 The next item of business is a member's business debate on motion 2359 in the name of Ash Denham on small business Saturday. It is a debate that will be put, concluded, without any questions being put. Will those members who wish to speak to the debate please press their buttons and I would call on Ash Denham to open the debate. This Saturday marks the annual small business Saturday UK. It is a grassroots non-commercial campaign that brings attention to and encourages consumers to support local small businesses in their own communities. I thank all the members across the chamber who will support this motion by speaking about small business today. For my SNP colleagues, Gillian Martin will speak about the importance of local support networks for small businesses and Ivan McKee will speak about how to promote and grow small businesses. I will speak about my own connection to small businesses through some of the small businesses that my own family has run. The small business UK campaign also offers workshops to help to inspire and support both newer start-ups as well as existing small businesses, so they can help to provide business skills to the local communities to help them to develop. Participating in small business Saturday is completely free for all small businesses that wish to get involved, and the evidence suggests that it would be worthwhile for them to do so. The Federation of Small Businesses also supports small business Saturday in their aim to celebrate and support small businesses and local communities. Despite originating in the United States in 2010, since small business Saturday began in the UK in 2013, there has been an increase in support for small businesses across the country due to the campaign. In 2015, customers spent £623 million on small business Saturdays, and that is 16.5 million adults who went out to support small businesses. Why do we need to encourage people to support their small businesses that are near them? Well, they are a very important part of our economy. 98 per cent of businesses in Scotland are small. Those businesses employ more than 880,000 people and, in turn, generate more than 75 million for the Scottish economy each year. Small businesses account for 42 per cent of private sector employment and 27 per cent of private sector turnover, and they are growing since 2010. They have created an additional 85,000 jobs. Because of the expertise and the culture that small business owners can bring to their communities, it is not a surprise that many local economies are being led by smaller businesses. The top four in Scotland that have the highest percentage of small firms in their area are Aberdeenshire on 96 per cent, Orkney on 95 per cent and the Borders and Shetland tied on 94 per cent. After last year's small business Saturday, many small businesses saw major increases in both their sales and their publicity. Alice Malcolm Green, founder of the scented candle company Wick and Tallow, said that her takings on that Saturday were about £1,000, and she said that that is double what they normally make on a Saturday. Campaign director Michelle Ovan said that the British public has a great affection for small businesses, and we continue to see that grow year on year. Although the campaign focuses on one day, the goal is to have a lasting impact on small businesses by changing mindsets so that people make it their mission to support small businesses all year round. I have been planning a visit myself to a small business. There is a popular gift shop called Two Sisters in Portobello in my constituency, and I am sure that many MSPs are planning to do the same in their local areas. My interests and recognition of small businesses and the people who work in them to make them successful lies in the fact that some of my family members have run small businesses themselves, and I also worked in several small businesses run by others when I was at school and when I was a student. My first-ever real job was in a small business. It was at the Boat House cafe in Instow, and that is where I learned to take lunch orders from the customers and make, hopefully, creditable cups of coffee when I was 14 years old. A few years after that, I worked for a small independent food store in Barnstable, but I actually think that small businesses are in my blood. My father ran a video shop in Biggar in the early 1980s, and yes, one side of the shop was for VHS and the other side of the shop was for Betamax, and that makes me seem quite old. I think that that was also to blame for the fact that I do now have a lifelong fear of sharks because I snock out a copy of the movie Jaws to watch when I was probably much too young to do so. Around the same time, my parents also had a kilt shop in Glasgow, and my sister and I were quite young at the time would spend our Saturdays in the shop, sometimes getting fed ice creams to keep us busy, watching people picking out their kilts and accessories. That's the only explanation that I can think of for what happened next. A while later, we moved down to England, and for my first day at my new school in Devon, my mother bizarrely decided to send me, a girl with red hair and at that time a Scottish accent, into my first day of school dressed in a kilt. At that point, I didn't blend in quite as much as I hoped to. My mother finished up her working life running a small horticulture business with her husband. His horticulture skills and her