Felly, mae'r next item of business yw'r debate o'r motion 3898 o'r name yng Nghymru Angela Constance o'r Scotland social enterprise strategy 2016-2026. Felly, rydw i'n gweithio i'r gweithio i'r gweithio i'r gweithio i'r button snarl, ac rydw i'n gweithio i'r Angela Constance i'n gweithio i'r motion o'r name. Rydw i'n gweithio i'n gweithio i'n gweithio i'n gweithio i'n gweithio i'n gweithio i'n gweithio i'n gweithio i'r the importance of Scotland's social enterprise sector. The dynamic movement for change makes a significant contribution to our aims of inclusive growth and tackling inequalities, helping our communities to flourish in a Scotland that is fairer for everyone. Social enterprises simply put trade for the common good. Their leaders constantly seek out ways to improve the world around them. Bill Drayton, an American social entrepreneur and founder of Ashoka, said that social entrepreneurs are not content to just give a fish or to teach how to fish, they will not rest until they have revolutionised the fishing industry. A bit closer to home, our social enterprise leaders subscribe to the same ethos, they strive to create good in all that they do, all the while delivering outstanding products and services. Whether that is Shetland soap or generosity gin, the power of social enterprise and its ability to do business is in a more inclusive way. The promise of social enterprise is to deliver a real paradigm shift in the way that our economy is structured. Social enterprises are good for our communities, both communities of interest and of place, and they operate in urban and rural environments. Critically, they are good for our economy, contributing £1.68 billion gross value added annually. With 60 per cent of social enterprises led by women, they are also beacons of fairer workplaces and ethical businesses practice. In opening this debate today, I want to reflect on the progress made by the social enterprise sector, outline our ambitions for the next decade, as set out in the co-produced Scotland's social enterprise strategy 2016 to 2026, and look ahead to the delivery of the first underpinning action plan in March. Of course, Scotland has a long tradition of socially responsible business, from Robert Owen at New Lanark in the 19th century to the development of co-operative and community business movement in the 1970s. Over the last decade, the Government has continued to champion social enterprise, building a world-leading ecosystem of support. From the publication of the enterprise and third sector action plan to the first of our social enterprise world forum in 2008 in Edinburgh, we are proud of all that has been achieved. Scotland has built a solid reputation as the best place in the world to be a social enterprise, attracting incoming study visits from the Irish social enterprise task force, Canadian federal government and policy makers and social entrepreneurs from across Africa and Asia. Whether small or large, expanding or collaborating with Scotland's social enterprises make a huge contribution to a wide variety of very important areas of social policy, from the local, supporting community empowerment and the rural economy, to the national, helping our economy to be more innovative, inclusive and supporting social innovation and public service redesign and delivery. On the world stage, our social enterprises have an increasingly global footprint demonstrating Scotland as a forward thinking and open nation. Later on this evening, I will have the pleasure of opening an exhibition organised by the international network of street papers, one such international social enterprise headquartered in Glasgow. I look forward to hearing more about the work that they do to support street papers, including the big issue tackling homelessness globally. In November, I was humbled to present the social enterprise of the year award to Homes for Good, yet another social enterprise based in Glasgow, this time revolutionising the private rented sector. In other words, Winner Freedom Bakery is now expanding its operations to not only train those in HMP Low Moss and Artisan Bakery, but to give new opportunities to people with convictions, building their skills and breaking the cycle of offending. Of course, social enterprises flourish right across Scotland. James Dunbar of Newstart Highland and twice winner of the Institute of Directors, director of the Year award, is tackling poverty, providing employment and contributing to the circular economy right across the highlands. In Argyllun Bute, Kintire Recyphant Supplies, re-use services right across the Kintire Peninsula with specific employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities. Those are just a few of the very many examples across Scotland, and whilst clearly there is much success to celebrate, we will not rest on our laurels as we see the potential for so much more. Scotland is a world leader and the holistic support that provides to social enterprise. That is why in 2016 we launched two ambitious social enterprise strategies to set the framework for further development over the next decade. Those strategies were fully co-produced with an engaged and vibrant social enterprise sector and in partnership with our enterprise agencies. I want to personally thank the many who contributed to the development of these important publications. Internationalising social enterprise, a strategy for Scotland, was launched in September and in December we published Scotland's social enterprise strategy 2016-2026, Scotland's first long-term framework for developing social enterprise. That national strategy clearly sets a vision for where we see social enterprise in Scotland in 10 years' time. We share the social enterprise movement's vision of social enterprises becoming the norm visible in all aspects of life. Scotland's social enterprise is becoming widely known for its high-quality and sustainable services that reduce inequality, lift people out of poverty and encourage more empowered and resilient communities. We see the movement growing and influencing from the most deprived urban communities to the most remote rural areas. We will continue to build on our world-leading reputation and we will share our expertise in reinforcing our reputation as the go-to destination for learning about how to start, grow and support a social enterprise. Scotland's social enterprise strategy provides a framework for action around three key priority areas. Firstly, stimulating social enterprise, developing stronger organisations and realising market opportunity. Those priorities were endorsed by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and will be key to driving forward action both locally and nationally. As the saying goes, begin as you mean to go on. Having evidenced the power of co-production and the formulation of the strategy, we are now working with the social enterprise sector and public sector partners on developing the first of three action plans for the period 2017 to 2020. Delivering over three-year periods leaves us room to be agile in a response, adapt to the changes that inevitably lie ahead and builds on key points at which we take stock and learn from what has been achieved so far. In this first phase of action, we will drive forward change, test ways to increase the profile of social enterprise and set the foundations to explore new long-term approaches. We are already engaging on the contents of the first action plan with leaders from across the social enterprise sector. I welcome any contribution or input that MSPs across the chamber may have today or in the weeks and months ahead. Dean Lockhart I would be interested to hear about the three-year action plan. Will you be able to update the chamber on when that action plan would be published? Yes. The action plan is due to be published in spring and in March, and we are on course on target to be meeting that. In order to demonstrate to the Scottish Government's real and on-going commitment to the dynamic movement, we are delivering some early actions and support of the strategy in critical areas, including business and procurement support, social finance and collaboration. Today, I am delighted to announce a new package of early interventions worth more than £900,000 this financial year. This builds on the recent expansion of the social entrepreneurs fund of £140,000, which I announced at the launch of the strategy in December. Taken together, that means that more than £1 million has already been invested to lay the groundwork for the implementation of the first action plan. It includes, firstly, starting up Scotland's first social impact hubs, one rural, one urban, which is a recognised international model of facilitating collaboration, strengthening business and leadership support for our community enterprises and development trusts, investing in Scotland's only accelerator programme for early stage social enterprises in partnership with the big lottery, a proven pipeline for cutting-edge organisations, including bread share and homes for good. Also delivering the second social enterprise census, part of our on-going commitment to understand the scale, reach and contribution of the sector right across Scotland. We are also setting up a partnership and procurement hub to improve the sector's ability to collaborate and tender for contracts, as well as investing in the work to build on the success of the ASDA social enterprise supplier development academy, giving more opportunities to reach new market places. Finally, scaling up the social enterprise and education programme in the Highlands and Islands and Southern Scotland, providing social enterprise learning across a range of schools. I am delighted that, once again, the eyes of the world will be on Scotland as we have the opportunity to showcase our vibrant social enterprise sector to the rest of the world when the social enterprise world forum returns to Edinburgh in 2018, 10 years after the first of our world forum, which was held here. I firmly believe that social enterprise holds incredible power, providing a vehicle to address many of the very tough issues that we face, and I very much hope that colleagues here today will share that belief and enthusiasm. I believe that there is a strong cross-party support for social enterprise in this chamber, and I am sure that members like me can think of social enterprises carrying out excellent work in their constituencies and regions. In my constituency, I think of many organisations, including the Amon Valley Heritage Trust and the Curt Newton Community Development Trust. As we debate this motion today, I ask that we all reflect on social enterprises in our communities, highlighting their very unique contributions. I ask that we unite to support local social enterprises by raising awareness of the strategy and its forthcoming action plans. I believe together that we can help to reach social enterprise in Scotland and help to reach its potential and make its own vital contribution to our country and our communities. I move the motion in my name. We welcome this debate on social enterprise and the Scottish Government's social enterprise strategy. Let me begin by recognising the great historical contributions made by social entrepreneurs to Scotland across many centuries, as highlighted by the cabinet secretary. From Robert Owen in the 1800s through to the co-operative movement, housing associations and credit unions in the 1900s and up to the present day, where social bite attracts global attention, Scotland has been at the forefront of social enterprise. It is therefore fitting, as the cabinet secretary said, that we will be hosting again the international social enterprise world forum next year. Social enterprises are becoming increasingly important in Scotland's changing economy because they play a unique role in economic, social and community development. At the same time as social enterprises enables individuals and communities to work towards regenerating their local neighbourhoods or providing a much-needed local service, they also help to drive up employment rates productivity levels and contribute to exports. According to the social enterprise census, there are over 5,000 social enterprises in Scotland, employing more than 110,000 people, and the sector is female led with over 60 per cent of social enterprises being led by women. The census provides an encouraging picture of the current status of social enterprise in Scotland, and I congratulate everyone involved in social enterprise in Scotland today and for making it a success. This debate is about how we can build on the success. In taking policy forward, we should keep in mind some overriding considerations. First of all, social enterprise exists to make profit, just like any other business. Without making a profit, social enterprises will not be able to meet their social and environmental objectives. Although there is some debate over the exact definition of what is a social enterprise, I think that the description used by social enterprise Scotland encapsulates the essence of social enterprise as a dynamic, ethical and more sustainable way of doing business. Social enterprises are innovative independent businesses that exist to deliver a specific social and or environmental mission. I think that everyone can recognise that as reflecting the true meaning of social enterprise. Secondly, we also need to recognise that social enterprises are responding to changing social trends, as well as new trends in business and technology. Those changing dynamics should be reflected in policymaking. Let me now turn to the Government's social enterprise policy paper, which we welcome and focuses on three priority areas. First of all, stimulating the social enterprise sector. Secondly, developing stronger organisations and third, realising market opportunities. We also welcome the fact that this is a long-term approach, a 10-year strategy, which will be accompanied by a series of three-year action plans setting out evolving commitments and initiatives. I have to say that, even though the paper is 52 pages long, there was not really much in the way of specific policies or measures. In the spirit of co-operation, let me suggest some for the cabinet secretary to add to the three-year action plan, which we would welcome very much to be involved in. First of all, we need to simplify the system of financial and business support for the development of social enterprise. At the moment, there is a cluttered landscape. Grants, project funding and other finance are available from a long list of different agencies with different objectives and outcomes attached to the funding streams. I think that that is hindering to some extent the development of the sector. We also need to address the issue of grant dependency. Evidence, given to the economy committee last year, highlighted the problem of social enterprises sometimes relying on a continuous stream of grant funding. We need to promote more sustainable forms of finance for the sector. The member would agree that the co-operative model is not grant-reliant and is a very good model in terms of making sure that there is both a social element but a very strong practical focus and delivery. I agree with that. The member was at the economy committee where grant dependency was discussed and she made that very good point in that session, which I agree with. However, in some areas of the sector, that is an issue. In addition to financial assistance, social enterprise needs business support at the moment. It is very often difficult for emerging social enterprises to get help with business planning, setting up an office or hiring staff. Very often, those issues are the difference between success and failure. To address those issues, we would suggest that the action plans that the cabinet secretary referred to for social enterprise