(West Scotland) (Lab):
Two weeks ago, I asked the First Minister to establish an aerospace
and aviation task force, and I am grateful that a group has been
established to respond to the situation at Rolls-Royce and to support aerospace jobs.
However, with the loss of 160 Menzies Aviation jobs at Glasgow
airport being announced and with National Car Parks workers also
facing redundancy, does the First Minister agree that we also need
a focus on aviation?
Specifically, what can be done to support our airports?
Glasgow airport is one of the biggest employers in my region. The
trade unions Unite and the GMB are warning that further job
losses are to come, and they support the creation of an airport
jobs task force. Will the Scottish Government create such a
group?
The First Minister (): I will consider
any suggestions. As says, he suggested that we
create a cross-party task force to look specifically at aerospace
in the light of the
Rolls-Royce announcement, and we have
taken that suggestion forward.
We must, however, guard against
creating a plethora of different task forces, because we have
to see this as an overall challenge and perhaps look at these
things in a more joined-up, sectoral way. Early next week, we
will have the report and recommendations from the advisory
group on economic recovery, which is chaired by Benny Higgins,
and we will reflect further in the light of those
recommendations. At every level and in every way, there is a
real commitment to do all that we can to support the economy as
it recovers from the unprecedented challenge that it
faces.
In addition to the cross-party
approach on aerospace to which I have already referred, I spoke
directly to the chief executive of Rolls-Royce a week or so ago. Work is
also on-going between the Government and Rolls-Royce to look at what we can do
in the short, medium and long terms by working together to
preserve jobs and, I hope, a footprint for Rolls-Royce in Scotland. Those are all
really important challenges for us.
We have to find the best way of
catalysing the whole Parliament in a team Scotland approach. We
need to have a discussion about whether that involves lots of
different task forces or more joined-up strategic task forces,
and it is clear that we are willing to involve other voices
from across the chamber in that discussion.
