Scottish Government Debate: Delivering Future Enterprise and Skills Support

Keith Brown S5M-02099 That the Parliament shares the ambition that Scotland should rank in the top quartile of OECD countries for productivity, equality, wellbeing and sustainability; recognises the vital contribution of the enterprise and skills agencies to creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish through delivering inclusive and sustainable economic growth; further recognises the different social, economic and community development challenges facing the Highlands and Islands and the south of Scotland; believes that the challenge of achieving this ambition is made greater in the context of the Brexit referendum; further believes that achieving this OECD objective will require a transformational step change in national economic performance across a range of outcomes and that enterprise and skills support is central to achieving this ambition, and welcomes the publication of the outcomes of Phase 1 of the Enterprise and Skills Review. Dean Lockhart S5M-02099.1 As an amendment to motion S5M-02099 in the name of Keith Brown (Delivering Future Enterprise and Skills Support in Scotland – Phase One Outputs from the Enterprise and Skills Review), leave out from "believes that the challenge'' to end and insert ''notes that, with the new fiscal powers devolved to the Parliament through the Scotland Act 2016, the performance of the Scottish economy will have a significant impact on achieving these goals and on the levels of public spending available to the Scottish Government; notes that Scotland’s economy continues to underperform compared with the rest of the UK on a range of measures; calls on the Scottish Government to effectively respond to the recommendations of the Audit Scotland report, Supporting Scotland's economic growth, by developing a clearer plan for delivering its economic strategy and measuring its impact; further calls on the Scottish Government to confirm that skills development remains a priority at all levels of educational provision in order to maximise the contribution to productivity and sustainable growth and ensure that enterprise continues to be central to achieving economic growth targets, and welcomes the publication of the outcomes of Phase 1 of the Enterprise and Skills Review and anticipates the speedy publication of the next phase of the review.’’ Richard Leonard S5M-02099.3 As an amendment to motion S5M-02099 in the name of Keith Brown (Delivering Future Enterprise and Skills Support in Scotland – Phase One Outputs from the Enterprise and Skills Review), insert at end ", and notes that, between 2008-09 and 2014-15, the combined spending of Scotland’s enterprise agencies fell by 12% in real terms; further notes that a continuation of the reduction of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise budgets will prevent the realisation of these ambitions to improve the development of Scotland’s economy, and commits to an action plan that will set out clear targets and timescales for the delivery of the strategy that Audit Scotland has called for." followed by Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee Debate: Report on the Memorandum of Understanding of Ofcom Edward Mountain S5M-02106 (on behalf of the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee) Report on the Memorandum of Understanding of Ofcom—That the Parliament notes the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee’s 2nd Report, 2016 (Session 5), Report on the Memorandum of Understanding of Ofcom (SP Paper 18), and approves the memorandum of understanding relating to the relationship between Ofcom, the Scottish Government, the UK Government and the Scottish Parliament.