are co-ordinated with phase 2 of the enterprise and skills review being undertaken by the cabinet secretary for the economy. That will ensure future policy for SME development in Scotland across private and social enterprise sectors are aligned. It will also ensure better co-ordination for business support across different agencies. In other areas, we agree with the need to promote social enterprise at different stages of the education journey, including at schools. Promoting social enterprise at school can encourage school leavers to consider establishing their own business. I know that many schools run social enterprise projects in order to encourage school children to get involved in that activity. However, what the paper does not recognise is that many social enterprises have been established on the basis of vocational skills of their founders—builders, tradesmen and women with vocational skills. The reduction of 152,000 college places will make it difficult to replicate some of those social enterprises in the future. It may also negatively impact the number of women who have the relevant vocational skills. We encourage the Government to have a look at reintroducing some of the important college places. Another priority is to increase the presence of social enterprise on our high streets to make it more visible. The various city region deals in Scotland provide an ideal opportunity to incorporate social enterprise into the expansion of city, town and rural developments. We encourage that to be part of the action plan. The Government's paper also highlights the need to develop stronger networks and organisations. It is interesting that the census highlighted that 20 per cent of social enterprises are based in the Highlands and Islands. I see that as no coincidence, given the social development remit of the Highlands and Islands enterprise. Reflecting the success, we call again on the Government to keep the board of HIE independent. Likewise, with the introduction of the South of Scotland Enterprise Board, with a social enterprise remit similar to HIE, we call for the creation of a specific and independent board for that body with local expertise. As our amendment to the motion today highlights, public procurement policy can also be used more effectively to promote social enterprise, as the cabinet secretary mentioned. As with many SMEs, small businesses, the key to a breakthrough is very often to get the first project, to get the first run on the board. The public sector in Scotland spends around £11 billion a year buying goods, services and works. The public sector can help, and I believe, do more with social enterprise. As a result of recent changes to EU procurement laws, we now have a legal framework to fundamentally change the way the public sector engages with social enterprise, and we look forward to hearing more about that in the action plan. Finally, the Scottish Government paper also commits to a more flexible model of impact measurement, which we agree with. We look forward to seeing proposals in this area, because in the past it has not always been possible to measure success or look to see what success might look like. We would encourage the Government to introduce a transparent measurement framework that is cost-effective, accessible and independently verifiable, and is linked to an agreed social impact measurement. After all, it is not just about the financial impact, it is about the social impact. Let me conclude by welcoming the strategy paper as the first step in realising the full potential of social enterprise in Scotland. However, as we have indicated, the Government strategy must be more specific and there will be a real need to co-ordinate policy across different departments if that potential is to be fully realised. We look forward to working with the Government to realise the full potential of the social enterprise sector in Scotland. I move the amendment in my name. I am delighted to be opening the debate for the Labour Party and moving the amendment in my name. Many of us in the Labour movement have a special affinity for social enterprise in general and the co-operative movement in particular. The co-operative party, of which I am a member, is an important and distinctive part of the Labour movement, and this year celebrates the centenary of its founding. In the past, I have referred to social enterprise as a practical example of socialism at work, and that is how I would want it to be. Building our economy from the root up based on production according to social need, not according to private profit and so a reinvestment of surpluses instead of dividend payments to absentee shareholders. Seeking to empower local communities by holding resources and assets under local and, ideally, democratic control with leadership by women as well as men, and with a social, ethical and environmental purpose creating socially useful work in place of desperate unemployment. For us, in the Labour Party, it is about building a moral economy, which is underpinned by the principles of Robert Owen, whom I note the cabinet secretary mentions in her own foreword to the Government's strategy document. She will, of course, know that Robert Owen wrote, and I quote him, that there is but one mode by which man or woman can possess in perpetuity all the happiness which is, or her, nature is capable of enjoying, and that is by the union and co-operation of all for the benefit of each. I hope that that is a political principle that she will apply right across all of her political considerations. Robert Owen reminds me of something else, because there is a section in this document that we are debating this afternoon, which is headed up a source of national pride, where we are told that social enterprise will come to be seen as central to the Scottish way of doing business, a natural extension of Scotland's strong, fair and inclusive national identity. Let me gently remind the SNP that, at the very time, Robert Owen, a Welshman, whose early working life was in England, was establishing new lannock as the new society, Scottish-run and owned businesses were still running Jamaican sugar plantations with slave labour from Africa. Let's have a bit less chauvinism and a bit more humility, and let's think big, not small and parochial in this debate. We will support the cabinet secretary, and we will work with her Government in its quest to bring this strategy to fruition, to stimulate the social enterprise sector in Scotland to develop stronger social economy organisations and where possible to internationalise them, because fair trade should not simply be limited to what we import, it should be a goal of public policy in what we export as well. But when the Government says that it wants social enterprises to realise market opportunities, we cannot give this unconditional support. For example, if there is a market opportunity in which we find a mutual social cooperative or indeed municipal solution which rescues the threatened closure of the Airdrie Savings Bank, we would welcome it. We would like to see the Scottish Government tirelessly searching for a solution to rescue the country's last remaining social enterprise savings bank instead of throwing in the towel and sending in the pace team. If and when there are market opportunities under the Community Empowerment Act for Community and Social Ownership of Assets, we will support it. When there are opportunities under the Land Reform Act to transfer the ownership of estates from the aristocracy to the people, of course, we will support that as well. If there are opportunities under forthcoming legislation to promote community ownership, including municipal and democratic ownership of renewable energy, then the SNP will have our support for that, too. However, let me float another idea. Just as we now have a Land Reform Act with the funding and statutory rights that underpin it, the Parliament needs to start to consider whether or not we need an industrial reform act, an extended Markora law that would bestow on workers and local communities with Scottish Government of financial support, a statutory right to bid for an industrial enterprise when it is put up for sale, facing takeover, closure or asset stripping. That way lies a route to mainstreaming community and employee ownership of the Scottish economy. There is something else that we would like the Government to consider, too. There is lots of talk about public sector markets, and we are concerned that there are some who, in a continuing climate of financial austerity, see social enterprise taking the place of public enterprise. Social enterprises should not be used to undercut the terms and conditions of today's local government workers. They should not be used to support the outsourcing of public services and public service jobs on the cheap. My final point to the cabinet secretary is that one third of all social enterprises in Scotland are located in rural Scotland. In the Highlands and Islands alone, high has a close working relationship with 150 social enterprises. The social dimension, the social development remit of high and the HID before it, has been critical to that growth. 22 per cent of all Scotland's social enterprises are in the fragile economies of the Highlands and Islands, so perhaps the cabinet secretary can explain to this Parliament when she is summing up how centralising the board, budgets, decision making and leadership of high in Edinburgh and Glasgow will help rather than hinder the delivery of this social enterprise strategy. And while she's at it, perhaps she can explain to Parliament how cutting high's operational budget by 22 per cent in real terms over the last five years and cutting it again in real terms in the next financial year will help rather than hinder the strategy and can finally she explain how cutting Scottish enterprise is operating budget by a third in the next financial year will extend the reach of co-operative development Scotland in which it sits. We call on Parliament this afternoon to support our amendment. Let's set clear targets, strict timetables and let's get a plan together, which is about rebuilding the mainstream economy, not plastering over the cracks of austerity based on converting private rather than municipal enterprises or social enterprises and let's use the legislative support framework in land reform, energy ownership reform, meaningful community empowerment and industrial ownership reform to bring about a transformative economic change bringing democracy to the economy. I move the amendment in my name. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome this debate today on Scotland's social enterprise strategy 2016-26. I'm enjoying it so far and I hope the rest of the debate is stimulating as the contributions we've heard so far. This is a useful publication. I think that it sets a clear path for social enterprises over the next decade and as the cabinet secretary acknowledged, these are of growing importance in contributing to Scotland's economy. There's also a part of a wider social economy, which, as the European Commission defines it, exists to make profits for people other than investors or owners. This social economy includes co-operatives, mutual societies, non-profit associations, foundations and social enterprises. The social economy is a core part of green politics and it's why our amendment today reflects a broader analysis of the role that social enterprises can play in the economy. Across the EU, there are 2 million social economy enterprises that represent 10 per cent of all businesses in the EU. More than 11 million people, about 6 per cent of employees in the EU, work for social economy enterprises. In addition, up to 160 million people across Europe are members of social economy enterprises, mostly in banking, retail and agricultural co-operatives. In Germany, for example, it would be utterly unremarkable for myself to bank with a co-operative bank such as Volkswagen or a spark that hasn't owned by my local municipality. I might live in a local co-operative-owned house and work for a social enterprise, providing transport or retail services. Indeed, German co-operative banks are in a very, very important part of the German economy, being significant lenders to the mutual stand of small and medium-sized enterprises. Green C, the social economy as a whole, is vitally important in building a sustainable, prosperous and more equal society. As the social enterprise strategy highlights, social entrepreneurs are driving innovation and identifying business opportunities, particularly in areas in which the public and the private sector are not able to do so. For example, in my region in Lothian, there are 967 social enterprises working daily in communities. Those include East Lothian routes and fruits that work to tackle rising inequalities and delivering low-cost fresh fruit, vegetables and tinned foods to around 300 customers across 19 towns and villages. The enterprise that celebrated its 20th anniversary this year also operates as a health promotion project by encouraging people to get involved in local food co-ops, as well as taking part in practical cookery and gardening workshops. In Lothian, the furniture recycling project provides vital employment and volunteering opportunities while reducing landfill waste by recycling furniture and white goods to homes in the local community. I am proud to represent a region that has the largest municipal bus company in the United Kingdom. Run under the auspices of transport for Edinburgh, Lothian buses and trams are publicly owned by the City of Edinburgh Council, which has 91 per cent of shares in the business, with the remaining 9 per cent held by East Lothian, West Lothian and Mid Lothian local authorities. The continued success of Lothian buses is undoubtedly based on its simple premise that whatever profits are made are directly reinvested in the company. Last year, it has brought about, for example, an investment in 32 new environmentally friendly buses that will reduce the company's carbon footprint and improve air quality in the city. Those are just two examples of social enterprises and one example of a municipal enterprise that is contributing to the social economy across Lothian. As previous speakers have noted, over 200 years ago, Robert Owen, frequently cited as the father of social enterprise or the father of the cooperative movement, revolutionised workers' rights from a small community centred around the new Lanark mill. As Richard Leonard observed, Owen was born in Newtown in Wales and today the Robert Owen community bank in the county town of Powys provides a community development finance institution to provide loans for social enterprises, energy efficiency and community energy schemes. Here in Scotland, we have a long way to go to harness the full benefits of the social economy. Much of Scotland's resources, its land, forests, energy and food are owned and controlled by a very small number of private interests. The scope to grow social enterprises in renewable energy, in transport, in forestry, in tourism and in agriculture is immense. Across all areas of public policy, we Greens believe that the social economy should come first. We fully support the social enterprise strategy's ambitions to nurture social enterprises to be, and I quote from the document, at the forefront of a new wave of ethical and socially responsible business in Scotland. The vision set out in the strategy should create business models that challenge the status quo, promote equality and deliver more for Scotland. We support those intentions. Across Scotland, as we know, recent figures suggest that over 30 per cent of households that 748,000 households are living in fuel poverty. A national disgrace and why Greens advocate the introduction of a social enterprise at a national level that will directly