 I ask those who are leaving the public gallery to do so as quickly and quietly as possible. The next item of business is a member's business debate on motion 6414, in the name of Michelle Thompson, on small business Saturday 2022. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put, and I would invite members to press the request to speak buttons now as soon as possible and invite Michelle Thompson to open the debate for around 7 minutes. I'm honoured to open this debate celebrating Small Business Saturday, and I encourage everyone to support their local small businesses. They are the heartbeat of our local communities. The Small Business Saturday initiative is a grassroots campaign. It's in its 10th year and is sponsored in its efforts by American Express. I'm sure that, like me, most MSPs will be meeting local small business owners and employees on Saturday. We should tell them that we will be increasing our efforts to give them a voice and support their endeavours in the coming year. I'll come to acknowledge their importance in economic and employment terms later in the speech, but I want to start by acknowledging their social impact. Indeed, before the term was invented, many small businesses have been contributing hugely to the wellbeing of society in general and local communities in particular. Whether supporting local charities, providing general advice to customers or just being that friendly presence willing to listen to those in need, the human face of small businesses provide incalculable support in local communities. As a member of the economy and fair work committee, I was pleased to see our committee report into town centres launched this week. Put bluntly, most town centres in Scotland would quickly die without the active presence of local small businesses, but far too often they're placed at a huge economic disadvantage in comparison with large businesses. I want to emphasise another point, often missed, while some large global businesses with a Scottish presence can move their money around, taking advantage of tax havens, local small businesses typically pay their taxes. It means that the proportion of income tax paid in taxes is often much greater for SMEs than for many global businesses. That places them at an added trading disadvantage. Like many, I'm sure, taking part in this debate, we all know of some small businesses that have struggled in recent years affected by the pandemic and where the owners have been taking out from their businesses significantly less than the minimum wage, yet they continue. In terms of the wider economy, some small businesses are part of a much larger critical supply chain. We often forget the breadth of small businesses that span a huge variety of activities, such as operating taxi services, providing private nursery and childcare services, being the local sparky and plumber, working their croff, providing specialist research services, being the local lawyer, the local accountant, and often making better and cheaper coffee than the big chains that don't pay their taxes. The list goes on. While small businesses often serve other large businesses too often, that is not reciprocated. Many small businesses face late payments from larger businesses and sometimes find it difficult to access affordable loans from banks to invest in their business. Too often, the relatively small sums that they need access to are just not on the radar of lending houses. Despite that, SMEs are critical to the economy. As the spice briefing entitled Scotland's business-based facts and figures has indicated, sole proprietors, owner manager or employee director companies accounted for 70 per cent of the 364,310 private sector enterprises in Scotland in 2020. They employ thousands of people in every constituency in the land and often they are long-serving in local communities, in some cases spanning generations of family-run businesses. Small businesses have also been critical in helping communities cope with the many privations created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Simple things such as delivering local groceries to old-age pensioners and, at the same time, checking to ensure that they are alive and well have more than an economic impact. We all face the cost of living crisis and this is no less true of small businesses than it is of individuals. Some people seem to imagine that business has easy in comparison to individuals, not true. Inflation is a common and deadly enemy. We have both a cost of living crisis and a cost of doing business crisis affected by the same enemy. Some other special small businesses are trying to support our economy by trading internationally, but finding things have been made immeasurably more difficult because of Brexit and the barriers that are erected to trading in Europe. The international reach of many small businesses has been critical in keeping open our window to the world. We need to ensure that our trading policies reflect the realities that are faced by small businesses. They do not have the luxury of saying that Brexit is behind us. It is not for them. They are living through the catastrophe that is Brexit to this very day and into the future. As parliamentarians, we always need to do more to support our SNP's SNEs and recognise their worth in our constituencies. We need to listen more to their problems and act to support them in difficult times. I am very much looking forward to hearing the contribution from others and I thank all the members who signed my motion. As I close, let me do so by sending out all of our heartfelt thanks to the thousands of small businesses in my constituency of Falkirk East and across Scotland who are so critical to the economic and social life in our local communities. I welcome this opportunity to speak in this debate on this weekend's Small Business Saturday. I echo my thanks and the thanks of Michelle Thompson