To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to promote Scottish manufacturing. (S6O-03452)

Through our making Scotland’s future programme, we recognise how vital the manufacturing sector is to our economy. We promote that through investment that goes into supporting companies and the workforce. That includes our £75 million investment in the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland and its manufacturing skills academy, as well as our advancing manufacturing challenge fund initiative, which continues to deliver free support to small and medium-sized businesses.

Skills Development Scotland has revised the apprenticeship frameworks for engineering to create more modern and flexible qualifications, and we recently held an engineering as a career event to encourage more young people into the sector.

The Minister will be aware that the recent Royal Bank of Scotland business activity index shows a 12th successive monthly decline in incomplete business, with Scottish manufacturers blaming that decline on a falling inflow of new orders.

Fife has a long and dynamic history of being at the leading edge of manufacturing and engineering, with businesses such as Normand and Thomson dating back to 1905. With the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister having pledged to get the economy “firing on all cylinders”, what will the Scottish Government do to support manufacturing in my region and across Scotland that will actively boost the economy?

The member is absolutely correct to highlight the significant role that manufacturing plays in our economy. Indeed, it accounts for 173,000 jobs and more than half of Scotland’s international exports. I completely agree with the importance that the member places on that in relation to her region and across Scotland.

We are committed to working constructively and in partnership with the sector to ensure that manufacturing is fully supported in Scotland and that we can realise our ambition for the country to become the home of manufacturing innovation.

I have already mentioned the £75 million of investment in the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland and the significant investment that was provided through the advancing manufacturing challenge fund. We also look to engage constructively with a range of partners, including the United Kingdom Government, on the matter. In addition, the Scottish Government has a national innovation strategy, which sets out ambitions that will benefit the sector.

We will continue to engage constructively with the sector and other partners to ensure that we support a thriving, innovative and dynamic manufacturing sector. I am more than happy to engage with members on their ideas about how we can support manufacturing in Scotland.

I have a number of supplementaries. I will try to take them all.

The head of high-value manufacturing at Scottish Enterprise has stated:

“The energy transition is the single biggest market opportunity for Scotland’s manufacturers”.

With the Scottish Government bringing vast opportunities to Scotland, such as the Sumitomo Electric Industries development, will the Minister provide an update on the Government’s efforts to incentivise growth and diversification in low-carbon technology in the Scottish manufacturing industry?

Thanks to the investment by the Scottish Government and our agencies, Scotland now has an extensive manufacturing support infrastructure to help companies to diversify and grow. Just last week, we announced £4 million of funding from the Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to support the establishment of the manufacturing innovation centre for Moray.

Our advancing manufacturing challenge fund has supported the establishment of 12 projects Scotland-wide, providing free support for SMEs. The National Manufacturing Institute Scotland and our innovation centre support firms in established sectors to achieve greater efficiency and provide technological support to a range of projects in low-carbon emerging markets.

Our enterprise agencies’ strategic plans also highlight their focus on growing and strengthening Scotland’s supply chain companies’ capacity to enter such markets.

The national shipbuilding strategy refresh was completed in March 2022. One of the key recommendations was to enhance the competitive position of financing for shipbuilding programmes. Although a home shipbuilding credit guarantee scheme has been introduced, there is still not a competitive product range on performance bonds and builders refund guarantees. Will the Minister outline what the Scottish Government can do to promote greater competitiveness in shipbuilding financing in Scotland?

I appreciate the member’s long-standing interest in that area. He will forgive me if I am not able to respond to him in detail at this point, but I assure him of the Scottish Government’s strong interest in and commitment to engaging constructively in that area. In that spirit, I am more than happy to engage directly with the member.

The manufacturing sector is watching the delay to the Berwick Bank offshore wind farm. Getting investment and confidence in the sector depends on there being a swift process of consents. Ahead of the highly anticipated wave of applications for onshore and offshore projects, what confidence can the Minister give me that we have sufficient capacity in consenting? In other words, how many vacancies do we have in that area?

I recognise the importance of the member’s question in regard to our consenting regimes and the need to ensure that we have robust but efficient and speedy decision making. He will appreciate that it is not possible for me to comment on on-going and live applications. However, I assure him that the Scottish Government places considerable importance on that area and that it is committed to working constructively with partners to support an efficient and swift consenting regime in Scotland. The Government recognises the significant role that that plays for individual projects and in ensuring long-term investor confidence.

I recently heard from a manufacturing business in my Constituency that it is looking overseas to expand, purely due to the way in which United Kingdom immigration policy has hindered the recruitment and retention of skilled employees. What work is the Scottish Government doing to help manufacturing businesses recruit the staff that are needed to meet growing demands?

Scotland’s migration service, which was launched in March, supports businesses to navigate the immigration system, including by providing advice from qualified advisers.

We are working with our partners, including Skills Development Scotland, to emphasise the opportunities and higher average salaries in this highly skilled sector. Recent examples include the funding of a pilot to ensure that people who apply for opportunities with large companies and are initially unsuccessful are redirected to smaller companies in the sector with recruitment needs. We also sponsored a recent event that was designed to boost educators’ knowledge of a modern and rewarding career in manufacturing.