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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 18 August 2025
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Displaying 1467 contributions

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Economy and Fair Work Committee

Budget 2023-24

Meeting date: 18 January 2023

John Swinney

We would like the process to be completed as soon as possible, but only with the right candidate.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Budget 2023-24

Meeting date: 18 January 2023

John Swinney

I cannot allocate money that I do not have, Mr Halcro Johnston. I can do my level best to fulfil the needs of the budget cycle. I have had to increase tax to enable myself to meet all the commitments that I am taking forward. I have taken some hard decisions to enable us to have the position that we have. I have great confidence in VisitScotland.

It is also really important to recognise the strength of the investment and commitment made by the tourism sector itself. Scotland鈥檚 tourism proposition is of formidably better quality now because of the investments that have been made by a range of private organisations over many years. The Scottish National Investment Bank has taken some significant steps to assist that. VisitScotland has invested in a major tourism and visitor development that will enable people to develop their surfing skills at Ratho, on the outskirts of Edinburgh. That is not a sentence that I ever thought I would utter, but I have uttered it.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

National Strategy for Economic Transformation

Meeting date: 18 January 2023

John Swinney

I very much agree with that. I saw the comments that Mark Logan put on record about his involvement in the company, so I assume that to be correct. There should be transparency on these points. The directors of any public bodies such as Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise will have publicly declarable registers of interest. That should all be done transparently.

However, to make a slightly different point, I do not view it as inappropriate for people in those roles to be involved in wider activity, because if they were not, they would not bring as much experience and expertise to the work. It is almost a catch-22 situation. The way to manage that is to have transparent declarations of such things.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

National Strategy for Economic Transformation

Meeting date: 18 January 2023

John Swinney

We will see it from the significant amount of data that is available on the labour market, quite a lot of which I have gone through this morning. We will see, at a sectoral level, the numbers of jobs and the gross value added that will come from particular employment. That will clearly flow into the productive capacity of the Scottish economy. Data sets are available that will enable us to see all that information and to make a judgment about how much has been realised in Scotland. It will also be clear from the implications for supply chains the extent to which we are seeing such projects turning into economic reality on the ground.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

National Strategy for Economic Transformation

Meeting date: 18 January 2023

John Swinney

There are two distinct questions in the points that Fiona Hyslop raises. First, on the range of the chief entrepreneur, I want to ensure that he has the widest possible scope within Government to try to help us improve the technological transformation of Government and ensure that our ways of working are as efficient as they possibly can be. I talk to Mark Logan regularly and benefit from his thinking. I am doing a lot of work on public sector reform, which will be essential in the realisation of the budget, so there will be ever more involvement. I want to see that happen within the broadest possible range.

On the second question, on intellectual property, I think that our universities are slightly more relaxed about such questions than they used to be. That does not mean to say that the position is perfect. Obviously intellectual property is a formidable asset in some circumstances, and some start-ups that have emerged from universities have generated enormous economic benefit because they have involved such good developments.

Mark Logan鈥檚 work is partly about trying to encourage more of that, and more university research and business dialogue. We might look at universities now, and some of the arrangements that they have in place. Just a few weeks ago, I was visiting the Mazumdar-Shaw advanced research centre at the University of Glasgow. The centre is a fabulous investment, resulting from a significant financial donation by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and her late husband John Shaw. In partnership with the University of Glasgow, it is developing an exciting research collaborative environment. Other universities will have such facilities鈥攆or example, the University of Edinburgh has the Bayes centre, which is modelled on a similar concept.

Those meeting points鈥攊f I can call them that鈥攁re a great forum for the development of research propositions. I think that we can be optimistic that those propositions will generate significant and productive benefits for the Scottish economy.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

National Strategy for Economic Transformation

Meeting date: 18 January 2023

John Swinney

You should be looking to Mr Logan to deliver progress on the shift to greater technology opportunities and to contribute towards encouragement and expansion of entrepreneurial activity within the Scottish economy. Some of that is relevant to the points that we discussed earlier with regard to the Ana Stewart review and in response to other questions.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

National Strategy for Economic Transformation

Meeting date: 18 January 2023

John Swinney

He has some limited staff support to assist him in the work and arrange his practical interaction and engagement within Government and with the tech and entrepreneurial communities in Scotland.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

National Strategy for Economic Transformation

Meeting date: 18 January 2023

John Swinney

I remain open to such questions. The design of the model, with its significant dependence on technology capabilities, means that location should not be in any way a barrier to people benefiting from the resources of the Techscalers.

An important question arises about the ability of other bodies and institutions to support the direction of travel. Our universities and colleges, which have an extensive network of premises throughout the country, should be able to play a part in working with the Techscalers and ensuring that their attributes can be used more broadly around the country.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

National Strategy for Economic Transformation

Meeting date: 18 January 2023

John Swinney

Perhaps my turn of phrase was not well chosen. My point is that social enterprises should be on the radar of our enterprise agencies and should not be thought of as being someone else鈥檚 responsibility.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

National Strategy for Economic Transformation

Meeting date: 18 January 2023

John Swinney

I am grateful for the opportunity to set out my thinking more clearly.