to all small businesses across the country. I thank Michelle Thompson for bringing this important debate to the chamber today. I would also like to applaud the work of the Small Business Saturday campaign and its efforts to encourage us to shop locally and to support our small businesses. This Saturday comes at an important time of year for Scottish retail, falling between the now-embedded Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. This annual event, as mentioned in its 10th year, gives small businesses a chance to boost their revenue during the holiday chopping season, and it gives us all an opportunity to support our local communities. Small businesses are vital parts of Scotland's cities, towns and villages, from cafes to chemists and florists to fishmongers. They are the backbone of the Scottish economy, and it is right that we do everything we can to support their success. This is particularly true in my region of the Highlands and Islands where smaller businesses predominate. In remote and rural areas, it can be a particular struggle for enterprises to thrive. The high cost of fuel and limited transport options are barriers for both small enterprises and their customers. In island communities, some small businesses are hit both ways. Supplier costs are increasing at the same time as delivery costs to get finished products back to the mainland and beyond are going up. Many small businesses are struggling for recruitment, and this is particularly but not exclusively true in the hospitality and tourism sectors. Events like small business Saturday, as well as other initiatives, have also encouraged small businesses to embrace digital solutions to expand their customer base. At a time when traditional retail can be a particularly challenging environment, it is good to see help and support to diversify. While that can be seen as simply a campaign to go down to our local high street, we must recognise that not all small businesses are on the street corner. Across our regions, we are seeing new businesses start up in garages, spare rooms and on kitchen tables, often harnessing the power of an online presence. Many shops are now finding an online angle to complement their physical presence. We all know local businesses that enhance our sense of place. I am looking forward to visiting the Evadale Bistone Bakehouse in my home of Orkney this weekend. It is a fantastic example of a small business that spans across both hospitality and tourism, as well as providing a vital local service for a small community many miles away from the island's main settlements. It is not just the service that it provides to the public. I was in Café Gallo in Stockbridge recently, and this family runs a café run by Delita, Nassan's Oscar and Joe. As well as keeping other businesses refreshed, it also supports local businesses and their business community by sourcing many of their products locally. Popping in, you often notice other businesses coming in and those from other suppliers locally dropping off their supplies, but also using the café's services, too. Especially in rural communities, businesses are often not only about building a livelihood alone. They are about people. The closure of small businesses, and particularly on an island, can have a knock-on effect right across that community. We must not forget that many small businesses are still suffering from the knock-on effect of the Covid crisis and now face the prospect of an economic downturn amid a cost of living crisis. Recovery can feel distant, and increases in the cost of living are going to have a broad impact. Understandably, people are going to search for lower prices, but we should always remember that additional costs are faced in delivering services locally and the important local role that businesses play. It is also worth remembering in the midst of a pandemic the vital role that many small businesses have performed in keeping communities supplied and services running. I have pointed to a number of challenges. Many of them were considered in the economy and fair work committee that I sit on in its report, as Michelle Thompson mentioned, and I certainly commend it as a body of work to the chamber. However, we should also consider the positives that small businesses create, the opportunities of entrepreneurship and the ability to perform that social role contributing to our community. We must continue to support those setting out and starting up. This Saturday is a small business Saturday, but it is not just about this Saturday. It is about every day of the week, and it is about reminding us that our local businesses depend on us, just as much as we depend on them. Thank you, Mr Harcord Johnson. I can confirm that I will be available for Evie Dale pizza on Saturday if the offer comes in. Paul MacLennan, to be followed by Daniel Johnson again around four minutes. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I thank Michelle Thompson for bringing forward this motion today. A small business Saturday, as she said, is in its tenth year in the UK, and this weekend, like many others, I will be out visiting many small businesses in constituency. Michelle also mentioned that there are about 360,000 private sector businesses operating in Scotland, and she has always mentioned about the figure as well. About 70 per cent are other businesses with also proprietors or partnerships, so we can see that there is scope to support and grow our small business sector much, much more. The Economy and Fair Work Committee has just published its inquiry into retail and town centres in Scotland, which I think is relevant to this debate. The committee welcomed the Scottish Government's policy refresh and renewed focus on Scotland's town centres and the retail sector. It also welcomed the Scottish Government's retail strategy, which the minister announced a few months ago and obviously the