Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:38 pm on 26 September 2007.
I congratulate the cabinet secretary on demonstrating courage and vision, which his immediate Liberal Democrat predecessors as ministers with responsibility for enterprise failed utterly to do. Local businesses will now have much easier access to enterprise support. They will no longer have to go through a revolving door, only to be shoved from pillar to post.
Will the minister strengthen the industry boards? As the former Enterprise and Culture Committee made clear in a report last year, one of the reasons for the success of our competitors is the so-called triple helix—the partnership at national level between the public sector, private sector and academia.