design skills won them an RHS gold medal, and they toured around the UK and France selling clematis at shows such as the Hampton Court flower show. My grandparents also ran a successful small business for many years at the latter end of their career, too. Anne's sweet shop in Cumbernauld was a popular destination for many Cumbernauld kids and adults in the 80s and the 90s. I have to say that, as a young teenager, it was absolutely great to have a granny with a sweet shop. I worked there sometimes in the holidays serving the customers and sometimes I went to the cash and carry to buy the stock, and yes, I did occasionally eat the profits. Those experiences meant that I saw first hand how much hard work, how much self-belief and how much determination is often involved in running your own business, but also how much satisfaction, sense of achievement small business owners derive from their businesses. I think that we should all try to shop local as much as we can. We should try to support the businesses in our local communities because the money that is spent with a locally owned business is much more likely to stay in the community. We know that independent shops and other small businesses can be struggling at the moment to compete with a market that is increasingly dominated by big players such as the larger supermarkets or Amazon and the online marketplace. If we do not support our local businesses, we will lose them. I would urge anybody listening to go along to a small business this Saturday and have a look. You might well be surprised. I would like to start by congratulating Ash Denham on using time in the chamber today to speak about the importance of small businesses and, in particular, small business Saturday. I think that I first learned more about small business Saturday at a launch event up in Edinburgh's city chambers a year or so ago. We heard from different suppliers and from Michelle Evans about why this is so important and why it is so important that we support this event. Many small businesses rely immensely on what happens in this month, in the run-up to Christmas. It really can give them a boost that sets the scene for the year ahead. Small business Saturday has had a UK bus tour and the bus stopped in the grass market near here at the end of last month and gave people an opportunity to learn more. Last year's small business Saturday, there was an increase of 24 per cent business compared to 2014. When pulled, 46 per cent of people who shopped in small business Saturday in a local small business said that they had done so specifically because they wanted to support the event. I had an absolutely fabulous time last year in small business Saturday. I went to a small shop in Tollcross called Dandelion and Ginger. I am wearing the scarf that I bought myself there last year. It is an experience that you just do not get in a bigger store, in a multiple-chain shop. I have to say that their refreshments were first-class. They have introduced me to a drink that I had not sampled previously. I will not go into further detail, but it is sufficient to say that it has become a favourite at home. The choice of produce is organic, sustainable goods, ethically traded, fair trade, handmade items—just beautiful and a really warm staff who really understand what they are selling and why they are selling it. That is certainly one of my favourites, and I will return to it. In Brunsfield, we have one of the best bookshops that you could possibly ever pop into. It won the UK Children's Bookshop of the Year in 2014, being the Scottish Independent Bookstore of the Year 2014 and 2015, and the Scottish Independent Retail Award for the Best Bookshop in 2015. Who knows what will happen this year? There are a couple of examples of what we have on our own doorsteps and what we miss out if we pass them by. I think that more people are shunning big business in favour of small independence for that diversity for many good reasons. You know that your small business will have paid its tax bill, or it would not be on your high street. You can get quirky one-off gifts, and you can help to build that sense of community. You might get a better deal, and you will certainly be doing some good for the local economy. Ash Denham made the point that a pound spent in the local economy is far more likely to stay in the local economy. It is not going to end up boosting some shareholder's bank account. They have printed two fabulous reports in this area, Ghost Town Britain. We will learn about the demise of the high street and recently their Clonetown Britain survey, which speaks about the deep unease that people have about the increasing uniformity of our high streets. Ash Denham is right to say that if we do not use those businesses, we will lose those businesses. It is fair to say that our own Princess Street, certainly in terms of shopping, has very little to distinguish it from high streets across the globe. In our local high streets, we have an opportunity to make sure that that does not happen. I will certainly be making sure that I do all that I can to encourage local businesses in Lothian to register, to take part, and we as a Parliament can make sure that we do all that we can to publicise the efforts of the friendships that we make this Saturday coming in small business Saturday. I thank the Presiding Officer for letting me contribute early in this debate. I do have to leave due to another involvement. Today