establishment of the retail industry leadership group. As we know, retail is an extremely important sector for Scotland's economy, and particularly the independent retail sector is playing an increasingly important role. Many of Scotland's retailers are looking to diversify and embrace new channels for selling, and I will touch on that just in a little second. The inquiry also stated that there is a strong demand among Scotland's small retails for more and better support to build their online presence and be able to take advantage of platforms and expertise that already exist. I have seen that in my own hometown in Dunbar. It has launched its Our Dunbar website with support from the traders and community council. That has gone down really well and has seen increases in trade. The Scottish Government has committed £100 million to help business to improve their digital skills, capacity and capability. It has also committed to support and improved broadband capacity and mobile connectivity in towns and town centres to improve local digital platforms, and that is incredibly important. The committee has also mentioned that it is vital to see a broader range of opportunities being made available to upskill, strengthen and future-proof retail workforce. National and local government must do more to support that. Business gateways are also incredibly important in supporting businesses to establish and grow, especially in the first year or two, when they need a little bit of support. We need to identify measures both nationally and locally to increase uptake and consider how business gateways can be expanded and improved in its offering. Scotland's towns are individual. I know that there are six or seven main towns in my constituency. They all have their distinct identities, their communities, their histories and their future. Every town, as I said, has its story. Communities can be and are motivated by the expression of that unique story to drive forward that change and improvement. We know that that works when there is a common purpose in community drive to shape that town. There are lessons to be learnt from everybody in that regard. What is important is that every town and its community is empowered to create a vision to focus on achieving that through a long-term town plan. Again, I know that there are a few towns in my constituency that are looking to do that and take advantage of that. To support that, we have to remove barriers and try to support as best we can with appropriate advice. That is including financial support if it is available at all stages of development. The town centre's first principle in planning is key and will continue to be so going forward. Being a member of the local government committee, we have been discussing that on the NPF4 with the minister on a number of occasions and I think that that has been welcomed broadly across the spectrum. Any new proposed out-of-town developments need to demonstrate that town centre sites have been pursued and thoroughly evaluated, that development will have no adverse impact on town centres and will not compete with town centre provision. We welcome the Scottish Government's consultation on primitive development rights and intention to support the creation of a new general town centre use class. Again, that gives more flexibility, I think, to town centres to develop. We need to see more transparency of ownership of town centre property. I know that we have all had issues when we are trying to identify some land or properties that are in town centres, which sit there for a number of years because we cannot trace the owner, and that is a particular issue. Local authorities also have a range of powers to enable them to tackle derelict or dangerous buildings. Again, that was raised in discussions around the NPF4, but we need to encourage local authorities to do more around that area. In conclusion, small businesses are the heart of our communities. We all need to do more to ensure that they decide on our communities. Daniel Johnson is to be followed by Christine Grahame in four minutes. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I too thank Shell Thompson for bringing forward this debate. It always is a huge pleasure for me to speak in the debate on small business Saturday. As most members will be aware, small business, especially small retail business, is very close to my heart. I think that my declaration of interest barely does it justice, but just for the avoidance of debt, I am a director of a business with retail interests, although those are very residual. Before coming into Parliament, I ran a small retail business in Edinburgh, which is why I know how important it is. I also represent a constituency that I think is one of the most vibrant, most successful secondary high streets in Edinburgh, if not Scotland, in terms of what we have in Morningside and Brunsfield. This Saturday, I am really looking forward to a visit to Toys Glore and Caffe Zellig. I might nip into Edinburgh Bookshop and, of course, being south Edinburgh, I will have to go into Nordic living. I am sure that members would expect no less. In case I am not name-checking enough in previous years, I have visited O-Ruby Sews, who is a wonderful retailer for gifts of all types. I might even suggest that people nip into House Pride if they need to pick up one or two items for their Christmas day cooking requirements. I make those name checks, because I want to really emphasise how important it is that we use our local businesses, especially at this time of year. As Michelle Thomson rightly pointed out, we all became very clear about how important those sorts of businesses in our local communities are as local glue. They are the businesses that very much kept the wheels on the wagon, that kept us all fed and indeed allowed us to say ourselves through lockdown. That is how important they are. I agree