address the needs of those living in fuel poverty in their own homes. We propose a not-for-profit energy and care and repair scheme that echoes the Scottish rural poverty task force recommendation to deliver his holistic support and affordable warmth improvements to cold, vulnerable and fuel poor households. There is undoubtedly a need for such a service, particularly within rural communities, and the social enterprise business model fits that approach perfectly. However, we must not stop there. With the growing number of engaged and precarious work in zero-hours contracts on short-term contracts and in vulnerable self-employment, there is a growing need to strengthen the legal, political and economic support for social enterprise and the wider social economy. We should be bold and we should encourage all entrepreneurs to look beyond traditional business models and engage in harnessing their talents as social enterprises. I and my colleagues call for the strategy to go further and place people before profits so that we have confidence in its ability to address our collective long-term ambitions for the social economy. Greens recognise the contribution that is made to the debate by all parties. We will support all the amendments and the motion this evening. I move the amendment in my name. We now move to the open debate. I have some time in hand so I can give extra time for interventions, if required. I call Graham Day to be followed by Rachel Hamilton. It is quite inspiring to look at the scale of social enterprise presence in Scotland and the rate at which the sector is expanding. If justification for holding this debate were required, it is to be found in the fact that more than 5,000 social enterprises are already operational in Scotland, with the sector contributing 1.68 million annually to our economy, supporting an excess of 112,000 jobs. With 200 start-ups each year, that is a growth area. More than that, it is an ethical and inclusive growth area, one that, for example, sees women far better represented at the top than is the case in other sectors. Like the cabinet secretary, as expressed in the final sentence of a forward to the strategy report, I look forward to the full realisation of this dynamic, responsive movement for change. There is no doubt that the 10-year strategy, which is being laid out, supplemented by three-year action plans, has the potential to help to deliver that realisation. One-third of social enterprises that we are told are located in rural areas. My rural constituency is home to a thriving, employee-controlled social enterprise, delivering support services to 600 people across the whole of the county of Angus, in towns, villages, small settlements and remote parts. It is a pretty good example of what can be achieved using the social enterprise model. Care about Angus was launched in November 2015 on the back of the local council pulling out of delivering home help services. It began with 28 staff drawn from the ranks of the council employees who take their redundancy packages. It now has 60. It started out with 210 clients, now has almost tripled that number. The services provided go beyond basic home help now. They include volunteer driving, befriending, cooking and shopping. A growing success story, but one that was not without its initial challenges. Despite the national policy support for social enterprises, it proved difficult to secure significant funding for start-up expenditure, even though Care about Angus was filling a gap created by local authority with the draw of provision that was running at a loss of £120,000 a year, and it was meeting a clear need. Of course, not all social enterprises survive, even when they are being underwritten. Arbro, the My constituency and a vulnerable group of young people are only too painfully aware of that. Arbrothe High Street was home to Darling's coffee shop, an award-winning venture run by the charity Enable, which employed and trained youngsters with learning difficulties. It was much cherished by those who worked there and their families, and indeed the many customers it attracted. However, unrelated financial challenges led to enable withdrawing from social enterprise. Despite considerable efforts being made to secure a future for Darling's and the possibility of national funding to meet the enhanced staff supervision costs that the model incurred, sadly, the cafe closed its doors early last year. Thankfully, that failure is not reflective of a trend. Indeed, locally in Angus, we are seeing a number of exciting social enterprises springing up, or groups heading towards establishing themselves as social enterprises. Not the least of the latter is the Carimure regeneration group. It has its roots in the town being confronted by the council-owned camera obscura shutting its doors in April 2015. Six townsfolk came together to address that. Within two months, the facility had reopened, and its first year of operation attracted, approaching three times the number of visitors camera obscura had in the preceding 12 months when operated by the National Trust for Scotland. The Carimure regeneration group has also taken on running the nearby public toilets. It reopened, and the local pub in North Newark helped to improve the Kerryden park, taking on other public toilets in the town centre, on top of which members helped to deliver the hugely successful Bonfest. Once wages are paid to four staff, profits are given to community groups. I should say that the group is aiming to become a full social enterprise in due course. Stats show that one in every four social enterprises is focused on a single community. I am quite impressed by efforts that are taking place in the villages of Inverkeewa to open a community-run shop selling essential groceries and promoting local crafts and produce for locals, passing trade and visitors alike. Those behind the proposal have engaged proactively with an already established community shop in Kurt Michael in Ayrshire to pick their brains, as they were. I cannot help but think that the effectiveness and the impact of the strategy that we are debating today would be enhanced by delivering low-level mentoring of some kind. There is lots of high-level stuff in the document, but beneath that, it strikes me that having someone who has been over the course and is just a phone call away to advice of the do's and don'ts could be a real practical benefit, especially to small-scale new social enterprises. I wonder whether the basic census information that was gathered in 2015 might provide a basis for that. As well as helping advice, exciting innovative new social enterprises need financial pump priming. It won't surprise the chamber, but I have one of those in Angus South. Community First, which seeks to empower individuals, groups and organisations by supporting them to develop skills and knowledge, is rapidly finding its feet. Primarily, it seeks to improve employability, skills, digital inclusion and social funds for innovation and regeneration. It has already been working unpaid in the areas of criminal justice and the elderly and is about to begin engagement work with Angus carers. It's ethos is, see a need, meet that need. One could just as right away transfer that to care about Angus or the Caramure Regeneration group. I have to say, as an MSP, I really welcome that approach and the successes it produces. In our work as members of Parliament, we encounter plenty of intransigence. The sorry always been done this way, no can do attitude. It's so refreshing to engage with social enterprises like these, with their can-do, will-do approach. Let me welcome the efforts of Scotland's social enterprises and the strategy to help the movement to maximise its potential. I welcome the debate on social enterprise Scotland. I am delighted to take part in acknowledging the work that aspires to blend together social and economic goals in pursuit for fairer, more equal society. I'd also like to say that it's great that 60% of females are CEOs or senior employees within social enterprises. We're all familiar with the fantastic work of the big issue in homelessness, world cup, driving ambition reduces disadvantage and equality and gives opportunities to those who otherwise may have struggled to find them. Of course, social enterprises don't sit in isolation on a national scale or indeed a global scale, but they work well at a local level, which starts off with an idea, a niche and a hive of community activity. Those ideas are grown in some of the most fragile local communities in rural locations where communities are driven to look after each other and the environment in which they live. I'd like to use East Lothian as an example of a hotbed of entrepreneurial goodbods. There are 80 social enterprises operating within the county. They generate one and a half million in income and employ 230 people. These businesses provide a strong community-based foundation with potential for further growth. It's important, too, however, as my colleague Dean Lockhart mentioned, that people with ideas are not held back by red tape. I was chatting with one of these particularly creative people from East Lothian who told me that their application had been fraught with difficulty. In fact, it took three years of their lengthy discussion in which they were faced with many barriers to setting up. In the end, the private landlord gave up on waiting for the project to come to fruition, and it fell by the wayside. The entrepreneurs had no option but to get a bank loan and run it privately. As Graham Day said, one-third of all social enterprises are located in rural areas. The ridge-based in Stenton near Dunbar is an SQA accredited centre. It is also a skills-based academy for the Job Centre Plus, as well as an employability fund provider for Skills Development Scotland. It is accredited to provide rural skills through Lantra and food hygiene training. In fact, it offers training in horticulture, hospitality, catering, fashion, social care and customer service, with the aim of developing the skills and employability of marginalised and vulnerable local people. The ridge provides support and nurtures talent while encouraging public and private organisations to contract locally. 45 per cent of social enterprises operate with a stated objective of creating employment objectives. I genuinely hope that the Scottish Government strategy will target local schools, colleges and universities to increase employment opportunities to help to reach their goal of developing our young workforce and reducing youth unemployment by 40 per cent by 2020. A social enterprise is often established to meet a local need. In East Lothian, like many other regions, skills gaps exist. It is therefore encouraging that workforce development has been recognised as a priority. Like my example of the ridge, my hope is that social enterprise businesses will work hand in hand with Skills Development Scotland to nurture this young workforce ready to enter their given profession and in turn make a contribution to their respective communities. Working alongside education providers and engaging from preschool right through the educational journey to promote social enterprise activity will cultivate innovative ideas and encourage those individuals to give something back to their communities. I also look forward to hearing how the action of the Scottish Government will take to revolutionise the way it contracts goods and services from social enterprise now it has that legal framework. The Scottish Government has the tools to deliver its target and of course we all in this chamber wish them luck in that endeavour. I have highlighted the enthusiasm of social enterprise in East Lothian. This strong performance is replicated throughout Scotland and sees Scottish social enterprises with a net worth of £3.86 billion employing over 100,000 people. There is much to be positive about Scotland's social enterprise strategy and overall it seeks to build upon the success of the last 10 years that saw 42 per cent of all social enterprises formed. It also aims to improve Scotland's international reputation. This will be fantastic for Scottish tourism and will encourage visitors to our shores. Some 250 social enterprises are recognised to support tourism and heritage. I am encouraged to see a strategy that will benefit Scotland in more ways than one. I have seen first hand the positive work done in East Lothian and across Scotland. I am happy to see a strategy that seeks to incorporate a focus on education and developing the workforce to meet the needs of prospective communities. I am looking forward to learning how the Scottish Government will capitalise on this new legal framework to further its already stated aim. Most importantly, the Scottish Government should ease the process to achieve success. The success of the Scottish economy will be largely a blend of innovation in the public, private and social enterprise sector. If all three work together, we can boost Scotland's economy, promote equality and feel good at the same time. I call Willie Coffey to be followed by Joanne Lamont. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. The Cabinet Secretary for Work and Welfare forward in the strategy for social enterprises reminds us of Scotland's pioneering beginnings in this area. She mentioned Robert Rowan, as have other members, the mill owner and social reformer of New Lanark in the 19th century. She could have started much earlier than that, of course, in 1761, in Phoenix, just north of Kilmarnock, where the Phoenix weavers established what we believe to be the first recorded cooperative or social enterprise in the world. Their first rule is that they shall be honest and true and faithful to one another and to their employers and exact neither higher nor lower prices than are accustomed to in the towns and parishes of the neighbourhood. It espouses for me the same commitment in this new strategy of 2017 that all social enterprises should use assets and services for the public good and to operate in the wider interests of society. What a lovely contrast, I think, from our pioneering past to our present. We commemorated the 250th anniversary of that event with a celebration in Phoenix in 2011 and our whole community owes a great debt of gratitude to my constituent, the late John Smith, without whom the history of Phoenix, the weavers and the significance of the cooperative movement would have remained largely unknown to the local and wider contemporary Scottish public. I would like to think that it is those humble beginnings that have helped Scotland to establish itself as a recognised world leader in social enterprises. The world forum was conceived and launched here in 2008 and has grown considerably since then, meeting all over the world and coming back to Scotland next year. Has been mentioned by several colleagues so far, social enterprises are now a significant part of our own economy. We have about 5,000 in Scotland, more than 100,000 people employed and contributing nearly £2 billion to the economy. The start-up count is healthy every year and hopefully the strategic plan will provide the focus and become a template for further growth. The strategy itself has been developed with the sector and has three key priorities to stimulate the social enterprise sector, to help organisations to develop and to help them to realise the market opportunities that exist for them. Helping to stimulate the sector is the starting point and working with local organisations to promote and encourage entrepreneurship and innovation will hopefully be the catalyst for more people to see the possibilities and to think about starting more social enterprises. In addition, I am pleased to see that the social enterprises feature within our enterprise schools programme and make a plea that we include co-operatives within the overall