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I will leave it there, convener.

When we talk about Government and private investment in the green economy, one of the things that seems to be missing is how we invest in weaving the green economy into our educational environment before students get to tertiary education and college. How do we highlight the opportunities? We were hearing that engineers at Prestwick airport are paid £77,000, which is a pretty decent salary. That is long-term work, because electrical engineering will always be required. I do not think that we market that career well enough in our educational environment. As part of the investment in the green economy, are we considering how we invest in the educational environment to make sure that we have the right skill set?

I have one left.

I am interested in your submission, Stuart. You talked about your operating plan and supporting the retention of young people in the region. You talked about the provision of tech places in education, and I know that the south of Scotland has exactly the same issue in trying to hold on to a younger workforce.

We have seen quite a bit of evidence around the fact that to develop major projects, there is a need for engineering and trade. The threat is that the big companies suck up all the technology, the tradespeople and the engineers, leaving a dearth for the SME supply chain. Is that a threat? Is that a problem? Are you supporting enough tech placements? We are not short of good educational facilities in either region, are we? Are you able to support enough of that to make sure that the targets required by the Scottish Government are hit and that we do not offshore that expertise?

When I think about SOSE and HIE, I tend to think about the opportunities that are available to Scotland in the green economy and the energy transition, because your regions are synonymous with those. What investment is required? Where are we with the development of such projects and the supply chain? Are your regions ready to accept those opportunities so that, crucially, we hit the Government’s targets on the energy transition and net zero?

I will widen it even further, cabinet secretary, just to make your job more complicated. Our poor health record is one of the biggest drags on our economy; indeed, it is the predominant cause of economic inactivity. How are you working with the health secretary on that matter? You have mentioned tech many times, but I have heard from our health boards that the tech that they have is old school and needs to be modernised.

What I am trying to say is that there is a connection between all those things. My philosophy is that poor health is the biggest drag on our economy and education is one of the solutions, so how do we square that circle?

Thank you for that.

The other thing that we very much agree on is employability and child poverty. One of our big levers lies in developing opportunities for our youngsters as they come through, but what we are hearing is that the imparting of information on potential careers is still not happening in schools, and that young people are still not aware of the fantastic real careers that are available.

On top of that, you will be aware of XLCC coming into Scotland, with the potential creation of 900 jobs, and we have just heard about half a billion pounds’-worth of potential green hydrogen plants. Quite rightly, one of the things that you are looking at is skills, but we are cutting apprenticeships in further education establishments to the point where, in my region, the Ayrshire colleges are suggesting that they will not be able to deliver on the requirements for companies such as those that I have mentioned that are coming into Scotland. Surely, cutting apprenticeships is a backward step, is it not? We need more apprenticeships, not fewer.

Good morning to the cabinet secretary and the panel.

I could probably talk about Prestwick airport for the whole time, given that it is in my area. The cabinet secretary is right that it is a real strategic element and hugely important to local economy, although some aspects of its profitability worry me.

However, I want to ask about the aspect that worries me most. At least two interested parties have indicated the desire to purchase the airport. Do you have any concern about the fact that the former chairman Forsyth Black is fronting a bid, and, indeed, put the bid forward while he was still the chair? I asked cabinet secretary Màiri McAllan the same question when I found out. I worry that there is a conflict of interests in that respect, given that the former chair would have been aware of all the other bids that had come forward. Indeed, I know that there were a lot of ambitious bids to develop the airport. Given that two interested parties are already involved, is there is a conflict of interests there?

You have kind of thrown him under the bus again there. He put forward a bid while he was still the chair, and that worries me. I just wanted to raise the issue so that you are aware of it, cabinet secretary.

Moving on from Prestwick airport and our visit there, I want to discuss the development of the labour market. We very much agree, cabinet secretary, that there is a huge amount of potential in the green economy in Scotland. In its thinking about how to develop a consistent labour market, how is the Scottish Government viewing our educational environment—from school right through into colleges and universities, together with upskilling and reskilling? How is the Scottish Government putting in place that piece of the jigsaw to ensure that we have the labour force required to fulfil our potential?

I appreciate that, cabinet secretary, but as others have indicated, we are talking about outcomes here. Health outcomes in Scotland are stubbornly poor, and my concern is that our educational environment is not producing the outcomes that we want it to, either. I will leave it there, though, convener.