It is a good question, and I agree with the previous speakers.
This is a difficult time and, to be truthful, we are still dealing with the rapid response to Covid to support businesses, for which it is a very distressing time. It is therefore important that we focus on that while still looking at the short to medium term of our reform and recovery programmes.
In relation to how we dovetail with the national approach, it is fundamental that we work with our national agencies. We have fantastic examples of working closely with Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and SDI to look at skills development and how we support businesses to retrain, reskill and adapt. We are looking at multiskilling to ensure that we can stop redundancy and unemployment during the current conditions. We are also looking at how we work with young people who are starting to leave school and college to ensure that, through the Department of Work and Pensions and our youth employment opportunities, we help them to get into businesses, to support those businesses and the individuals.
It is also about starting to look at what jobs are out there and helping businesses to understand sustainability and the use of low-carbon products and services to grow. It is about supporting businesses to look at investment in low-carbon infrastructure and longer-term efficiencies, which we are starting to see some evidence of.
Jane Morrison-Ross referred to digital connectivity. There are fantastic examples on that from across Scotland, not only in advanced manufacturing but in financial technology firms. Many indigenous little entrepreneurs have adapted and repurposed their businesses, and it has been fantastic to see so many start-ups during this time, which we simply did not expect in the current conditions.
One thing that we have been doing this year in Fife, as part of our renowned culture of enterprise programme, is to re-adapt our enterprise and education programmes into all Fife schools. We have managed to convert all of them to digital delivery approaches, which has involved improved working with CodeClan and colleges, to ensure that we can virtually engage with schools to help them to understand the economy, enterprise and education. Some of the other activities are around data-driven innovation and working with universities to help businesses, which I will not go into much, as Jane Morrison-Ross referred to it. The development and on-going support from the Scottish Government for our gateway networks and digital boost has been second to none and we need more of that, as the demand is great.
On engaging with businesses through Covid, we continue to look for opportunities to understand the barometer of where businesses are. We are looking at workforce upskilling, remodelling and adaptation, and at new trade and market opportunities, such as how businesses take existing products and put them into new markets. Through Covid, we have sometimes found fantastic examples of businesses taking existing products and putting them into a whole new sector, particularly in supporting the national health service and helping the Covid response.
Another area is refocusing on procurement. On town centres, which have been referred to, we are looking at better planning and regulation and ensuring that there is more input from place making and planning charrettes.
One big area from an economic perspective is investment-led growth, on which we work closely with Scottish Enterprise and SDI. How do we ensure that we have fit-for-purpose employment land and investment in infrastructure to support inward investment and the adaptation and growth of our indigenous businesses? We are in distressing times, but there are some fantastic opportunities ahead and opportunities for more creative thinking about how we can deliver local economic development.
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