language and exemplification that we use. One of the messages coming from our cross-party group on co-operatives over several years has been the lack of knowledge and promotion of the co-operative business model within education. Too often, people and young people in particular think only about starting new businesses, because that is all they are familiar with. I am very hopeful that we can begin to address that and show that social enterprises and co-operatives are a model worth embracing from the outset. Secondly, to help organisations to develop, they need financial resource, knowledge and the ability to meet with and network with others to help them to grow their potential. There can surely be nothing worse than feeling isolated with an idea, not knowing who to turn to for help and advice and not being able to share those conversations with like-minded people. Thirdly, some additional work streams will be added to help our social enterprises to find those new markets that are vital if they are to grow at all. They will need to try to help and find new businesses within the public sector itself, directly into the consumer market and not least to find routes into the wider business market too. Encouraging all of those sectors to consider doing business with social enterprises will provide a huge boost to them and will certainly help them to be more confident about long-term sustainability. Of course, all of that does not come without challenges, especially for some sections of the social enterprise network that have been around for some time. There are issues relating to management and organisation, and they need to be flexible enough to adapt to new circumstances and opportunities. Wages are an issue for some in the sector, but there is already good evidence around from social enterprises UK, telling us that social enterprises are leading the way when it comes to pay. They found that 74 per cent of social enterprises across the UK who responded to their online survey just a year ago pay their employees the living wage, compared with just over 50 per cent of small businesses. That must be a welcome and positive sign for the future, if it is still a challenge for some to embrace. Presiding Officer, in summary, we have come a long way since those humble beginnings in Phoenix in 1761. Little did the weavers and the apprentices realise that they would still be the subject of much discussion in 2017. I would like to think that their founding principles are as relevant today as they were then, and that their ideals have been enshrined in our modern strategy for social enterprises in Scotland. I am delighted to be able to speak in the debate and I commend the Scottish Government's motion to the chamber. I call Johann Lamont, followed by Willie Rennie. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I declare an interest as a co-operative party supported MSP as I have the privilege to be part of this debate? As has already been said, the co-operative party celebrates its 100 years of existence this year, and indeed there are plans to set up and establish a co-operative in order to celebrate the story and song and music of the co-operative movement. I hope that people will be able to participate in that interesting work. Listening to Willie Coffey, I was at the event in Phoenix to celebrate the centenary. It was wonderful. It was one of the interests and little undercurrents of a co-operative movement, which is desperate to co-operate. The degree of competition that comes we want to establish was, in fact, the first co-operative, whether it is the Rochdale Pioneers, Phoenix or indeed New Lanark. It is a joyous history for us all in looking at the development of the co-operative movement. I welcome the comments that have been made about the importance of Robert Owen and I would be interested in any ideas or plans that the Scottish Government has to plan to celebrate his work and, of course, the proud history of many other co-operators within our communities. It is an opportunity to recognise the richness and diversity of the social economy sector. It has been a long time part of Scottish life, whether in our island communities or in our cities. It was something that, from the beginning of the establishment of this Parliament, has been a thread that has run through, a discourse that has run through, the work of this Parliament. I recognise and welcome the strategy document today. Of course, we recognise the social enterprise. It speaks the very best in our communities. It gives us some optimism that it is possible to create ethical work that treats people in the workforce with respect and that is addressed at need. I want to emphasise the critical role of the sector in the economy, because it is not simply a fuzzy fuel good, the soft end of political discourse. It should be at the centre of our economic strategy, central to an approach that can deliver a strong economy and shared prosperity. In that regard, I commend the work of the co-operative party, who have been developing ideas around an economy in our interests. I think that it is important to say at a time when people feel that the economy has not worked in their interests and that decisions made by others have been visited on those who had no control over those decisions. It is important to recognise that it is not just us co-operatives, but a rich landscape of co-operatives, from very small ones to ones that are in the retail sector in our own communities, whether it is the co-operative group or Scotland or John Lewis or whatever they can be of a very different scale. However, they have a shared view that they must say something relevant in our communities. I note the co-operative group's work on loneliness, drawing on the experience of their customers and saying that something should be done. We should also recognise that co-operatives are not solely for when the market fails. Too often we look to the co-operative option when a company is in the point of going bust. It should be a serious option, credibly considered and resourced throughout economic strategy. I want to take the opportunity to highlight the centrality of co-operative models in delivering a fairer and more sustainable economy. Co-operations are a radical and effective approach. Yes, it is rooted in our history, but it is as relevant to the modern world as it ever was. Equally, co-operation is an international movement, and we should draw on ideas from across the world where those creative ideas are being developed, but it is also locally delivered. It does not limit its ambitions, but the test of its effectiveness is not what it claims but what it practically delivers. The joy of co-operation is that it tests its own success by what difference it makes. Critically, of course, it is a model underpinned by democratic accountability. I seek a refresh commitment from the Scottish Government to co-operative models. I know that the Government says the right things, but we are looking to hear more in practical terms what it is going to do. In the past, I have asked how co-operative land ownership would be promoted, and I would be keen to know that the answer to that question has been developed. How exactly will the Scottish Government develop legislation and plans to open up co-operative opportunities in early learning, childcare, health and social care, land ownership, broadband and transport? How can co-operatives be used to promote ethical consumption and a name identified in the paper? What work is going into ensuring, and Willie Coffey referred to this, where education addresses entrepreneurship and innovation that co-operative models are taught to? There is some evidence that young people who do never see themselves as running a business will be drawn into a social enterprise if it is involved in their communities and maybe a first step for them to take on that broader opportunity. How will the Scottish Government address the barrier of public procurement rules placed in the face of social procurement, whether it is on fair trade, blacklisting or arguably in developing housing co-ops? I want to make two important points in conclusion. First, there was something absent from the cabinet secretary's introduction. That was the role of co-operative development Scotland. I am very proud of its establishment and its recognised role in purpose in being an advocate for co-operation within economic thinking in Scotland and having an active role in supporting the co-operative option. However, I am gravely concerned that its visibility is less and the level of resource that has been made available to it to do its job may be reducing. It is a time to have a review of its role to ensure that that is strengthened. I know that there are people in there doing good work, but it needs to be an agey that is seen as absolutely central to the Scottish Government's thinking. I also would hope that the Scottish Government could consider a minister for co-operation for a role across Government, because, while the cabinet secretary for equality is here, there is a direct role for the cabinet secretary for the economy and finance, and I would want to know that that work is being joined up. I do hope that the cabinet secretary will be willing to meet me and my fellow co-operative MSPs to discuss particularly the role of co-operative development Scotland. Secondly, we know that land reform has transformed local communities, moving it in some cases at best from benign neglect to active work on creating economic activity, rebuilding fragile communities. It is no surprise that co-operatives have been at the centre of this. It is equally no surprise that crevite unions and co-operatives are at the centre of some of our most impoverished urban communities, too. However, in the context of what we see as the evidence of the flourishing of co-operatives in our rural communities, it is simply incomprehensible why the Scottish Government has, rather than strengthening and drawing and searching to replicate the creative work of Highlands and Islands Enterprise now seeks to take over control, and I would argue that we can that drive that has sustained our communities over time, that has saved communities and has actually created economic opportunity. The social economy tells us that locally delivered action, understanding local challenges, creates economic and social opportunities, economic is as important as social. Co-operatives tell us that democratic accountability matters, that the search for uniformity in this sector is a block to that creativity. I urge the Scottish Government to ensure that the enterprise review goes where the social enterprise strategy takes you, not to centralise, not to seek uniformity but to liberate the talents and abilities in our communities, not with one economic model but supporting that diversity of models. I do not think that it is too late for the Scottish Government to step back from the decisions that they have already taken in relation to enterprise, but to review all the enterprise agencies to allow that enterprise strategy to be informed by and strengthened by the social enterprise strategy, rather than be in contradiction to it. I welcome the fact that this debate has taken place. I look forward to meeting with the minister in particular around Co-operative Development Scotland, but I celebrate with everyone across the chamber the very important work that social enterprise and co-operation do every day within our communities. As I said earlier, we have a bit of time in hand. I call Willie Rennie to be followed by Ruth Maguire. That was a dangerous thing to say, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I can talk forever, believe me. Liberals are strong supporters of co-operatives, of employee ownership, and are four square behind social enterprises too. Ethical, environmental, community-focused, often community-owned, and socially conscious. Those are the characteristics that we often think of when considering social enterprises. However, just because a business makes a profit does not mean that they should be excused from behaving in a manner that we describe to social enterprises. They should be ethical, environmental, community-minded and have a social conscience too. It should not be the exclusive preserve of social enterprises. Making a profit in itself is not necessarily bad. That was the drive of the liberal social reformers, like Robert Owen, who believed that caring for his workers was as good for his business as it was as good for the workers, as well as providing a good quality service or goods for the people who want it. I share the admiration that members across the chamber have shown for the social enterprise sector. It has been close to my heart for some time. There are two social enterprises in my part of the world—castle furniture in Cooper, which had an offshoot that was recycling paint. Another one was a book recycling project in Cowden Beath, run by The Shaw Trust. The book recycling project was training a lot of people from disadvantaged backgrounds. It was also saving books from going to landfill, and it was selling on books to people who needed them. The castle furniture recycling project for paint was taking old paint and re-using it, selling it on, training people as well, saving it going to landfill. Both of those projects had an environmental angle and a training aspect, but they were also selling goods that people wanted. They were close to my heart because my wife worked for both of them. They are now closed down, which has no connection with my wife, I dare to say, but they were great projects. That is part of the nature of the social enterprise sector, and one of the things that we need to be working at is to bring stability and long-term viability for the social enterprise sector. The motion today that we will be supporting is that aspirations are laudable, but much of the detail that will determine the success of the Scottish Government's 10-year national enterprise strategy has yet to be revealed. The first in a series of action plans spanning the decade will be published at some point this year. I therefore look forward to seeing how the Scottish Government actions will match up to the glossary rhetoric in the strategy. It is a fine, glossy document, do not get me wrong, but it needs to match up to that glossiness, because this debate would benefit from some transparency. The 2015 social enterprise census represented a useful starting point, but there are still too many gaps in our knowledge. Where are the statistics on the success rate of social enterprises compared with other businesses? That viability point that I was just making. I know how hard social enterprises need to work to stay afloat. They can depend on a range of income streams from trading to grants and legacies. Some might say that that is part of the territory, operating in parts of the economy where companies are apprehensive about getting involved, where profit margins are low and risks high. Indeed, the census noted that 39 per cent of typical social enterprises returned a deficit. Where to is the data confirming that Scotland's social enterprises are on a par with world leaders in terms of their success as the strategy asserts on two occasions? How many social enterprises are working around the clock to fill in gaps in the system areas that the public sector has overlooked or retreated from? I recall visiting another social enterprise in my part of the world called urban therapy in Lochgelley. It is a social enterprise that provides counselling for people suffering from mental ill health. The service that it provides was in such demand that people were travelling from a farer field as Glasgow—Glasgow to Fife is not a short distance—to get that kind of help. With one in four people in Scotland experiencing a mental health issue in their lifetime, it is little surprise that