The financial support provided by the UK Government has saved the economy in the short term, but it’s not sustainable. It’s cost £210 billion so far and doesn’t include NHS costs and the welfare bill to support those who, despite everything, have lost their jobs. The only way to kick-start recovery is if each and every one of us takes responsibility and starts to take action now.

So if you work for a business unaffected by Covid, what can you do to help #buildbackbetter?

The UK Government is doing everything it can to help the economy recover from COVID, one thing remains noticeably missing from the steady stream of Treasury announcements, and that’s any reference to social value.

Design a house that could be sold for less than £180,000 but still makes you a profit. Get innovative and imaginative with construction methods to keep costs down. Make it spacious, light, beautiful, high quality, sustainable and energy efficient. Make it a home people want to live in. Make affordability a selling point.

Extended payment terms were already the norm pre-lockdown, and big brands were some of the biggest culprits. Yet, in a tech-driven economy where invoices are sent electronically and payments can be made instantly at the click of a button, this outdated business practice is not just obsolete, inexcusable, and bad for the economy; it’s bad for the businesses who practice it too.

Is your company racist? How about anti-racist? Are you confident you would know?

As the government’s new ‘Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities’ is established, business leaders can be clear on one thing: It is no longer enough to be ‘Not Racist’ and hide behind a banner of ‘equal opportunities for all’.

It has been 22 years since the world’s governments first committed to meeting the 2-degree target at Kyoto. Even before we reduced that target to 1.5 degrees, we weren’t going to meet it. A difficult job just became herculean. We have 11 years to make the changes we need to save the world. It took the IPCC 3 years just to write their report. Intergovernmental bodies are slow; geopolitics gets in the way of progress, and policy-making and implementation take time the planet doesn’t have.

The public sector in Scotland spends around £11 billion each year buying everything it needs to run the country. Things like wheelie bins, medicines, fire alarms for buildings, paper for schools, hospital equipment, medicines and stationery. A glance at Public Contracts Scotland, where all public sector contracts are advertised, shows the thousands of goods and services bought daily.

That's a lot of spending power. What would happen if the public sector harnessed some of that power and used it to persuade its suppliers to commit to using their resources to improve the lives of the communities and customers their products serve?

How businesses recruit, employ and retain staff is changing, which offers an enormous opportunity for spouses and employers. Employers who are prepared to overlook potted career histories and gaps in CVs and offer roles which can be done remotely and flexibly will have access to an untapped wealth of talent. Not only that, if you make it possible for a military spouse to work in their chosen industry and enable them to take that role with them whenever they move, you will have a loyal, motivated employee who will stay with you for a long time.

The best thing the ­private sector can do in the face of overwhelming calls for action on an issue is to take the necessary action without waiting for the government to legislate and force through change. Why wait for a tax to force you to reduce the plastic you use in your packaging? Or the amount of sugar, salt and chemical ingredients in your food? Why wait to be told to stop advertising your products to children if they are blatantly unsuitable or be forced to manufacture products that can be repaired when they break?