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I am sorry, Mr Whittle, but we have other business this morning. I must ask you to bring your questions to a close.

Our next item of business is a joint evidence session with the Scottish Fiscal Commission and the United Kingdom Climate Change Committee on financing a just transition. The session comes ahead of an anticipated chamber debate on the committee’s two just transition inquiry reports. I welcome Professor Keith Bell, mitigation committee member from the UK Climate Change Committee, and Professor Graeme Roy, chair of the Scottish Fiscal Commission.

As I mentioned, the committee has undertaken two inquiries—one on Grangemouth and one on the north-east and Moray—reports on which have recently been published. There has been confirmation of the plan to close the oil refinery in Grangemouth next year. I ask the witnesses to give us an overview of how we finance a just transition. During the inquiries, we heard evidence about the significant resources that will be needed to achieve the transition. Given the scale of the challenge, there are fairly modest commitments from the Scottish and UK Governments at this point in time. Professor Bell, can you give us an idea of the levels of investment that are required and where we are at the moment on being able to make that investment?

It has introduced a lot of issues for us to pick up on throughout the morning.

I have a similar question for Professor Roy. In our two inquiries, finance has been a big issue. There is pressure on public spending this year and, it is anticipated, over the next few years. However, the plan that we are looking at extends over 10 or 15 years. A lot of the targets that have been referred to—on electric car usage and heat pumps, for example—are over the longer term. What are your reflections on the immediate challenges that we face and, given that we anticipate that the difficult situation that we are in at the moment will not last for ever, how do we provide the finance to achieve our longer-term targets?

I will ask a couple of questions before I bring in Willie Coffey. Professor Bell, Professor Roy talked about the situation in Grangemouth being played out in real time, and you will know that, when the committee published its report, the news on the closure of the oil refinery, on the timescale that we are looking at now, was not in the public domain; we did not know that when we published the report.

We hope to have a debate in the chamber on the two reports. I think that everybody—or at least most people—accept that the oil refinery does not have a long-term future. It is the pace of the change that is difficult. Will you share your reflections on the current situation?

You have raised some of the issues that members will be asking questions about but, before we leave financing, I have a final question on what the barriers to private finance might be. America had a big fund to encourage renewables and Europe launched a big fund, but the UK was seen as being a bit behind. Obviously, we have had a new Government for the past few months, so we are at a different stage and changes could be coming down the line, but what are the barriers to private finance? Do we have sufficient policy clarity? Do our Governments look like they are open for business? Are there enough financial levers to encourage private finance compared with other countries?

Our next item of business is an evidence session with the enterprise agencies and Visit Scotland, which will inform the committee’s pre-budget consideration.? Each agency has provided a written statement, which members have.

I welcome: Stuart Black and Nick Kenton, respectively the chief executive and finance director of Highlands and Islands Enterprise; Jane Morrison-Ross and Anthony Daye, respectively the chief executive and director of finance and corporate resources of South of Scotland Enterprise; and Vicki Miller and Ken Neilson, respectively the director of marketing and digital and director of corporate services of VisitScotland.

We have six witnesses today, so members and witnesses are asked to keep questions and answers as concise as possible. I have asked members to direct their questions to one person from each organisation, and I ask that person to reply and to bring the other person in only if they feel that there is additional information that they cannot provide.

Today’s focus is on the budget. Last week, Parliament was given the programme for government and the in-year financial statement. The Government is prioritising tackling child poverty and all parties agree that part of the solution to that is to grow our economy.

We understand that the Government is under significant financial pressures, but all three organisations that are represented here this morning have had fairly significant cuts to their budgets. Can you tell us what impact the funding pressures that you are facing this year, and those that you have faced in recent years, are having on your ability to deliver on your core objectives to support the regions and Scotland in growing the economy?

I come first to South of Scotland Enterprise—you can decide between you who wants to lead on that.

I am sorry to interrupt, Mr Black, but you said that you had reduced the organisation by 20 members of staff. How has the work that they would previously have done been absorbed?

That is helpful, because I am interested in what you say in your submission in that regard. You referred to third-party additional support for funding, and you provided the spaceport as an example of that. However, you have also talked about “reductions in activity”. Are there particular areas where you had to reduce activity? You have chosen priority areas on which to focus. Which areas are being reduced?

I come back to South of Scotland Enterprise. Now that we have heard from Mr Black of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, do you want to say whether, given the budget pressures, there are areas where your organisation has prioritised funding and areas where you feel that you have had to reduce activity?

My next question is for VisitScotland. In previous budget submissions, the committee has asked the Government to prioritise tourism or to protect that part of the budget, but VisitScotland is facing a 10 per cent real-terms decrease in its budget. Vicki Miller, do you want to say a bit about that? There will be an opportunity for other members to ask more in-depth questions, but perhaps you can give us an overview of the impact of the budget cuts.