they are prepared to go that far to get the service, but it is a symptom of years of underfunding of mental health. If we are being asked to endorse a blueprint for social enterprise for the next decade, we need to be clear about where we are currently. That is the type of information that would help to assure Parliament that we are indeed on the right track. Indeed, the strategy acknowledges that more information is necessary, so it would be helpful if the cabinet secretary in a closing speech would set out what additional figures and key performance indicators that members can expect to draw upon in future. I was, however, particularly drawn to the 2015 census data on the Highlands and Islands. It highlighted the fact that 22 per cent of all social enterprises are located in that region in the Highlands and Islands, more than double what its population share might merit. It rightly proclaims that to be impressive. The census specifically praised the foundations that Highlands and Islands Enterprise established through a pioneering new approach to community economic self-help that quickly became integral. Page 17 recalls that the factors that allow social enterprise to flourish in rural Scotland in quotes were recognised as long as 50 years ago in the Highlands and Islands, where the regional economic development agency was given a remit for community, as well as economic development, and where substantial support has been provided to social enterprises for many years. However, what was praised repeatedly in the 2015 census does not even merit a mention in the 2016 strategy. It entirely omits the contribution that Highlands and Islands Enterprise has made. I would like to take a moment to remind members, because Highlands and Islands Enterprise regularly reports back to this Parliament. There are well over 1,000 such businesses in the region, accounting for approaching 7,500 jobs. Social enterprises activity contributes £130 million to gross value added to the region's economy. HIE continues to support social entrepreneurs to social enterprises in schools. It has sought to attract young people to the region by providing them with placements, with social businesses providing dozens of those opportunities through the ScotGad programme. Among HIEs, four priorities are to support social enterprise to shape and realise their growth aspirations. It is a unique remit to recognise the social and community dimensions to economic development as proven its worth. Why undermine five decades of social and economic development in the region? Why are ministers so determined on the centralisation of HIE? There is simply no basis for such a move. The Parliament has sent clear instructions to the Government, and it is frankly deplorable that SNP ministers still haven't responded properly to that vote. I'm grateful to be called to speak in this debate highlighting the important role of Scotland's social enterprises, as well as our commitment to their further development, both here at home and across the world. Encouraging inclusive economic growth and tackling inequalities are inextricable ambitions of this SNP Government. Social enterprises are at the heart of both. There are many different types of social enterprises, but what unites them all is a core commitment to enhancing civic as well as economic life, contributing to the social as well as the economic good. In short, they are businesses where society profits. The profound connection between social and economic prosperity is becoming even clearer both within and outwith the social enterprise sector. The living wage provides an excellent example of that. The first and foremost, paying the living wage is morally right, ensuring that people's basic wage meets the cost of living and reducing in-work poverty. However, it is also profitable from a business perspective, with all evidence showing that it leads to increased productivity and reduced staff absence and turnover, as well as sending a strong signal to customers about fairness. The Government recently announced Scotland's 700th living wage employer, and I hope that that number will continue to grow as more businesses become convinced of the strong case for paying their employees a fair wage. 700 is a good start, but it is out of hundreds of thousands of businesses and employers in Scotland, which is clearly still a long way to go. It is no coincidence that nearly 70 per cent of Scotland's social enterprises and three quarters of social enterprises across the United Kingdom as a whole pay at least the living wage—a clear demonstration of their recognition of and commitment to the links between social and economic prosperity. As we have heard, the social enterprise sector contributes £1.68 billion to our economy each year and employs more than 100,000 people, but their true worth cannot be measured in figures or statistics. That is their unparalleled role in tackling the most complex challenges that we face and at their root source. Often, locally based and focused, they have a hugely positive impact and empowering communities, particularly those with some of the greatest challenges, establishing viable business activity and creating job opportunities in underserved markets and fragile local economies. Social enterprises are of manifest benefit to Scotland both economically and socially and provide innovative and localised ways to tackle some of our most complex challenges in a fair and sustainable manner. For all those reasons, I strongly welcome the Government's new strategy and its wide-ranging and ambitious goals for the future development of social enterprises through the three main aims of stimulating the sector, developing strong organisations and realising market opportunities. As the cabinet secretary has set out, Scotland already ranks as a world leader in its support for the social enterprise sector. I particularly welcome the strategy's ambition to build further on this global reputation. That ambition will be epitomised when Edinburgh hosts the social enterprise world forum, marking 10 years since the first such event was held in our capital city. As convener of the cross-party group on credit unions, it would be remiss of me not to mention the exemplary work done by the social enterprises that are credit unions. Indeed, they are often termed community banks, a description that much better reflects their nature and purpose. Owned and controlled by members and with a membership based on a common bond, credit unions are underpinned by the co-operative ethos of people helping people. They are committed to providing a good-quality service for their members as opposed to simply profit for shareholders. The role of credit unions in reducing poverty and the impact of financial worries is well recognised and has been described in reports by organisations from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to the Social Market Foundation. In my constituency, I am pleased that North Ayrshire Council has recently published its own three-year strategy to support social enterprises. I know that the co-winning-based First Alliance credit union was involved in its development. Social enterprises already have a strong basis in North Ayrshire that are currently 98 in operation, with 824 full-time equivalent employees and a combined annual income of £5.6 million. 52 per cent of North Ayrshire's social enterprises specifically target disadvantaged people as employees, which is above the Scotland-wide average of 48 per cent. As well as creating job opportunities, social enterprises have a strong social impact here, helping us to tackle poverty and support some of our most vulnerable people. The North Ayrshire Council strategy is committed to building on these solid foundations through supporting the development of a North Ayrshire social enterprise network. It is particularly to be welcomed as the 2015 social enterprise census identified an adequate business support and a lack of time or capacity to develop trading as amongst one of the main obstacles for development. The single greatest issue identified by social enterprises, however, was insecure or declining grant funding. I was delighted to see that North Ayrshire Council recently announced £500,000 of funding to support the sector. The fund is specifically aimed at helping social enterprises to become more competitive and providing specialist help in areas such as HR, leadership and procurement. I am delighted that there is so much being done to support social enterprises both at a local and national level. I look forward to working with both the Scottish Government and North Ayrshire Council to realise our ambitions as we go forward. The term social enterprise in political vernacular is quite a difficult one to pin down sometimes. The word social, as so dramatically illustrated by our colleague Richard Leonard today, is often associated with the left of the political spectrum, whereas the word enterprise is often perhaps associated with the right. The reality is that, as the somewhat consensual nature of the debate today shows, social enterprise straddles both. First of all, I thank Social Enterprise Scotland up front for their help in informing today's debate. It is also right to thank their staff. It is a very small team and we forget that they punch well above their weight and size in what they do. In addition to a description that my colleague Dean Lockhart gave, that they attribute to what is social enterprise, they also made another statement on their website and that is that social enterprise is a dynamic way of doing business that can transform communities and drive profound and lasting social change. I think that it is the lasting social change element of that that I am interested in. I do not think that social enterprise needs to be a contradiction of ideologies. In fact, figures and analysis in a recent report, which is the State of Social Enterprise report 2015, if anyone in the chamber has read it, is an excellent document. It demonstrates that not only can a social enterprise wash its own face and support itself, but it can and does have the ability to generate considerable profit, which it generally reinvests back into itself or to a wider community or environmental cause. In fact, there are around 70,000 social enterprises in the UK and they contribute nearly £20 billion to our economy. Of course, this is not just exclusive to social enterprise. I meet many small businesses in my day-to-day dealings as an MSP and they too reinvest profits into their business so they can hire more staff, but social enterprises have a much deeper and more profound commitment to the social good. The ideas of social enterprise have, I would say, become something of an evolving theme in my own party over the years, from David Cameron's big society to Theresa May's shared society, or as I call it, society. However, putting politics aside— I think that it's hard to find fault in the—I'd like to make some progress, thanks—in the notion of the—I'll go on, then. I'm just wondering if societies are not big and shared. What is it? Jamie Hepburn? Perhaps it's both. I think that what the point I'm trying to make here is that we don't have to label society. In fact, society is, if I read out what I was just about to say, in more Theresa May words, you'd be pleased to learn that society is a society that respects the bonds that we share as a union of people and nations that recognises the obligations that we have as citizens—obligations that make our society work. That is society to me. Our social enterprises employ—thank you—100,000 people in Scotland—100,000 people in Scotland work in social enterprises, and that is a significant number. It's also important to note that 59 per cent of social enterprises employ at least one individual from a disadvantaged background, so the importance of the employment opportunities that they present should not be underestimated. However, it's not just funding that social enterprises rely on. In my view, it's a proper regulatory environment that needs to be in place to facilitate their sustainability. I'd like to give you a quick example, if I may. It's one of a housing association, and I was recently working on some case work by a constituent who was having trouble appealing a decision on an application to get a home from a particular association. His complaint to me was that there was little organisational structure to help him with the application. He was subsequently rejected and tried to appeal, and he told me that the housing association was wrapped in red tape and that divisions of responsibility were unclear even to the people working in the association. He described it to me, and I think that this is important, is that he wasn't sure whether he was working with a charity, a profitable private company, or a Government or a public body, which, by its very nature, sums up the interweaving aims of a social enterprise in its nature. In my own region, the Cunningham Housing Association, which I should add is not the one in the example that I gave, has offered vital housing services for over 30 years. It's a great example of how social enterprise, when managed the right way, with clear lines of organisation, can flourish and serve the local community. On the point of the strategy, there are two areas that I think I'd like to focus on that need to be addressed. One is the political ability of Government to intervene and the other is financial. Page 11 of the strategy talks about enabling legislation, and I look forward to more detail in the action plan about how the Government thinks we can enable legislation and which legislation we can enable to promote social enterprise. The second point on funding, it talks about seed capital. It uses the words, we will help ensure that budding social entrepreneurs have access to the seed corn capital that they need. Again, I would like more detail on that. What is this capital and where is it coming from? In the absence of having much more time, I think I have many other contributions to make. May I just say to the minister that I'd be very happy to share those contributions and writing after this debate. I think that we all have something to bring to this. I think that what I would like to close on, however, is recognising another important local social enterprise in my area, and that's the Ayrshire community media, which is an example of how they use technology to promote social enterprise. However, let's not forget that over 20 per cent of enterprises lie in the highlands and islands, which are some of our most difficult to reach areas and which also have some of the lowest connectivity rates, so I think that that's important to focus. I welcome this debate and I think that there have been some excellent contributions thus far, and I do hope that we can work together constructively to promote the strategy and aims of the Government on this. I call John Mason to be followed by Daniel Johnson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I think that this is a subject that we are all broadly supportive of, and I think that we generally have a positive reaction whenever we hear the term social enterprises. Although, when I started to think how I would actually define them, I have to say that I was less sure. Thankfully, I see when I looked that the definition is fairly loose, as long as they stick to the five criteria, including being a trading business and not distributing profits. However, two key parts of the success story of social enterprises is, as has been mentioned, that 60 per cent of CEOs or equivalents are women, and, on average, the ratio of top to bottom pay is just 2.5 to 1, so much better than most private sector businesses manage. In fact, I see in the list of values and behaviours that their target is that social enterprises do not pay inequitable salaries to senior management—a maximum