we recognise the importance of successful local economies and the role of small businesses. Being small can lead to an inferiority complex, particularly for men. However, this is not the case for thousands of businesses participating in small business Saturday. They love small and they love being different. This Saturday, high streets in towns and villages will join in with small business Saturday. Shopping locally is so civilised compared to promotional events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which consist of a scrum in a large chain store for cut price goods or a disappointing hour spent shopping on a computer for items that will tend to end up in a charity shop. That is if the website does not crash before you have put the items in your basket. For some UK retailers, discounting over the last weekend in November has become an unwelcome addition to sales calendar, far from boosting net sales extended Christmas trading. I would like to mention a couple of local businesses in the south of Scotland today. Firstly, award-winning Hume the Outfitters based in Kelso successfully selling ladies and men's country clothing. They also have a global online presence with a packing and processing office based in that building. Small business Saturday represents what people like Karen and Archie Hume are all about. They are independent, they offer a personal service and they go that extra mile. They have friendly staff and lots of niche brands, not readily available on the high street. Shoppers are able to find something different. They also feel a sense of satisfaction buying locally and know that if they shop locally, they will support a sustainable community. This Saturday, Kelso town centre will also offer the convenience of free and accessible town street parking. Retailers in Kelso give support to a variety of local community groups by giving raffle and auction prizes to local events and advertising at sports clubs. Small retailers in the region that I represent have told me that they struggle to pay rents and bills, their cash flow is seasonal and weather dependent and recruitment is difficult because many school leavers pack up and leave their routes to seek higher wages. It is this very lifeblood that we here in the Scottish Parliament must support. Retail employs 252,000 people in Scotland and is the country's largest private sector employer. Small businesses have a key role in bridging the gap between business and education to develop our young workforce. Small retailers like Humes provide most of the employment opportunities and rural locations, and they believe that owning a business in a small community is a two-way process. Their way of giving back to the community is to offer work experience pupils from Kelso High School a chance to trial the world of retail. The target for Scottish Government is to cut youth employment by 40 per cent by 2021. At present, according to the Federation of Small Business study, 60 per cent of small businesses do not engage with schools, but 38 per cent to firm skills shortages are a barrier to growth. Small business Saturday can effectively open opportunities for business owners to work with schools to communicate their needs. On Saturday, I will visit a small business called Present Perfect in Melrose. The gift shop will benefit from small business Saturday because their business is promoted on a larger platform than their normal advertising budget can afford. On this particular day, as I said, local authorities are fully supportive and offer customers free parking, which will incentivise shoppers to shop local. Many towns have serious parking issues, and since the decriminalisation of parking, finding a space has been difficult to find, and in frustration, shoppers have headed to places such as the Fort Canaird retail park, ditching their local high street. I fully endorse Ash Denham's business today, and I hope that more businesses will piggyback on building on the success of small business Saturday to build resilient communities. I hope that this UK-wide activity will maximise the potential of small businesses in the run-up to Christmas to create local demand, sustain jobs and boost confidence in the retail sector. Let me start by congratulating Ash Denham for securing this timely debate and for her excellent speech. As Ash Denham pointed out, small business Saturday is very much a grassroots campaign. It is all about highlighting small business success, but it is also encouraging people to shop locally and particularly to support small businesses in our communities. This is the third year of the campaign. I have participated in each and every year, and it has been more and more fun every time. I have no doubt that small business Saturday this year will be an astounding success in my local community across Scotland and across the UK. The stand-out statistic that Ash Denham mentioned herself, but is worth repeating, is that of the 350,000 private sector businesses in Scotland, an overwhelming 98 per cent of them are small businesses. They really matter. SMEs are really important to our Scottish economy, employing as they do something like 888,000 people. They are important to my local economy and to my high street, but we should acknowledge that it is hard out there for them. Our shopping habits are changing. Some people increasingly prefer to shop online or out-of-town retail centres. The consequence of that can be