That is a fair analysis. Over the period of devolution, productivity in Scotland has improved—we have been closing the gap over the period of devolution and there have been further improvements since 2007 specifically. Not every year has seen big leaps in productivity but 2018 was a much stronger year. I am mindful that in eight minutes’ time, further productivity statistics will be available for the last quarter, but there has been improvement over 2018.
We recognise that productivity is an issue for output, and that is why the Government has introduced some of the interventions that I mentioned earlier.
The economy is transitioning, so we want to look at the economy of today and the economy of the future, which is more around digitalisation. We recognise that automation is an issue, but there are positives and opportunities as well, in coding, design and digital jobs of the future.
Enhanced productivity can also come from upskilling and focusing on quality in manufacturing as well as on spend on innovation and R and D, which are important for industry. That is why we are supporting the national manufacturing institute for Scotland, expending more on our innovation centres and working with universities. On education and the economy more widely, we support an education system that is clearly focused on skills as well.
The retraining partnership will be important, as many jobs will be changing. That partnership will focus on productivity. We will be working with the Scottish Council for Development and Industry on productivity clubs, because we recognise that a lot of best practice might be found in companies, which can share that best practice with other companies. Sharing good practice in relation to productivity is a key issue. In strengthening the economic strategy, the four strands of infrastructure, internationalisation, inclusive growth and investment will all play a part in enhancing productivity.
In relation to the living wage, what we pay is important and focusing on quality is important. There is an expectation that the childcare sector will pay the living wage and we are encouraging the living wage to be paid and we are trying to improve quality; quality and productivity go hand in hand.
There are a range of actions in the economic action plan that show that we see productivity as a serious issue and want to tackle it. However, the signs are that, over the period of devolution, we have made progress on narrowing the gap between the UK and Scotland, and 2018 was a stronger year.
Oil and gas will have impacted on the productivity figures, but there is now some resurgence, which will feed through to the wider economy.
There will be further information coming on productivity for the most recent quarter, but I think that we have made progress in 2018, so we need to keep that up.