with what Mr Johnson has just said and respect his experience in running his own business, as indeed I did, albeit in a different century from that which Mr Johnson did. On that end, could I ask you if Mr Johnson agrees with me that one of the success stories of devolution, which we should all be proud of and which has been maintained in the most recent emergency budget by John Swinney, is the protection of the small business bonus scheme, because it is the most generous scheme in the UK for small businesses in particular. It takes more than 111,000 businesses out of rates altogether, and that really has been a help to address the financial pressures in Covid and in the recession. I am grateful to the member for making the point that he is upsetting the order of my notes. We need to recognise that retail really depends on Christmas trade, and especially in times of such challenging. If we think that those businesses are valuable, we have to use them at this time of year. I was going to come to this, but the member is absolutely right. The small business bonus scheme is absolutely critical for many small businesses, but we need to look at it more broadly in the round. We are, as Michelle Thomson pointed out, in the middle of a cost-of-business crisis. Businesses are facing costs on a number of fronts that question and undermine their viability. On the one hand, I have spoken to local businesses who are seeing their utilities bills, and the UK Government's help is of some help, but their deals will miss it. Their deals come up in the spring, and they are facing seven or eight-fold increases, taking utilities bills going from £10,000 to more than £100,000. No business can survive that, but likewise on rates. I am glad that the member brought it up. There are many businesses now whose rates bills exceed their rent. On the basis of the way that rates are meant to work, with the poundage rate and the RIV, that should never be possible. There are issues with the small business bonus scheme. The moment you have more than three premises, you lose it. I think that we need to have a look at rates in the round. I think that we need to look at business costs in the round. I think that there are a number of those things that jeopardise the viability of businesses. I would just note the points raised about planning from Paul MacLennan. What can we do to ensure that there are a number of schemes to help small businesses to take up technology? We all have to acknowledge that they have not necessarily worked quite as much. We need to keep thinking about what prevents small businesses from maximising the use of technology. However, in conclusion, small businesses are at the very heart of our communities. They are vital to bringing in distinctive characteristics of many of the communities that we represent. If we value them, let us use them. Let us spend our money this Christmas time in local businesses on our local high streets. First, I congratulate my colleague on securing this timely debate. There can be no better time to focus on local shops and shopping than in the run-up to Christmas, although I must not admit trades and professions. I have used as many local trades as I can and small businesses include local pubs and hotels. Many of those small businesses are family-owned, often over the generations, so businesses and owners are embedded and committed to their communities. There are many great small businesses across Midlothian, South Tweeddale and Lauderdale, from the main streets of Lodder, Erlston, the town centres of Melrose and Gallashill, the high street of Peebles, and the pericook precinct, to the villages of Broughton and Oxton with their community shops, which I am pleased to say are doing well. I visited both, and community support is especially important there. I am additionally a shopper. This jacket just happened to have it on by the way, it did not mean it was a prop. Made in the borders, bought in Peebles. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not the Jamie Halcro Johnston on commission. All those businesses are key to the community that they serve. All depend on local patronage and their accessible year-round, when rural roads may be unpassable. Of course, there is limited public transport. Covid was tough on all those small businesses, especially retail and hospitality. Covid restrictions, movement curtailed, folk stuck indoors and ordering from the supermarkets and the likes of Amazon online. Shopping habits have changed and have remained to some extent changed to this day. They were coming back into their own small businesses, but now they have yet another double whammy that was mentioned before—the cost of living and the energy crisis. The Scottish Government has helped with its small business bonus scheme, I reference Fergus Ewing, which means that many local businesses pay no rates whatsoever. In borders—and those are the recent figures this year—5,820 get relief, of which 5,600 pay no business rates whatsoever. In Midlothian, the figures are 1,220, with some relief and 1,130, 100 per cent relief, no rates whatsoever. However, I accept some of the comments made by Daniel Johnson with his expertise. However, the pressure on family budgets has meant that many are cutting back as Christmas approaches. Some finding the choice is between heating and heating, and the rest is simply not on the agenda. Then there is the cost of energy to businesses themselves. I have had local businesses, particularly cafes, which now have sky-high energy costs and simply will not be able to stay open. The UK has, of course, the energy business relief scheme, which automatically caps the cost of unit per non-domestic energy, but you need not apply that scheme. However, that scheme ends in March 2023. The First Minister has written to Rishi Sunak asking that something be put in its place for those businesses still in need. The