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Sticking with the key role of achieving a just transition to net zero, which is one of your main missions, the Government has a fund—the energy investment fund—to support community and commercial renewable energy projects. Are you familiar with it?

So, under your current plan, you aim to reduce the 1,174 staff that you have at the moment to 894 by 2025-26, which is quite a substantial reduction. Are you saying that that may be revised because of the backlog?

You have just lined up my colleague’s questions on contractors very nicely.

You highlighted the work that your staff did during an incredibly challenging times, and they continue to do it as you change processes and deal with the backlog.

Your corporate plan suggests that there will be a 25 per cent reduction in staff numbers during the next five years, at a time when you are still having to deal with that backlog and changing your processes. What is the basis for that planned reduction in staff, and how will it be achieved in a way that will not impact on the huge amount of work that you have to do?

That is a substantial reduction. What guarantees are there for staff, who have given a huge commitment at this difficult time, that there will be no compulsory redundancies and that you will ensure that people are found alternative employment across the public sector so that we can hold on to the skills that your team obviously have?

Nobody could have prepared for the impact of the pandemic, but do you think that, because yours is a paper-based regime, you might have been caught out, and a lot of the work that you are now doing to digitise everything was not in place when the pandemic hit? Has that not caused huge challenges?

Politicians are very good at not answering the question, but you guys have managed to do something different by answering my question before I have asked it. What additional support for the sector should the Scottish Government be looking at next? I will give you a chance to briefly highlight any issues that you have not covered, so that we do not duplicate what has already been said.

I have a second question for each witness. You have made the point a number of times that some areas, especially city centres, have been hit hardest during the pandemic, and that some non-traditional tourism destinations in rural areas with fragile economies have had a boost due to staycations. Your emphasis seems to be on getting people back to places where they used to go. However, if we are serious about building an inclusive economy, surely there is an argument for trying to keep visitors in non-traditional tourism areas. Some of those areas have a very good offer but have simply not had visitors in those numbers in the past, for purely historical reasons rather than because of what they offered. Is there an untapped opportunity to grow the sector, rather than simply going back to what we used to do?

Thank you for that well-made point. I am sure that the committee will pick that up.

I will give Stephen Montgomery and Leon Thompson a chance to give us any brief final asks. How can we help the hospitality sector to live with Covid, to coin a phrase? It is likely to be with us in some form for some time to come.

I had a very good family meal at Stephen Montgomery’s hotel in Lockerbie on boxing day. I was struck by your point that you had not gone ahead with your usual Christmas day opening because you were uncertain as to where the Government was going with restrictions, and you did not want to have to cancel everything at the last minute.

Is there anything that the Government needs to do regarding a future Covid framework that would give the hospitality sector a bit more certainty in respect of any response that we might have to take to the pandemic? Perhaps Stephen Montgomery can start, and then Leon Thompson can address the same point.

Perhaps Leon Thompson can comment on the future framework.

That is me, convener. I look forward to a repeat sometime soon of the very good campaign to sell Scotland that VisitScotland had a couple of years ago.