Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you very much.

They were long questions and I ran them together. I merely expressed a view that international benchmarking could be desirable, particularly thinking about Nora Senior’s comment about digital technologies and the threat of competition from digital technologies. We might choose not to benchmark internationally across every sector, but we have already discussed doing that in the emerging sectors. I just wanted to see whether, in principle, you agree with the view that international benchmarking is a good thing.

Nora, I will pick up on Lisa Pattoni’s comment that employers drive the take-up of modern apprenticeships and that they therefore have a role in the figures that I outlined for female enrolments. We both encounter systemic issues in relation to the role of women in business and various other sectors; do you have any final reflections on that point before we move on?

You are on silent, Nora.

I invite SDS to respond my last question, which I appreciate was a slightly cheeky one. I wanted to wind up the session with a bit of fun.

Chris, you are on silent.

I take it from that that you, on behalf of your members and your member organisations, will be reflecting on that matter, given the often long-term nature of property.

Given that diversity makes an economic contribution, what are the SPF’s reflections on supporting women to lead the businesses that it represents?

I assume from that that you might look at the membership of your policy team. When I checked today, I found that your policy team has three women and 23 men, which means that women make up less than 12 per cent.

In your submission, you call for

“greater capitalisation of the Scottish National Investment Bank”.

I agree with that view. You also comment on the need for a “National Infrastructure Agency”. I also agree with that view. In that light, would you support increased borrowing powers for the Scottish Government to enable those much grander ideas to be taken forward? I am a bit concerned that, throughout our discussion, we have tended to focus on small taxes, such as LBTT, rather than on the shifts that will really make a difference to economic growth.

I think there is just one more response. Adam, did you want to contribute before we finish off this thread?

I thank Joanne Walker very much for her submission, which I enjoyed greatly. However, in the interests of time, I will confine my questions to Mr Robertson. I should declare that I have an interest in some buy-to-let property and that I am an ambassador for the all-party parliamentary group on fair business banking, which is based at Westminster.

I want to gently challenge you, Mr Robertson, in relation to the discussion that came up earlier about your comment that

“our well-respected property legal system is being undermined by changes to the landlord-tenant relationship”,

which you say

“could create a barrier to much needed future investment.”

In light of the considerable uncertainty in the trading environment, surely as big a factor is access to finance for businesses and the risk appetite of lenders, be they private equity or banks. Do you accept that that is the case?

I will move on to another area that we have not yet touched on. I am interested in your organisation’s reflections on the desire for home working, or at least a version of hybrid working, that has arisen—indeed, we can see it in our meeting today. How will that cause and necessitate change for the people who you represent?