ratio of 1 to 5 between lowest and highest is a useful guide. That is why I find it strange that the Conservatives are saying that they are so enthusiastic about social enterprises, and yet there is one of the key values about the relationship between top and bottom pay that we know that the Conservatives are totally opposed to. They appear to be facing both ways at the same time, but I am sure that they will explain that to us one of these days. I do think that we have a problem with business ownership models in this country as the Green amendment highlights. We are having an explanation from Mr Lockhart. Dean Lockhart's social enterprise guide in terms of the code as to what constitutes social enterprise is not a legal definition. It is merely a recommendation, so I think that when we talk about social enterprise, we are not necessarily bound by that definition. That explains that the Conservatives say that they like social enterprises, but if it comes to anything about limiting top pay, they do not want anything to do with it. It is widely assumed, as has been mentioned, that, without consciously thinking about it, that a PLC and so on is the ideal way of doing business. We just got used, I am afraid, to strong nationalised industries such as the South of Scotland electricity board and the North of Scotland hydroelectric board being turned into PLCs. The current demise of the Erdri Savings Bank, as has been mentioned, and I should declare that that is where my salary goes every month for the time being, reminds us that when I was growing up, my first bank account was a TSB and every high street really had a branch, but they all became PLCs and a fat lot of good that did them. If someone is thinking of starting a business, they might think that a normal limited company is the way to go. It starts, low-colic grows and, if successful, it either floats itself or is taken over by a PLC or multinational organisation. That is seen as success and we tend to fate people who have gone down that route. Does it have to be that way? Well, the answer is no, it does not have to be that way. We have tremendous businesses that operate under different models and an obvious example of those is housing associations, which are a whole sector in themselves but which I would see as one of the best examples of what we are looking for in social enterprises. For me the key thing about housing associations and hopefully all social enterprises is that they combine being both local and being professional. In my constituency we have many professional organisations but many are just branches of huge national or international organisations. They are professional but they are not local. On the other hand, we have local organisations which are very small, do good work, are run by a handful of volunteers but they might struggle to get a treasurer, they struggle to apply to the lottery and so I would categorise them as being very local and very good but perhaps struggling to be professional. We need more who can be described as both local and professional. Housing associations I see as really one of the ideals in that field but I would like to mention some other social enterprises in my local area and apologies to the many that I am afraid I have to leave out. One of the biggest is the wise group that people have probably heard of and although they had to downsize when they did not win some of the DWP contracts a few years ago that said a lot to me about whether we could not do more to favour such social enterprises rather than just awarding contracts for the work programme or anything else to whatever organisation happened to come along. These social enterprises are organisations with values and we get a lot more than a pound back when we pay them a pound. At the smaller end we have something called Giza Break based at Parkhead who as the name suggests can provide support to families who are just about making it but could really do with a bit of support, respite and a break. I will say in passing that their chair Louise Kilby recently received an MBE and while I do not approve of the British Empire in any manner of means it does say something about the high regard that she and they are held in. Another is the Glasgow Association for Mental Health which do great work supporting people with mental health issues. While Glasgow Women's Library are more recently moved into my patch and are unique not just in Scotland but in the UK in their size, the reach and the facilities that they provide, they are much more than a library. On passing two, all four of these I have just mentioned occupy buildings that are either listed or are really important buildings for the community. Obviously the building is not the main thing for any of them but I think that it illustrates the wider role that they all have beyond just being another service provider making money. Fifthly I would mention the Glasgow Centre for Independent Living whom I think very highly of and have been witnesses here at Parliament being real advocates for disabled people. Of course it is not all plain sailing and I think that the strategy recognises some of the challenges that we do now and we will in the future face. I have seen social enterprises with a real strong entrepreneurial leader who finds it very hard to deal with the public sector and will not bend or adapt their ideals to obtain public funding. I have seen parts of the public sector who have such a rigid system and so many hoops for social enterprises to jump through that it appears that they are looking down on them and do not respect them. Finally, if I could mention one organisation that I visited within the last month and that is Weevolution, which I think is not itself a social enterprise because they do not carry on their trading business. However, what they do is support what are called self-reliant groups which would have the potential to become social enterprises with a particular emphasis on women and with international links. However, in their case they do not tell the developing world how to do things, they actually learn from the Indian experience. They originally were called passage from India and they took a group of women from Glasgow to India to learn how women could set up their own groups. I think that I have to finish at that point. Thank you. Thank you very much. I call Daniel Johnson to be followed by Tom Arthur. Mr Johnson, please, a generous six minutes. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to start with the Declaration of Interest. I'm a director of a business with retail interests in Edinburgh. I'm also a member of the co-operative party. Indeed, I think that as somebody coming from a private sector background this debate in some ways brings together the two parts of my working life. When I was running my business, I always did so with a very strong people-centred ethos. My business was the first independent retailer in Edinburgh to become an accredited living wage employer. We strove to make sure that we were accountable to our employees and, above all else, we ensured that work was about providing opportunity and empowerment. Indeed, those values are very much the values that I bring to politics. I think that the thing that combines my work life prior to politics and my political values is a belief in work—that work should provide opportunity and empowerment. Indeed, I think that there is a growing realisation that business needs to do that, that business needs to be people-centred. In the 21st century, in the knowledge economy, successful businesses have to be mindful of people, their needs, their requirements, giving them opportunity, equity and accountability. That is why social enterprises are so important and why this debate is important, because I think that social enterprises exemplify those values in very real ways. Indeed, I very much appreciate the links that I have in my constituency with the bike station, albeit that they are having to struggle after a recent fire, and Blackwood, which is a very large housing association. I welcome this debate. I welcome the Scottish Government's support. I welcome its commitment. I think that social enterprises can do a great deal, and they need that support. However, I think that I need to bring a degree of critique to the document that we have before us. I think that a number of members have skirted around certain issues. Graham Day mentioned that the document is relatively high-level. Dean Lockhart was incredibly diplomatic in saying that it could do with some more detail. I think that Willie Rennie was absolutely right to say that it needed to establish data. It is because I support social enterprise that I think that this document has to be commented on. I have to question whether that is a strategy at all. In the previous life, I was a management consultant. Forgive me a moment if I outline what I believe strategy to be. A strategy must have clear objectives, analysis of the current context and how those objectives will be achieved, defined assets and how Willie Rennie would be deployed. In other words, money and people. It has to have a defined understanding of success. I think that that is the most critical and important element of any strategy. Unfortunately, I think that this document fails on a good number of those measures. Let us start with clarity. Let me read one. I am not sure if it is a sentence or a paragraph, but I will give it a go. Through pan-organisational action and co-ordination with our statutory partners, we will raise awareness of social enterprise and work to realise opportunities as part of policy formulation through active consideration, alternative service, delivery models and in the design of public sector programme services, partnerships and funds. If that is clear to anyone else in here, I would welcome an intervention right now. It seems to suggest that they can raise awareness through consideration. Through the sheer power of thought alone, the Scottish Government is going to raise awareness of social enterprise. I will take the intervention. Maurice Golden member agrees with me that the paragraph that he read out is something that new labour would have produced. We have come on a long way since those days. On assets and deployment, there are many words such as working with, but there is little description of money or who will do the work. Indeed, in terms of assessing a baseline, there are infographics, but the numbers that are featured in the infographics do not actually feature in the body of the text. On measurement of success, we have an almost 50-page document, a single page, with only half a page's worth of text and actually only a promise of further information on measures. I welcome the fact that an action plan is coming out in a matter of weeks. However, for a strategy to be a strategy, those measures, at least in a high level, have to be baked into its very body. Strategy above all else should provide clarity and be a guide to future action. Unfortunately, I think that this document does little to provide that clarity. Above all else, social enterprises are business. When I have discussions with social enterprise entrepreneurs and people who work in them, they make that point time and time again. There is a sense that I question why is the person at the front of the document Angela Constance stop? Why is it not Keith Brown? Indeed, if we are going to promote social enterprise, it has to be within the context of our enterprise policy as a whole. We have a well-developed network of agencies that provide partnership, co-operation and collaboration. Some of the things that this document does talk about. However, when we look at the actions of this Scottish Government, when we see that it is cutting 33 per cent of the operational budget from Scottish Enterprise, when we see the undermining of the Highlands and Islands Enterprise Board, we have to question the commitment of this Scottish Government to provide the very support and co-operation and collaboration that is needed, not just to develop social enterprises but socially responsible enterprise at full stop. We have the opportunity to do a great deal, but the direction of this Government surely is going in the wrong direction. Anyone who has read the entrepreneurial state will understand the importance the state plays in developing an economy, both in terms of innovation, but I would argue also in terms of social responsibility. This is a legislature. We were elected here as legislators and, month after month, we have had debate after debate to discuss a great many things, but very little legislation. If the Scottish Government is going to fill our time with such things and have debates debating such documents, please can we have some quality, can we have some detail, can we have some clarity about what the Scottish Government is going to do rather than warm words? Yes, the social enterprise sector is extremely important. I admire the commitment to it, but there needs to be detail if that commitment is going to be honoured in any realistic way at all. Please don't waste our time. Please use the resources of the Scottish Government and bring forward plans that detail with clarity how you will improve Scotland and indeed support social enterprises. Thank you. Thank you, Mr Johnson. I have Tom Arthur to be followed by John Scott. Mr Arthur, please, a generous six minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am pleased to have the opportunity— I am sorry that that made you feel weary, but we are looking forward to your speech. Presiding Officer, you never make me feel weary. I look forward to you being in the chair. I am pleased to have the opportunity to participate in this afternoon's debate on Scotland's first ever dedicated long-term social enterprise strategy, not least because it affords me the opportunity to talk about all the fantastic work of social enterprises within my constituency of Renfrewshire South. I say all of the fantastic work, but I really just mean some because there is so much of it. However, I wish to remark on social enterprises more generally and how we relate to the Scottish Government's economic strategy, as well as highlighting some of the ways in which the social enterprise strategy will impact positively on the sector. The Scottish Government's co-produced—I think that it is just important to remember that it was not a Government document, it was a co-produced document—is the first of its kind. It does provide a 10-year framework for actions that build on the solid evidence base of the 2015 social enterprise census and Scotland's long-standing association with business models that prioritise the social good. One of the elements of strategy is that it is about having flexibility, and if you are too prescriptive within a strategy, you will be locking in to a 10-year standard. I have sat on committees and I have listened to people complain about the idea of strategies that people have been locked in for 10 years. It seems that if it is too prescriptive, the Government is trying to lock sectors in, if it is not prescriptive enough, then it is not worth the paper that is written on. However, it is butchered by a series of social enterprise action plans, which perhaps are the tactical implementation of the strategy. That strategy will see a focus on stimulating social enterprise, developing stronger organisations and realising market opportunities. It will see support for more people to start their own social enterprises, enhancing networks and workforce development opportunities and improving and widening access to public markets as well as developing profile in consumer markets and supporting opportunities to increase trade with domestic and, importantly, international markets. Social enterprises already make a significant contribution to the Scottish economy, employing more than 100,000 people and with a net