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Yes. We are currently sitting at around 21 per cent of GDP.

Nothing has come to me.

That is exactly what we are looking to address in the work that we and our international network are doing to attract investment into Scotland and procure a domestic supply chain that feeds not just our growth that is still to come in onshore wind but the massive growth that is still to come in offshore. Mr Smyth’s points are well made. We continue to reflect on them and provide as much support as possible to ensure that we have a strong domestic supply chain.

I made that point to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee yesterday in response to the strong but fair challenge from Ms Hyslop. It is important that communities that neighbour onshore or offshore projects are able to see discernible benefit. That comes not just through community benefit but through the economic performance that is derived from having a strong Scottish supply chain and domestic jobs that feed it. We are absolutely committed to that and will continue to do the work to ensure that we honour that.

I have already outlined the potential for green jobs that comes from having a good just transition, and we will continue to work with the supply chain development programme to ensure that we maximise those opportunities for a strong domestic supply chain that feeds a growing and incredibly strong potential for our renewables programme. We are world leading in that regard.

To refer again to my engagements in Japan, the Japanese and others around the world are looking to what Scotland is doing as the first to market in developing offshore wind—particularly floating offshore wind—into green hydrogen, but we cannot be complacent about the fact that we are world leading. We need to keep pedalling fast to ensure that the investment opportunities are there and that there is discernible domestic economic benefit, which includes ensuring a strong domestic supply chain and strong jobs performance. That is the way that we ensure a just transition.

We have made a number of investments through the just transition fund, including in the skills passport, to ensure the transfer of jobs from the traditional oil and gas sector into the renewable sector. We will continue to make those investments to ensure that communities are not left behind in the way that they were in the deindustrialisation under Thatcher in the 1980s and early 1990s.

I will respond to Ms Hyslop’s previous question about the risks to Scotland’s economy. I should have mentioned that Scotland’s economy is performing resiliently considering the difficulties that we have faced following Brexit, Covid and the UK mini budget. Economic growth here currently outstrips that of the rest of the UK; last year we had much stronger economic growth than the rest of the UK had. We will continue to do what we can to support our economy through the difficult challenges that businesses and the third and private sectors are facing.

It has decreased substantially. I have a rough figure in my head, but I do not want to provide an incorrect number to the committee. I will make sure that that is followed up in writing so that Mr Halcro Johnston’s inquiry can be satisfied.

First, I accept the charge of a “manel” being before the member. I was cognisant of that before we came to the meeting and I made that very reference to colleagues. I should say that yesterday, when I went before the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, I was flanked by two incredibly able women. We have incredibly strong women across the Scottish civil service, as well as very able men, such as the ones who are before you now.

Ms Thomson is absolutely right to focus on the opportunities that will arise from our narrowing not just the gender pay gap but the gender employment gap and from ensuring that women are able to get on in enterprise. It will be a massive economic opportunity as well as the right thing to do. If we are to succeed in our aims for economic growth opportunities, having women get on in enterprise will be incredibly important.

I happen to be meeting Ana Stewart later today, and I look forward to discussing her report and how we might be able to implement it. I am committed to ensuring that we honour its findings as best we can in the timescale that is allowed by our resources. That is absolutely central to the opportunity that we have to transform our economy into one that is not only innovative and agile but one which ensures that women are able to continue to perform well within it. After all, that will drive the economic growth that we want.

Yes, absolutely. Ms Hyslop and I spoke about some of that yesterday. We discussed the need to ensure that we have a strong domestic supply chain to feed our offshore wind opportunities. We will continue to do what we can to make sure that that is brought forward.

I will bring in the chief economist to supplement that and give more detail.

Thank you very much indeed, convener. I also thank the committee for giving me the opportunity to be here today to share the Government’s priorities in my portfolio area.

The impacts of the cost crisis, the pandemic, Brexit and fiscal instability resulting from United Kingdom Government decisions have brought untold damage to our economy, with persistent high inflation and unprecedented drops in living standards. Coupled with the climate and nature emergency, these crises have exposed fundamental weaknesses in the current economic system, and that backdrop underlines the need to transform our economy into one that is resilient and which prioritises wellbeing—an economy that serves people, not the other way round.

As we transition to a wellbeing economy, we will embed equality, inclusion and human rights in everything that we do. I am committed to the First Minister’s three interlinked missions of growing a fairer and greener economy, seizing the opportunities of net zero and creating better communities.

At the heart of a wellbeing economy will be economic growth for a purpose—that is, to drive improved living standards, promote wellbeing, reduce poverty and deliver sustainable high-quality public services—through harnessing and combining the economic power and opportunity of Scotland’s rich renewable energy resources.

The skills and talents of our people and businesses will be critical to achieving that. We will work closely with the private sector and the public sector, locally, nationally and UK-wide, and we will engage directly with communities and partners in the third sector.

Working with my Cabinet colleagues, we will deliver our national strategy for economic transformation, with a sharp focus on policies and actions that have the greatest potential to grow and change Scotland’s economy, expand the tax base to fund excellent public services and make people’s lives better. That will require a new approach to the Government’s relationship with business, so at the First Minister’s request, I will engage widely with business leaders to develop and agree with the private sector a new deal for how we will work with business to deliver a growing economy that increases wellbeing.

In the First Minister’s prospectus, I have laid out my priorities for what I want to deliver over the next three years, and you will no doubt want to hold me to account on them. Those priorities include: more people being in work; more people earning at least the real living wage and a narrowing of the gender pay gap; more business creation and more businesses growing to scale; increased investment in productive assets; internationally competitive clusters of excellence, including in green technologies, health and life sciences, digital and advanced manufacturing; greater regional and local economic empowerment, including through our programme of community wealth building; more growth in exports; and more high-quality inward investment.

A just transition for our energy sector is, arguably, the biggest opportunity that we have. We have a huge opportunity to establish Scotland as an exporter of green hydrogen to Europe, and analysis shows that, overall, the number of low-carbon jobs in energy production could rise to 77,000 by 2050. The potential can be seen in the ScotWind offshore leasing round, which has already delivered more than £750 million in revenues and will bring billions of pounds of investment into the Scottish supply chain and the wider economy. Indeed, the recent announcement that the Japanese company Sumitomo Electric Industries will be coming to Scotland to build a cable manufacturing plant demonstrates the strength of investors’ confidence in our net zero economy vision.

I look forward to discussing some of those points with the committee in greater detail, and I appreciate the opportunity that you have given me to set out my stall.

Yes, I will. We are looking to build on the city and regional growth deals; to respond to the regional economic policy review; to work with regional economic partnerships to ensure that there are regional intelligence hubs; and to simplify the funding landscape. I am due to meet our enterprise agencies over the coming weeks, when I will be seeking to discuss that, the suggestions that they have and how I respond to those over the coming weeks and months.