 Can I reconvene the meeting of the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee? Can I, in my never mind, please turn off or at least turn to silent on mobile phones or electronic devices? I just note that we have apologies from Richard Lyle. We are on item 3 on the agenda and we are taking evidence today on a legislative consent motion in relation to the Enterprise Bill at UK Parliament legislation. I would like to welcome Annabel Ewing, who is the Minister for Youth and Women's Employment, who is joined today by Sarah Hart, team leader, apprenticeships and employer incentives at the Scottish Government. Welcome to you both. We would like to introduce this minister. Thank you, convener. I am grateful for today's opportunity to address the committee in respect of the motion lodged by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Land, Constitution and Economy on 10 February of this year. The UK Enterprise Bill was introduced in the House of Lords on 16 September 2015 and is currently progressing through the UK Parliament. The bill includes a wide range of measures with the stated aim of promoting economic growth and the UK Government expects it to remove what it regards as unnecessary impediments to business. The bill also includes a number of measures on apprenticeships relating to the UK Government's ambition to deliver 3 million apprenticeships by 2020 and its plans to introduce an apprenticeship levy from April 2017. The majority of the provisions within the bill are reserved to the UK Parliament. What we are concerned with today are additional provisions that fall within the devolved competence of this Parliament and which require a legislative consent motion to allow the UK Parliament to legislate for those matters. The LCM covers an amendment to the Enterprise Bill, which was introduced on 2 February of this year by the UK Government in relation to the sharing of HMRC information on apprenticeship levy contributions by employers for the purpose of delivering apprenticeships. As a result, the bill contains further provisions that are within the legislative competence of this Parliament. In England, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills intends to introduce a digital account system that will show an employer in scope for the apprenticeship levy how much it has contributed and therefore what funding it is able to claim back to spend on apprenticeships in England. Data sharing between BIS and HMRC will facilitate the essential operating requirements of the system in England. To do that, BIS and HMRC will establish a permissive data sharing gateway in primary legislation that allows for data flows in relation to the administration of English apprenticeships. In order for data to be released, there will need to be proper security and privacy arrangements in place and all data to be released by HMRC, as the data controller will need to be agreed in advance. The UK Government has also offered a similar arrangement to allow the devolved administrations to have access to data in relation to the apprenticeship levy collected in each nation. The amendment will allow HMRC to disclose information on the apprenticeship levy to Scottish ministers or a relevant Scottish authority for the purpose of functions in relation to apprenticeships. It also enables Scottish ministers or a relevant Scottish authority to receive and request information from HMRC for the purposes of functions in relation to apprenticeships. That provision therefore falls within devolved competence as it affects skills and training policy and the consent of the Scottish Parliament will therefore be required to extend the measure to Scotland. In conclusion, convener, I would add that access to the type of information covered in the amendment would allow Scottish ministers and or a relevant Scottish authority to request information on the apprenticeship levy collected in Scotland. A key benefit of that access would be the ability to confirm that we are getting a fair share of the levy collected in Scotland. It would also be able to be used to provide further evidence to support informed decisions on future spending on apprenticeships or potentially wider skills activities in Scotland. Finally, convener, the LCM would only provide enabling powers to ask for the data. There would be no immediate requirement to use those. I therefore ask the committee to support the draft legislative consent motion laid before it. As you said, the bill in relation to LCM was previously concerned by the committee and by Parliament and passed on additional measures that have been brought forward that now require additional consent. Do any members have any questions or points that we should raise? Thank you very much. Minister, I would be interested to know that you said that this is permissive at this stage. Clearly, that is necessary before you can move on to the next stage, but does the Scottish Government have any thoughts at this stage as to who and how might manage this data when it becomes available to Scottish ministers or our relevant Scottish authority? The question is a good one. The actual nuts and bolts of the detailed arrangements for the mechanics, for example, of how the proportion of the levy to be passed to Scotland will in fact be passed to Scotland remain unclear, as does the amount of levy to be passed to Scotland. That remains unclear. We have been seeking to obtain clarity from the UK Government on those kinds of points, and we still seek that clarity. I understand that data-sharing arrangements of this kind are not a new thing, and I would imagine that it would proceed in much the same way that similar data-sharing arrangements have been introduced elsewhere in a cross-Government business. On your view at this stage, is it likely to be managed by the Scottish Government or by the Enterprise Agency? The drafting of the amendment allows the information to be requested or received by the Scottish Government or by a relevant agency, which could include, for example, Skills Development Scotland. I am less concerned with the organisation and administration. I am more concerned about the reliability of the data. You may not have the answer to that now, but can we be sure that there will be fairly intensive discussions with HMRC, who do not have a great record in producing IT systems or, indeed, having distributed data networks? Can I ask that that will be looked at and ensure that the information that is shared with us is based on a robust centralised system? We will, obviously, as the Scottish Government wish to ensure that we have as accurate information as it is possible to get, and I am sure that those businesses that are affected in Scotland by the essentially English levy will wish to have some comfort that they have the information as to what contribution they are making and what is the spend in Scotland on related activities. I appreciate that, but from a casual position, as far as companies are concerned, we would also hope that we know delay in the payments to companies, some of which will be small companies, to ensure that they are not waiting for the levy to be applied and then credited. Again, I would ask that that whole process and data is looked at fairly intensively. I would like to remember that we are seeking clarity from the UK Government on the, as I said, deluge McDonald on the nuts and bolts of how exactly this is to operate in practice, and we hope that we will get that clarity without too much further delay. Maybe just a technical point on paragraph 4 of the memorandum, I am not clear whether there should have been a vote in the 9th of February, or do you mean the 9th of March? That term was due to be voted on in the term, and what does that mean? I am sorry, yes. I understand that that would have taken place. That was in connection with the first LCM, which is a supplementary LCM, dealing with the new amendment that was introduced by the UK Government to the bill on 2 February. I understand that that first LCM would have indeed been approved by the Parliament. Okay, if there are no other questions or points that members wish to make, can I ask if members are happy that we recommend that the Parliament gives its consent to the very relevant provision of the enterprise bill as set out in the LCM. We are agreed, thank you, and can I ask if members are content that they delegate to the convener and clerk the production of a short factual report detailing the committee's consideration and arranging for its publication. As agreed, thank you very much. In that quick case, I can draw this to a conclusion, and I thank the minister and your witnesses for attending. At this point, I close the meeting.