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Sharon Drysdale is saying that she wants to come back in on that. That would be very helpful. Maybe Allan Colquhoun can tell us what he would like to see the outcomes being the next time he is invited to appear before the committee.

I will bring in Ross Greer, followed by Fergus Ewing.

We seem to have a problem with Ross Greer’s connection, which is a great pity. We will bring him back in as soon as he reappears.

Oh, hang on, Ross Greer has reappeared.

No, he has disappeared again. We will go to Fergus Ewing now and come back to Ross Greer when we have a stable line to him. Fergus, would you mind coming in?

Thank you. We now turn to the deputy convener, Kaukab Stewart.

Thank you, Ross.

We are two hours and 20 minutes into this hearing, and I cannot thank Frank Mitchell, Katie Hutton, Dr Allan Colquhoun, Karen Watt and Sharon Drysdale enough for the evidence they have given us today. It has been very insightful and very helpful. I hope that you feel that it has been a good use of your time, because we certainly have valued your contributions today.

The public part of today’s meeting is now at an end.

As you say, silver linings to the pandemic are hard to find, but there are some lessons that we can usefully take on board. I thank Fergus Ewing for his questions and our witnesses for those responses. I will go now to Oliver Mundell and then to Ross Greer, who is back online.

Allan, why do think employers feel that way?

Our main item of business is evidence on the alignment of skills policy with business needs. We are taking evidence from Frank Mitchell, chair of Skills Development Scotland; Katie Hutton, director of national training programmes with Skills Development Scotland; Dr Allan Colquhoun, representing the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board; Karen Watt, chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council; and Sharon Drysdale, assistant director for access, learning and outcomes with the Scottish Funding Council. Good morning to you all, and welcome to our meeting.

I will start the questioning, and I will then invite my colleagues to follow. Last week, we had evidence from a number of employers and employers organisations, and they felt very strongly that they want better transparency in how the apprenticeship levy is spent. My question is for Dr Colquhoun. Is it permissible to call you Allan, Dr Colquhoun?

In your opinion, is their feeling that there is not sufficient transparency fully justified?

So, your view is that our witnesses last week were not justified in saying that they are not in the room.