seen in our high streets and our town centres. If we want to reverse that, we have a choice. Let's shop local, not just at this time of year but all year round. Let's not moon about the high street having too many empty shops and then go somewhere else to do our shopping. Let's make a commitment to spend more of our money much more locally. I know that in my area the councils are taking action. In Helensburg last weekend there was a hugely successful winter festival attended by thousands of people, and I have to confess that I spent far too much money. However, it was organised by volunteers, many from the chamber of commerce. Some of them indeed elected members themselves. It took place in the heart of the town, which was redeveloped by Argyll and Bute Council. In Dumbarton, the council is moving its headquarters into the town, bringing new football of over 600 members of staff to the town centre. Already, on the back of that promise, we are seeing new small businesses starting up as a consequence. Those are just some of the practical things that councils are doing in my local area to help. However, we also need to record our thanks to the FSB, to local chambers of commerce, to volunteers who sit day in, day out on town centre forums and support small businesses and our high streets. We know that small businesses provide jobs. They provide products and services, too. They contribute to our local infrastructure and the diversity of shops on our high streets. Let us recognise the achievements of our small businesses in growing our local economies. Let us encourage shoppers back to high streets and to use small shops. Let us put small businesses centre stage this Saturday. Last year's event had a huge impact. It raised support and boosted sales for local entrepreneurs across a wide range of sectors. Consumers spent £623 million with small businesses. That is a quarter of an increase compared to the year before, but let us do even better this year. Nationwide, small business Saturday, trended number one on Twitter that day, with something like 100,000 tweets sent out, reaching more than 25 million people. Let us do even better this Saturday. I will be live-tweeting, not that I have as many followers as perhaps some of you, but I will be live-tweeting when I am going to visit Callaghan's, a local butcher in Helensborough, where I am told that it is the best steak pie in the entire area, and I am sure that Maurice Corry would agree with that. I am then going on to visit Lily's The Flores in Alexandria, whose blooms have graced many a celebration, and finally to Wilkie and Rider, a locally-owned opticians in Dumbarton. I can tell you now that I will probably end up bringing home a steak pie, some stunning flowers and perhaps a new pair of glasses to read all our committee papers. Presiding Officer, wherever you are on Saturday, let's get everyone involved in supporting our small businesses on social media in the press and on our high streets. Let's celebrate the incredible work of small business owners and their staff because small businesses do make a big difference. Ivan McKee to be followed by Liam Kerr. First, I thank Ash Denham for bringing this debate to the chamber today. It's a very important issue that we discussed. I thank the small business Saturday organisation for organising the event now in its third year. I also thank the Federation of Small Businesses for the support that they have given to the event and the support that they give to small businesses in a variety of ways all year long. As has been stated by a number of speakers, the importance of small businesses to the Scottish economy is significant. 98 per cent of businesses are what is classed as small, which is less than 50 employees, and they employ almost 900,000 people across Scotland. There are a couple areas that I would like to concentrate on in my speech today. First, I will talk about how we grow more new businesses, how we create more new businesses, and secondly, how we work with the businesses that are there to encourage them to grow and contribute more to the economy. The number of small businesses in Scotland has been increasing in recent years in private sector businesses now more than 300,000, but we have still got a ways to go. I believe that we can do more to encourage more people to start up their own businesses. Many small businesses are family concerns passed down from generation to generation, but many others are start-ups, whether it be young people who recently finished their education with a good idea to go and do something. It could be parents who have raised their children and are returning back to the labour market but do not want to go and work on a standard job and want to take the opportunity to start their own business. Or it could be people who have a bit more experience later in life and find themselves redundant and give them an opportunity to go and market their particular skills and talents on their own account in the market, which is what happened to my self at the age of 40. I found myself in that position and started my own small business and one of the best things that ever happened to me. I think that, in order to support that education, it is important that we can do more to encourage training of entrepreneurial skills earlier in the education system and explain the mechanics of how to start an operator business in our education system. Young people might not immediately