worth of close to £4 billion, making a positive contribution towards the Scottish Government's ambition of inclusive growth. With more than 5,000 social enterprises already operating and 200 new start-ups every year, there is clear evidence that the flourishing sector is making a positive impact, some of which is in evidence in Newson and my constituency of Renfrewshire South. Last year, I had the privilege of meeting with the Newson Development Trust at their base, the bank. What is, as recently as 10 years ago, was a closed high street bank that is now a vibrant and dynamic community hub, as well as hosting a popular cafe and local first responders. It is utilised by 30 public and first sector organisations, 15 community groups, other social enterprises and micro businesses. With nearly 5,000 visitors to the cafe alone in the past year or so, it is easy to understand why the bank has been called the living room of Newson. The success of the bank alone would be regarded as an outstanding achievement for any organisation. However, it is only one aspect of the work of the Newson Development Trust. The trust is now fast becoming a key player in active travel, as one of only seven cycle-friendly employer assessor bodies across Scotland with responsibility for assessing employers in East Renfrewshire, South Fershire, Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire. In the past year or so, the trust has been responsible for the repair and recycling of over 300 bikes and has secured many cycle to work pledges, saving an estimated 16 tonnes of CO2. As well as the positive environmental impact, the trust's work in active travel has engaged students from across East Renfrewshire in cycle mechanics and guilds vocational training. That is in addition to being a partner in the Newson community wind farm that has produced enough carbon-free electricity in the past year to power twice the number of homes in Newson. With more than 100 regular volunteers and 14 paid employees, the work of the trust is community empowerment in action, creating opportunities and improving lives. Renfrewshire South is home to some other fantastic social enterprises such as the Linwood community development trust, which I mentioned before in the chamber, and East Renfrewshire voluntary action based on Barhead. Individually and collectively, they make a huge contribution and I look forward to future opportunities to share some of their fantastic work with the chamber. The range of contributions that social enterprises make are vast. However, I personally feel that the most important, particularly the day of those, is in strengthening communities and empowering people. It is clear from the upheaval of the past 12 months that many people across the world feel—oh, certainly. Johann Lamont I wonder if you would agree that one of the key roles—I agree with you that they are all the playing within communities—is to create organisations that pay the living wage, which are environmentally serious and recognise the importance of equal pay, and that organisations that do not do that ought not to be in receipt of public funds. Tom Arthur I have a great deal of sympathy for the point that Johann Lamont makes. I spoke with a newson development trust, I have met people who came from chaotic lifestyles, and their lives have been transformed. The dignity of having a job, of having employment and the essential of being empowered is incredible and transformative effects it has. One of the points that I was about to make was that it is clear from the political upheaval of the past 12 months that many people across the world have felt alienated from power and the centres of control. That is also something that has been reflected in the levels of democratic engagement. Last May, in Renfrewshire south, two of every five people entitled to vote chose not to exercise that right. In recent elections for local government, typically fewer have chosen to participate. Sadly, it is still the case that, for many, they do not feel that they have a stake or role in power and decision making. That too often can lead to some feeling that nothing can change and that their lives and communities are fixed. That to be an equity in inequality, which is still far too pervasive across the globe, cannot be addressed through engagement with the current political systems. Some respond to that and a sense of hopelessness with quiet resignation, others respond in anger. However, political views we have here, I hope that we can all agree that the political times that we are living through have been shaped by communities who feel strongly that they have been left behind, marginalised, belittled and ignored. Although there is no single solution to the challenges that are faced by such communities, a big part of the answer is in community empowerment, which is so effectively provided by social enterprises. I want to conclude, Presiding Officer, that Nielston Barhead and Lynwood, to give three examples, have experienced many of the problems shared by post-industrial communities across Scotland and the western world. Addressing those problems in each of the three communities—I have been a wee bit more generous, Mr Arthur, please conclude—is a social enterprise that is afraid and will continue to play a vital role. I look forward to continuing to support them and other social enterprises that are meant for each other, and I commend the Government on the work to support them. Mr Arthur, sit down. When I say a generous six minutes, I do not mean seven and a half minutes. Mr Scott, I know you know what to do. What a pleasant surprise, Presiding Officer. I begin by saying what the pleasure is to speak in this debate and declare an interest as one of the pioneers of farmers markets in Scotland and also as the convener of the cross-party group on towns and town centres, as well as being a past convener, co-convener of the cross-party group on co-operatives. As most members have done today, I will use my speech to support this motion and talk a bit about social enterprise in their constituency in the issue more generally. Perhaps unusually, for a Conservative, I also express my admiration for Robert Owen and also agree with much of what Willie Coffey and Johann Lamont had to say. In preparing for this debate, I was struck by the lack of a legal or clear-cut definition about what constitutes a social enterprise, so if I stray into areas that others would not regard as social enterprise, I will welcome your tolerance and forbearance. It also means, however, that I welcome Scotland's social enterprise strategy document, which takes forward the work of social enterprise for the next 10 years, although details and definitions need to be strengthened and enhanced. For me, perhaps the biggest social enterprise that I have been involved in was the creation of the Ayrshire Farmers' Markets, a co-operative that I founded with the help of James Graham and Douglas Watson of SCOS, which grew out of the second farmers' market that was established in Scotland and was established in air in 1999. Winning the air-bike election, however, in 2000, it immediately became apparent to my late wife and I that we would no longer be able to run this market that we had created. We transferred the ownership of the market into the co-operative that it now is. From that, and during my early years as an MSP, I helped to create the Scottish Association of Farmers' Markets and an organisation that I chaired for I think around five years during the high growth period of farmers' markets development across Scotland. They were and remain collaborations of like-minded people working together to create an interest in retailing local food, as well as an interface between country and town. From then, farm shops and other businesses have grown. Like Johann Lamont, I also support the work of co-operative development in Scotland and Sarah Dees, its chief executive. Of course, in my constituency, we have other more significant social enterprises such as the Ayrshire Housing Association, ably led by Jim Whitson, which is a major provider of affordable housing locally, and I cannot speak highly enough of the service that they provide and the good work that they do. Ayrshire Housing 2 is a good example of a path to be followed by others in their story and the history of growth. Murray Tosh, former MSP of the place, displayed a significant role in their development in Ayrshire. We need to grow the numbers of the type of enterprise as the motion and amendments to de-agree. To that end, we should be doing more to support organisations such as the South Ayrshire Social Enterprise Network, which believes that social enterprise can transform the economic, environmental and social and cultural life of South Ayrshire. South Ayrshire Social Enterprise Network lists among its members organisations such as Access to Employment Air, Age Concern Air and the Airgate Partnership, Hansel, Prestwick Civic Pride Partnership, South Ayrshire Care and Repair and the Salvation Army. Those are all organisations of which I am familiar and very supportive of. In particular, I would like to mention the success of the Airgate Partnership, which was debated in this Parliament in times past, which, with welcome financial support from the Scottish Government and South Ayrshire Council, has found a new model that I will, I hope, ensure its future. However, the most important asset that the gate has is its army of willing volunteers and that is what sets it apart from its previous business model and all credit to them. Access to Employment Air has, for many years, sought to get people into work, while South Ayrshire Care and Repair has helped to refurbish homes and helped those in difficulty for many years, too. Prestwick Civic Pride Partnership seeks to put further heart into the vibrant community already to be found in Prestwick and has in itself become a regeneration tool. Social enterprise is already well established in South Ayrshire, and I can only speculate that perhaps we already have more than our fair share of organisations that can easily be defined as social enterprises. However, we probably have many other organisations over and above the 42 listed on the South Ayrshire Social Enterprise Network website, which are effectively social enterprises in everything but name, although they do not appear to be on the membership list. Organisations like Opportunities in Retirement, which has 1,400 members in Ayr and supports activity in retirement, plays a vital role in the social fabric of Ayr and keeps people active in their retirement and prolongs active life in our community. Another organisation in which I think is also a social enterprise is Ayrshire Cancer Support, which exists to transport Ayrshire cancer patients to and from the Beats in Glasgow for treatment on a charitable basis. Those men and women who do that on a daily basis are a little short of saints. There is, for me, an undefined border between organised voluntary work for the benefit of others and becoming a social enterprise. One of the links and enablers in this development from volunteering to social enterprise is voluntary action in the South Ayrshire, whose conference I will be attending a week today in the Brigadune hotel, where ideas say much will be said about the encouragement of growth and development of our vital third sector all welcome. Indeed, it was none other than Winston Churchill who pointed out that we make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give. That could almost be a mission statement for the social enterprise sector. At any rate, it is a good enough ethos and principle for most of us here to agree on and aspire to. I look forward to supporting the Government's motion today and I recommend the Conservative amendment to Parliament as well. I will call Emma Harper, who is the last speaker on the open date for move to closings, and it will be six minutes, Ms Harper. I have been generous too far, too much. I am pleased to speak in today's debate. Social enterprises play a crucial role in reducing disadvantage and inequality in our communities. They are innovative, independent businesses, with a social purpose operating for the common good rather than private profit. They represent a more ethical and sustainable way of doing business. They provide inventive solutions to the problems many face and are central to achieving a shared vision of inclusive growth and a fairer Scotland. The Scottish Government wants to work together with the people of Scotland, the communities, the businesses and industry, and with all people and third sector organisations to tackle inequality. Supporting the growth of social enterprises is key to that. Scotland is recognised as a world leader in social enterprise field. There are over 5,000 social enterprises in Scotland worth £1.68 billion to the economy and with a net worth of £3.69 billion. Those organisations provide over 112,000 jobs and over 200 new social enterprises are formed each year. Scotland has a long history of pioneering new forms of businesses. The co-operative, as Richard and mutual mentioned, and social enterprise models reflect a belief in a fairer, more equal society where business activity is used as a means to this end. Both locally and nationally, the social enterprise sector is incredibly diverse, encompassing development of trusts and community enterprises, housing associations and social firms. It is difficult to be the final speaker because a lot of this has been said already, so I am going to take you straight to the south of Scotland to Dumfries and Galloway. The recent census recorded 190 social enterprises in Dumfries and Galloway. Some examples are Dumfries and Galloway Citizens Advice Bureau, the usual place, Lawerburn Housing Association, Dumfries and Galloway Chamber of Commerce and the Community Transport Initiatives, and the food train that originated in Dumfries and Galloway in 1995 is also an excellent example that I would like to highlight today. For 22 years, the charity that supports older people started out after the elderly forum spoke to its members and asked them what services would help in their day-to-day lives. It began by taking orders for shopping, delivered by volunteers who unpacked the food and stayed for a chat. The purpose behind the project was more than just to deliver food to elderly people. It was to provide a point of contact and combat isolation. Eventually, other initiatives grew out of that, such as the meal makers project, which involves the volunteers staying and cooking a meal. That helped to tackle loneliness and malnutrition among the elderly population. At an RCN event last year with Theresa Fife, who is head of RCN, loneliness was a major factor for the elderly population. During my time as a nurse educator with NHS Dumfries and Galloway, I met with the food train volunteers to help to identify the best ways of working so that health and social care could be better achieved. The initiative turned out to be very successful, and the scheme expanded across Scotland with projects in Dundee, Stirling, Glasgow, West Lothian, Renfrewshire and North Ayrshire. Last week, I visited another social enterprise providing vital services within the community. Branch Out is a social enterprise run by the former headway UK, which is now known as Compass Brain Injury Service in Dumfries. Branch Out is an organisation commissioned to provide slow-stream cognitive rehabilitation to survivors of acquired brain injury. Compass BIS is a specialist service for adults, children and young people with acquired brain injury and their families and their carers. Branch Out has been operating for about eight months. It is debt-free and operates at around 60 per cent profit, which is then reinvested in the organisation. It accepts patients from across Dumfries and Galloway, self-referrals as well as referrals