We have called on all of the political parties to put public service reform and the needs of Scotland's economy at the top of their priorities for next year's Holyrood elections.
We have published our new manifesto, Energising the Scottish economy: a business agenda for reform and recovery which contains detailed policy recommendations and ideas across nine areas which it believes are of fundamental importance to business and the economy.
These include: public sector reform and public procurement; taxation, grants and business support; education, skills and lifelong learning; transport and communications; planning; innovation, science and technology; energy, environment and water; regulation; funding infrastructure." Download the manifesto (430KB).
We have urged the devolved government to do more to support exporters and make Scotland an even better location for indigenous businesses and inward investors.
Our submission to a Scottish Parliament inquiry called for:
a more ambitious and widely known national target for exports growth in order to galvanise private and public sector efforts
the protection of financial support for exporters through Scottish Development International
better efforts to promote existing export success stories and services such as GlobalScots
financial pump-priming of more direct international services from Scottish airports
Read our submission (93KB).
Given the austere times ahead for the public finances and the need to support rather than cut investment in the economy, we have warned the Scottish government its spending plans for the coming year are inadequate .
The detailed submission sets out a number of suggestions for reducing public spending and for stimulating economic activity, in order to put devolved finances on a sustainable footing and allow for further investment in wealth creation.
We argue that higher taxes, piecemeal spending cuts, and the axing of much needed infrastructure would be the wrong approach and must be avoided. We also call for contingency plans to be drawn up ahead of a likely austerity budget from whomever forms the next UK government after the looming Westminster poll. We also urge Holyrood's political parties to refrain from repeating the impasse which marred and delayed the approval of this year's budget. Read the response here
You can read the evidence we submitted to the Scottish Parliament's Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee inquiry into financial services.
The inquiry was seeking evidence across a range of issues including, employment levels, skills, restructuring, reputation of Scottish financial services and future prospects for the sector.
You can read the full response here.