MSPs have recommended giving themselves a say in the direction of the Scottish National Investment Bank, setting up a possible clash with the SNP Government.
In a unanimous cross-party report on the law underpinning the new public sector lender, Holyrood’s Economy Committee said the Scottish Parliament should have a formal role in its long-term focus.
At present, Scottish Ministers insist that they, as the Bank’s sole shareholder and sponsor, will “set the direction for its investments through its strategic missions”.
READ MORE: Landmark Glasgow bank building is sold for £48m
Announced by Nicola Sturgeon in late 2017, the SNIB is intended to provide “patient capital” for Scottish companies which might otherwise struggle to find it, helping them borrow money over a 10 to 15 years, funding which is often critical to business expansion.
The SNIB is expected to be up and running by 2020, with the Scottish Government having committed £2bn over 10 years to capitalise it.
In their report, the MSPs said the SNIB had the potential to be a “positive and integral part of the Scottish economy”, and approved the general principles of the Bill to empower Scottish ministers to create the bank and set its direction.
However they also said Parliament “should be formally consulted on those areas that will set the long-term focus of the Bank’s work - likely to be fundamental policy matters such as climate crisis, social housing or the care system”.
This goes against what Finance Secretary Derek Mackay told the committee last month.
Asked if he thought MSPs should have any role in scrutinising or approving the banks’s missions, he said: “I do not think that they should be... I think that it is right for the Government to be able to get on with its job as an executive”.
Committee convener Gordon Lindhurst said: “From the array of evidence we heard, the Scottish National Investment Bank has the potential to be a positive and integral part of the Scottish economy.
READ MORE: Warning over excessive pay at state investment bank
“However, there are areas covered by the Bill and accompanying documents on which further work is required to ensure that the bank’s full potential is achieved.
“The committee considers that there is a crucial and formal role that MSPs should continue to play in the development of the bank. Similar processes exist in other pieces of comparable legislation and would be entirely appropriate here.
“The committee recognised the vital role the bank will play in fundamental policy matters such as social housing, climate change or the care system, to name but a few.”
Tory MSP Dean Lockhart said: “There are still a huge number of outstanding questions regarding the SNP’s plans for the Scottish National Investment Bank that need answered.
“There is still little indication of what the structure of the bank will be, and how closely involved SNP ministers will be in running it. With the SNP seemingly clueless on this, it’s only right MSPs play a formal role in setting the SNIB’s role and goals.
“Given the SNP’s track-record of failure on the economy we cannot afford to allow them to make a mess of this as well.”
Labour’s Jackie Baillie said: “The SNP government has staggered from one failed economic project to the next. The Scottish-European Growth Co-Investment Fund has only spent £3.2m out of a £200m fund to help businesses. The SNIB cannot be a wasted opportunity and another SNP failure in government.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel