnett consequentials but we do not have a sense of the exact amount. Is that correct and is it the assumption that you make?

Does risk diminish the appetite for change? Does taking a risk with differential tax policies inhibit behaviour?

I have another small question. Mention has been made of demographics and the anticipated reduction in immigration. I appreciate that Alasdair Smith said that the demographic situation had much bigger implications than the reduction in immigration, but from your modelling, do you have any sense of the reduction in tax take from the reduction in immigration? I think that Dame Susan Rice mentioned a figure of 50,000. What does that cost the Government in tax take? I do not know whether you model that or whether you just have basic numbers. I am not sure who would be best placed to answer that.

A lot of the levers that you might choose to use reside at UK level. Those include macroeconomic policy, a bunch of taxes, borrowing—which Scotland cannot do—and immigration. When you look at the current Scottish budget, is it your assessment that the Scottish Government is doing the best that it can with fairly limited fiscal levers? I do not want to put words in your mouth—I am not trying to do that. You can put your own words to it. I am asking the question because this committee and the Economy and Fair Work Committee have consistently agreed that, post-2008 and post-Covid, radical policy choices are required, yet this meeting has brought out the limitations on the Scottish Government when it comes to macroeconomic policy and levers.

This links back to the idea of asking what I would be doing if this were me. No matter what I thought of, we cannot do it. We cannot do any of the radical things that I thought of. You are both experts and I am merely a committee member. I would appreciate your thoughts.

If you are looking for optimism, you have possibly come to the wrong place, convener.

We have covered an awful lot of what I wanted to explore. Sometimes, politicians play the game of thinking, “If it were me, what would I do?” I have been thinking about lots of things. For example, we could make all of Scotland a free trade zone but, oh no, we cannot do that. We could attract lots more entrepreneurs into Scotland, to go back to the digital line, but, oh no, we cannot do that. We could pick up on George Osborne’s old phrase about the “march of the makers” but, as the convener pointed out, there has been a 9.7 per cent cut in capital expenditure.

Having said that, I accept Graeme Roy’s comments about public sector consolidation and focusing on key sectors and the move away from oil and gas. One thing that this session has been very good for is looking at the wider perspective. Graeme Roy talked about structural issues. I do not think that we have talked about those enough in the committee. How are the structural issues in the UK economy holding Scotland back? I fully accept that there are structural issues in the Scottish economy but, looking at the macro picture, how are UK structural issues holding Scotland back?

I am looking at you, Graeme.

Gordon—I will come back to my original question, which was about funding operations and your general sense of where businesses are with financing. I also asked about innovation in the sector.

I want to touch on an area that I am amazed has not come up so far—funding and financing. You have given a very articulate description of where you are, but I want to explore a wee bit more how the constraints on resources are affecting your margins, in terms of both your individual businesses and the sector in which you operate, given that many small businesses are already highly debt laden, whether through the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme, the bounce back loan scheme or whatever.

I will also ask about the financing of innovation. Often, SMEs drive innovation, but innovation is perceived to be inherently more risky because it does not have a long-term record. What are your thoughts about how that is financed? I am thinking about all types of finance—not just public sector finance.

What is the general sense of where we are? There are a number of questions. Where are we now? What will we see coming through with small businesses? How many have you seen going to the wall? What about innovation in the sector and financing for that?

I saw Bill Ireland look at me, so he might as well go first.

Is the fundraising from private equity?

Does that apply to banks, as well?

There is a lot of food for thought in all that.