Seòmar agus comataidhean

That is one of the areas in bill in which it is important to have guidelines. We have talked about the Scottish National Investment Bank. Much of what it would do would fit in that space. More detail and clarity in the guidelines as to how that aspect will be looked upon in the regime would be helpful.

To be honest, I am not fully up to speed on where we are with the membership of the unit. Hilary Pearce may have more up-to-date information.

From our point of view, we want proper regard to be given to the specific concerns of and issues in the devolved Administrations in relation to the membership of the unit. To do their jobs properly, it is essential for the unit’s members to understand the various ways in which things are done differently in the devolved parts of the UK.

Hilary, are you aware of the situation with membership of the unit?

Yes. It is already the case that we work within the interim regulations that are in place. As I said earlier, there have been examples already where we have had to make decisions on whether we feel support is within or outwith the rules, vague as they are. We will do our best to work within the legislation, but that might be more challenging, complex and difficult than it need be.

I looked at some of the evidence from last week and that is absolutely the case. There has been a shift from a much more rules-based process to one that is more open. The principles are laid down, but the most important part is how different people and organisations interpret them. The risk of organisations not taking steps that they properly should in terms of economic development and other opportunities is a concern.

I will hand over to Hilary Pearce in a minute to give a bit more detail on the conversations that our officials have had with the UK Government about guidelines and some of the specific gaps there. Suffice it to say that, although there have been a lot of conversations with the UK Government at ministerial and official levels, the reality is that the UK Government has been slow to come forward with the details of what the guidelines look like underneath the very broad-brush principles. That matters because organisations need to understand where the lines are, what is allowed and what is not allowed in various scenarios, which may not be obvious from the broad-brush principles.

Yes, it would. One power in a list of powers that the secretary of state will have under the bill is that he or she will be able to operate in devolved areas and on devolved matters. We rightly believe, as do the other devolved Administrations, that equivalent powers should be available to devolved Administrations to do exactly as you have said and to address issues. For example, if we saw a potential distortion, we should be able to refer the matter to the CMA and go through the process in the same way as the secretary of state can.

Absolutely. We are already seeing that. There are examples—I will not go into the details for reasons of commercial confidentiality—in which our legal teams have had to have a good look to understand whether we are able to move forward. They take, as they often do, a very safe view on what is and is not allowed. In the absence of the pre-authorisation process that existed previously, there is an inclination to operate on the side of safety, which means that we have to take a different view on things that we might have done in the past. That is obviously concerning.

We have made that point repeatedly at every opportunity, as I said earlier. There have already been situations relating to support for investment in which there has not been the clarity that there has been previously. The view of lawyers is to be safe rather than to move things forward, so we have had to have discussions in that context, which is concerning because it leads to delays in the processes. As you said, it has a chilling effect and slows things up. In some cases, it might prevent things from happening that otherwise would have happened, because we do not have clarity in advance on what is and is not permissible. Taking a safety-first approach could lead to advice being given that we should not go ahead with something, which is a concern.

As I said, that issue and many others, including the issue relating to the bank, have been raised repeatedly with the UK Government at official level and at ministerial level.

It has had consultations at a general level but I am not aware if it will do consultation on the guidelines—Hilary Pearce might know that. You are right to say that we are waiting to see what it will come forward with. The streamlined area is an example of one where the secretary of state has powers that the devolved ministers do not have. That is concerning because, if there was any debate about what the streamlined powers allow or do not allow or how they operate and when they would operate, the decision would be up to the secretary of state and, even if the issue involved a devolved matter in Scotland, we would not have any ability to act in the same way.

It is possible to identify more disadvantaged areas, outline what those disadvantages are and have scope to deploy support in a different way to those areas. Such a process has been in place previously through EU processes; it has different categorisations of regions.

As I have said, from a regional economic development point of view, we are focused on supporting all regions and communities in Scotland to maximise their potential. That might require support to encourage investment or other activity. We want to be able to take those steps in a different way, depending on the specific needs of different parts of the country. It is important that we have that ability and that there is clarity around that, but there is no provision for that in the bill. It is interesting how that works against the UK Government’s stated aim of levelling up. That is another area in which there is a lack of clarity as to exactly how the measures will operate.

Good morning. It is great to be here.

The two Scottish statutory instruments that you are considering today are routine. They concern the application of the public sector equality duty and of the Scotland-specific equality duties to our newest enterprise agency, South of Scotland Enterprise. South of Scotland Enterprise was established in April last year; the SSIs will bring it into line with Scottish Enterprise, Highland and Islands Enterprise and a large number of other non-departmental public bodies.

The Equality Act 2010 (Specification of Public Authorities) (Scotland) Order 2021 will add South of Scotland Enterprise to the list of public authorities that are required to comply with the public sector equality duty. That duty requires public authorities, when exercising their functions, to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, to advance equality of opportunity and to foster good relations between persons who share a protected characteristic and persons who do not.

The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 will apply the Scotland-specific equality duties to South of Scotland Enterprise by adding it to the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012. That will require South of Scotland Enterprise to, for example, publish equality outcomes and report on progress towards achieving those outcomes; report on mainstreaming equality; and publish information on the gender pay gap and equal pay. I recognise the importance of ensuring that South of Scotland Enterprise exercises its functions with regard to the equality duties, and I consider the SSIs to be the best approach to achieving that.

I hope that that provides a useful overview to the committee. I am happy to answer questions.