start a business, but they might decide to do it later in life with the knowledge that they have gained through that process. It also gives a better understanding among the general population of the issues that small businesses face. Secondly, we can talk about how we can help small businesses to grow. Not all small businesses want to grow to be world beaters. Many are quite content to stay at the size that they are, but many do want to grow. We should encourage that. We must remember that all big businesses started off as small businesses at some point in the past, because that growth process is how we generate more jobs and more finance to support our economy. It is also important to understand that part of that process involves failure—I have been involved in a couple of business failures in my time—and it is a very important thing to understand that going through that process of trying something at not working but learning from that and coming back and doing something else is very important. That can be a whole range of things. It could be something from a high-tech start-up that some graduates have figured out and leveraged on the great academic institutions that we have in this country, or it could be somebody who identifies a new market where nobody is currently operating and sees an opportunity or somebody who figures out a better way to deliver a product or service, or it could just be by instinct and hard work delivering on their small business ideas and opportunities. Business Saturday gives us as MSPs opportunities to engage with small businesses in our community, something that I made a point of doing from a business background. I have visited many small businesses through the course of the year, not just at this particular time of the year, and it also allows us to keep the focus on small businesses and the important part that they play to help to grow Scotland's economy. I am delighted to speak today in this debate on small business Saturday, and I thank Ash Denham for bringing the motion. Napoleon once called this country a nation of shopkeepers as an insult, but it is a badge of honour. For nothing strikes at the heart of who we are as a people more than our traditional high streets, and it is the small business that keeps our high streets what they are. As a north-east representative, with 96 per cent of businesses in the shire, classed as small, as Ash Denham says, I am always delighted to walk through the high streets of Inverruri, Bankery, Stonehaven, Forfer, Peterhead, places where small businesses still dominate the retail landscape. Many of which have already visited smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com to sign their businesses up for free and without obligation. By visiting smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com, they have been able to advertise their business using logos and the Twitter hashtag SmallBizSatUK. What this allows me as a customer to do is simply go to smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com, type in the town that I am going to be in on Saturday and find a local business to support. For example, I am in Brotiferry this Saturday morning and by visiting smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com, I found Prego Boutique and Gregory Peck's Opticians, which I should be visiting along with others. That website also allowed me to plan to, on the way back up the road, pop by the frockery in Forfer and fancy that in Edzel, for vintage fashion just in time for Christmas, and I will probably stop by Angus video games in Breakin to pick up something for my nephew. Smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com has businesses all over my region, right up to Bump, where I am delighted to see my old friend Ian MacDonald of Buccaneer chandlery listed. Now, as a number of speakers have said, these are difficult times for our small businesses. Internet shopping rises year on year. Big chains offer ever more inventive discounts and sales. Black Friday, which did not even exist this side of the Atlantic three years ago, now stretches to a week, and the continued development of shopping mall experiences offer not only shops but a day out for all the family, cinemas and the like. However, small businesses are the lifeblood of the UK. 15 million people in the UK are directly employed by small businesses, with a turnover of £1.75 trillion. Let's congratulate the Small Business Saturday team, their corporate supporters and the Federation of Small Businesses for the incredible work that they do every year on this. Just look at the stats as various including Jackie Baillie did earlier on from Small Business Saturday last year. Across the UK, customers spent £623 million with small businesses on Small Business Saturday, an increase of £119 million, or 24 per cent, on 2014. Hashtag Small Business Saturday UK trended at number one all day on Small Business Saturday, with over 100,000 tweets sent in support of that day, reaching more than 25 million people. Over 75 per cent of local councils actively supported the campaign, delivering on-the-ground activities including free parking, Christmas fairs and small business networking events. All that is why I am delighted to be supporting Small Business Saturday this weekend. It is why I wish all small businesses a very successful day and why I urge every member of this Parliament and everyone out there who can to go to smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com and support your local small business, not just on this Saturday, but the whole year round. It is a huge pleasure to be speaking in a bait discussing small business, although it does present me with a small challenge. Normally, you have to declare your interests. Given that my former job was being the managing director of a group of small shops, I think that my whole speech is going to be something of a declaration of interest. Indeed, probably just to set your disquiet to one side, Presiding Officer, I should maybe make a disclaimer. If at any point during my speech I seem to infer that there is only one place or one small shop that you can buy your Christmas presents from, please be assured that there are plenty of other small businesses that one can do your Christmas shopping at. However, I am very enthusiastic. I was with great thanks, I think, that we have this debate, and I thank Ash Denham. I think that Small Business Saturday is a hugely important event. I am hugely passionate about small business. I think that small businesses are hugely important. At this point, it is very easy to talk in statistics and numbers, but the reason I am passionate about small business is because small businesses are about people. Small businesses are creative, they are individual, they are interesting, but, above all else, they are fun. They are fun places to work, they are fun businesses to run. I love my new job in this place being an MSP, but I have to say that there is a small bit of me that misses my old job—the ability to strike out and do new things, to do creative things, to implement my innovation straight away without having to go through processes or check with other people. I miss that, but I am hugely thankful that I represent an area that has such a rich variety of creative shops and businesses. Indeed, Alison Johnstone, who is no longer in the chamber, name-checked the Edinburgh bookshop, but there is a huge number that I am going to be visiting Tippi, which is also in Brunsfield and later on Clementine. I am also very pleased that, as a member of the Scottish Parliament, I am continuing my membership of the FSB because I think that supporting small business is more than just something that we should be doing once a year. However, there are three key dimensions where small businesses bring so much to our economy. First of all, I think that it enables business owners to do new and interesting things. It empowers people to, as I said earlier, strike out, realise their innovations, their ideas. In that way, I believe that small businesses are genuinely an engine of innovation. Indeed, I was quite amused the other week when Keith Brown talked about the garage of his father, full of all sorts of items that he was trying to sell. It struck a chord with me because my dad was very fond of describing the story of how he was in the late 1970s, somebody who was bringing in Russian-made stools, selling them at a remarkable price and, in his own small way, helping with perestroika at that very early stage. Small businesses are also a great place for employees. I think that working in a small business is like working in a family, but they also can provide empowerment. In my business, for example, every member of staff is able to be involved in their ordering and buying processes, which, if you talk to people working in large retailers, they quite simply get locked out of. Even, frankly, store managers in large supermarkets do not have much input into ordering processes, but above all else, they are great places for customers. There is a place where you can buy innovative products, things that you cannot find anywhere else. You find shops that are genuinely individual and tell their own story in a way that a chain store just never does. Small businesses do face challenge. Indeed, I think that it is worth reflecting on Black Friday that the name of that comes from the point in the year where many retail businesses start to make a profit. Throughout the rest of the year, they are trading at a loss, and it is only at that point of the year that they start to make money. Running a small business, running a small retail business, is tough. Things like rent, payroll and, indeed, rates are all challenges. While the small business bonus scheme is welcome, I think that you need to recognise that when the savings are capped at £4,500, I think that we still need to see that review into non-domestic rates. However, above all else, technology poses a huge challenge to businesses. I encourage the Scottish Government to look at ways in which we can support small businesses to adapt and adopt technology, so that all our small businesses can take advantage of that. I am running out of time. I could talk forever about small businesses, so I will stop there. However, I am very pleased to be supporting small business Saturday this Saturday. Our final speaker on the open debate is Julian Martin. I thank my friend Ash Denham for bringing this member's debate to the chamber. It is good to see that so many members have taken part. I have used it as a good excuse to name-check their small businesses in their community and, of course, repeatedly name-check websites as well, Mr Kerr. I would like to pay tribute to a small but growing group of female entrepreneurs that I have been happy to spend some time with recently called the North East Ladies in Business, or Neslib for