from NHS and social work. The social enterprise delivers two care inspectorate registered services. One is the rehab centre and the other is community rehab. Those services are commissioned by both NHS and VIA social work. Sometimes patients come from over the border because there is a paucity of service availability in North East and West England. Branch Out and Compass BIS uses persons-centred outcomes and care planning. Their children and families service has developed to the stage that it must now be registered with the care inspectorate. The services cost around £350,000 to commission, but that is a significant savings over the cost of delivery via statutory service provision. I could continue to give several examples of social enterprise successes in Dumfries and Galloway. I just worked out that if I was to visit one a week it would take me more than three and a half years to visit the social enterprise places in Dumfries and Galloway. However, I think that we can agree that these organisations are clearly central to achieving our shared vision of inclusive growth and a fairer Scotland. That is why Scotland's first ever dedicated long-term social enterprise strategy should be welcomed across the chamber. The strategy provides a framework for action, building on the strong evidence base in social enterprise census of 2015, and it will cement Scotland's reputation as the best place to start and grow a social enterprise. Presiding Officer, I welcome this motion today and I support the Scottish Government's motion. Thank you very much. Before I move to closing speeches, I have to say that John Scott is not in the chamber, although he has spoken the debate, no doubt he will take this into account particularly in his previous role in this chamber. I am more than a little disappointed. I now call Andy Wightman to close with Green Party's six minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. This has been a useful debate. We have highlighted some key tensions that I will return to. At the opening of the debate this afternoon, the cabinet secretary talked about a paradigm shift. A paradigm shift is, the dictionary reminds us, a fundamental shift in approach or underlying assumptions. As much as we welcome the social enterprise strategy, we do not see it as any evidence of a paradigm shift, although no doubt that might occur at some point in the future. Many members made interesting contributions. Johann Lamont mentions the importance of co-operatives, and we agree with that. Indeed, years ago, when I was considering joining a political party, I did toy with the idea of joining the co-operative party. I like joining parties that are autonomous, so the ancient and honourable hitching of the co-operative party with the Labour Party meant that I did not take up that opportunity. However, if I get disappointed with the green movement one day and the co-operative party becomes independent, I may well join my colleagues over here, only joking. Comrades, indeed. Johann Lamont's colleague Daniel Johnson reminded us, with quite an effective critique of the strategy, about what a strategy is. I think that he raised an important point as to why, in the debate, and indeed in the Scottish Government, the Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities has the social enterprise brief, rather than the Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work. I think that that gets to the heart of the matter. It acknowledges the fact that, as Jamie Greene mentioned, social enterprise can be regarded as a blend of socialism and entrepreneurialism, but it emphasises the fact that social enterprise is a social project, but it is equally an enterprise project. I am sure that the Cabinet Secretary understands that, and I am sure that the Scottish Government is working across cabinet portfolios to make sure that the social enterprise strategy is implemented effectively. The danger, of course, is that the Scottish Government pays too much attention and places too much emphasis on the social valuable as that is. It is our amendment that draws attention to that wider question, including the question of pay and the recognition of trade unions. In 2013, my colleague Alison Johnson raised the question about conditions attached to public support for the private sector in the context of Amazon. It is why our amendment, and I quote, agrees that government support for businesses must be conditional on the delivery of social and environmental goods such as the living wage, environmental responsibility, the recognition of trade unions and equal pay. The debate also highlighted questions around the future of Highlands and Islands enterprises. Members pointed out that a large proportion, disproportionate number of social enterprises are located in the Highlands and Islands, as Willie Rennie mentioned. It is no coincidence that that is the case because, of course, the old HIDB had a social remit and did a lot of work in the 1960s and 1970s in developing the co-operative movement. In a debate in this place, as I recall, led by the Conservatives, the member for the Highlands and Islands—whose name? Donald Cameron, thank you very much. On the question of highlands and islands enterprise, I raised the question of legal personality of HIE, and Keith Brown, the cabinet secretary, promised to come back to me on that question. I am still looking forward to that response. Perhaps the most interesting contribution was perhaps from Jamie Greene with his discussion about the idea of society as an evolving theme. It is quite interesting. Was it big, as David Cameron once suggested? Was it shared, as Theresa May now suggests? At least those are welcome advances on Thatcher's idea. In her day, there was no such thing as society, but it does beg the question where the Conservative thinking is going on the question of society. John Mason raised the very important question about pay ratios. Dean Lockhart correctly pointed out that reference to that in the context of social enterprise was advisory and was not of any legal standing. I would be interested in the Conservatives winding up whether they could provide us with any greater clarity as to whether they support the elevation of pay ratios to a legal requirement. Dean Lockhart and Rachel Hamilton raised the question about pupils and education, which gives me an opportunity to note and endorse the valuable work of the social enterprise academy that is working with primary and secondary pupils across Scotland. Two years ago, Greene adopted a policy to legislate to grant private sector employees the right to buy the company for which they work. That is indicative of the paradigm shift that we think needs to take place in how we organise the economy. To conclude in three months' time, there is local government elections. I think that this is a very valuable opportunity to have further debate on the social economy. Edinburgh Council in my constituency has done valuable work on this question, but huge opportunities still exist to be exploited. I am disappointed, for example, to read news today that Stirling Council, Labour Conservative, is going to privatise sports facilities today. We indicated that we will support all amendments and the motion, and I commend our amendment to Parliament. Presiding Officer, I am grateful for the opportunity to close this debate on social enterprises. Richard Leonard was right to remind us of Labour and cooperative movement history and the importance of Robert Owens in the development of cooperatives. Can I, however, advise the chamber that it is not colleagues or comrades, but co-operators is the term that we should be using? However, I do not think that anyone listening this afternoon can be in any doubt about the regard in which the chamber holds social enterprises, co-operatives and mutuals. Everyone has a local example of needs met, services delivered, employment generated and capacity enhanced in their community. I am sure that the cabinet secretary is looking forward eagerly to receiving Jamie Greene's additional thoughts on the matter. The chamber has already heard some of the headline statistics, but they bear repeating. 5,200 social enterprises are currently operating in Scotland, more than 110,000 employees. They come in all shapes and sizes, both urban and rural, and are touching every area of our economy. The main sectors of trading activity tend to be in housing, health and social care, but their contribution to the economy is £1.68 billion in gross value added, so they are an important and growing sector. Yes, they are businesses, but they trade for the common good and use their assets and surplices for this purpose. It is an inclusive model that can and does drive growth in our local and regional economies, but we need to provide them with support, as we would do for businesses more generally. Support for individual entrepreneurs, access to financial support for the social enterprise to help them to grow, business support from mainstream agencies such as Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. They must see that as part of their core business, as well as the provision of specialist support, too. Many have said across this chamber that Willie Rennie and Richard Leonard included, leave high well alone. It works, so please don't tinker with it. I'm proud of the fact that I was the previous Labour cabinet minister some time ago that helped at the start of this Parliament's journey by creating social investment Scotland. SIS offered a new finance model for charities and social enterprises. Its mission was to stimulate the creation and growth of social enterprise in Scotland, and I think that it has done really well, because now it is supporting projects in every town and city across the country, many of which have been mentioned by members already. One spin-off from SIS is the inaugural Asda Social Enterprise Supplier Academy, funded by the Carrier Bag Levy. That brought together social enterprises with Asda buyers. It was the first event of its kind and involved 12 social enterprises from Scotland, understanding what it takes to trade with large-scale retailers. Participants included Brugoda, Impact Arts and Misses who make empowerment pants. I'm not going to talk to you about empowerment pants, but let me instead tell you about Brugoda. That is a collaboration between Broodog and Alan Mahon and Josh Littlejohn, a social enterprise with a simple mission to provide clean water for 1 million people through the power of craft beer. 100 per cent of their profits will be donated to clean water charities, and as a result of their work with Asda, it is now stocked on their shelves in Broodog pubs and in our very own Parliament. In fact, Presiding Officer, it is beer of the month in the Parliament bar. For once, you will be doing good by having a pint. I would encourage you to do so. The diversity of social enterprises is truly extraordinary, and that's reflected in my constituency, too. Whether it's social care providers like Cornerstone or the Helensburg and Lomond Care Centre or Tullecan providing opportunities for young people to learn and flourish, Dumbarton and Vale of Leven credit unions, all of them do a hugely valuable job, but I know that times are tough. Some are dependent in part on local government funding assistance. The Scottish Government has cut local government funding by £170 million this year, £1.5 billion since 2011, and there's been a cut to funding of our enterprise agencies, as we've heard already. Does Scottish Enterprise buy £50 million this year alone? Something like 33 per cent in real terms. If the Scottish Government is to meet the lofty ambitions that we all share, then cutting support in this way will undermine the strategy. There is little to disagree with in the strategy. It's quite high-level, light on detail. The lack of target-specific measures is disappointing. We've heard that across the chamber. How do we know what works if we don't measure it? As Daniel Johnson pointed out, the Scottish Government is going to think about it all as one of its actions. The cabinet secretary has talked about an action plan to come, but it should have been published alongside this document. Targets, milestones, lead responsibility and resources should all feature. I can't tell what money the Scottish Government puts towards social enterprise, and I wonder whether the cabinet secretary could tell us in her closing remarks. Presiding Officer, I'll finish on this point. A number of others have made it. Why does social enterprise sit in the community's portfolio? Surely it should be in the economy brief. If we believe that they are central to our economy and they access support from Scottish Enterprise and high, both government economic development agencies, then why should the policy lead not sit with the cabinet secretary for the economy? Presiding Officer, warm words and good intentions are great. Of course they are, but even better is robust action to support social enterprises to grow. I welcome the aspirational sentiment of much of the strategy, which at this point is lacking in detail with regard to its implementation. I appreciate that we have been promised a series of action plans outlining how that will be delivered. I would like the Scottish National Party Government to focus on a number of areas within those action plans, but we are supportive of the motion, and that's why our amendment reflects additions around harnessing public sector spending power, developing a verifiable social impact measurement tool and recognising the preventative spend impact of social enterprises. I will develop those points over the course of this speech, but the debate today has been interesting with a high degree of consensus, apart from John Mason, who was as adversarial as ever, but successfully managed to empty the public gallery. His speech was largely one of a focus of form over substance, and certainly from our perspective we don't believe in making rigid definitions that may hurt the sector, and I think that that's what we need to focus on. However, we share the vision with the cabinet secretary that social enterprises will grow, expand and influence the market. Angela Constance also spoke about innovation and inclusion, two themes that we can also support. Dean Lockhart highlighted that there are 5,000 social enterprises in Scotland employing 110,000 people, and the sector is female led. He also advocated an encouragement of vocational skills and a reduction of grant dependency. We will be supporting the Labour amendment today, although, after Richard Leonard spoke, I almost changed my mind. His urging of caution with respect to realising market opportunities has to be met with caution. However, we agree with the role that social enterprises can have in rebuilding our economy and creating new forms of local ownership, as well as recognising the concern that was highlighted by Johann Lamont that cuts to local government and enterprise agency cuts could have had on social enterprises. Daniel Johnson's critique and analysis of the strategy was excellent, dare I say it, almost second to none. It was a well-informed and comprehensive contribution. He read that quote, which I couldn't quite decipher. I have one for him. On page 28, we have, where necessary, we will put in place additional awareness-raising and specialist early stage capacity building support, where potential exists to realise latent potential. Onward, we will not be supporting the green amendment. Our position is that social enterprises should complement existing business models and add to the wide spectrum of successful businesses in Scotland. Graham Day gave a strong account of how social enterprises have contributed to the Angus area and made a worthwhile suggestion about a mentoring programme. Andy Wightman, I am not sure that there is anything in the green amendment that s