First Minister also requested an enhanced windfall tax, which would raise £93 billion, which could be applied to assist with energy bills, both domestic and non-domestic. The Deputy First Minister also wrote to the very, very temporary Chancellor Quasie Quartain that, mostly at 20 per cent of non-domestic bills to be reduced, replies are awaited. In Scotland there are schemes with grants to assist small businesses. If they have not already done so, they should check out Business Energy Scotland website and see what there is there. It may not be appropriate, but at least check it out. In conclusion, against the background of inflationary pressures on domestic budgets, the additional cost on local business is a time for us to do our bit, no matter how little, to support our local businesses. Shopping locally keeps the pennies and pounds local. It also leads to having a wee rest for weary feet with your parcels in the local cafe or pub. Yes, they need us, but we need them. Our town and village centres need them, too. We must not take them for granted, so shop local if you can afford to. I take a moment to thank Michelle Thompson for securing this important debate. The region that I represent, Scotland's Highland and Islands, is home to less than 10 per cent of the country's population, but accounts for 22 per cent of its social enterprises, many of which are thriving small businesses with a simple aim to keep wealth generated by the community within the community. Many of the people supporting small businesses Saturdays this weekend may well shop at or receive the services of a social enterprise, but not realise that that is how they are set up. Presiding Officer, I was honoured to host social enterprise Scotland's awards at the Parliament earlier this month. It was a fantastic celebration of the many social enterprises across Scotland working to enhance the lives of individuals, families, our communities and our environment through building community wealth. The sector contributes £2.3 billion to the economy and supports 88,000 jobs, while giving us all the opportunity to play our part in building community wealth. Those innovative businesses not only have a specific social or environmental mission but, crucially, for rural communities, reinvest their profits in the businesses and local economy. Those businesses are more likely to employ, buy and invest locally so that the wealth created through their business activity stays circulating in the local economy. To mark small business Saturday, I welcome the opportunity to mention just three of the incredible small social enterprises in the Highlands and Islands. Newstart Highland provides a range of services, including housing support, employability training, furniture provision and mentoring, to help people to get back on their feet. In Shetland, the creative visual arts workshop Gada is an artist-led community interest company. Their core activity involves sharing specialist art facilities and skills with Shetland's diverse communities through their Barra Isle workshop. In Inverness, Velocity cafe and bicycle workshop is a social enterprise that combines three worlds—vegetary and cafe, bicycle workshop and a range of projects to promote health, wellbeing and sustainability. As we have heard from across the chamber today, all small businesses and especially social enterprises are facing real challenges at the moment. Rising energy costs, inflationary prices for essential raw materials and difficulty recruiting staff are issues that are repeatedly highlighted to me by constituents. I was contacted by a small bakery in Fort William for whom the price of sugar is increasing to 128 per cent. This coupled with staff shortages has meant that the business has reached a crisis point. Those external threats to small businesses are having a disproportionate impact in remote rural communities, where small and medium-sized enterprises account for 79.5 per cent of private sector employment. The local authority with the biggest fall in the number of registered businesses pre-pandemic was the Highlands, despite it, along with Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles being among the top five local authorities in terms of business density. That should concern us all. The Highlands and Islands enterprise business panel this summer showed that fewer than half the businesses in our region had confidence in the economic outlook for Scotland, with exports tumbling and almost all impacted by rising costs, especially in remote areas. There is support out there, whether through organisations such as enterprise agencies, business gateway and social enterprise Scotland, or through the Government's plans outlined in the Bute House agreement to develop procurement practices to support local economies and micro-businesses. The support that every small business most wants is that of customers. I urge any constituents to plan some festive shopping this weekend to make the most of the small businesses and social enterprises that bring vibrancy, bustle and life to their local high street. Thank you very much indeed, Ms Burgess. I now call John Mason again around four minutes, Mr Mason. Thank you very much and thank you to Michelle Thomson for bringing this debate on what I think is a really important topic. When I was younger, it was pretty well all small shops. I used to get sent for the messages and the butcher and minced the beef, as you watched, with the carcasses of the cows and the pigs and the sheep hanging all around the shop. And I think it was Cochran's that was the largest shop in our area until it was superseded by a Safeway supermarket, which seemed huge at the time, but nowadays would be seen as tiny compared to the big super stores that we have got used to. Is all of that progress? I am not sure. Shopping is now easier, quicker, certainly, as you go around, choose your own products rather