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Is there a way of bringing older workers back into the supply chain in a productive way to ease some of the pressures that we face?

It would be interesting if you could give us figures that compare us to our competitors. That is really important.

We have heard that 157,000 people are actively looking for work and that there is a disconnect with skills. Over the years, we have consistently heard from companies that focus on hiring older staff, such as B and Q, that those workers are more productive, loyal and consistent in their work than some younger workers. Older staff are clearly a resource that many companies value. I assume that some of those 157,000 people are older people who are looking for work. We are looking for a quick fix. Is there nothing that we can do to tap into those resources better than we are, in order to provide immediate cover in certain areas?

Having had the opportunity to listen to all that has already been said, I understand that there is no quick fix to our current supply chain problems and our labour and skills shortages. Chris Brodie said that there are about 823,000 economically inactive people, of whom about 20 per cent are actively looking for work. The figure seems very high. Is that in line with our competitor economies? Do you have a figure at your fingertips, Chris?

Chris, is the older workforce a potential quick fix?

Good morning and welcome to the 10th meeting in 2021 of the Economy and Fair Work Committee. Agenda item 1 is declaration of interests. Paul Sweeney and John Mason are attending as committee substitutes in place of Claire Baker and Fiona Hyslop, who are both attending the 26th United Nations climate change conference of the parties—COP26—in Glasgow. Alexander Burnett has sent his apologies due to illness.

I call Paul Sweeney to declare any relevant interests.

Thank you, Maggie. As always, my plea is for people to be concise.

Thank you.

Do members wish to ask any further questions, or would members of the panel like to make any final comments on anything that we have missed? As they do not, we come to the end of our evidence session. I thank our witnesses for joining us and sharing their experience and expertise.

We move into private session for the remaining agenda item.

The discussion so far has brought out my next question, which is about the key skills for which demand is likely to increase in the future. Information technology is an obvious one, but there are other skills that perhaps need to be matched to the labour market. Demographic changes in the labour market and reduced access to the European labour market are having an impact on our chain of skills and labour. Outside the broad sweep of technology, where will the pressures come in the future? Does Paul Hunter have a view on that?

Time is getting a wee bit tight. We will take up Katy Heidenreich’s offer to supply us with that information in writing.