14/01/2008
The Scottish Parliament’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee and Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee are to join forces with the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) to explore why Scotland’s workforce lags behind other countries in terms of productivity.
Entitled “The Scottish Workplace and the Productivity Challenge”, the half-day seminar on 15 January will explore the factors behind Scotland’s productivity comparing less favourably to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Scotland is currently ranked fourteenth out of thirty OECD countries. It will also consider examples of best practice and policy approaches to tackle the problem.
Discussion will centre around workforce and workplace issues and include the presentation of case studies from employers who have achieved demonstrable success in these areas.
Convener of the Economy, Energy and Tourism committee, Tavish Scott MSP said:
“It is vital to the future of the Scottish economy that we explore the underlying reasons for the productivity gap between Scotland and the most productive OECD economies. Throughout the seminar we will examine workforce development, investment in infrastructure and measures for improving productivity.”
The event will be jointly hosted by committee conveners Tavish Scott MSP and Karen Whitefield MSP and speakers will include:
- Grahame Smith, General Secretary, STUC
- Graeme Waddle, Business Director, Rolls Royce
- Steve Graham, Scottish Manufacturing Advisory Service (SMAS)
- Damian Thomas, Senior researcher, Irish National Centre for Partnership and Performance.
Background
The Scottish Government’s recently published Economic Strategy sets the target for Scotland “to rank in the top quartile for productivity amongst our key trading partners in the OECD by 2017”.
Further information about the OECD can be found on its website: www.oecd.org