Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee 24 April - 1 May

Happy Monday to you all, and welcome to this week's newsletter which reads a bit like a series of gender pay gap postcards from around the country. We've been getting out and about to talk to businesses and organisations, and our Members have obligingly been posing for photos along the way. Last Friday, we went to Glasgow and met with the FDM Group and Page\Park Architects. Today, we are in both Edinburgh talking to Men in Childcare, and also wading through the snow in Aberdeen to talk about apprenticeships. (This is sadly not an example of bilocation, although I realise it would be much more exciting if it were.) And on Friday, we'll be visiting our last small business to hear more about the challenges faced both by SMEs and the cleaning sector. A selection of our snaps below:

Gil Paterson MSP, John Mason MSP and Bill Bowman MSP visit Glasgow: at FDM Group hearing about returners programmes and women in tech and at employee-owned Page\Park where they have a disco ball in their meeting room but sadly no one felt like dancing.

Tomorrow is our penultimate evidence session on the gender pay gap. Our first panel kicks off at 9.30 and is made up of

  • Professor David Bell, Professor of Economics, University of Stirling
  • Dr Tanya Wilson, Early Career Fellow, University of Stirling
  • and Emma Gibbs, Partner, McKinsey & Company

The second panel will begin around 11am and consists of

  • Charles Cotton, Policy Adviser, Pay and Reward, CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development)
  • Maggie Morrison, Vice President, Public Sector, CGI Scotland, Board Member, Scottish Chambers of Commerce.

You can find papers for the meeting online and evidence from our panellists on our website.

Last week we discussed our work programme up to summer recess. Our next piece of work will be a return to energy. As promised in our Draft Climate Change Plan Report, we'll be looking at the Scottish Government's draft energy strategy over May and June. We'll also be working on our gender pay gap report, and we plan to have that out before the end of June.

Any questions, comments, or general banter do drop us a line. And for those of you keeping track, we're now just 240 twitter followers away from the big 2K. Cupcakes for all when we get there!

The Garden Lobby, viewed from behind the cakes

Report Abuse

If you feel that this video content violates the Adobe Terms of Use, you may report this content by filling out this quick form.

To report a Copyright Violation, please follow Section 17 in the Terms of Use.