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I very much support a flexible approach to grant criteria—in fact, I wrote to your predecessor to push for that early on in the pandemic, because it was clear that businesses were slipping through the gaps when it came to Government support during that period. I am conscious that such an approach makes it difficult for businesses to find out what is available—they cannot just go to a website and find the criteria for a grant, for example. I have lost track of the number of businesses that I have directed to look at things such as the crisis fund.

Secondly, although a flexible approach is a good one, it presents challenges around governance. I am often asked by businesses, “How come that business got a grant and I didn’t?” It is not easy to tick the boxes on criteria. How do you tackle those two challenges? I think that we should roll out a flexible approach across other agencies.

I have a follow-up question to Colin Beattie’s question, which is for Malcolm Roughead.

The summer was obviously incredibly busy with staycations—for obvious reasons, a lot of people who would normally have gone abroad did not and stayed in Scotland. As a result, prices were quite high.

What did VisitScotland do, and, more important, what will the organisation do differently, to promote areas that are not the most obvious destinations for mainly historical reasons rather than because they do not have a lot to offer? There are parts of Scotland that, if we are being honest, do not need a lot of promotion, but other areas are still very much untapped. The interest in staycations gives us an opportunity to really promote those areas, boost visitor numbers and make a big contribution to inclusive growth. I am sure that Malcolm Roughead will know the areas that I am talking about in the south of Scotland, where there is real potential that we have a chance to dig into.

I want to follow up on fair work, which both Jane Morrison-Ross and Carroll Buxton touched on. When the bill to establish South of Scotland Enterprise went through Parliament, we included a requirement around fair work. I pressed for that and I support it, but does the fact that it is a condition of grants for South of Scotland Enterprise but not for Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise bring challenges in relation to having a level playing field? Highlands and Islands Enterprise does a lot around fair work, but it does not have it as a condition of grants. I appreciate that that is because its legislation is quite old, but surely it should make it a condition of grants in the same way that South of Scotland Enterprise does.

That is interesting. I will not abuse my position by pursuing the south of Scotland aspect today, but I may come back to that.

I put the same question to Mairi Spowage. In addition, perhaps she can say whether the geographical areas that are affected by the skills and labour shortages are the same areas that might have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

I know that, at an early stage, the Fraser of Allander Institute carried out some work on the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on rural areas. Are those areas now facing a double whammy, given that they have been hit by the pandemic and are now experiencing skills shortages? Has the position changed since that piece of work was done? I know that it was undertaken some time ago.

I will briefly follow up on a point that Nora Senior made about the fact that South of Scotland Enterprise now has conditionality around fair work. Why has that policy not been rolled out across Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise? In some ways, if one agency is doing one thing but the rest are not doing the same, there is a competitive disadvantage, so the playing field is not level.

I will follow up on a point that was touched on earlier by Nora Senior, to whom I first direct this question. Do particular geographical parts of Scotland face skills shortages? If so, what are those areas, and to what extent is it due to the fact that, until recently, we imported a lot of those skills?

The same question is also for Charandeep Singh.

Thank you—it would be helpful to have that data on the differences.

Have members of Women’s Enterprise Scotland reported similar issues with the enterprise agencies?

You mentioned the prevalence of co-operatives in the Highlands and Islands. Is the agency in that region doing anything specific that is perhaps different from what Scottish Enterprise is doing to enable that to happen, or have other factors contributed to that?

I ask the same question of Rose Marley. I recall that, when the legislation to set up South of Scotland Enterprise was going through Parliament, I moved amendments to try to get specific references to supporting co-operatives as one of the agency’s aims. I declare an interest as a Co-operative Party MSP. What is co-operatives’ view of the support from enterprise agencies, including during the pandemic?