short. Neslib is a group set up to provide support and networking opportunities to women setting up in business. The first steps into business are possibly the most important. Networks such as this offer advice and support to provide a vital role. Looking further afield Scotland-wide, I would like to point to a recent project that the Women's Enterprise Scotland ran over 10 weeks. It worked with the spouses of soldiers and the Edinburgh Barracks to assist them in setting up in business. Two of those women came to the Parliament to tell us about their burgeoning and treading businesses at the cross-party group Women and Enterprise, which I convene, and Jackie Baillie, who is the vice convener of. The hot-housing approach of WES in this scheme has unlocked economic participation in people who would have found it difficult otherwise and are looking to roll out more projects like this to women who have entrepreneurial potential but are currently economically inactive. Perhaps among those women are potential small business successes, successes such as Ellen's Joanna Basford, who was this week honoured with an OBE for her services to entrepreneurship and art. Joanna is the pioneer of adult colouring books and her books sell worldwide. A simple idea born out of someone's talent and passion for art but turned into a globally operating business out of a small studio near Ellen. I also want to pay tribute to the Inverory Business Association. Its efforts to support local businesses have kept Inverory as one of Scotland's most successful market towns, being a local shopping hub and vibrant town centre despite competition from the internet and the pool of the inner-city shopping centres. The local small businesses in Inverory have launched a bid programme. The bid stands for Business Improvement District, and it is a collaboration of all local businesses to work together to improve a town's environment for business and town centre improvement. It does that by agreeing to invest collectively to improve the trading environment over a fixed period of time for the benefit of the town. I also want to congratulate north-east businesses on their by-north-east campaign, which has been hugely successful in getting the message out of the importance of supporting local businesses, particularly in their run-up to Christmas. I have been particularly impressed by the work done by Fennel Media in Inverory, who have made terrific short films encouraging us all to support local small businesses through social media using the hashtags eat local, which they have showcased all the local restaurants and shop local, which have showcased all the local businesses that have been involved. We will be sharing those films again after this debate on my social media pages. I think a lot of towns can learn a lot from their innovative approach. Jackie Baillie mentioned about how Western Bartshire Council is going to be moving their headquarters into the centre of town, and that reminded me of a move that we have at Aberdeenshire Council to move our headquarters from Aberdeen city into, potentially, Inverory, and what that could mean for the local businesses in Inverory. We are a tremendous boost to our local economy, and I would like to get behind the support move to make that a reality. Small businesses power the Scottish economy, and I ask people to support them as they begin their Christmas shopping this Saturday and throughout the year. Why not start by getting yourself down to Glengearie distillery and joining me this Saturday? I am not going there for the reasons, although that might be part of the whole thing. However, Glengearie distillery, which incidentally is the most eastern distillery in the whole of Scotland, is hosting a group of micro-businesses who are going to be showcasing all their wares in the rare fare. That is what I am going to be doing this Saturday to support micro-businesses working in my community. I thank Ash Denham for bringing the debate on small business Saturday to the chamber. I also thank all members who have taken part. I apologise to Mr Johnson, because I missed a bit of your speech, because my back went into spasm. That shows that I should visit small business Dana Blythe therapies, because I have not been for a while and she is the best one at fixing it. We have had a small glimpse today of the fantastic range of small businesses across Scotland. It helps to demonstrate the variety and the vital contribution that they make to the economy. I also know now that Ash Denham is afraid of sharks and that Alison Johnson will not tell us what she drinks and that there is an optician out there called Gregory Peck, a big tick for humour. I come from a small business background. My father had an ice cream van when I was very young. It is one of the reasons why I do not eat ice cream any more. Then we had a family corner shop for a while. I understand the difficulties that there often are in running small businesses. I understand why it is so important for communities to support the businesses on their doorstep. The Scottish Government welcomes Small Business Saturday, Small Business Saturday UK.com, for Mr Kerr. The campaign encourages people to support those local businesses, which are so important to all of our local communities. It is a great example of partnership working across the public, private and community sectors. I welcome the commitment of the Federation of Small Businesses, Business