than having to ask for things one at a time. I confess that, for much of the year, I do use supermarkets a lot. It is easy and convenient, especially if you are busy, to jump into a supermarket and buy a range of goods, including alcohol, as long as you are in and out by 10pm. Maybe that is one of the reasons that we have more problems today, with isolation and loneliness. Going into a smaller shop or a banker or post office for that matter has traditionally been a chance for folk to socialise and get a chat. Maybe we just have to accept that now we have a mix of the very large, as well as smaller stores, not to mention online shopping. Of course, online, as has been mentioned, can involve smaller businesses too, but we do not want to lose all of our smaller physical shops. So having a day like Saturday to remind us of the importance of both small shops and other small businesses is very important. I have tended to try and visit small businesses each year, usually meaning shops, as they are open on Saturdays. This year, I put it on Facebook and asked constituents for suggestions in case there were some small businesses that I was not aware of. One person suggested that there were 20 hairdressers in Shettleston itself, not counting the rest of the constituency. However, I do not think that my remaining hair could handle being cut 20 times in the one day. However, we do have some excellent butchers, bakers and coffee shops, and I will be aiming to visit some of them. However, it did strike me that we have very few fruiters left in the east end of Glasgow. One that I have used in the past for fruit and veg in Shettleston is now no longer there. More positively, I think that we are seeing an increase in independent bakers, as well as Polish, African and other shops reflecting Glasgow's much more mixed population nowadays. Sometimes it can be hard to draw the line between what is a small business and what is not. For example, Costa and McDonald's are huge chains, but as they often operate on a franchise model, the people operating the particular branch may actually be a small business. I had tweeted something about a local Costa and the next time I was in, the manager came over for a chat and was explaining how they really are a small business, and he also gave me a free cake. Just finally, to mention small businesses apart from shops and cafes, I guess there are positives as well as negatives. Daniel Johnson does realise that the positive of Saturday is not to get free stuff but to actually pay for stuff. I just want to confirm that. John Mason. Yes, I heartily endorse that, but if he wants to take me out for a coffee, I could be persuaded. I guess there are positives as well as negatives. For example, in my constituency, we no longer have any local newspapers at all, and that is a disadvantage in many ways. However, we have a local magazine now called The Hulet, which carries local adverts and supports the use of Glasgow and Scots words as a sideline, so times change. We should not hanker for the past and we should welcome local initiatives and new businesses. To end with a question or a couple of questions, do we think enough about how we shop? Of course, some of us are forced to buy the cheapest item, but others of us can ask ourselves questions like, is this produce fair trade so that the workers get decent pay and conditions? Is this food supporting farming jobs in Scotland? Am I shopping in a way that supports local small businesses? I now invite the minister to respond to the debate for around seven minutes. Thank you very much. I begin by thanking Michelle Thomson for bringing this important debate to Parliament. It is always a highlight of the parliamentary calendar to celebrate small business Saturday, as it gives us that opportunity to come together and recognise the immense contribution that small businesses make not just to our local and regional economy, but cumulatively to our national economy across Scotland, and a vital role to play. It also does afford us an opportunity to recognise those individual businesses within our own constituencies and regions and the contribution that they make. One of the things that Michelle Thomson touched upon, I thought very effectively, was the social impact that small businesses have. We can recognise that in certain commercial interactions that we process in our daily life, they can perhaps be somewhat impersonal. However, in the context of small businesses, we often establish very close relationships with the people that we work at, whether that be the cafe, pub, butchers, picture framers, whatever happens to be on our local high street. We often form personal relationships with those individuals. It is not just a transactional relationship, but it is someone who is a fellow member of our community and indeed a friend. That social impact is important, but it is also important in tackling a range of other issues, including for many people who are at risk of loneliness and isolation. That interaction is important. No more did we see the huge social impact that our small businesses have during the pandemic, something that members from across the chamber have recognised. I do not think that it is any exaggeration to say that many of our communities would not have been able to get through the pandemic in the way in which they did without the support of our small businesses. I want to join colleagues from across the chamber in recognising the immense contribution that our small businesses make, not just to our local economies, but to the social impacts that they have as well. Of course, as has been touched on by many members, we are… I will be certainly… Christine Grahame You bring me to mind the fact that when someone did not call it a local shop for a few days, the shopkeeper went to find out if they were all right, because he knew that there was something very wrong, elderly or