Thank you for that. We have limited resources within which to work, and over the past 10 years we have focused those resources on sectors and on growing companies that we thought would have the maximum impact on growth for Scotland. On that basis, we have considered demands for our support and we have supported companies that have the capability to grow in certain places and sectors. Under that model, fewer of those companies have come from the south than have come from other parts of Scotland. That is a fact. It has meant that there is a gap, but we are not the only people who supply business support: there is business gateway and there are local authorities and so on.
However, we want to do more on place and the economies of place, and we are reorganising ourselves with a view to considering, first, how we promote Scotland and its regions and places on an international basis, and secondly how we participate much more fully in regional economic partnerships. Quite soon, Scotland will be covered by regional economic partnerships of one form or another, and I want Scottish Enterprise to be a full participant in those partnerships. We will move back into considering place. We cannot work nationally, regionally and locally, so we will need to partner with the south, with HIE—as we currently do—and with other regional economic partnerships on a systematic basis.
I recognise that there have been gaps in our provision. That is probably not unusual, given our limited resources. However, as we go forward, I will deploy our resources in a way that recognises the importance of regions. Our relationship with the emerging south of Scotland partnership will be key as we differentiate between what we do locally, regionally and nationally. I commit that, through our core skills on international business, business growth and many other things, Scottish Enterprise will continue to support the south fully.