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We could probably talk about skills all day, so I will move on to my next question, which is about supply chains. I know that Gordon MacDonald will probably pick up on the issue, as well, but I will put this question to Jonny Clark.

How confident are you not only that we have the resources in terms of materials or the connections for obtaining them for Scottish use but that there is long-term security? You said earlier that demand for your work is high right now, but how confident are you that there is sustainability in those supply chains to secure demand into the future?

Claire Mack, I will come back to you on the issue of global supply chains. This question might seem to be a bit out of left field, but given political and other uncertainty in various parts of the world, what back-up plans or mitigations are you and your members thinking about with regard to human rights issues that are involved in supply chains, materials extractions and environmental rights surrounding materials extractions and those kinds of things that your members engage in?

I thank the panel for being here. I will pick up on points that have been made about skills and supply chains.

Claire Mack spoke about the interest and ambition here. We have heard that we may have the right skills but not necessarily in the right place. Thinking about Scotland as a whole, we can identify what we need. However, I am thinking of SMEs not only in the central belt or in existing energy hubs but across Scotland, especially in rural areas, where we want sustainable and viable economies. I am interested in the barriers that you, or the people with whom you work, have identified around ensuring that we have the right conditions and people in those places to enable SMEs to function.

Good morning to everybody. Thank you for your comments so far and for being with us this morning.

To follow on from Gordon MacDonald’s questions about the labour market and vacancies, I want to explore a couple of areas. I turn to Carolyn Currie first. The labour stats indicate that although there are significant gaps, we have very high employment rates, or very low unemployment rates. A lot of that is driven not only by people no longer being in the UK or in Scotland, but by people choosing to take themselves out of the employment market.

From your point of view, are there particular areas of women’s enterprise that are more likely to attract back into work people who may have absented themselves from the labour market? That might be because of flexibility or the types of work that might be available. What are we not getting right to support that?

Fergus Mutch, in answer to an earlier question from Jamie Halcro Johnston, you said that the chambers of commerce want a competitive personal and business tax regime. We have talked about the challenges that are caused by geography, sector, size and gender. How does that ask regarding the tax regime interact with the other challenges and issues that we have discussed?

That is really helpful. The point you have made here before about strategic support is important for us to remember.

I will come to Stacey Dingwall with a similar question. We have looked at some of the small businesses that we have across Scotland, and we have spoken today about the challenges around resilience, energy costs and all of that. Are we missing elements that would make setting up or supporting small businesses more attractive to people? There have been conversations around the income tax changes that were in the budget and how they are going to affect things. If I understand you rightly, you are saying that some of the types of work in the sectors that you have identified as potentially needing support tend to come in at the lower end and would therefore benefit from lower income tax levels. Can you flesh that out for us a little bit?

Yes.

That is helpful. I think that we sometimes focus on our fiscal incentives, mechanisms and instruments, rather than looking at the whole picture. There is something for us to think about there.

I turn to Clare Reid. Carolyn Currie talked about the importance of financial incentives for people to stay in work and about non-financial incentives such as training and mentoring. Is the SCDI focusing on that? Could Government give more support? Could you ask more of your members, or of the business sector more generally, to ensure that we make employment itself as attractive as possible, rather than focusing only on the financial elements of work?

Thank you very much. That is really helpful.

Good evening, and thank you for joining us this evening. In your opening remarks, you mentioned the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, and her report, in which she talks clearly about the stigmatising discourse that Government officials and certain parliamentarians have contributed to, which has contributed to the culture wars around trans rights and the distortion of human rights that has pitted trans rights against women’s rights as a zero-sum game. Could you comment on that and give us a bit more of an explanation about why you have come to your view?