Council of Economic Advisers: Chair's report 2016-2018

Recommendations

The Council have provided broad recommendations for the Scottish Government across the three workstreams:

For inclusive growth, we recommend:

• Continued engagement and collaboration with national, local, and international organisations; and, increased collaboration with the private sector;
• Maintaining an increased focus on operationalizing inclusive growth, both at a national and a regional level, ensuring a joined-up approach across Scottish Government policy activity to ensure effectiveness;
• That the Scottish Government continue to investigate what bottom-up approaches can be implemented across Scotland to support inclusive growth; and,
• Improved reporting and evaluation of the progress around inclusive growth both at a national and policy specific level to assess impact.

For innovation, we recommend:

• For industrial policies, investigating opportunities beyond existing areas of manufacturing including new areas of science;
• Continuing to review international and UK evidence of investment banks, and similar institutions, in the development of the Scottish National Investment Bank;
• On-going, thorough consideration of, and clarity on, the proposed operations and governance of the Scottish National Investment Bank, to ensure effectiveness and sustainability;
• Developing a set of missions for the Bank that are framed around Scotland specific challenges, and considering the role of the Bank to encourage innovation, and therefore innovation led growth; and;
• Developing the Bank to provide capital across a range of business types.

For fiscal matters, we recommend:

• Analysing the impact of changes to income tax announced in the Draft Budget 2018-19 (and the broader fiscal landscape) on taxpayers' behaviour;
• Further investigation of the behavioural impacts of a tax change in the devolved context, and opportunities for Scotland; and;
• Consideration of the broader economic context and economic cycle when scrutinising the impacts of tax structures and changes.