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Turning to our colleague from the Scottish Building Federation, I am interested in issues pertaining to net zero and the training not just of young people—on whom we have focused in this discussion—but of older, more experienced tradespeople and other people bringing skills to the labour market. Do you think that enough is being done, both by the industry and by the associated agencies, to support you to upskill and refresh the workforce, so that we can meet the challenges of higher building standards, different approaches and new technologies? Are we building capacity and reacting enough, as institutions, to help you to do that work?

I have been speaking to representatives of colleges over the past couple of weeks, and they are telling me that they are struggling to retain students, due to the opportunities that emerge for well-paid jobs in your industry. When it comes to completing courses and ensuring that students have the qualifications to hand that allow them to work through a longer-term career, there is a drive on your side of the fence to get people into work—and that is a great thing—but are you working with your members to ensure that new recruits can complete those courses, get the credits and get the credentials that can provide a longer career?

The point about the appropriate representation of business and employers in those groups should be included in that, as well. I am sure that we will touch on that later in our discussion of the evidence. That was particularly powerful evidence.

The “robust” process has been mentioned a few times. Can you say a bit more about what that entails, so that we can have some confidence in the process? You mentioned evidence gathering.

—and I will come back to my substantive question. That is great.

I am heartened by Professor Logan’s comments. He gave a practical shopping list of things that could happen now, and there were lots of nodding heads, although he might not have been able to see them. That is the kind of thing that we want to hear. When Shirley-Anne Somerville was with us on 6 October, she told us that some meetings were happening, but it did not feel as if there was a practical list of things that were taking place.

We are two years on, I think, from the publication of the report that you authored, and I am detecting a certain frustration about the pace of change in bringing the organisations together. Is there more that we could usefully do on the issue to push the pace?

I will direct my questions to Dr Coull. We have been talking about female leaders in the sector, and we have one here, so I want to ask her some questions.

My understanding of your role is that you are perhaps at the interface of employers—through preparing graduates to go to work with companies—and consumers of the exam system and people coming through to you. What are your reflections on the previous discussion on what is coming out of our schools? Are people being prepared for what you need to do to get them into those employment opportunities?

I will ask a supplementary question on this, if that is okay, convener—

I came into the discussion wanting to listen to the minister and her officials with a fairly open mind about the matter. I have heard that there are strong safeguards and a robust process across agencies to ensure that the public are protected. The practical effect of the change seems to be that we go through the same process but in a timeous manner that enables people to have a chance in their lives if the process comes to a positive conclusion for them.

I am also satisfied that the numbers of people on the barred list who are making applications for removal are almost vanishingly small. Therefore, there should be sufficient capacity to ensure that the processes are robust.

I have listened to the arguments and am convinced that the regulations take a reasonable step with a robust process to protect the public.

My first questions, for Leon Thompson, are about the skills gaps and the impact of the pandemic. Plenty of us have seen signs in the windows of pubs and cafes saying that they are looking for staff, and signs on some pubs and shops saying that they cannot open because they do not have enough staff.

Do you feel that this is a short-term shock to our labour supply that is particularly acute? You have talked about work being done for the long term, but let us leave that to the side for the moment. It is good to hear about the good partnership working across the different areas, but I am particularly keen to see what we can do in the short term to try to help industry address these issues.

I find that really useful. The trends that you are laying out for the sector may have emerged due to the rapid rebounding of the economy, which I think has taken most people by surprise, globally. The scale of the Government investment to try and ensure that that has happened has been welcome, although there are skills shortages, as you have illustrated, in many countries around the world. That is fairly common, although I do not doubt that some of that has been exacerbated by the shape of our labour market with regard to immigration.

Do you believe that, as a result of that, and given the longer-term changes in people’s behaviour, both in their working patterns and as consumers, we need to have a more profound reset in how we address these issues? You have spoken about the positive atmosphere in working with agencies, and that is great. Do we need to examine some of the issues in a more concerted way and to think about what is emerging as a new normal?