informed person. That is another example of how important they are in the social system for a community. I agree. That is an excellent example. I think that it is a particular example of our local pubs, the small businesses and the impact that they have with their digital footprint as well in providing support to people. It is an incredibly important point that Christine Grahame has made. Of course, we cannot have this debate and ignore the significant economic challenges that not just small businesses but our wider economy faces. We are, for many of us, seeing the most challenging set of economic circumstances in our lifetimes, so it is absolutely imperative that we do all that we can to support businesses. Through that, I recognise the comments that have been made in the chamber both by Fergus Ewing and Daniel Johnson with regards to the small business bonus scheme, which I know is of immense support and is hugely valued by small businesses, and, indeed, the power and impact of the small business bonus scheme is articulated very effectively by the likes of FSB, certainly. Fergus Ewing. I agree that we must be mindful of the current challenges that small businesses face, and there is an end. Is the minister aware of concerns? I know that it is not his portfolio that the impact of the deposit return scheme, as it is planned to be rolled out, would impact pretty severely on certain small businesses, notably small craft brewers and distillers, because of the high upfront costs, the burden of labelling, and that many of the very small businesses that we have championed over the years have actually said that they may have to give up, or even stop—and if they do not give up—stop trading in Scotland, which would, if it ever came to pass, which I hope not, would really be very deleterious? Is this something that he might wish to discuss with Lorna Slater, who I think is the minister-in-charge? I thank Mr Ewing for his intervention, and I want to assure my half-ardy's discussions directly with my ministerial colleague Lorna Slater. I have also spoken about this in detail with the Scottish Retail Consortium and, indeed, the Scottish Grosses Federation, and I am assured that Ms Slater is having the closest engagement and consultation with stakeholders to ensure that, when DRS is launched, it is done so in a way that we can recognise and celebrate for the positive impacts that we will have on our net zero and waste reduction ambitions, and that it is something that we can ensure and work towards achieving the strongest buy-in in the support-form industry, remembering that this will be an industry-led scheme. I have made reference to the conscious of the challenges. Michelle Thomson also touched on some of the more long-standing challenges that businesses face. One, of course, is cash flow and late payment. I appreciate that it can be challenging to keep track of all the legislation that is going through Parliament, but I draw members' attentions to the moveable transactions bill, which is under consideration by the DPLR committee, and with the intention that it will shortly be considered by the Parliament as a whole at stage one. That is a bill that is a product of the Scottish Law Commission, which I am leading on, but it is a bill that has the potential to make a powerful and transformational impact for small businesses, particularly around being able to facilitate invoice financing, where the current legal structures in Scotland are certainly not optimal to do that, as well as allowing for securities to be achieved over moveable corporeal and, indeed, incorporeal properties, which will be of much benefit to the wider Scottish economy. I look forward to further engagement with members on that legislation as it progresses through Parliament. There were a range of comments from members covering many different areas that I do not think that I will have the opportunity to cover in detail, but I would want to go and pick up in the important points that Ariane Burgess raised around social enterprises and, indeed, community wealth building. Social enterprises are play a key role in our local economies. As we would understand and inherit within their model, they reinvest their monies back into their local communities very effectively and play a key role in delivering a range of services. They are a fantastic example of community wealth building, but so are our more traditional small businesses. I met earlier this year with the Federation of Small Businesses to discuss community wealth building. I know that this is something that they are passionately interested in, indeed of its FSB representation on the community wealth building bill steering group that I chair. Community wealth building is something that I will have a great deal more to say about in the new year as we take forward our commitment to a consultation ahead of legislation later in this parliamentary session. However, in its heart, community wealth building is about seeing more wealth that is generated within our communities and retained within our communities. That has many practical applications such as making more effective use of sustainable procurement, employment practices that recruit from our localities and, indeed, seeing more business models develop that are consistent with small businesses, whether that be employee-owned co-ops, community interest companies or, indeed, social enterprises, which can cumulatively help to go and create more sustainable and resilient local economies, which will be the bedrock for continued success for all our small businesses across Scotland. I am conscious that time is against me, so let me just conclude by once again thanking members for their contribution in this debate this afternoon and, indeed, to say to wish everyone a very successful small business Saturday. That concludes the debate, and I suspend this meeting of Parliament until 2.30.