Improvement District Scotland and our local authority partners, including Business Gateway, to the campaign. Last year, as has already been alluded to, some £623 million was spent in small independent businesses and Small Business Saturday. That is to be applauded. Beyond that spend on Small Business Saturday, we must ensure that folk are encouraged to buy locally all the time. Gillian Martin highlighted the current Buy North East campaign, but it is not all about shopping locally. It is also about supporting other local businesses throughout the year. Local plumbers, electricians and other trades people also are deserving of our support. Many folk, of course, work tirelessly throughout the year and not just in this campaign. We have seen recently the campaign Scottish launch in September in Haddington at Black and Gold, a company that produces cold pressed rapeseed oil. In October, the Small Business Saturday campaign bus made its first stop in its UK-wide tour in Aberdeen, and I was there along with Andy Willicks of the Federation of Small Businesses. We watched local artist Sheena Swanson try to paint a picture in what was a very white day, and she did very well out of it. I know that the bus has also been to Edinburgh and Sterling, and I know that there was much support there, too. Small Business Saturday highlights a range of small businesses in the small business 100 throughout the year. Seven Scottish businesses featured from Kelso, Falkirk, Darnes, Inverruri, Glasgow and Edinburgh. The businesses operated in sectors ranging from food and drink to beauty products. Like others in the chamber, I planned to be out and about in Small Business Saturday. I will not be in my own constituency that day, though I will be in Perth, so I will have to do lots of spending tomorrow in my constituency. I will probably start off with Thanes Baker, and you can be assured that I will sample some of Perth's finest wares when I am there in Saturday. I also know that the Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy has plans to visit businesses in his constituency, and he has also been active in encouraging MSPs to do the same. I hope that this year builds on the success of previous years in raising the profile of small businesses, the length and breadth of Scotland. This debate has made clear just what a vital part of our economy small businesses are. There are over 344,000 small businesses operating in Scotland, providing an estimated 887,000 jobs across the country, jobs that are in local communities and jobs that contribute to inclusive growth and prosperity. However, while we celebrate their success, we know that it is not always easy to run a small business. We are well aware of the challenges that are being faced every day. As a Government, we are committed to helping those businesses to grow. We want to ensure that Scotland is the best place to do business. We offer a range of support to help small businesses through the business gateway and our enterprise agencies. Business gateway offers a first point of contact for all publicly funded advice to all businesses in Scotland. Last year, it supported over 9,000 businesses to start up, estimated to have created nearly 10,000 jobs, with an additional 11,000 businesses benefiting from growth and local expert support. We are also delivering the most competitive business tax environment anywhere in the UK. The small business bonus scheme removes or substantially reduces rates bills for over 100,000 properties. That is why FSB has said that it continues to give most Scottish small firms a competitive advantage over other parts of the UK. We know too that many of our small businesses are based in town centres. The independent national review of town centres in 2013 helped us to set a new vision for our town centres. We want to improve the vibrancy of our towns across the country and recognise their central role in community life—places for people to live, work, do business and socialise. Being responsible for town centres and housing, I am always pleased to see new housing development in town centres that help to boost trade. I was recently in Ms Bailey's constituency in Alexandria to see a new development there, right at the heart of the town centre on an area of ground that I think had been derelict for a very long time. Before I finish, let me recognise the roles played by Scotland's 36th Operational Business Improvement District. I am glad to hear that Inveruri is considering a bid too. Bids play an instrumental role in co-ordinating and supporting local activity, and bids across the country are enthusiastically supporting small business Saturday. Some have arranged special events to mark the day, including the town's first ever Christmas lights event in Barhead. In my own area, the Aberdeen-inspired bid is bringing together local businesses, elected representatives, FSB, Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce and Business Gateway to celebrate small businesses throughout the city this weekend. I have welcomed the opportunity to recognise small business Saturday campaign and to celebrate the success of small businesses across the country. I am sure that this year we will build on the success of previous years, recognising the vibrancy and vitality of our Scottish small businesses. Finally, I thank Ash Denham again for bringing this forward and to all members who have spoken in this very important debate. Thank you.